Benoit Philippe: Impressionist Watercolor Paintings from the United Kingdom

Benoit Philippe is a Parisian born artist who works with oils, pastels, and watercolors. He now lives and paints in the United Kingdom while also authoring an excellent art blog entitled My French Easel.

In his email to me, Philippe described his artwork as “influenced by the French Impressionist painters and the way they played with light and colours.” After taking a look at his work, I’d have to agree.

I especially enjoyed his scenic watercolor paintings—here’s one entitled La Péniche.

Each of Philippe’s watercolor pieces reflect his French Impressionist style—you can see it in the loosely painted foliage and the multi-colored water—and yet there’s some great detail work in many of his paintings too.

Mount Saint-Michael (Cornwall) has all of the above, but it’s the water that I saw first.

Just look at the varied pinks, greens, yellows, and blues co-existing among those rippling waves, lending both color and movement to that ever-changing landscape.

And as for the details in this piece (if the masts, lines, and lettering on the boats weren’t enough) all those far-off shuttered windows give both structure and authenticity to the buildings along the water’s edge.

Philippe has the natural eye of an Impressionist, finding beauty in the ordinary things of life and nature, like this sunset behind a row of trees.

The drama of those long shadows, all that color splashed out upon the ground—it just seems like a perfect ending to a perfect day.

To see more of Benoit Philippe’s artwork, including his oil paintings and pastel pieces, be sure to visit his website at www.BenoitPhilippe.com.