Abstract Sculpture in the Garden

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. When I was an art student at The Ohio State University, Henry Moore was one of my heroes. I was fascinated with how he created human figures with volume, form, and the total absence of details. I realized that if I reduced things to simple shapes in my paintings I could eliminate unnecessary details. This is something I have continued to work on throughout my painting career. I also discovered that the same art principles worked in whatever medium the artist chose.

After moving to Denver, Colorado, I was thrilled to learn that the Denver Botanic Gardens had scheduled a display of Henry Moore's sculptures. I had been painting in the gardens for years and seeing the giant figures among the flowers, trees, and ponds was a thrill I will never forget. I have a vivid memory of the day I painted this and I actually laid on the ground so that I was looking through the flowers and up at the sculpture. Among artists this is known as a worm's eye view.

Starting with the echinacea, commonly known as corn flowers, I used cobalt violet for the petals and transparent yellow, burnt sienna and cadmium red for the centers. It was important to leave bits of unpainted white paper to capture the sunlight. Moving on to the figure, I painted cerulean blue for the lighter values and cerulean blue plus mineral violet and French ultramarine blue for the darker areas. It was important to have soft edges here to imply the volume that I wanted. Finally on to the trees where I used artistic license to put the darkest trees behind the head and shoulders. Using olive green and olive mixed with French ultramarine blue, I kept the trees simple with visible brush strokes. You can see where I left a sliver of unpainted white paper to keep the green from running into the head and shoulders. This also adds to a sense of sunlight on the sculpture.

By not painting out to all four borders of the watercolor paper and creating interesting edges with paint this turned into a vignette. I returned many times that summer to paint the Henry Moore sculptures among the flowers and trees and I saved this painting and a couple more in my private collection to remind me of those splendid summer days. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton