Outside
“In plein air, the painter’s effort is about emotion. You have to be quick, capture the butterfly that moves away in time… There are not trees, houses, a mountain – there is a painting.”
(Jean-Claude Bobin, 2018 lecture “The Creation”)
In summer Jean-Claude Bobin enjoyed painting in situ in Conflans-Saint-Honorine on the banks of the Seine and in the Médoc on the banks of the Gironde estuary. In 1987 during a stay in San Francisco he created watercolours in the city’s harbour (Fisherman’s Wharf) and in 1997 during a stay in Venice he executed paintings in situ in the streets.
His painting on nature followed the guidelines of Master Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (1750-1820).
Atelier
“In the studio, the painter’s effort is focused on the composition because the emotion is fleeting. The resonance of the elements can only exist within a composition. Figuration is made to be seen. Composition is designed to be felt.”
(Jean-Claude Bobin, 2018 conference “La création”)
Jean-Claude Bobin worked hard on the composition of his paintings. In the studio before executing a colour painting he would search by pencilling, drawing and painting grey-in-grey. He used to say that colour resembled blush in the theatre.
Teaching
“To teach is to transmit a knowledge: artistic painting, composition of paintings (oil technique), drawing and painting of the Ornament (→ tempera technique) TO TEACH IS TO OFFER.”
Jean-Claude Bobin has 40 years of teaching experience in art and decoration schools
(IFIDEC, La Garenne-Colombes and at the Atelier de Décor Paris, rue Mont-Cenis).