Month: October 2020

During Week 4 of Painting, I continued to work onto the boards from last week, making sure to consider uses of colour and line to build up interesting pieces. I enjoyed working onto boards of different sizes and experimenting with the amounts of detail I added to see how the images would be affected. I did find that I was often being too critical and trying to make things perfect. To improve on this, I used a palette knife to create some small pieces to allow me to loosen up and stop being so precise.

This is a small rectangular board painting I did where I explored using the colour green as a main colour palette. I really like how abstract this painting is yet it still maintains a sense of realism. Adding details in specific areas created a nice contrast that I would like to explore further.

This is a painting with a similar colour palette as the one above. I enjoyed making this painting very simple and feel that the colours work well together. I decided to not add every single detail of the buildings which is something I may consider doing more of in future. Overall I enjoy this painting but I would like to experiment with more adventurous colour palettes.

This is a small painting I did using a palette knife to explore texture and applying the paint in different ways to get effects that could allow me to develop my project. I like the colours I used and how it is quite messy. I would like to use palette knives on a larger scale piece to see what effect this has.

This is a larger painting I did using a purple colour palette. Again, I like how simple this piece is and how there is a lot of contrast. I enjoy adding washes of transparent paint to areas to build up layered images that I liked in my sketchbook work. I would like to take my uses of colour further with more contrast used but I feel this painting is quite effective.

This is another large painting I did onto board using a pink focused colour palette. I especially like how intricate this painting is and the way that each element works individually and together to create a striking piece. Using purple for the sky is interesting and makes me realise that often we don’t have to see the sky as blue, the fact that the sky changes colour during night, sunrise, sunset and due to the weather. I want to explore this further in my project.

This is another small painting I did using an orange/brown focused colour palette. I like that I wasn’t particular with the way I applied the paint and wasn’t worried about everything being perfectly straight as this adds an interesting effect to the piece and makes it more relatable. I would add more white tones to the windows to make them more realistic and add brick pattern but I don’t want to overwork the piece.

This is another small painting I did using the palette knives. I love how simplistic this painting is and the way that it focuses a lot on colour and texture rather than detail. I believe the colours used work really well and relate to other paintings I’ve done, creating a nice flow.

When looking at this painting from last week, I realised that the blue sky didn’t look right with the colours used in the buildings and so I changed it to orange as I felt it looked better. It also helped to relate this piece to other paintings

This is my studio space which I decided to add photocopies of my sketchbook work to show where I currently am with the project and to demonstrate my thoughts and work processes.

Tutorial:

Having a discussion with Ruth allowed me to pick out areas I was enjoying in my work including the elements of detailed areas, the layering of colours and washes that added subtle areas contrasting with the completely abstract areas. I found that I was being too precise by focusing on small paintings and using pen to sketch out my paintings first and so I was encouraged to make my space more painterly by standing up to paint rather than sitting at the desk and limiting myself.

I rearranged the studio to allow me to have more space to work and decided to make more collages using the left over paper from the first workshop to allow me to generate more ideas. I want to create some large scale pieces so that I can easily build up a body of work that shows how I have progressed with ideas and overcome issues. I am thoroughly enjoying this project so far even though I am quite stressed with the coronavirus situation and lockdown possibility at the moment.

During week 3 of Painting we did another workshop involving painting onto boards for quick explorations of our subject matter. We had a range of boards to work with which I felt was interesting to explore the ways that size could affect how much detail was added. I tried to do some quite realistic coloured pieces as well as some abstract pieces inspired by the artists I have been looking at. I only managed to get a couple of the paintings finished and so I took some boards home to work on for next week.

This is the first painting I did on a small square piece of board which features a section of an environment filled with buildings. This painting took a while due to the small details I decided to add but I like how abstract this is even though I used realistic colours.

This is another painting I did on a larger square piece of board of another composition of the same environment. I added some small brickwork which I feel is a captivating element. This painting is quite messy in areas which I will go back and fix at some point but I am really enjoying the process of painting onto board.

This is the third painting I did onto a thin rectangular piece of board. I really like how the colours of this piece work together and the small details really add to the painting as I feel the rest of it is quite simple.

I will continue to make these paintings onto board pieces that I took home with me as I feel that they are very effective. I like the ways the different paint colours contrast yet work well together.

As my project is based on Cornwall which I went to a few weeks before uni started, I have a lot of imagery to work with including beach views and seaside scenery which I feel will allow me to explore my artistic practice and will allow me to go down many routes. I am focusing on this for my subject matter as lockdown was a very upsetting time and going to Cornwall was a happy time.

Cornwall photos:

During week 2 of Painting, I used the painted sheets of A1 paper I prepared last week to create a collage onto the large sheet of Fabriano paper in my studio space. I used ripping techniques, cutting techniques and layering techniques to create an interesting environment based on photos on my phone of rural areas. Filling the whole sheet was a struggle but I enjoyed the process very much. I still have a small amount of collage to complete which I am hoping to do next week but this shouldn’t take too much time.

I also continued research by doing some sketches of environments in my sketchbook from real life and from photographs to build up a range of compositions and styles to work from. I had a lot of photographs of rural areas from when I went to Cornwall a few weeks ago and I feel these are interesting enough to start to build up a variety of work to take in different directions. I did some of the sketches onto different painted backgrounds in the sketchbook and started to apply paint to some of them in different styles to inspire me.

This is a quick sketch I did onto a pink coloured background I painted. I am hoping to make this page quite abstract to relate my work to the artists I have researched and build up a project with many opportunities.

This is a painting I have started in my sketchbook in which I built up layers of paint as I wanted it to be quite transparent. I like how sketchy the pencil lines are beneath the paint and on top. This is quite a realistic piece.

This is another painting in my sketchbook which features a beach view I saw in Cornwall. I found the small details very time consuming but it paid off overall.

During week 1 of Painting, I selected which project I want to do which is entitled ‘Environment’. I chose this project as I felt that it was very broad and related to the project I did in first year based around the Leicester train station which I really enjoyed but didn’t have time to explore to the best potential.

As I feel that I can be quite limited with my use of colour, I did some research to find artists who use colour in their studies of environments to inspire the way that I could experiment with colour in my own project. I also researched some artists suggested on the handbook who I liked to give me enough inspiration to get stimulated and inspired. I printed out some images of the artists work to put in my studio space so that I can make the space my own and make it portray my ways of thinking throughout my project.

Grant Haffner:

Grant Haffner is an artist who focuses on country road environments he sees whilst travelling in his truck. His work often has utility poles that constantly change position in his work to portray movement which works nicely with his bold uses of colour to create contrasts and harmonies. His uses of colour make the environments look quite surreal and childish yet they are still easy to identify as roads. His paintings are often very calm with the shapes building up to create detailed yet simple scenes. I especially like the way that the paintings demonstrate how calm and quiet rural areas are in comparison to cities and urban areas. His paintings are always different to show that no sunrise or sunset is the same and he enjoys depicting the changes of time in his work to have a large variation.

Amy Shackleton:

Amy Shackleton is an artist who considers the way that urban environments interact with nature with climate change informing the use of harsh weather to try to give viewers an idea of what the future could look like. Throughout this process, she actually hones in on the problems with our lives everyday and the ways in which climate change could be reduced. I like the way that her work is often built up of several layers and the fact that she creates her paintings by letting paint drip from bottles and using gravity by turning the canvas to build up her intricate urban cityscapes. The manmade elements are quite organised while the natural elements are adventurous and spontaneous to show the contrasts of the two elements combining. I also like her uses of colour as they are quite imaginative and go well with the dramatic ideas and elements she portrays.

Noemi Safir:

Noemi Safir is an artist who explores the ways that imagery can affect every person in individual ways, peoples responses to colour and emotion, relationships and music are different. She often takes photos of people in their everyday lives and then translates the photos into sketches before working with acrylics onto canvas. She enjoys creating art that is a reflection of her journey with art throughout her lifetime, she enjoys the uses of ‘happy colours’ and builds up her art in intricate layers of different shapes of colour. I like the fat that her art is very abstract yet it is still obvious what each painting is depicting. The build up of different shapes of colours work so well together yet also contrast in areas to pull the viewer in.

Frank Auerbach:

Frank Auerbach is an painter who focuses on a range of subject matters including landscapes based in North London and portraits. In the past Auerbach liked to work on top of old work, creating a range of layers which is the reason a lot of his work surfaces are so thick in his previous works. He has since stopped doing this, though his landscapes are often made from drawings he physically did whist he was there as it would be too impractical to do his paintings out in the open. I especially like his uses of colour and line, as well as the fact that his work can be so simple yet it is still obvious what his subject matter is. I like the fact that his work is quite messy and the paint is applied in a fun way as he isn’t too bothered about being precise which is something I would like to explore in my work.

John Piper:

John Piper was an artist who focused on British landscapes, in particular monuments and churches which he explored using a range of techniques. He liked to combine different techniques in his work, often layering different medias to create areas of focus and contrast. His uses of different styles are very interesting and something I would like to explore during this project as it can be good to not limit yourself to one particular style. I also love his uses of layering and this is something that could really benefit my work.

During week 1, I also prepared materials for next week, including stapling a large sheet of fabriano paper into my studio space and painting 16 sheets of A1 paper four colours (orange, pink, green and purple). As well as gathering equipment such as glue and applicators for the large scale collage.

References:

1. Grant Haffner
2. Amy Shackleton
3. Noemi Safir
4. Frank Auerbach
5. John Piper