Oil Painting of Taz

Visting Exhibitions

Went to London last week and visited the Tate Modern and the Royal Academy Summer show for the first time. I could have spent all day in the Tate as it is so large . I only saw the main collection which was my main aim as i wanted to see the Mark Rothko paintings. Which i loved especially when i stared at them the shapes started to pulse with my breathing and heartbeat which was weird. I asked Martin if it worked the same on him and it did. Martin is not arty and explaining some of the art to him is futile as he he is totally sceptical and i must say some of the art in the Tate takes some justifying.
The Summer Show at the Royal Academy had been on the television showing the type of work submitted by the public so i was looking forward to this show. I did enjoy it and was amazed by the prices put on some of the work. Martin pointed at some water colour flowers and said "You have done something like this" I said "If i had done that i would put it in the bin!" He then said "Well you would've thrown away £22,000!" It was by Dame Elizabeth Blackadder. So now Martin says i know nothing about art! Which could be true. I can see this will be a standing joke for years to come. It is a very popular exhibition and i would like to make it a yearly visit and maybe one day actually exhibit.Nearly forgot that we saw Anthony Gormleys 'Blind Light' Exhibition. My favourite work was his Matrices and Expansions. He has made structures of stainless steel wire and has hung them from the ceiling so they appear to float. Within the sculpture are shapes of bodies. Some are obvious and others take time to see. The structures are open and could be described as drawings in space. I also liked 'Event Horizon' an installation where he has placed casts of his body on rooftops around the Thames all looking towards the Hayward Gallery. This kept you spotting them for the rest of the visit in London.

Sumary of Painting and New Media Project.

I feel that the paintings i have done may not be what i would've chosen to paint but i have learnt a lot about technique from each one. Painting on raw canvas was a challenge but when i got used to the surface i enjoyed it. Also i could see what Laura meant about the black looking more lively when it is mixed from burnt umber and cobalt blue. The response to the Soutine painting taught me to work out how an artist has worked, by building up layers of tone and colour. I used this technique for the colour collage painting. Working this way meant i tackled the whole painting at once and the composition could be considered for some time, especially using oils.Thinking about colour and not form made me think about brushstrokes achieving light and dark.I wanted to use white to try to match the colours but realised i didn't need to. I achieved light by leaving less paint on parts of the shapes. These lessons will stay with me and be useful for my next paintings.

Elemental Landscapes by Jo Budd 122x69cm.

Sewn Textile Collage.

Earth Sea Sky by Jo Budd 190x150cm

Sewn Textile Collage

Detail : Corrugated Iron by Jo Budd 170x260cm.

Went to Farfeild Mill at Sedergh which was interesting. They have artists work displayed in small areas and small work rooms for the artists so that you can see them at work or talk to them. Also there are rooms for larger exhibitions. At the moment it is the work of Jo Budd who is a painter who works with fabric rather than paper or canvas. Her work 'Beyond Surfaces' are feelings about landscape which are expressed through vibrant colours, subtle marks and textures. They are made up of layers of dyed and painted silk. From a distance they look like paintings but close inspection reveals the stitches and lose thread that add to the effect.

Fauvism and Henri Matisse.

The painting i have done reminds me of Fauvism, which was a french art movement in 1900s. It was led by Henri Matisse. It was abstract art that uses brilliant contrasting colour and simpilfied shapes. Fauvism did not last long and the word fauves means wild beasts in french so it was not very complimentary. I like some of the paintings done by this method such as this Lady In the Hat by Matisse.

Close up.

Liked where some areas of paint showed through the canvas because they gave a feeling of light without using white paint. Some areas are quite thick with paint which i am not as happy with because they look a bit like plastic.(Dark blue)

Close up.

Liked areas where the colours mixed over each other.

Close up of painting

Like this effect!

Finished Painting

The overall feeling i get from the painting is playfulness which is how i felt when i was experimenting with the colours,brushwork and textures. It looks child like probably because of the bright colours and simple shapes.

Howard Hodgkins Prints at Abbot Hall Kendal.

Went to see this exhibition over the weekend. His work is very colourful and i found myself wanting to look at certain areas of his work but was a bit frustrated with the reflection off the glass that was covering the prints. I suppose it is to stop the public from touching but it did spoil the viewing of the prints if you were stood in the wrong place. I was intrigued to work out the layers of the prints and found myself counting the colours and tones. The textures and effects he had produced were amazing and looked very close to his paintings. He has hand coloured some of the prints so they seem to have the vividness of his paintings. I could have stayed longer looking at them but i went over the road to the Brewery Arts to see what was on there. What a load of rubbish! I cant remember the name of the artist but the paintings were on bits of card pinned to the wall. That might not have been too bad if the painting was good but they were all very similar about the heart and the painting technique was poor. I stayed 5mins, wish i had stayed at Abbot Hall!

Kandinsky

Not sure i like much of his work which has lots of detail and geometric shapes flying all over. I like the circles and squares probably because it forms a pattern and it looks free without sharp edges.

Richard Diebenkorn

Really like the colours and the loose brushwork that create a textural effect.

David Hockney

I haven't really looked at Hockneys paintings apart from the swimming pool one but after painting with colour in mind i like this one.

Artists that deal with colour.

Patrick Heron.
I liked this painting because the colours are restful and there is a little bit of detail in the dripped paint area. I also like the idea that this is painting, just for the colour and shape which is what we have been doing.

PAINTING IS FUN!

Had a good day yesterday. I made sure i had a full day set aside for just painting and it worked for a change. I started by building up brighter colours on top of the shapes because the the colours had started to look dirty mixed in with the umber background. As i was doing this i was not happy with the flatness that was happening.So i experimented with thicker paint and different brushstrokes. This was it! I loved it! This build up of layers gave each shape more depth which is something that must appeal to me. I came away from the painting feeling excited that it was looking much better than i ever imagined it was going to be. I have not looked at the painting this morning so i hope i still feel the same when i do.

Close up of the painting so far.

Starting the painting.

I decided to start the painting in a similar way to how i painted the Soutine painting by building up the layers but this time i am using oils. I started with a burnt umber and yellow wash. Then i painted the shapes with a paler under colour for each shape. I needed to let the oils dry for a day before continuing. This is the painting up to this point. Lisa thought the shapes looked like sweets which i like the idea of since the shapes are from a childs game.

Painting with colour. My collage of coloured shapes

This is the third painting in the project. Laura gave us some coloured shapes that we could either, create a collage or a sculpture with wire. With oils or acrylics paint the shapes without using black or white and fill the whole canvas.

Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt. Pastel on paper.

A Short Course in forgetting Chemistry.
James Elkin talks about painting as a form of alchemy. Alchemy means,any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value. So i would have to agree with Elkins thoughts because that is what great painters have done with paint! He tried to recreate Monet's technique but what he couldn't know is Monets thoughts and feelings and i think they are the key to what makes a great painting after mastering what you want the paint to do. I have discovered Mary Cassatt's work, she manages to combine what is painted with how it is painted. Her paintings and pastels of mothers and children are very delicate and gentle which portray the relationship between mother and child.

Howard Hodgkin

'Venice Sunset' and 'In Bed In Venice'

I love these paintings because of the way the paint blends in and over itself. The effect is mesmerising. I discovered Howard Hodgkin towards the end of my Foundation course last year. I instantly liked his work probably because of the colours and his use of paint.

Sun Flowers by Van Gogh

Oil on canvas
92x73cm

Does painting relate to life?

Life is continually evolving but a painting stays the same. It is the person viewing the painting that changes. Years ago i saw Van Goghs Sunflowers in Paris. I liked looking at art at that time but had no real knowledge about it. When looking at the painting i was surprised how small it was and found the colours drab and the sunflowers ugly. My friends who were not particularly interested in art were saying similar things. I do remember thinking that i liked the texture of the paint. Now i wonder if i would think the same if i were to see it now with a little more knowledge. The painting will not have changed but i have.

I have noticed that i am recognising versions of paintings on adverts and credits on TV programmes.I think Monet has inspired the new M&S advert with his red poppy fields. The beginning of Desperate Housewives has used The Wedding Portrait by Jan van Eyck and a Lichtenstein style picture to portray the changing role of women in society.
My job as a designer was something i did even when i wasn't at work i would be continually thinking up new ideas. So it was more than just a job it was an obsession.I would get annoyed with myself and deliberately try to think of something else. Now i am learning more about painting i feel i am continually thinking about it and i know it will be my new obsession. This is what attracts me to painting the fact that i have always used a paintbrush to work with and i feel it is a natural progression to want to carry on but learn to paint for my own satisfaction.

Julie Ann Scott

This was the painting i saw which was advertising Julie Ann Scotts exhibition at Kendal Brewery Centre 2006. I was not disappointed i really liked most of the work in that exhibition. I would put more of her work on my blog but i can not get it off her web site. I liked the creased texture she had applied on to the canvas before the paint and her colours were not too bright but not dull either. The compositions were mainly abstract landscape with a modern feel. The canvass were about 2" thick which made them into objects as well as paintings. This is a style of painting i would like to try, maybe not landscapes but more a response to the style.

Paintings by Paul Cezanne

While researching these were some paintings that caught my interest because of the colour and brush work.

Flowers by Edouard Manet

This maybe an old fashioned type of painting that maybe your grandma would have in her front room but i like the way the paint has been used to achieve light and dark. It looks so easy. Manet painted flowers in his final months before his death they are all beautiful. I am researching artists to find one that says it all for me.So far i have been attracted to the Impressionists for their use of brush work.

Qualities within my own work.

After getting over the fact i felt i was just trying to make a copy and not worry about my brushstrokes looking like Soutines' i enjoyed painting the close up of the cows head. During in the painting there is a time when it looks nothing like what i was trying to achieve but as the layers went on i found the last part most enjoyable.Especially if the brush had picked up more than one colour and it added another unexpected dimension. I liked the pale colours going on last because it suddenly livened up and made the build up of the darker tones worth while. I have liked this way of working and will try to use it in future work.

Paintings

These two paintings are of areas within the Soutine painting. I found an area that looked like a cows head and have responded to this by making it even more evident that it is a shape of a head. I like the brush movement and build up of layers on these two paintings better than the first two.I think i prefer working with oils although working with acylics made this project quicker.

First paintings.

These are the first paintings. One is a bad copy and the other is the area i keep looking at beacause of the eye!

Responding to Soutines' painting.

Drawing and first layer of paint to map out the compostion of the painting. This is where i am not sure what the difference between copying and responding to a painting is. I felt that because we were trying to copy the composition and the colours and the postion of the brush marks this would end up a bad copy.Is a response, copying the style of painting on to a subject of my own?

Side of Beef and Calf's Head by Chaim Soutine. Oil on canvas 92x73cm 1923

When i first saw this painting i was attracted to the colours and the movement and texture of the brushstrokes. As an animal lover i hated the subject and i kept looking at what was the head, ears and eye. After the drawing exercise i could see that the carcase had shapes in it that resembled bones and flesh. I found it frustrating drawing it with a pencil because i wanted to draw the movement and tone of the brushstrokes and i found i was drawing line and shape instead of tone and texture which is what i found interesting. I felt that the painting was much bigger than it is because of the freedom of the brushstrokes and when it was projected large on the wall it looked imposing which is what i would've thought was part of the artists intention with a controversial subject as dead meat. Or may be it was just something interesting for him to paint at the time to just enjoy the action of painting.

Caravaggio

Derek Jarmen portrayed Caravaggio as a rebel which was true to his life and his paintings. He painted real life as he saw it which in those days people didnt want to see. Some of his work for the church was often refused because of this.His paintings and life were passionate and rebeliouse which was reflected in the film. Some of the film was based on the story of his life and some was fantasy and it was hard to tell which was which so if you didint know anything about Caravagio (which i didnt)the film was confusing in parts. The film kept my interest because it felt like i was looking at a moving painting. Every shot was like a posed painting because of the lighting and positioning of the actors. This was delibratly done especially when it looked like one of his paintings and you only knew it wasnt when someone moved. There was a humourous side to the film when items like calculators,typwriters and moterbikes made an appereance this added a light hearted side to a mostly sombre film. I enjoyed the film even though i was not ready to do any painting after it.

Rothko Red on Cream

Rothko was very particular about how his paintings are shown.The lighting changes the mood of the painting and what is placed on the walls near the paintings has to be sympathetic. Most of his paintings have a painted edge which is important to the painting. Is this because he was aware of a painting being static and different lighting changes this.
I have not seen a Rothko in the flesh yet but i am visiting the London Tate in July where some of his paintings are on display. I hope i am not disappointed!

Films

The Peter Greenway film 'A Walk Through H' was interesting in that the close ups of the maps had lovely patterns and marks, but a little repetitive towards the end. His made up stories that went with the maps were comical to start with then just irritating especially with his voice and music. Somewhere in the film it was to do with flight patterns of birds but i missed this and i probably wondered why they kept showing birds. Birds don't need maps they instinctively know where to turn right.
The Jean-Luc Godard film was annoying with the sub titles because i lost the feel of the film with having to read everything. The only interesting part was when it showed how a painting was made with layering. This part interested me so if i was going to make a film about painting i would focus on this. At the moment i am interested in Mark Rothko and i would like to know how he started his paintings and what made him chose the colours and shapes. What were his thoughts and moods and did they affect what he was painting? What made him leave certain shades and marks and when were his paintings finished? Also it would be interesting to see if his technique could be replicated as in 'What Painting is' by James Elkins, trying to replicate a Monet painting.

Object painting

During the process of making this painting i learnt that it was very experimental because of the size,canvas surface,working on the floor,mixing oil paint and brush choice. Only after discovering what the surface would do to my choice of brush size and consistency of paint could i start to put down the marks i wanted and even then it was more of a compromise to work with the materials and mostly each stroke was not what i expected so it was a build up of marks rather than fluid ones which came later to sit on top. The size and working on the floor made the object change due to me moving around so i think i address this by perhaps painting areas that are there then make up areas to make the painting look right. I enjoyed doing the large size painting because it felt good to be free with the brush strokes. This is something i would like to work on so that my future paintings have more movement and freedom. I feel that working in the wallpaper industry where everything had to be precise has stayed with me in my style of painting and i would like to be more care free.This i think can be achieved by being relaxed with the materials and techniques being used and perhaps being past the experimental stage and finding a style that works for me.

Once in a Painting by John Berger

I have reread this article to see if it can help me decide if my painting is finished. He says 'The difference is in what the painting delivers:in how closely the moment of its being looked at, as foreseen by the painter, corresponds to the interests of the actual moments of its being looked at by other people, when the circumstances surrounding its production have changed.'
Does my painting deliver what i set out to do? When we were asked to paint the object i was not sure where to start but knew it needed to have light and dark and mid tones. Which i think i have achieved. The background bothered me a lot because i didn't want it to distract and now i think it works by being none discript. I wanted the brush strokes to be evident but blend with each tone which has also worked. I didn't want blue or brown to over take and have kept to tones of grey.
A viewer not knowing its production may wonder what the object is and it does appear to be a figure covered in a sheet but that would add to the mystery. So i still think it is finished because i feel it does deliver what i set out to do. Maybe a fresher eye after a period of time may change my opinion.

When is a painting finished?

This seems to be the burning question when Laura said that none of the paintings of the object, except a couple were not finished. I thought mine was finished as i have said in my blog. At this moment i have no idea what to do to make it finished so i have left it at college over the holidays so that when i return i might have a different view of it.
With Robert we did a marking exercise to see what to look for in a piece of work to determine what exam mark the paintings should get. Before we marked them we established the criteria we were set for the painting and were told to leave out whether we liked the finished painting. At the end only one mark corresponded with Roberts and when asked to explained his marks he referred to the fact he liked certain ones for different reasons. Ones i thought were not finished and did not fit the criteria he had marked high. This was very confusing and has not helped me to decide if my painting is finished.

Finished Painting

This is the finished painting. I have added more work to the background and more tone and highlights to the sculpture.

Life drawing

I really enjoyed this class with Andrea because we used lots of different media to produce the work. We used pencil,graphite,linseed oil (to blend the tone) ink and white pastel. We used two diffent coloured pastels and looked at light and dark only to create the brightly coloured drawing. I liked the effect of the two colours blending together.

Life drawing class 13th March 2007

More work on the painting

This is the painting at the moment. I worked on the background by making parts darker and less horizontal brush marks showing. On the sculpture i added more mid tone and defined the outer line. I stopped working on it because i felt i was making things worse not better. Having been back to look at it pinned up in college i feel that the back ground is still distracting maybe because it goes from dark to light to dark again this could be the problem.

Still Life Paintings looking at the treatment of background

Oil painting by Manet
I like the colours and tone work in the background. I would not have noticed them if I hadn't been looking at backgrounds. Is that the sign of a good background when it doesn't over take the image in the foreground.

Photo of painting so far.

This is the painting at the end of the first day. I felt the background needed firming up and i needed to add some mid tone to the shape.

Painting

Laura made a large sculpture from boxes,string and white sheets. We painted it with a limited palette of oil paints on to unprimed canvas. The sculpture was illuminated with spot lights to accentuate light and dark shades on the white sheets.We used burnt umber,cobalt blue hue and white to mix shades of grey.By mixing colours they are more translucent than just using black from the tube and it is more interesting having shades of blue and brown coming through the painting.The canvas is unprimed and the paint tended to sink in so there had to be a build up of paint mixed with white sprite to achieve the marks required.The canvas is rough and created a texture which wasn't always wanted,so the physical act of painting wasn't easy. We needed to get the whole sculpture on the canvas and address the background in some way.Also we worked on the floor which created problems.The canvas was large so it was hard to judge the scale and proportions with my body position changing. To paint the top half I walked or sat on the canvas which changed my veiw of the whole painting every time i stood up and moved around.

Sculpture for Painting and New Media Project

Evaluation of New Media and Sculpture Project

I feel like i have been on a journey with this project because i have had so many ups and downs a long the way. My first thoughts were,this is scary because i am not good on computers and i have never taken an interest in vido art. I didn't follow the audacity and imovie lessons very well and i didn't make the connection between video and sculpture. Which left me feeling very negative with the whole thing. Anyway as time went on and other people seemed as confused as me and i had another imovie lesson with Rob,i became more confident.
Robyn Ally and myself decided to work together after seeing that our ideas were similar.I was a bit apprehensive because i had not enjoyed the times we had worked with other people. It worked out really well right from the start, as we all brought our own footage to the project it fitted well together. We have known each other before starting our degree so we weren't afraid off offending one another with our opinions. So i think we were all happy with the final outcome.

evaluation continued....

We didn't want the veiwer to be bored so so we kept the length of the clips very short which meant we needed alot of footage. So we were glad there was three of us collecting ideas. People may think that because there was three of us we have not put as much effort into the work but this is not the case as we had three people to please. The video is about the Minds Eye and how we visualise images in our brain. So it starts with going in through the eye and into the brain where random thoughts occur. The images we chose were quite dark,worrying and dream like, but ended on a happier feeling. Everyone who saw the video had a different interpretation of it which is what we liked about it. After my first negative thoughts about this project i feel i have put a lot of work into it but got a lot out of it. I am very proud of our finished video and have learnt alot along the way.

Turbulant Orb by Ned Kahn

Intended to suggest the veiw of the earth from space.The sculpture consists of a large rotating,spherical glass ball,filled with deep blue fluid. As the ball spins the fluid displays flow patterns that suggest a stormy atmosphere.Veiwers rotate the ball by turning the wheel attached to the base. Even when the sculpture is left untouched the fluid continues to flow for many hours. I wonder what the fluid is and how did he fill the ball and seal it?

Presentation

As there is three of us we had to have a plan so that we all spoke about a different aspect of the projection. Robyn wanted to go first so she talked about the very beginnings, how we decided to work together and where the idea came from. Ally talked about how we progressed the idea and how artist research helped us. My turn came with talking about the pratical side of projecting the idea and how we came about the sound. I think we have all contributed equally to the project and have worked well together. From my point of veiw i have enjoyed the project and working with others has helped, as a times i felt the technical side of things would have been too frustrating without others to talk it through with.

Sleepwalking

Blue Fountain

Pattern representing the brain

This was very effective and affter seeing this maybe we would have changed some other parts to be just as effective, if we had time

Lady diving into Morecambe Bay

Mask projected on to the ball