Reflection on Assignment 2 Tutor Feedback

I was fortunate to have my feed back via a google hangout which my tutor recorded and shared with me so that I can re-listen.  He followed this with a report.

Over all the feed back was good, fortunately I had spotted my mistakes, with regard to such things a misplaced shadows and perspective and already written them in the blog. During part two I had aimed to be experimental with the exercises and this has paid off in different ways. As we discussed, by not playing too safe during the exercises I have forced myself to work in different/new ways and therefore learnt each time. I feel that it has built my confidence as well as my experience working with oil paint.  My understanding of the reasons for preparatory work has grown and I am advised to continue, even do more.

My sense of enthusiasm for the course apparently comes through in the blog which I am very pleased about. I have often thought that my writing is tame compared to others so,  I will proceed, now, with more confidence. My insecurity about writing also relates to my cold reading of other artists work , but this has improved and I am asked to push myself to do more of this.

Points I have taken to work on going forward………

• Relating my work to other artists more specifically
• Some of my images on the blog are not opening correctly – try and find out why
• Try multicoloured grounds
• use context in the figure work as I need to work on perspective a bit more
• Mind map – photograph properly so they can be read on the blog
• Remember the edges – work doesn’t have to be all in the middle (Degas)
• Look at Lucian Freud, Jenny Saville, Euan Uglow, Degas

As last time I have taken points to consider and written them on a large sheet pinned up in my work room.

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Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse 1869 to 1950

Taking some time to look at his work today I decided to try and new method of notation.

 

I am hoping that by making a kind of mind map as I look through the books, I will be able to use this to make a more coherent blog entry  of my thoughts on what I have looked at. I have also discovered the dictation function on my Mac which I didn’t know existed…… this is brilliant and could make writing my blog is much quicker. 

The style of  Henri Matisse, developed and changed over time. Overall, he worked on simplification , and this can be seen very clearly in the painting “The Moroccan Cafe”.

 

There is only just enough information on this painting for us to see the ethnic culture of the scene, however it is clearly what it is.  Simple shapes for the figures include the white caps/turban head wear. The arches in the background and the border are the other two .Very minimal colour palette.

 

 

There is a quote from Mattis which goes… “We work towards serenity through simplification of ideas and of form. The ensemble is the only ideal. Details lessen the purity of the lines and home the emotional intensity we reject them”. 1909.

 

 

Matisse dabbled briefly with pointillism and was influenced by Cezanne. This influence  can be seen in the painting “Bathers by a River” the shading of the figures in this painting is very much in the style of Cezanne and the work itself has a collage quality which he will later use in his papercut works.

 

• I noticed in some photos he is shown holding his brush at the very tip and photos using a long stick for mark making therefore increasing the distance between hand and surface this is a method of simplifying lines.
• Human figure shape – in his early school to work fridges anatomically correct in their proportions however as his work progressed his figures became distorted more rounded and/or elongated.
• Portraits often very simplified and the colours unrealistic.
• Colours always strong, favouring red and a strong blue and a strong blue/green and a basic  yellow. Colours often flat not blended. Red can be seen in the painting Harmony in Red and The Red Studio and the strong blue in The Conversation and Bather.

Towards the end of his life he created papercut works, ultimatley simplifying work down to flat shapes.

Just for fun I then tried a couple of these myself in my sketchbook. I didnt have the right colours in my paper, but this helped cement my understanding of the shapes he used.  The stars in particular come out quite naturally that shaped if not drawn before cutting.

After Matisse

After Matisse

 

 

References:

Sternau, S.A. (1999) Henri Matisse. New York: Bookmart.

Watkins, N. (1993) Matisse. London: Phaidon Press.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Henri_Matisse

https://Henrimatisse.org

Exercise: Simple perspective in interior studies

Tags

OCA, Oils, Painting, POP1

For this exercise I had chosen one of my drawings from the previous exercise, but looked at it again and asked myself

• how to simplify it slightly….take out the chair, zoom in a bit
• consider the angles … after looking at perspective
• try and work looser, aka the work I’d been looking at by Pierre Bonnard, however we were asked to keep the colours limited so not as colourful.
• work by painting, not so much drawing.

 

As per the brief I lightly drew the main shapes and painted them in.

Then proceeded to begin filling in the painting.

Keeping the colours as limited as possible I also tried mixing them on the surface which definitely gave it a livelier feel than the flatter work on my first paintings.

The final painting.

What went wrong.

•  I wanted to tone down the red of the rug, but wasn’t quite sure how. I believe once oil is dry one can glaze over with almost clear wash which could take down the brightness.
• I am unhappy with the TV and cabinet, I tried to make them less bold but without success.
• I am not convinced by the top of the door to the TV room, the angle is not quite right.

What went right.

• Very pleased that I have produced this, as it is my least favourite part of the course so far and took some discipline to complete.
• I am happy with the application of the paint, it is different again to what I have done so far, each painting is teaching me something different about how oils work.
• I am becoming more confident with oil paint.
• I like the softness of the edges, they are not straight, but that gives character to the image.
• Even though the paintwork is white in the house, there is not one completely white part of the painting, and I am becoming more aware of/and enjoying adding colours from nearby objects to surfaces.

 

Sept 7th

Ive come back and looked at it again (becoming the best way for me to spot things).  there was something jarring….think I’ve spotted it……my perspective lines were wrong.  Put image in Indesign and marked on the lines.  The top of the door and the top of the picture on the wall red and blue lines……need correcting.

 

More Reflection at point of submitting for assessment – this is the start of my utilisation of technology to assist me.  From here on I use my laptop and ipad to help answer questions, on colour, perspective and running ideas.

Dutch Realist Painters

Research point Research the work of the Dutch realist genre painters and choose two or three paintings that particularly appeal to you. Find out what you can about the artist and their intentions. Look at the devices employed by the painter to draw the viewer into the experience of the occupants of the room. Look at interiors that have been painted by various artists from different periods. Look especially at how illusions of space have been created, how doorways and windows form a part of the composition and how furniture and objects are depicted either as a central focus for the painting or as secondary to any human drama.

 

Pieter de Hooch (1629-83)

The painting I chose to look at by this artist is “Courtyard of a house in Delft” 1658.

The light has been captured so well, the choice of colours really showing the woman and child are in daylight whilst the other woman is in shadow in a passageway.  The light again showing daylight at the end of the passage. The painting is almost divided in half by the brick wall on one side of the arch, but this divides the happy scene of the woman and child (their faces lit by the daylight)with the sad/pensive scene of the woman in the shadows(we cant see her face but she is standing looking out into the light). Both figures are framed in their settings drawing more attention to them, the happy pair by the wall and some wood at an angle forming a frame and the sombre woman in the archway and shadow.  The brickwork on the floor has fab perspective lines drawing us into the picture.

I wrote all the above not having read any discription of the picture, I now discover that the woman with the child is a servant…presumably therefore the woman in the passage is the childs mother ?

Gerard Houckgeest (1600-1661)

This artist specialised in “imaginery” church interiors of a very complex nature

There is an incredible amount of detail in this painting. The light coming in from the left hitting the tiled floor and the arches illuminates the people within.  the right hand side of the picture takes the viewer into the corridor of arches and the colours fade the further in we go being a use of aerial perspective.  Not a picture I warm to at all, but admire for the patience it must have taken to accomplish.

 

Frans Hals (1580 1666)

I started looking at Frans Halls and a thought struck me that everyone in his paintings looks happy 🙂 Almost all his portraits the sitter appears to be smiling or laughing, looking jauntily over their shoulders.  Its almost like a string of selfies!  I then found it was he who did The Laughing Cavalier!  He must have been great company as his sitters all seem so relaxed.

I particularly liked…….the pic below.

Willem van Heythuysen c.1638

 

The casual pose of this feels almost like a snapshot as the chair would surely not stay at that angle for more than a second or two. There is more context in this portrait than the close ups above. The colours of the surrounding room and furnishings are in the same area as his clothes which means that his face stands out and he looks as if he might be in conversation with the artist, swinging back and forth on his chair.  One part of the painting that feels odd to me is the swathe of curtain in the top corner, the position doesn’t feel right.

 

 

 

 

Reflection at point of submitting for assessment ……this is definitely a point at which I became more confident writing about paintings, I started to write more freely and from the gut here, and it was a big step forward for my research.

 

 

 

 

 

Reference:

http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/dutch-realist-artists.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Houckgeest

Pierre Bonnard

Whilst on Pintrest I came across this artist and his work caught my eye. The picture that I spotted first was…………

Still Life with Table Cloth

We have been looking at how colour can evoke a mood and this did just that for me.  Summer with some freshly picked fruit on the table.  The tablecloth really does dominate the picture and the red in the pattern and the cherries really stand out against the muted shades of the garden foliage in the background.

 

I am going to try to find some books at the library………will come back to this artist.

25th Aug

Nude in an Interior 1935

 

 

Found a couple of books and  have ordered from library….continue search……

 

 

My Tutor directed me to this picture in the meantime.

My initial reaction…wow. just love the colours, the fact that there isn’t one flat surface, even the plain surfaces have different colours in them, the colours are all reflected in the figure that you can just see through the door.  I have difficulty taking my eyes off this…..there is a wonderful line of light all down the side of the figure…..

 

 

 

17th Sept 2016

I have just picked up one of my books from the library.

Bonnard Colour and Light (no date) Tate Publishing.

First thoughts on skimming through….at first glance the paintings are full of colour, however looking at them for longer there is a dominant all over colour, even if it is just flecks. for instance in the “Nude in an Interior” above there is a strong presence of blue green, in others red is dominant, as with ‘Table in Front of a Window’ and in “The Bathroom Mirror” a cold grey blue.  Has he worked with a particular limited pallet or used the dominant colour underneath and worked over it?

The Bathroom Mirror 1908

 

Table in Front of a Window

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Bonnard Colour and Light (no date) Tate Publishing.

http://artuk.org/discover/artists/bonnard-pierre-18671947

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/pierre-bonnard-nude-in-an-interior

Part 2. Ex Still Life with colour used to evoke mood.

Tags

OCA, Oils, Painting, POP1

Before starting this painting…..I did some thinking beforehand and wanted to create a  happy mood, (I’d just been watching the Rio 16 closing ceremony)  I had no idea where to start so …….I started with a bright vermillion red thin acrylic wash..aiming for a warmth as a starting point.

My last picture ending up quite dull I also decided to go for something different style wise as well as colour.  I had just attempted a bit of pallet knife work in a previous picture and so went for it with just  a pallet knife and bright paint.

I thoroughly enjoyed dragging on the paint and letting it mix ,with little control from me, apart from the choice of colours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started to get a bit carried away and  where I had originally thought I would do unrealistic colours as well, I settled on exaggerated real colours.

I have never produced anything like this and at the moment I’m loving it……It still needs some shadows but there’s so much wet paint on there I cant attempt it yet……I’m thinking violet for these in a fine glaze, but I don’t want to spoil it yet.

I cropped it here just to get a close up view.

I think that I have achieved a holiday feel, it says mediterranean to me and thiscomes from the warm red underneath that I have deliberately let show through.

I have tried to crop these so they are the same for comparison.

This has been a very interesting exercise and I have learnt quite a bit about myself here.  I like both of these for different reasons, however I also like them both for the one reason that they have also shown me that stuff can be painted other than realistically…….I have shied away from still life before, as I always found it a little boring.  Looking at these side by side I find if hard to believe they are by the same person.  The brightly coloured one looks even brighter “in real life” I havent managed to capture it well with the camera.  The vase itself is actually mottled glass and I chose it mainly because of the shape.

 

Further reflection at point of submission –  This is right next to my discovery of Pierre Bonnard and his wonderful use of colour and coloured grounds.  With hindsight it is hard to believe that I haven’t mixed up the dates of the blog somehow… the style of paint application and the colours are so influenced by that piece of research. I had also  been looking at colour contrasts and op art and pointillism in previous research. This boldness of colour is also a part of my work that I can now see as a recurring theme.

 

 

Part 2 Ex Still Life with Complementary Colours

Tags

OCA, Oils, Painting, POP1, Still Life

My first step in tackling this exercise was to scribble some colour studies in my sketchbook, helping me to decide and looking a little bit at layout.  I had already made the decision that as this and the next exercise were going to use the same composition, I would keep it simple.

My layout being simple I decided upon lemon and violet, the simple reason was I really don’t like red and green (too christmassy for August) and Orange and Blue would be my natural choice and I’m trying to keep pushing myself to go out of my comfort zones.

Putting a ground of acrylic paint on first lemon/white.

I started to build the colours, at first a bit timidly with a dryish brush, my concern was could I use both colours on the same object. It became apparent that this was fine and I tried different methods to apply the colour, including stippling for the pear, which was only half successful.

 

 

Adding shadows and reflections.

Final Exercise

This ended up looking rather dull. As I mixed the violet and lemon I ended up with a drab brown.  I hadn’t seen that coming as my pencil sketch didn’t give me any inkling.  The apple seems to work fine, I think I kept the colours more separated.  My orange has ended up rather flat too. The jar itself I am pleased with, again, like the apple although I used both colours, I kept them mainly seperate.

Research point: Optical Effects

 

George Seurat – 1859 – 1891

• Post impressionist painter and draughtsman.
• Developer along with Paul Signac of Pointillism
•  juxtaposed small dots of pure colour, intended to combine and blend not on the canvas but in the viewer’s eye.

Bathing at Asnieres 1884

The Seine and The Grande Jatte 1988George Seurat – 1859 – 189

 

 

Bathing at Asnieres important painting,  – towards Pointillism. This was not originally pointillist at all but certain areas were revisited and the dots added for more vibrant colour.

 

 

By 1888 when this picture was painted it is apparent that the artist is becoming bolder with this style and the dots are more apparent giving a soft quality to the picture. There are no lines at all these are created only by change in colours of the dots.

 

 

 

Eiffel Tower 1889

Of the three paintings I have looked at here, by Seurat, this is by far my favourite.  Now the dots are larger and less ordered. The Tower itself is almost disappearing into the sky.  It is painted in the same pallet as the rest of the picture and the whole picture has an autumnal feel.  It is almost abstract but still an identifiable.

 

 

 

Paul Signac 1863 – 1935.

•  French neo-impressionist painter
•  working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the pointillist style
• originally trained as an architect

 

Cassis, Cap Lombard, Opus 196, 1889

Painted by P Signac, I find this very clean to view, it uses a limited palette, blues and oranges which are complementary and therefore accentuate each other and yellows and greens softer on the eye.

The dots here are evenly, but tightly painted which gives an overall smoothness.

 

 

 

This painted a little later with more vibrant colour and larger dots.

Not so gentle on the eye but the size of the dots and bright colours giving a more realistic representation of foliage.

 

The Pine Tree at Saint Tropez, 1909

 

 

Whilst looking for information on op art I read the article on the Op-art.co.uk website below.

http://www.op-art.co.uk/history/perspective/

http://www.op-art.co.uk/history/op-art-history-part-ii/

http://www.op-art.co.uk/history/op-art-history-part-iii/

Untitled Diagonal Curve-1966 Bridget Riley

Galaxie 1979 Victor Vasarely

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above two examples of Op Art.  Op Art is designed to fool the eye by using colour and line to create movement or the illusion of it.  The the picture Galaxie by Victor Vasarely one is not sure whether the smaller central square is at the back or front kof the picture, and the Bridge Riley picture creates a simulated movement bye the use of black white and navey lines.

Op art also optimises the colour theories that we have been looking at previously. By using complementary colour, the colours are boosted by each other increasing the effect of the illusion.

 

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Seurat

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/georges-seurat

http://www.georgesseurat.org/The-Eiffel-Tower-1889.html

http://www.paul-signac.org/the-complete-works.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Signac

http://www.op-art.co.uk/

 

Part 2 Exercise Successive Contrast

Taking a little time to do this exercise of staring at a colour and then looking at a blank white page to see the opposite colour appear,  – its complementary colour.

Part 2 Ex Exploring Contrasts

The first part of the exercise involved painting a small square several times and then painting another square round it in a colour close to it on the spectrum. Looking at this top row of squares you can see that they are all blending together, the two at the far right perhaps having a little more distinction between colours as I go further away from the colour on the colour wheel.

Next we are asked to use complimentary colours, those opposite each other on the wheel.  Here they have the effect of enhancing each other.

The final part of the exercise, choosing complimentary colours again, but putting a neutral grey right next to them. Here the neutral takes on a slightly different shade relative to which colour it is with -simultaneous contrast.