ArtistsNetwork.com 43andleavingcleanedges.I canhavethe
wholepaintingupandrunningthis
wayin 15 or 20 minutes.”Witha large
painting,thisattackis lessfeasible;
areasofthewashdrybeforetheartist
cangettothem,andevenwipingthem
outis problematicsincetheshaper
doesn’tworkaswellona canvasasit
doesona flatpanel.
BRUSHYCOLOR
WithhislargepaintingsLaguëholds
ontotheuseofa mothercolorbut
appliesit stagebystageasheproceeds
withhissecondlayerofpaint.Rather
thanplacethisoverallthelights,he
simplyincorporatesit intothepaint-
ingasheproceeds.Keepinga largepile
ofpaintonthepalette,he’llvarythe
huebyaddingothercolors.
Foreachsection,theartistmixes
a groupofcolorsandthenlaunches
ABOVE
NYSE Light
oil on panel, 24x36
OPPOSITE
Haight Ashbury Red
oil on canvas, 30x60
into his painting, beginning with
broad, blocky strokes. A confident
freedom with the brush allows
him to break edges and introduce
a wealth of lively paint happenings
as he scumbles colors or drags them
together. Sometimes he uses a knife
piled with several colors to achieve
a multi-colored stroke. What’s most
impressive is the directness and
decisiveness of the process in which
he combines bold strokes made with
a broad, flat brush; fluid, thinner
marks made with the narrow edge of
the brush; and the occasional more del-
icate marks made with a smaller brush.
While he does shove and drag the
paint, working edges and sometimes
moving things around, he attains the
picture with more or less first-time
brushing. “I tend not to build a paint-
ing in multiple layers,” says Laguë. I get
a more spontaneous result by trying to
lay the last stroke first. I think this is
a by-product of my watercolor days.”
Indeed, Laguë began his career as
a watercolorist and spent many years
working in animation as a background
designer, a job that gave him hugeexperience in mixing color and creat-
ing light and depth, using a variety of
media. Accustomed to the decisiveness
and inherently risky handling required
in watercolor, he says that he finds oil
more forgiving.
His experience with color is rein-
forced by his lifelong commitment to
drawing, including countless hours
spent drawing from a model. All of this
translates into a remarkable surety
of touch combined with a fine ability
to judge color and tone to achieve
immediate results.EXAGGERATION
As Laguë proceeds through the paint-
ing, he takes particular care to control
the softness of his edges. In large city-
scapes he often exaggerates the loss
of contrast and blur in the distance
in order to gain a stronger focus on
foreground features. “I always push
that,” he says. “It’s always something
dynamic in the large aerial paintings.
If there’s a bridge way in the distance,
for instance, I make it just a whisper.”
In fact, Laguë is never hesitant to
adjust the image to accord with the