Robert Julian Onderdonk (1882-1922) was an American impressionist landscape painter. He does not appear to be that widely recognized, especially compared to the more famous impressionists like Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh.
However, his landscape paintings are unique and have a certain vibrancy to them. A frequent subject of Onderdonk’s paintings is fields bluebonnet flowers, which have this rich blue color.
Below are 10 of Onderdonk’s stunning landscapes which feature the bluebonnet flowers.
One thing you can learn from these paintings is how Onderdonk created the illusion of thousands and thousands of these bluebonnet flowers. He obviously did not go through and detail every flower in the scene. Instead, he generalized 95% of the flowers and detailed the other 5%. That detailed 5% gives the illusion that the rest of the blue tones in the painting are also the bluebonnet flowers.
Also, notice the subtle changes in color harmonies in the different conditions and times of the day. During the bright and sunny days, the flowers are a much more vivid blue and have more clarity. On the other hand, there is reduced color saturation and clarity in cloudy and overcast conditions and at dusk and dawn.
In my opinion, Onderdonk is a very underrated landscape painter and there is much to learn from his beautiful landscapes. You can find more of his landscapes here.
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Happy painting!
Dan Scott
Draw Paint Academy
