On Figure Painting > American artist George Van Hook, like many, got creative when Covid affected the art world. He put an ad in his local newspaper announcing that he was looking for art models to pose outdoors and had enough responses to keep him busy throughout the lockdowns.
In this video interview with Eric Rhoads, George shares a figure painting demonstration based on a work he created using an art model in a garden. This way, he’s able to explain his process for painting both a figurative and landscape painting. “The objects all become one,” he says.
George explains how to look for shapes that interlock; how and why he “works the whole canvas” while painting; and more. Watch below:
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George Van Hook was born and raised in Abington, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Philadelphia. He began painting very early and was able to participate in the vibrant artistic culture of the region. The family owned a farm in Bucks County, home of the Pennsylvania impressionists, and he became heavily influenced by their fine academic training coupled with a love of the prosaic landscape. Another early local influence was the “Brandywine Tradition”, the illustrative work of Howard Pyle and the generations of Wyeths. This was further enhanced by a close association with coastal Maine. George has spent many summers painting in the mid-coast area of Rockland and Rockport Harbor, and on North Haven Island where his wife’s family owned property adjacent to the famous Boston artist Frank Benson. Learn more about George Van Hook at georgevanhookfineartist.com.
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