Painting in Series
Working primarily in series allows O’Neill to pursue a particular motif into greater depth. He often finds that a given subject will begin to reveal itself only after a few sessions. It is always astonishing how much a given motif can change over the course of a series. Click here to read more about Series.
Click on the images to see each full series:
The Big Pine
One of O’Neill’s longest-running series, looking up into the canopy of a large pine tree, illuminated by afternoon light.
Sainte Victoire, Les Lauves
Seen from the Chemin des Lauves in Puyricard, over distant cypress trees and a vast wheat field.
Sainte Victoire, Lavender
The Sainte Victoire mountain seen from a lavender field, with a small stone cottage.
Almond Blossoms
The first major outdoor motif of the calendar year, the flowering of these hundred-year-old almond trees is an event O’Neill looks forward to all winter.
La Saluté
The Venitian domes of the Saluté, the Dogana, and the Giudecca Canal, seen from the island of San Giorgio Maggiore.
Puyricard Trees
Trees and field in the rose-colored light of daybrake.
Lac d’Annecy
The alps loom over the beautiful Lac d’Annecy, casting their reflections in the clear water.
The Doge’s Palace
This series explores the famous Doge’s Palace in Venice, seen from the island of the Giudecca. It includes both paintings and drawings.
Giverny Trees
A hedgerow of massive trees in Monet’s village, seen from across a vast field at sunrise and sunset.
The Lascaux Copies
An investigation in oil of the famous cave paintings at Lascaux.
Venice, Sunrise
Each morning in Venice, O’Neill begins his day with a study of the sun rising over the Salute, seen from the Accademia Bridge.
The Quince Trees
Afternoon, morning, and evening light illuminates a stand of quince trees in August. This motif is an exploration of color-atmosphere, light, and relative abstraction.
Chateau d’Alpheran
The magnificent Provencal Chateau, visible among the trees and hills of Puyricard.
Sainte Victoire, Bibemus
Seen from the Plateau de Bibemus, the mountain rises up and becomes wedded to the surface of the painting itself.
Peonies
Peonies against a dark blue backdrop.
Wheat field with Poppies
Poppies growing among the golden early summer wheat
Individual Compositions
Pieces that are not part of a larger series.
Drawings
In series and as individual compositions
O'Neill Cushman is a contemporary American artist living and working in Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France. A former student at the Marchutz School of Fine Arts in Aix, he now works there as a professor and studio manager. In 2016 he recieved his MFA from the internationally based TransArt Institute. Working both in the studio and en plein air, he focuses on painting after the visible world, following an approach he calls phenomenological expressionism. This method centers around the idea that human perception is integral to our understanding of the world, and that pursuing a poetic truth in perception is a vehicle for creating artwork that acts as a living whole. As a plein air painter in Aix-en-Provence, his motifs are rapid explorations of the stunning landscape in which he lives, and this pursuit draws him simultaneously to the dramatic Mont Sainte Victoire that Paul Cézanne popularized and to the sudden moments of lasting awe that can be seen in something as simple as a stand of trees or an old bell tower. In the studio, he brings the same pursuit indoors, exploring perceptual moments of dramatic tension in still life, figure, and portraiture. O'Neill’s work is primarily oil painting on canvas, but he works in graphite, conté crayon, and chalk pastel on paper as well. Although O'Neill spends most of his time painting in Aix-en-Provence, his work has taken him on painting trips to Venice, Italy, Giverny, France (home of Monet and his famous garden) and Vermont, New York, New Jersey, and Washington, DC in the United States.