ARTIST PROFILE ANDRAS J. BALITY Composing Patches of Flat Planes Like notable artists of the past, Virginia artist Andras J. Bality thinks of his plein air subjects as composites of small planes of color and value. He paints those patches of form without using dark shadows or softened edges that would turn the forms in space. Artists bring their own sets of ideas, emotions, techniques, and stylistic preferences to their outdoor paintings, some achieving vitality through boldly gestured strokes of oil, others finding truth in elaboration of detail, and still others exploring the underlying abstract nature of painting. In each case, the painters find inspiration in the work of great artists of the past who were concerned with the same sets of issues. The historic figures whose work helped Virginia artist Andras J. Bality formulate his approach to plein air painting include Paul Cézanne, Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard, Winslow Homer, and David Park. The common thread among those painters is that they were fascinated by the way forms in nature could be seen as overlapping, tangential, and isolated planes of space. In their hands, painting was not about creating a deceptive illusion, but rather about understanding how light reveals Andras J. Bality paints during the First Annual Bath County Plein Air Festival, organized by Warm Springs Gallery in October 2013. the surfaces of objects and how artists respond to the physical aspects of paint. I think of a painting as an interpretation of a threedimensional form on a two-dimensional surface, not as a literal re-creation of objects in space, Bality says. That focus on the surface of paintings puts an emphasis on patterns that don t necessarily turn forms in space; that is, the artist doesn t break up the planes of space into light-, middle-, and dark-value shapes that suggest the light crossing a three-dimensional volume. Instead, there is an even light that puts less emphasis on the separation between warm sunlit surfaces and cool shadows, dark recessed areas and bright highlights, and the sharp contrasts between smooth and highly textured surfaces. In his painting View of Bath County, for example, Bality paints the vegetation on the hillside so the shapes View of Bath County 2013, oil, 22 x 28 in. 50 February-March 2014 / www.pleinairmagazine.com
Andras J. Bality in his Richmond, Virginia, studio, with plein air sketches on the wall and large studio paintings resting on the floor curve across the convex surface of the land without changing color temperature or value. And while the prismatic progression of colors pushes the distant mountains into the background of the space, the transition toward blue, indigo, and violet is so subtle that the implied space between the three mountains is decidedly shallow. Vuillard used the same patterning to paint the flat bands of planted fields in his 1894 painting Landscape of the Ilede-France and in the process emphasized the formal aspects of the abstract patterns. I spend a lot of time looking at the landscape, at interior scenes, and at people, Bality says. I always have a pocket-size sketchbook, and I frequently make small sketches. In the evenings, I add watercolors to the sketches to Bality with some of the paintings commissioned by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. help me recall color relationships and the general mood. When I finally decide on a subject to paint, I know what I want to put down on the canvas and I work fast. I tone the surface of the canvas with a light orange or sienna so there will be a warm layer of color showing between brushstrokes, and I set up a composition with random colors and marks, making sure that the scale of buildings, people, animals, cars, etc., is correct. I establish the highlights early in the Landscape of the Ile-de-France Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940) ca. 1894, oil on cardboard, 7 3/4 x 9 15/16 in. Collection Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, courtesy the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. ARTIST DATA NAME: Andras J. Bality BIRTHDATE: 1963 LOCATION: Richmond, VA INFLUENCES: Vuillard, Bonnard, Monet, Homer, Hopper, Baselitz, David Park. WEBSITE: www.andrasbality.com www.pleinairmagazine.com / February-March 2014 51
Water Yankee Point Marina 2013, oil, 10 x 12 in. Climbers, Third Pier 2013, oil, 10 x 12 in. 52 February-March 2014 / www.pleinairmagazine.com
Madame Bonnard Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940) 1895-1900, oil on cardboard, 16 7/16 x 12 9/16 in. Collection Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, courtesy the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. painting process because those are hard to add and keep bright and clean if they are applied later in the painting process, when the surface is wet. Surface Comparison A useful comparison can be made between the surfaces of paintings by Bality and Vuillard. Looking closely at Vuillard s Madame Bonnard and Bality s Water Yankee Point Marina, for example, shows how both painters took advantage of the warm tone on their canvases to add richness and harmony and to separate flat patterns. Bality works with a palette of colors that includes ultramarine blue, cerulean, cadmium red, alizarin crimson, cadmium yellow lemon, cadmium yellow medium, and titanium white. He sometimes adds cadmium orange, which, when mixed with burnt umber, will make a warm black. He normally works with either a No. 4 or No. 6 bristle brush on location, making Warm Springs Courthouse 2013, oil, 20 x 24 in. Hollywood Rapids 2013, oil, 10 x 12 in. www.pleinairmagazine.com / February-March 2014 53
ARTIST PROFILE Interior View From Screen Porch 2011, oil on canvas, 60 x 78 in. Studio the most of one brush for as long as possible. He does use bigger brushes when tackling a large canvas (as large as 60 x 78 inches) in the studio. I initially paint with thin oil color and little or no solvent so I can make a lot of dry marks, Bality says, explaining his painting process. As the painting progresses, I make changes in the shapes and colors, add figures or animals, or respond to anything else that occurs. I don t start painting from the background to the foreground, with each layer overlapping in atmospheric perspective. I think of the layers of space as flat shapes projecting on to the front surface of the picture plane. That s why I paint all over the canvas, with the subject informing me as I work, instead of having a systematic way of composing the planes of space from back to front or top to bottom. I really thrive on that uncertainty about a painting. While I am in the midst of that process, I really don t know if it will fail or succeed. I need that sense of risk to keep myself energized, stimulated by all sorts of options, and challenged by the lack of certainty. I wind up scraping down about one-third of the paintings started on location, but that s just one of the consequences of being open to changes in the scene and in my thought process. Additional Challenges The process of turning outdoor sketches into studio paintings sets up another set of challenges, Bality says, pointing to a set of large paintings he is developing from plein air studies. The studio paintings are never just enlargements or reproductions of the small paintings done on location. Instead, they evolve through an entirely new exploration of the ideas and feelings that surfaced during the plein air painting process. I begin by painting an overall tone of color on the canvas and make broad indications of the elements of the landscape. The plein air sketch guides me through that initial process, but as the studio painting progresses, I put the study aside and let the big painting tell me what it needs. I m just as likely to get stuck on new issues that arise when the elements of a scene are enlarged, but the truth is I would get bored if studio painting were automatic and predictable. The series of paintings Bality was developing when PleinAir magazine visited his studio in Richmond, Virginia, was commissioned by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond for a public space in the bank s headquarters. The sketches on which the large paintings are based were created on site in Richmond s James River Park. The client was concerned about potential damage to the stretched canvas, so Bality attached 1/4-inch plywood to the frames and stretched canvas over those firm supports. In terms of the subjects that interest me most, I primarily focus on scenes in Virginia, Bality says. There is just so much to see, and I ve always had a love of the sea and the mountains. I am compelled to paint those regional locations as well as the figures, animals, and buildings that populate them. Sometimes a figure or animal moves across the landscape and motivates me to paint the location, but I try to make them part of the painting, not the dominant elements. Necessity has helped Bality develop a strong work ethic and a balance between family life and professional activities. His weekday schedule is determined by the school routines of his two young children, leaving him larger blocks of time on weekends, when his wife isn t working. Because of that schedule, he has only participated in one plein air festival, and he teaches once each summer at Nimrod Hall Art Center in Bath County, Virginia. I ve always had jobs that made it necessary to use available time for drawing and painting, so I learned early on to take full advantage of the time, he says. That s one of the reasons I focused on sketching and plein air painting after I left art school. I think my work is better because I have to organize my time and respond quickly to subjects that intrigue me. I work well under the pressure of schedules and deadlines, and I d probably get less done if I could paint all day, every day. ANDRAS J. BALITY graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and did postgraduate work in art at the Cyprus College of Art in Cyprus. M. STEPHEN DOHERTY is editor-in-chief of PleinAir magazine. For more of Andras Bality s plein air and studio paintings, see the expanded digital edition of PleinAir. 54 February-March 2014 / www.pleinairmagazine.com
Expanded Digital Edition Content ARTIST PROFILE Jefferson Baths, Morning Fog 2013, oil, 24 x 30 in. www.pleinairmagazine.com / February-March 2014
Expanded Digital Edition Content ARTIST PROFILE Warm Springs, View From Chimney s 2013, oil, 24 x 30 in. Nimrod Bath 2013, oil, 20 x 16 in. February-March 2014 / www.pleinairmagazine.com