Stunning Color Contrast by George Henry

George Henry (1858-1943) was a talented Scottish painter who attended the Glasgow School. His paintings demonstrate rich colors and strong contrasting elements.

My favorite painting by far is River Landscape By Moonlight. This is a perfect demonstration of how you can paint the illusion of light. As you are probably aware, we are not able to duplicate the effect of light itself with our paints. But we can come pretty close by painting the relative contrast of light, as shown in this painting. Henry used a sharp contrast in not only value, but also saturation and hue.  The result is a small area of great impact, similar to what light itself would look like. Also, notice how this small area of impact seems to balance against a much larger area of more subtle elements.

George Henry, River Landscape By Moonlight, 1887
George Henry, River Landscape By Moonlight, 1887

Below is another painting by Henry which utilizes sharp contrasting elements to create a very close rendition of light. The painting can be broken into two main areas – the foreground which is in shade and the background which is in light. These two distinct areas provide an interesting design.

George Henry, Noon, 1885
George Henry, Noon, 1885

Here are some more paintings by George Henry for your enjoyment:

George Henry, Winter
George Henry, Winter
George Henry, The Hedgecutter, 1886
George Henry, The Hedgecutter, 1886
George Henry, The Girl In White, 1886
George Henry, The Girl In White, 1886
George Henry, Picking Bluebells
George Henry, Picking Bluebells
George Henry, Pastoral
George Henry, Pastoral
George Henry, Landscape With Rainbow
George Henry, Landscape With Rainbow

Want to Learn More?

You might be interested in my Painting Academy course. I’ll walk you through the time-tested fundamentals of painting. It’s perfect for absolute beginner to intermediate painters.

Thanks for Reading!

I appreciate you taking the time to read this post and I hope you found it helpful. Feel free to share it with friends.

Happy painting!

Dan Scott

Draw Paint Academy

About | Supply List | Featured Posts | Products

2K Shares

Dan Scott is the founder of Draw Paint Academy. He's a self-taught artist from Australia with a particular interest in landscape painting. Draw Paint Academy is run by Dan and his wife, Chontele, with the aim of helping you get the most out of the art life. You can read more on the About page.

9 comments on “Stunning Color Contrast by George Henry”

  1. Very nice paintings. My favorite are “Noon” and “Landscape with rainbow”. Also I understand what complicated is to put in practice the notion of value, hue and saturation. When I accumulate more knowledge it seems that painting became more difficult.

    Reply
    • Hi Valentina. Interesting comment. It reminded me of the following quote by Edgar Degas:

      “Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.”

      Dan

      Reply
  2. beautiful; an inspiration to a young painter, sadly, envy from one who hasnt started ’til he was old and gray.

    Reply
  3. He caught a rainbow, that is so neat. So much unusual detail for a time with out cameras like we have today. I appreciate your sharing. Feels like we’re going to a museum of art with someone who appreciates and can express the feelings from the art. Thanks. ?

    Reply
  4. In the presentation of any artwork, there are ‘five’ pieces of information that must be included in the caption: name of the artist, title of the work, medium, size/dimensions, and the date the work was executed. I always ask my students to be very precise and specific if they include any images in their papers. I also make sure that I would give these along with the images I include in the handouts I create for them. Since I often refer them to your site (as an excellent reference–kudos!), please make sure that you also include the complete set of information with each image. It is only fair to the visitor.

    Reply

Leave a Comment