Tag: marine painting

Frederick Mulhaupt

Armand Cabrera

Frederick MulhauptBy
Armand Cabrera
Frederick Mulhaupt was born in Rockport, Missouri on March 28th, 1871. As a boy, he operated a newspaper stand in Dodge City, Kansas. After moving to Kansas City, Missouri, he apprenticed to a sign painter and studied at the Kansas City School of Design. His interest in art brought him to Chicago to study at the Art Institute there. Mulhaupt was one of the founding members of the Palette and Chisel Club in Chicago. The Club was organized so evening students from the Institute who worked during the week could paint the figure during the day on weekends. Mulhaupt became an instructor at the institute in 1902, teaching figure classes.


In 1904, Mulhaupt moved to New York to further his career. From there, he traveled to Paris and lived there for several years and continued his artistic training. While in Paris, he traveled to St. Ives in Cornwall, England. It may have been there that Mulhaupt became interested in depictions of harbor scenes and the working life of the fishermen.

On his return to the United States, Mulhaupt again settled in New York. Beginning in 1907, he summered in Gloucester, Massachusetts. It was in Gloucester that Mulhaupt’s powers as an artist came into full bloom. After marrying Agnes Kingsley in 1921, they moved to Gloucester the following year and remained there fulltime.

Mulhaupt’s depictions of Cape Ann and the surrounding area offered an endless opportunity for the painter. His depictions of the working harbor of Gloucester brought Mulhaupt much recognition. He was a member of the Salmagundi Club in New York and was voted to the National Academy of Design in 1926. He was a founding member of the North Shore Art Association and exhibited in the shows every year from 1923 until his death in 1938. Mulhaupt died at his easel of a heart attack.


Bibliography
Frederick J. Mulhaupt
Dean of the Cape Ann SchoolKathleen Kienholz/ North Shore Art Association

QuoteThere were many painters in Gloucester in the old days that were more exact than he was…but many of these painters might just as well have been painting in England or Norway. Mulhaupt got the smell of Gloucester on Canvas. He captured the mood of the place.
~Emile A. Gruppe

*Frederick Judd Waugh

Armand Cabrera

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by
Armand Cabrera

Frederick Judd Waugh was born in Bordentown, New Jersey on September 13, 1861. He was the youngest of five children. His father, Samuel Bell Waugh, was an accomplished portrait painter.

At nineteen, Waugh attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art for three years, studying under Thomas Eakins and Thomas Anschutz. Upon his graduation, Frederick sought further study in Paris at the Academie Julian under Adolphe William Bouguereau and Robert Fleury.


In 1892, Waugh married Clara Eugenie Bunn, a fellow art student from the Pennsylvania Academy. In 1893, the couple moved to the Island of Sark in the English Channel where they stayed for two years. It was on this island Waugh began his study of the sea. According to the artist, the island was a model for most of the conditions the marine painter needed to study.

In 1899, the Waugh’s moved to Hendon, eight miles outside of London. Waugh began working as an illustrator to support his growing family of four. In 1907, he entered two pieces into the Royal Academy show. They were both rejected, so Waugh decided to return to America.

Waugh and his family settled in Montclair Heights, New Jersey. He found a studio nearby in Montclair. It was the former studio of Gorge Inness Jr. and could accommodate the large paintings Waugh had planned to paint. The artist bartered his rent for one painting a year.

In 1910, Waugh won the Thomas B. Clark Prize at the National Academy of Design show. Over the next seven years, he established himself as the most popular marine painter in the country. Waugh was elected a full member of the National Academy of Design. He continued to paint the sea in all its moods and glory, winning many awards in his lifetime.

Waugh always painted from direct observation, but these studies were not for sale. Instead, Waugh used the studies, along with his memory of the experience to create finished paintings in the studio. His large studio paintings have a power and majesty rarely captured by most marine painters.

Frederick Waugh died in Provincetown, Massachusetts on Sept 10, 1940, at the age of seventy-nine.

Bibliography
Frederick Judd Waugh,
American Marine painterGeorge R. Havens
University of Maine Press 1969

QuoteI say if you can do so, grab the whole thing in one continuous period of time. Your work will have the vitality and snap it needs to convey its full significance.
~Frederick Judd Waugh

PAINTING SEASCAPES

Armand Cabrera

By Armand Cabrera

The type of painting I create is about light falling across the surface of an object. Therefore, I am reluctant to separate painting into different subject matter. Whether you are painting a nose or a tree, you are still applying a small, flat brushstroke of color and Value onto your painting surface. If you get the shape right and the value and color right, your painting will be correct.

Avoid focusing on “things” and concentrate on “shapes”.


That said…it is worth noting that there are aspects of certain subjects that bear paying closer attention. Painting the sea from life can be challenging. A beach or coastal setting can be windy, foggy, hot or cold. On a sunny day, staring at the bright sea foam can be blinding, making it difficult to judge values. The constant motion of the water forces a more thoughtful approach to design and composition.

When painting water, remember its three aspects; motion, reflectivity and transparency.

Good design will allow one of these aspects to dominate the idea with the other two playing subordinate roles. When painting the sea, the motif also determines how you paint the water. A high vantage point calls for less detail because of the large amount of area portrayed.

In order to make something look larger, you must paint less detail.


The ocean is no exception. Painting waves on a large expanse of ocean diminishes its relative size. When including coastal elements, such as cliffs or rocks, it is essential to get the size relationships correct to maintain a sense of scale.

Water has form; it occupies a three dimensional space and has weight. A cubic yard of sea water weighs close to a ton (2000lbs). Even though water changes its shape, you must still paint the light falling across its form. You should also attempt to capture its volume. People often paint seascapes as if the water has no weight or volume. The waves seem to float and the sea foam looks as light as clouds. To avoid this, mass the shapes together in much the same way you would the leaves of a tree or the grass in a field. To paint water accurately, you must paint its weight. This is what conveys its power…and results in a successful painting.