me most is the precise rendering of
the effects of elements: the move-
ment of the water, the boat hulls that
are almost like abstract landscapes.
I often focus on the boundary
between water and another object:
the boundary between the water
and the land; water and a hull; and
water and wood. In fact, that’s what
my work in general is based on: the
boundary between two worlds.
Q: Does your unusual technique
influence your style?
A: It’s not so much the pastels but the
support that affects my style. When
I work on MDF, I primarily use very
hard pastels because soft pastels
won’t adhere to the bare board. All of
my large paintings are on MDF, and
I often leave the ground visible.
When I use a ground, I make my
own using natural earth such as that
found in the bay of Mont Saint-
Michel. I mix it into an acrylic base
medium, which gives it a natural-
colored base tone.Q: Does your training as a landscape
architect pique an interest in
structures?
A: Architecture interests me, but I’ve
abandoned that genre since leav-
ing Paris. I do what I call “shards” of
landscape. I can work very precisely,
but to juxtapose that, I create a more
mysterious dimension—one that
utilizes the painterly approach ratherthan the photorealistic. It can seem
quite precise when observed from
a distance, but close up, you can
clearly see the pastel strokes, on
which I insist. I don’t want to pre-
cisely identify the place that I paint.
I paint water, but we don’t need
to know where exactly it is. I don’t
like to localize my work too much;
I prefer it to appear more general,
more of an idea.Q: What’s your preferred color palette
of choice?
A: I use a variety of blues, oranges,
reds and purples, but they’re not
apparent. I often work with an ochre
background color because it’s the
complement of blue—a color I use
frequently for my marine-based
paintings—and it provides a light
from underneath.
The palette is close to reality, but
it’s enriched with colors that express
emotion. The underpainting is of the
essence. I explain the concept to my
students in this way: It’s like trying
to make a dish from a photograph
in a cookbook without having the
recipe. You may have all of the ingre-
dients, but you may not have a pie
at the end. You must paint the base,
which might not be visible, but it’s
essential because it unites the colors
and makes them shimmer. I work a lot
on the underlayers; there are always
at least two or three superimposed
layers. It’s the mixture of these colors
that gives richness to a painting.Q: Do you paint en plein air often?
A: Yes, very often, but I don’t paint
outdoors to finalize a painting.
Instead, I paint en plein air to take
notes. I use the outdoors to inform
my eye because it sees more colors
than the camera does. What I take
from the open air is the subject
matter and the color palette. I then
bring small sketches back to the
studio and work up my paintings.
I also work with reference photos,
but rarely just with one because
I find that the colors aren’t reliable.
For a pastel, I’ll take at least 15
photos of the subject to assist me
in constructing the painting.ArtistsNetwork.com 55