Assignment 5 REVISITED

This assignment is designed to replace my previous endeavour - Version 1. Initially, when I began to think about what kind of approach to take the second time round, I didn't particularly want to depart from the rock theme in Version 1. It wasn't long before another slightly different theme revealed itself as a more inviting proposition. 

Sample of brushwork practice -
showing the most extreme contrasts

As further ideas began to reveal themselves - from various sources, the original (rock theme) went on a process of gradual transmutation through a series of sketches and experiments with paint and other materials.
I also paid a lot of attention to trying to improve on the previous palette, as my choice had latterly been a bit of an issue with my tutor and (later) myself after I had viewed them an adequate number of times to absorb the palette defects. Moreover, I wanted to concentrate on loosening up the brushwork and paint marks - the message coming through from my tutor as an underlying concern from time to time – my compulsion to over blend and tidy up; trying to make a picture instead of using a more experimental painterly approach - yes even now I am still doing this, but I think a bit less now.
So, I practised with the brushwork in various colour combinations before embarking on the series. 

more
brushwork practice

In an effort to take on board my tutor's suggestion of taking some inspiration from Luc Tuyman 
http://www.wikiart.org/en/luc-tuymans/gas-chamber-1986 
and Mike Newton’s visible brushwork, I practised with this in various colour combinations using contrasting values and saturations of colour before embarking on the series.

Other influences in this regard were Cecily Brennan, William Crozier, 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/william-crozier-9205/paintings/slideshow#/15
 Richard Diebenkorn, 
 http://uploads8.wikiart.org/images/richard-diebenkorn/untitled-m.jpg these are high resolution images showing the brushwork very clearly
and William Theophilis Brown and the California School painters in general:  
https://www.pinterest.com/rhballard/california-school-painters/

Previous exercises 5 and 6 - abstractions from natural and man made forms - had worked well in helping me to seek out the essence of a subject and to simplify, distort and change in several different ways.

In spite of this, the experimental stage of this version (as with the Version 1)  again became quite protracted with a lot of trial and error before I felt confident to proceed to the final painting series.

Initially I intended to use sketches I had done, based on one of twisted tangled  dead branches of ivy (below and right) that I did in exploratory stages of Exercise 5, Part 5. My intention was to divide one of them into 4 and make a painting of each of the 4 parts while varying the palette eg. Add more yellow for one, more blue for another and so on.. After increasing the number of sketches of branches from different angles and focusing in on a particular area as an alternative, the one view divided in 4 seemed to work better - shown below.

Influenced by Henry Moore's
Standing Figures

I was attracted to the idea of each one flowing into another when placed together in a square and at the same time working independently.

The sketches - (below right and left) contributed towards No. 1 and No. painting below.

These 'doodles' appeared
during a phone call

For the studies I toyed around exploring various media, palettes and paint techniques plus various media including cement dust, tissue and magazine papers, card, dripped and splattered paint etc. Going through this process however, I couldn't summon up enough enthusiasm to proceed with this plan – I felt that it was basically not going anywhere – I kept getting ‘stuck’ and I couldn't see a way forward with the palettes I’d picked. So, yet another change of plan.. Around this time my attention was repeatedly drawn to a charcoal drawing  I made previously, 
loosely based on the sketches of the branches some while back, but mostly from imagination - shown right. This had a strong bearing on No.s 1 and 3. I placed my adjustable viewfinder on different parts of it, discovering a couple of areas I felt were worth translating into paint and the same with certain areas of two of the branches sketches that I felt were worth taking further. I was confident of their potential to complement one another, having similar components.

Other contributing factors in helping to reignite my enthusiasm were the palettes and techniques of:

Giacometti’s painting ‘Head of a Man’ - while randomly flipping through an art book . There are numerous versions:
https://www.google.ie/search?tbm=isch&tbs=rimg%3ACYoh-o9Lb7hEIjhPo8zesw46eeiuL63tRwey7415RFxVwVGuNdzcnnQqRckYf9RxnQkzXDhVHP1_1JDWHKKMONN73QyoSCU-jzN6zDjp5EaGDhMWcUxg1KhIJ6K4vre1HB7IRV0hyCUF1FmIqEgnvjXlEXFXBURFn6yaaTYm7byoSCa413NyedCpFEYylhLjAc1e8KhIJyRh_11HGdCTMRUN2O-G0emXQqEglcOFUc_1X8kNRHRNFHYp-zjQSoSCYcoow403vdDEZ12OKoRuTKQ&q=giacometti%20head%20of%20a%20man%20painting&ei=M4_nVLOUBtGS7Aaq0oHQDw&ved=0CAkQ9C8wAA&qscrl=1 

Cecily Brennan’s painting ‘Geyser’ - in an old catalogue I possess of her exhibition at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin in 1991 - with its palette dominated by muted white/greys through to dark deep greens and lesser amounts of deep aqua like blues and pale yellows to deep ochres and  the expressive impasto paint application. Unfortunately I can't display it on this blog for copyright reasons; this was the only image (from the series) I could locate online:
http://virtualgallery.artscouncil.ie/pdf/aspecialplace.pdf - page 15.
There are a few more on this link. This triptych appears to be most similar to 'Geyser':    http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/search/Search_Repeat.aspx?searchtype=AUCTION_RECORDS&artist=11090898
Other sources of intrigue for me were:
a few photos of entrances, bridges and tunnels which I had collected and saved in a folder way back. Also a newspaper article I’d kept with an image of Henry Moore’s 'Standing Figures 1940': http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/moore-standing-figures-n05210  - of particular note were the palette of muted blues, reds and ochres and the dark holes within the figures, as were Barbara Hepworth’s hollow sculptures
http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-st-ives/barbara-hepworth-museum
 and Graham Sutherland’s painting ‘Entrance to a Lane’: 
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/sutherland-entrance-to-a-lane-n06190
Pierre Soulages's thick swathes of black also came into the picture, particularly with No 1 and No 3
http://uploads4.wikiart.org/images/pierre-soulages/peinture-23-avril-1963-1963.jpg
and Giacometti again- this time his multitude of wire like tangled lines used in many of his drawings, paintings and sculptures, reminding me of the tangled lines in some of my sketches.
I could go on..

Painting process:

The full series was painted on gessoed mountboard, media: acrylic and charcoal. Additional materials were used in individual paintings. I also changed the palette very slightly between each one. The dominant colours throughout were: Phthalo Blue, Paynes Grey, Cadmium Yellow, Raw Sienna, Titanium White and a touch of Crimson. 

Note: The numbers below the images do not necessarily correlate with the order of progression.

Number 1 study

No.1 Not including the prior studies, this was turned out to be the quickest painting to complete from the series of 4, taking roughly 1.5 hours. Thinking it was unfinished I put it to one side while I completed the other three, intending to return to it afterwards; by the time I had completed the other three I had decided it didn't need any further work; it has a certain roughness which I find appealing. Anyhow I was certain that if I so much as started to do anything further it would inevitably end up overworked and ruined. As with all the paintings I started off with applications of charcoal lines, and veiling (partially covering the charcoal) with white and dark blue/black acrylic paint alternately, re-applying some charcoal and then the paint again; a technique I picked up from Steven Aimone's book, Expressive Drawing. This was after I had glued on a few pieces of watercolour paper here and there - mostly in the major lighter areas and one or two magazine papers.

Number 1

I continued, using a process of addition and removal of damp and just dry paint with brushes, plastic cards, palette knives, fingers and cloths both damp and dry and I scratched into it with the corners of plastic cards and a small screwdriver.

It looks to me as though some similar methods of paint application might have been used in Franz Kline's painting C and O. I spotted it after I had completed the series:
 http://uploads3.wikiart.org/images/franz-kline/c-and-o-1958.jpg
Also Torches Mauve http://uploads0.wikiart.org/images/franz-kline/torches-mauve-1960.jpg 
I wasn't keen on this way of painting before I researched Tachisme but it is really growing on me.

Number 2 study part done

No 2 - the third one to be completed. It was taken from a zoomed in area of one of my numerous sketches of tangled ivy branches; some are shown above but doesn't include this one. 

No 2 -study

I applied a partially rough textured base to this with polyfilla and paper pulp. This didn't progress as the study and I became conscious of rather more time passing by than on the first painting (No 1). I got to a point where I almost abandoned this. I ploughed on and began to notice things starting to take a more positive turn. 

No 2 - completed

There were areas I didn't want to depart much from the study, but eventually I realized they weren't going to work - the whole thing looked disjointed  so I made repeating elements - areas of similar tone, hue and texture, playing down some highlighting. I thought this had the least promise earlier on but once I had finished it went up the scale, in my estimation. Because I connected a diagonal section going behind the dominant shape  (moving top to bottom) which is textured and highlighted more on one end, this end appears to to be pulling outwards while the darker quieter end looks to be moving away. The shapes appear to be oscillating, bringing about a surface tension. The touches of light at top and top left help to balance the similar toned dominating areas of rough texture in the lower portion.

No 3 study

No 3 This was the last to be completed. I started with an accent on purples, which seemed to feature less towards the end when I added further mid-blues, greys and very dark blue/blacks, continuing to go with the flow of the previous two. I did experience quite a struggle with the central area - it was chaotic and confusing for a lengthy stretch; I had not fully resolved the lower portion in the study and  such a lot was happening in this areas. Through a process of adding and removing paint it eventually began to pull together. I do still think there is room for improvement in the centre. This is more three dimensional than the other three, particularly No. 1.

No 3 -completed

No 4 - completed second in order. The palette has an accent on greens. This was the most problematic and time consuming. The paint was applied in a similar way to No 2. The areas of lightest tones took applications of multiple layers of paint before approaching anywhere near a satisfactory balance - not to appear over quiet or noisy in relation to the rest. Alterations in one place would upset the balance in another area,  but because I had high hopes I continued until eventually bringing it to an acceptable conclusion rather than give up. I felt that there needed to be more contrast in the  lower third of the study in the  final painting and I think this was were I started going off along the wrong track...comparing the two of them now I prefer the study for the most part, as it look quite raw and spontaneous - as No 1. I think I have lost a lot of this in the painting; it is also consequently less interesting than that in the study due to my dulling down of the palette. This one appeals to me least of all.

No 4 study

No 4 completed

In Summary - the joy of spontaneity I'd experienced with the first painting didn't happen with the other three; I spent much more time and effort on them before I could say they were 'finished', despite all the tryouts and studies I made beforehand. I thought that each painting I did would help me more with the next, whereas they seemed to present even more challenging obstacles to be crossed, although I'm sure I learned much from each one as I progressed. I felt there was much scope for experimentation; I was happy with the basic compositions, it was the colour combinations and paint application that needed more work. As with No 1, I used similar paint techniques on all the series, albeit for widely varying a durations. In addition I made use of paint applied transparently, dry brushed; changing shapes and edges, plus thick opaques, especially the lightest tones. I kept going until at last I could see a gradual look of cohesiveness developing. This was true particularly with Nos. 2, 3 and 4. All the while I kept trying to consider important basic elements, such as balance, harmony, contrast, repetition, unity, rhythm, gradation, dominance. Hopefully many of these facets were also included more or less intuitively. Despite a multitude of influences on this series, the influences have major similarities, which I think have come through in the four paintings. I think that by adding certain textural materials in each painting and making a very  conscious effort to use the paint quite expressively, it has I hope, had a more positive effect this time around.  

QUOTES

Every picture shows a spot with which the artist has fallen in love.

Alfred Sisley

ring the bells that still can ring
forget your perfect offering
there is a crack in everything
that's how the light gets in

~leonard cohen

“If you’re a painter, you’re not alone. There’s no way to be alone.”
Franz Kline - sometimes I wonder...

Wilhelm Sasnal, Lismore Castle Arts Centre, Lismore, Co. Waterford

Set inside a gothic castle, paintings and films in this show were an exploration of how Wilhelm Sasnal has interpreted his memories of  Hans Christian Anderson's books of fairy tales, which he read as a  young boy in Poland. He was  particularly fascinated by the illustrations of Audrzej Strumillo. 

Sasnal is thought to have selected the venue on a visit in 2012 and decided this body of work, emanating from his fascination with the illustrations, would be a great match.

The gallery is long and rectangular with suspended beams across the vaulted ceiling with roof windows. It was very well lit at the time by both natural and artificial lighting and white painted walls. It is contemporary looking and relatively small and intimate in relation to the very large scale of the old castle it resides in.

The sound of ‘Dirt’ 1970 by The Stooges was playing in the background as a soundtrack to a film (playing at one end of the long first room) by Sasnal called Inhuman Finger,  It was about a girl who tries to use a loaf of bread as a stepping stone into another world without getting her shoes dirty. Things go wrong and she ends up falling off in to hell. Perhaps the bread serves as a metaphor for potential path to freedom (in more ways than one)

Among a number of paintings containing floating objects was one containing a large black bike seat bizarrely suspended in mid air on a summery blue and white sky, above a large expanse of green and blue still water. Black silhouetted trees and vegetation travel along the low horizon,  tapering off into the distance. The bike seat totally dominates the scene.
Unitled 2013
http://de.phaidon.com/resource/sasnal-untitled2013.jpg

My favourite, is another painting containing a surreal floating object. A smaller painting, this time (2' x 2') containing a hovering skull, devoid of a jaw, within whose black eye sockets could be a black castle; the castle's black windows acting as its eyes. The skull floats low slung on a  large expanse of jade green sky like background. A thickly painted deep yellow sun, egg yolk like, hovers above to the upper right. Along the bottom is a horizon of jagged acid green mountains.  On first glance is deceptively simple in appearance but on closer inspection I realized there appears to quite an intriguing narrative at work.

http://cristinleach.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/photo-52-e1415012045838.jpg

Frequent clever characteristics of his paintings are their sparse brushwork – just enough detail to get the message across by evoking a sense of all the elements belonging where they are on the picture surface as a cohesive whole. Certain distinguishing features of many portraits are what I would describe as half painted, with partly blank or unidentifiable faces. This small portrait of the artist’s brother by Valdemar_Hjartvar_Kobke, is no exception. He was a Danish Golden Age painter  who was a contemporary of Hans Christian Anderson. The only exeptions to the monochromatic palette of black and browns on the head are the red and yellow on the military collar. In Sasnal’s interpretation, a remake of the original he has been very sparing in his description of the facial features; says it all with just a few spontaneous lines and marks. The facial features fade out to a totally blank white area - the lower left side of the face.

http://www.frieze.com/uploads/images/general/Valdemar_Hjartvar_Kobke,_40x35,_2013.jpg

Original portrait:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1990.233

Monochrome landscape 
http://magazynszum.pl/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SZUM-20140612-00-15-420x280.jpg

View of gallery
http://magazynszum.pl/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SZUM-20140611-23-27-420x280.jpg

Part 5 Assignment 5 - first attempt

sketch used for No.1

Prior to starting this assignment, several options were on the cards, My increasing inclination was to move towards abstraction for the assignment series, during my progress through Part 5. The idea to use something relatively humble as a single piece of rock for my motif only began to develop when I was in the process of doing the exercise - Abstraction from natural forms. While trying to pin down a  theme from my list, a chance passing glance at this rock prompted me to study its contours and distinct patterning more closely, setting the process in motion. From the start I intended to use the rock only as a source to explore ways of putting a composition together with various paint techniques and materials. I wanted to incorporate many techniques and materials from earlier exercises in Part 5, plus a few others I had picked up elsewhere along the way through the course.
By attempting sketches from various angles and distances i.e. close-up detail, side views and face on views, including parts of the outer contours, and from playing about with cropping, a long narrow format began to suggest itself. The same motif occurred repeatedly in separate guises, yet I could see plenty of scope for variation, though finding a pleasing composition proved more problematic than first anticipated. It took several sketches before I began to feel comfortable with the subject, which was surprising since I found it so inspiring when I first noticed it in amongst a collection of rocks around the house and made the decision to use it. This could have been due to choosing a detail of something already relatively abstract as opposed to a more identifiable subject. Although, on reflection I don't think there is any difference in reality, it depends on how it's perceived. Subsequently several alternative views materialised, most of them later turning out to be useful, which was not apparent to me at that stage.



The choice to go with a palette of unrealistic colours was made after a spontaneous quick experiment, using up some old paint left over from the previous exercise - from man made form. This amounted to a mixture of tube consistency crimson and vermillion acrylic with additions of cadmium orange,  on the white surface of a sketchbook page, and a tangle of fairly dilute pthallo blue lines applied over from several angles with a long flat bristle brush. I was impressed by the intensity of this combination, played down by the dull blue lines over.  I thought about alternatives but came back to using a combination of the above colours, including some sap green to make dark inky blue/green mixtures with pthallo blue and paynes grey.
After this I also did a number of quick colour and paint application experiments, with
variations of similar colour combinations using paint in different ways. The following, which I mostly incorporated into the series all worked well:
Wash-off technique - placing still damp painted surface under running water spray of a shower head to partially remove the paint in repeated layers.
Oil pastel and glue resist under watery paint.
Resist: leaving selected dry and wet areas on surface before applying dilute paint.
Scratching back into wet paint with paint pusher.

for No.2

Immersing watercolour paper into water then dipping into dilute paint and allowing it to run over the surface.  For this I considered Helen Frankenthaler's and Morris Louis colour stain paintings. I had done several experiments using a similar process, on small A6 sized paper earlier in Part 5 and was very impressed with what materialized.
Mixing matte gel medium with paint and water produced more visible brushstrokes depending on the consistency, especially over a surface of still damp medium.
Masking fluid was a nuisance to work with, it gave variable results and I found it could easily damage the paper on removal.
In addition to wanting to take the above experiments further I was keen to use a mixture of found materials in a least one painting, which transpired into the first (No.1). Thereafter things became a work in progress, one sketch or experiment leading to another, partly influenced by the above experiments.

No.1: acrylic and mixed media on gessoed canvas glued to thin wooden board.
I combined a few pieces of old discarded paintings, brown paper and gesso and glued them down on the surface. The canvas texture was left on view here and there. I combined transparent and opaque layers of paint plus very dilute to dry brushed paint consistencies. I removed some damp paint here and there with a rag at various stages. At this point I had already started to build up the surface layers for No.4, but hadn't begun the other two.


No.2: acrylic and mixed media on gessoed mountboard.
This only emanated from a spur of the moment decision inspired by a tonal sketch. The sketch contained textured areas that brought to mind sand or other rough textured material. This was in sharp contrast to smooth textured areas, giving it a dramatic appearance.

No1

To build areas of relief and texture I glued on bits of otherwise discarded materials: plasterboard tape, offcuts of handmade paper, crepe paper, smooth thick paper, open weave cotton and sawdust, which was mixed with pva. The sawdust is a bit smoother than sand and wonderfully malleable . As I was doing this I was aiming for the right balance. Even so I relish this part of the process, often more so than painting.

No2

 No.3: acrylic and pva on 300gsm watercolour paper
Morris Louis and Helen Frankenthaler's soak-stain paintings and artists using similar techniques had an influence on this one. Also in part from earlier exercises (see above list of experiments) - several of these kind of experiments on small A6 sized paper earlier in Part 5 and was very impressed by what materialized.
First of all I squeezed pva through a nozzle (after a bit of practice) to make basic design outlines.
Then I briefly dipped the paper support in a bath of water. Then I dipped it in dilute paint: dark blues, orange and red, one after another and tilted the paper various directions, encouraging the paint to run over the surface.

No3

Following this I waited to allow the paint to absorb a little. The surface was still well soaked in paint which gave time to manipulate it. I continued adding and removing paint - dripping on paint in fairly dry areas and tilted again to allow it to run over surface and removed in places with a damp rag. Added further dark paint towards the corners with a wide foam brush. Because of the amount of liquid applied the paper buckled. Although it straightened out a little when dry. I think it would have been more successful possibly using pre-stretched paper or even a thicker board like paper, as I have found that even pre-stretched paper often buckles. The glue initially resisted the paint a little more than I wanted, leaving too many white bits scattered around, place so I re-applied paint onto most of it to try and give it a more subtle appearance and it seemed to work reasonably well. Also, the runny paint would have moved around the surface easier if I had mixed flow improver with it - something to bear in mind for the future..

No.4 Acrylic and oil pastel on gessoed 300gsm watercolour paper
Inspired by a technique by Gemma Guasch, from the book: Acrylics - Creative Techniques. It is referred to as the 'wash-off' and basically consists of appliying acrylic paint in various consistencies,  using a range of applicators, then partially removing the paint with water spray, sponges or damp rags.
For this one I kept to roughly the same palette as the other with more white, pale and mid orange and reds, I reduced the amount of blue, restricting it to a rough emulation of the meandering lines running across the rock surface. Just prior to this I added  lines of dark red and white oil pastel, loosely following the painted lines, to add a little more interest and I gently rubbed off any areas painted over from following applications.   I discovered that paint applied with a sponge  roller produced mottled patterns covered in tiny paint spots. When I placed it under the shower the still wet spots were removed leaving the drier areas intact, revealing a particularly interesting textured appearance of the lighter toned layer below. Finally, for subtle shadowed areas, I added some very watery paint using the same inky blues as for the lines. During the layering process I had to be watchful of how dry the paint was. If too dry not enough or no paint would be removable and if too wet most of the paint, if not all would disappear under the running water. Some paint that was pre-mixed with matte gel medium seemed to hold together when mixed with water and resisted water slightly more, which helped a little, but there was no real discernible difference. A lot of it was a case of trial and error, but at least small experiments I had done beforehand put me in good stead, so by then I was quite familiar with the process. A conglomeration of my preliminary work was definitely instrumental in bringing about his particular composition.

No4

Up to a short way into No1 painting I intended to use the same composition for each one in the series. During the painting I decided more interest could be created by varying the views between each one, without too much risk of spoiling the look of continuity, I think this has worked as they all have certain characteristics in common: same basic palette, subject and format. Orange gradually began to creep its way in more and more, until by No4 it was the predominant colour. All the same, I am not altogether comfortable with the colour combinations. No.s 2 and 4 convey a similar diagonal emphasis, very noticeable when placed alongside one another and likewise No.s 1 and 3 a vertical emphasis.
As time went on I suddenly noticed that I had been unconsciously working away from direct observation of the subject. I had already realized, as with the Towards Abstraction project,  this way of working allows for more freedom of interpretation which I feel is a decided advantage in my case, being of a tendency to adopt a rather constrained style normally.
What I intended for the series was essentially four different abstract interpretations of patterns and contours on a piece of flat rock and layers of strata around the sides and in this respect I think it has been successful.
I found the biggest hurdle was achieving cohesiveness in individual paintings, particularly the first three. I think I managed to bring it about by calming down much more, areas towards the corners and repeating areas of colour close in range, such as the oranges and blues in No.3. Concentrating on directing lines towards the focal area also seemed to help - case of constant adding and subtracting. Though the subject is unrecognisable there is a sense of depth in all of them. They also have a tactile quality apart from No.4 which is completely smooth.

Artists whose work  I considered were:

Morris Louis and Helen Frankenthaler soak stain paintings:

http://www.wikiart.org/en/helen-frankenthaler/glow-ii-1968

http://banditblog.com/helen-frankenthaler/

Jackson Pollock
Lee Krasner abstract florals:

http://www.patternpeople.com/pattern-pairs-erdem-x-lee-krasner/

Jose Manuel Broto - Day Celebration 1983

http://www.march.es/arte/palma/coleccion/artistas/jose-manuel-broto.aspx?l=1

Jane Frank, particularly the Aerial Series and Crags and Crevices
Although an abstract expressionist painter, Jane Frank's style of painting is sometimes referred to as 'geomorphic abstraction' (wikipedia - Standing Apart) having a sculptural quality built up with many layers. Described as a laborious process, concerned much with trying to make a three dimensional space on the canvas surface to give the effect of deep voids or passages going back or moving away.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jane_Frank_Crags_And_Crevices.jpg
http://www.wikiart.org/en/jane-frank

Jaap Wagemaker
http://tunodajyuku2.blogspot.ie/2013/10/jaap-wagemaker-living-desert1957.html
The way Frank and Wagemaker have utilised found materials, I find particularly intriguing.

Angie Zimmerman's fascinating paper sculpture of cast paper pulp (which I would like to make use of in the future), photo collage and wood,  inspired by elements of the natural environment melded together.
http://frankjuarezgallery.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/untitled.jpg

Galleries: Crawford Gallery, Cork - Louis Le Brocquy and Barrie Cooke, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork

Louis Le Brocquy - Samuel Beckett 1994, 93x73cm underglass
multi directional mark making appears to be done with a fine brush. It is a spare delicate style. There are thin dark underlayers of transparent paint. The eyes look hollow and ghost like. Thick impasto of white paint is applied on the nose, forehead and cheeks. Many layers appear to be built up to develop the whole. 
Ink to a sketch of Samuel Beckett by Louis Le Brocquy
 http://aldin89.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/image_of_samuel_beckett.jpg

This is the actual version on display in the gallery:
 http://www.crawfordartgallery.ie/pages/paintings/LouisleBrocquy2.html


Barrie Cooke, Portrait of John Montague 3'6"x4' Large painting with a lot of impact.  Done in a loose gestural style. Spontaneous looking marks, watery paint, no impasto, Paint a little thicker around the neck,and hand - locations of main colour contrasts. The complementary palette of orange and blue tones appears to be placed exactly where emphasis is needed most. Most of paint looks scrubbed on and allowed to drip on the jumper.  Horizontal black stripes in the sitter's top are echoed nicely by the black and white horizontal band behind. This seems to be balanced out by the slightly diagonal but upright stance towards top right and the vertical dark line to the sitter's left side, also the gaze to the left.  I don't think the paint application can be appreciated  very well in this online image:
http://www.crawfordartgallery.ie/pages/paintings/BarrieCooke3a.html

6 Project: Towards Abstraction Exercise 6 Abstracting from man made form

Other artists influential for this exercise were again Jaap Wagemaker and Jane Frank, also Jasper Johns - 'Hateras' and collages of Charles Winebrenner, Maury Haseltine and Katherine Chang Liu http://www.collageartists.org/meetingsarchive/2010_03_Katherine_Chang_Liu.html


Subject: zoomed in area of an oil burner - a mechanical part of an oil heating boiler. This was a broken component taken off the house heating boiler and was lying around in the utility room. I concentrated on various zoomed in areas of my subject, but while doing the first four thumbnail sketches (not shown) I again fell into the trap of trying to represent correct perspective, form, scale etc becoming aware that I was somehow missing the point here. I had to change tack - what I have learned about  abstraction  is that important elements would include simplification, distortion, flattening, exaggeration. In other words changing the subject to a point beyond recognition.

Above - three A4
 pages of final sketches

A transition came about when I made a conscious departure from initial sketches and started to play around with selected features of one area in different arrangements - these are shown to the right. During the final few sketches and the colour studies I was mindful of trying to maintain an essence of the subject's character in this area of the component:  the hollowness of the circles and other geometric shapes and hinting at other small mechanical parts within and behind them. Also to suggest the surrounding area of mostly smooth and distressed grey metal surfaces.  This continued into the final painting.
My colour studies were a big influence on what was to follow for the painting. I used the colours from the second study - vermillion, and mixes of crimson, pthallo blue, magenta, raw umber and titanium white.
Paint and materials application was a similar process to the first study in yellow and blue.I tried to evoke the the underlying hues found  in the object, putting a more vibrant slant on them.

Painting from man made form

Towards the end there were areas I needed to resolve before I could say it was finished. After a bit of close scrutiny I tried the following:
toned down parts of the lightest areas  and tried to further integrate certain other areas using watery glazes of purple with dry a brush. I also
introduced more directional shapes and lines to link up the upper left of the large circular shape with the rest of the composition,
enhanced repeated texture and patterns of the smaller rough circles and dk purple/blue colour blocks.

 Right and below - colour studies

5 Project: Towards Abstraction Exercise 5 Abstraction from natural forms

In the preliminary stages I went through a long succession of ideas and sketches before finally settling on a piece of textured bark.

simplified tonal sketch

The other items I tried out didn't have the same appeal somehow once I tried sketching them. Days went by, doing sketch after sketch, feeling I had made little or no progress, until I finally tried out a few versions of the flat edge of the tree bark. Out of frustration I left them all alone for a few days then returned for another look and it appeared that many had potential. I was still confused about how to proceed  - questions arose around issues of whether and how to make changes like simplification, flattening , exaggeration, distortion etc.
I cast my mind back to a collagraph project  I did with children at the school where I work not long ago and remembered how I drew a simplified image of guitar  then cut the image  into pieces, turned them around in various directions and stuck them down again using as a basis for collagraph prints. I did another tonal sketch (right), this time more angular and simplified than the others.

painting part complete

It eventually transpired that the final painting contains some of these elements, but not so much flattening - a final frontier I haven't been able to conquer yet. Simplification was also quite a challenge, more so than I expected. Aswell as textures I always feel I have to also describe tones. I guess it largely depends on how abstract the intention is.
Media and materials used for the painting:
acrylic, gesso mixed with all purpose pollyfilla, pva, corrugated card, sand, cement dust mixed with pva and used palette paper.

completed painting

I looked at the work of Jaap Wagemaker in the process of this project
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaap_Wagemaker#mediaviewer/Bestand:Jaap_Wagemaker_(1965).jpg

Accidentally found this image - no offence Jaap but I can't help seeing a uncanny similarity with my own, though I have to admit the palette works on this,whereas on mine the pinks look insipid.
http://www.simonis-buunk.com/sold/zoom/Adriaan_Barend_Jaap_Wagemaker_7879.aspx

Part 5 Project: Adding other materials, Exercise 4: Mixing materials into paint

I mixed rice, sand, eggshells, rice and gravel individually into a number of mid toned paint colours.

To test them out further I decided to find out how they would translate a painting.
A3 sized gessoed mountboard. Rice was the only material I didn't use. As with the previous exercise this one is imaginary.
Before beginning I contemplated Anselm Kiefer's landscapes of high relief textures.
http://seaofgray.com/2011/10/13/the-commonalities-of-salt-flats-and-anselm-kiefer/

I was attracted to the muted palettes and decided I wanted to use a similar palette to that of Kiefer's. By some coincidence the colours were similar in the materials I had already pre-mixed with paint used for the inital test pieces. The mix of black and burnt sienna acrylic around the perimeter came about as I was thinking of a frame of some kind, reminiscent of so many Howard Hodgkin paintings, some impression of looking out or into something. This combined with other elements seems to set up a kind of ambiguity, which is one aspect I find interesting.  I had secured the materials before applying the dark paint around the edges and the remainder. The sand/rusty orange mix, I spread on with a painting knife/plastic card and scratched through much of it with a blunt knife blade. I extended colours of the high relief mixes into other areas, leaving scattered white patches from the base layer. To this I added watery pale blue dripped from a brush and allowed it to run down the board.
As  I approached completion reminded me of a volcanic landscape. An application of pva in selected areas brought out a little more interest.

Research Point 2: Abstract Expressionism - Tachisme and 'Action Painting'

Famous for his technique of 'all over painting' , Jackson Pollock employed exciting gestural marks - emitting a feeling of almost being able to step into them; they seem both calm and energetic at the same time. These paintings were done on a huge scale, painted on the floor, usually on massive canvases. Greatly inspired by the energy of ethnic art and later, Mexican muralists, European artists like Cezanne and Picasso also had an effect on him. His motivation came from within his head rather than from the real world. He is identified with pioneering the drip technique, very radical at the time and attracting a lot of attention, often criticism. Even so, some work is quite figurative; often I find it possible to discern figures,sometimes faces, in amongst the tangled mass of lines, as in the painting below:

Jackson Pollock, Black and White Number 5, 1952, 142.87x80.645cm, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
http://themodern.org/sites/default/files/pollock4a.jpg
His work was generally defined  by liquid paint flicked, dripped and poured onto the huge horizontal unstretched canvases. He would work on all sides, sometimes walking through it. At first glance it was seemingly uncontrolled but looks are sometimes  deceptive, and infact culminated in a complex interrelationship. As he became more experienced with the techniques he was able to precisely control the nature of the lines. Swirling lines appear to go on into infinity. Yet he didn't do preparatory drawing or studies.
Anything to produce the intended effect was used, including tools such as syringes, brushes and sticks in addition to his well known paint pouring from a container, which he sometimes had a hole cut in and swung from the end of a rope suspended from above.
Later on the paintings included a lot of black and white and had echoes of earlier works. Following this period he returned to colour.
Behind the scenes his life followed a destructive pattern which ended prematurely in a violent death.

Tachisme is translated from the French for spot or blob. It was a term first coined around 1951 and has many affinities with Art Informel, often the umbrella heading of Abstract Expressionism - intuitive and spontaneous, though it developed independently.
Paris based artists of note included: Georges Mathieu, Jean Fabrier and Wols. The general difference was their more carefully handled, subtle style than the raw energy of Abstract Expressionism. Franz Kline and Hans Hartung are also closely associated with Tachisme.  I find there are such a vast amount of fascinating artists whose work falls under this category, I can only scratch the surface here. I find them well worthy of further research and that is my intention.
Franz Klines's style was vigorous with large sweeping gestures on a large scale. It was energetic and crisp, even brusque - quite the opposite of subtle. He typically used calligraphic yet bold thick black lines crossing over one another, on a white background, and made many small preliminary brush drawings. These are often referred to as his 'signpost' technique. Tools used were: large decorator's brushes and commercial house paint. He included colour later in life. This one is a good example of his typical style - described as collage but I can't detect any signs. The name is New York 1953:
http://www.wikiart.org/en/franz-kline/black-and-white-png#supersized-artistPaintings-277514
This one is not described as a collage but yet it appears to have been used. Perhaps it was created using an old painting/s. It is simply named Black & White:
http://www.wikiart.org/en/franz-kline/black-and-white-png#supersized-artistPaintings-277497

Hans Hartung had a strong belief that his work should be a reflection on his innermost self, usually extreme emotion. The paintings were often on a large scale and with a plain calm background.
T 1956-9, 1956 180x157cm is painted in an energetic and dramatic manner, setting up a visible tension. Mid toned browns are  trapped between heavily applied dense blacks. It is made up of a web of roughly parallel agitated strokes crossing over one another in slight diagonals from one end of the canvas to the other. They reach out toward the edges, sometimes going off the edges.
http://arttattler.com/Images/Europe/Spain/Barcelona/Museu%20dArt%20Contemporani/B-Bomb/hartung.jpg

http://images.tate.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/grid-normal-8-cols/public/images/fig-14_0.jpg?itok=PSxCGgA-
Following a stroke in 1986 he became wheelchair bound yet his output was absolutely prolific, producing 360 paintings in his final year (1989)! This is a very interesting article about the experience:
http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/very-late-style-hans-hartung

Pierre Soulages   

 Illustrating some of the hallmarks of the artist's style in the early 1950s are:
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/art/10024/art-sales-eyes-of-the-world-turn-to-londons-art-fairs.html
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/soulages-painting-23-may-1953-n06199

  These paintings are dominated by black, interspersed with glimmers of white, pale yellow and bronzes, setting up dramatic contrasts. The backgrounds are calmer which appear to be scumbled on a dark ground.  As with Hartung, bands begin and end within the confines of the picture plane, occasionally crossing over the the edges, resulting in a strong impact. At the height of Abstract Expressionism during the 1950s and 60s he was regarded as a kind of French equivalent to the New York School. To apply  his broad straight swathes of heavily applied paint he uses special rubber spatulas, house painting brushes and rollers.

Soulages still uses a limited colour palette and is often referred to as the Master of Black, quoted as saying:

“Black is the color of the origin of painting — and our own origin. In French, we say the baby ‘sees the day,’ to mean he was born. Before that, of course, we were in the dark.”

Other artists of interest connected with this style of painting:
Gerard Schneider
http://www.wikiart.org/en/gerard-schneider/82c-1958#supersized-artistPaintings-313501
Jean-Paul Riopelle
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/riopelle-perspectives-t00123
Lee Krasner
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1995.595
John Hoyland
http://www.johnhoyland.com/











Hartung - sensuous free-flowing lines
vibrant - thick black

3 Exercise 3, Part 5, Preparing a Textured Ground

1.  A4 size gessoed mountboard. Spread heavy gel medium with card to make raised surface with ridges and rough circular shapes. A little course sand sprinkled on sparingly in isolated areas. Flexible Pollyfilla used to make raised broken circle. The theme that appeared in my mind was 'Broken Time'.
Sprinkled on fine salt when semi-dry. Thin paint brushed on with wide brush, manipulated with finger, paint pushers and spoon handle to scrpe off some paint. At this stage it waas too busy. Built up depth with layer of thin paint. Removed some paint by sanding. The 'flexible' pollyfilla I had used to make the broken circle like shap was not amenable to this treatment. I should have used a general purpose version instead. The painting became very dark, so once it was dry I sanded some more . This seemed to work well, bringing out the brightness of the white gesso here and there underneath.



2. On the second painting (on 37x34cm cardboard) I dribbled pva from a container and let it run down the board in thick and thin wavy lines and glued on brown paper wrinkled up, in rough pointed almond shapes. I added a piece of magazine page in a very pale blue, two small blue diamong shaped paper, two pointed elliptical shaped leaves and  a couple of leaf shaped pieces of wallpaper. The pva looked much flatter once it dried, just as acrylic paint would.
Once it was all dry I dipped the board int orunny paint on flexible palettes. This didn't work as well as it had done in previous experiments on watercolour paper. Instead I  picked up the paint on large brushes and allwed it to drip down with the board tilted. During this process it started to remind me of some images of textiles I had been viewing on line, must have had an unconscious influence on me.
I wanted the almond shaped magazine paper as the focal point but it didn't as things elsewhere were far too busy, so calmed it down through a process of adding, removing opaque paint.
I also added a little stamping with thin strips of corrugated card. The leaves were very effective in adding interesting texture. I reinforced the lines shapes made by the pva with further dark paint.
Looking at it afterwards, I find a certain reminiscence with the luxuriant growth in the field hedge not far from my kitchen window.

2 Exercise 2 Dripping, dribbling and spattering

Jackson Pollock, as far as I can ascertain, used enamel gloss paints. These were synthetic resin based paints and new in the U.S. at the time and I think were a factor in why his methods developed as they did. He experimented with the viscosity of the paint and diluted it to differant viscosities to suit the result he wanted. Mostly he diluted them to low viscosity (quite runny) to achieve his signature 'drip' effects.
He applied his 'drip' methods famously using a can or cans of paint with a hole in the bottom attached to a piece of string.

Initially I played around with watery paint on a sketchbook page A4 (above). Paint - watery blue-green on decorator's brush applied loosely, virtually dripped on. Purple-red in spaces in between applied same way and allowed to overlap  blue-green in places - dark margin appeared -  I like the contrast set up by the darker red values and the splattered dark red on same brush against the mid tone blues . It reminds me of woodland or abstracted figures but wasn't conscious of producing anything recognisable. The colours contrast, while not to extremes as are mostly of the same value   - (not quite opposite one another on the colour wheel), they are subdued and I think they work well together.

1. A2 white cartridge paper.
Red and yellow were splattered from large brushes - had to water down the paint sufficiently to get this to work - thick blobs with long streaks emanated. Blue was flicked through fingers - result large and small spots, without streaks. Yellow then poured on from a jar. It mixed appealingly with the paint under, which was wet. Would have been a better idea to have first let it dry.
Some colours intermingle when applied wet on wet. This happened with a watery blue splattered onto yellow and red, resulting in a dull murky brown green. However, being a transparent colour aswell (ultramarine) didn't help. It was also partly to do with the consistency of the paint. At this point I was in two minds about whether to abandon this painting, but I carried on just to see what would happen and was glad I did.  I used another more viscous and opaque blue mixed with acrylic matte medium mixture not containing ultramarine. Although quite runny it held together much better.As I added further layers of colour, some on wet paint, others on dry paint it began to take on a pleasing richness and depth that I hadn't expected. Eventually, after I had added white poured through a 5cm hole in the corner of a freezer bag, the white blobs over the thinner paints below completed the picture nicely, as it were, and I reckoned  it was time to stop. I'm just sorry I didn't use better quality paper.

No. 1

2. A1 black gessoed thick cartridge paper.
Splattered from large brushes and dribbled from containers various reds and blues wet on wet.
It was fascinating to see the way the  blue paint, of different viscosities, intermingled with the  red paint below.
Further mixes of magenta and ultramarine and white  flicked on with side of 5cm brush created lines of spots, flicked from close quarters also developed long thin streaks.
White dripped and flicked a little,  from end of brush mingled interestingly with the more transparent wet purple mix below. The purple crept into some edges developing fascinating delicate veins.

No. 2 with avocado showing scale 

detail on No. 2

3. Surface: dull pink (red/black mix acrylic) painted background of A1 thick cartridge paper.
U'mne/cad yell (green) dripped, spattered. Tried to suggest vague figure of eight - as Pollock sometimes did. After a few minutes some of the yellow part of the mix separated resulting in interesting combination of green and yellow. Attempting a semi-control by placing brush into container while pouring white - became blobs which splattered when touched the paper, merging with previously yellow/blue mix. Two consistencies of white paint were used. Added several more colours - blue, red, yellow. Syringe used to dribble paint, attempting to create continuous thin lines similar to Pollock, but the syringe was too small to cover an A1 sized surface, so I had to work quickly, causing a broken line  of dark red. Tried same process with a green and took out the syringe plunger too early causing large blob, so did the same thing elsewhere so as to balance it out. The more layers and depth that I built up the more their appearance improved. The green didn't look too appealing lying around in large watery puddles, mixing with some of the red, so I dabbed it a little with a rag and voila! it was a success. I couldn't resist adding further white flicked on at close range with fingers. In general I was slightly disappointed at not getting a few longer thin streaks or lines in amongst the marks made.

No. 3 with avocado showing scale

On all three paintings: flicking paint energetically at very close range seemed to work well. I found the immediacy and freedom of this way of painting very liberating and enjoyable and I was very pleased and surprised with the results obtained.



A novel way to use action painting:
Lee Krasner abstract florals:
http://www.patternpeople.com/pattern-pairs-erdem-x-lee-krasner/

This kind of technique could be used to build up interesting surface textures for backgrounds inside or around objects, even over objects. It may need to be masked off if only required in certain areas of a painting.
For making collage papers.
Henri Lamy is a French who artist drops liquid acrylic paint onto the canvas from a knife or throws paint directly at it, combining with his figurative portraits. The facial features appear to be built up with unblended impasto beforehand.
http://figurativeartists.blogspot.ie/2012/11/henri-lamy-figurative-drip-paintings.html
Dave White uses watercolour in a similar way for his animal paintings, culminating in paintings full of vitality, developed out of a most fascinating range of mark making.
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/dripping-and-splattering-watercolor-paintings
John Worthington drips, sometimes pours and splatters liquid paint over an underlying  framework of shapes forming a realistic landscape.  This process has the effect of  transforming them into something quite poetic, evoking the natural elements. His series 'Low Tide', he says, is layer upon layer poured, wiped away and abraded paint. The pools of liquid paint are often left to dry overnight on the floor. Depending on how they look once dry he decides if they have been successful or not. At least, with practice the happy accidents become more frequent.
 A strong sense of energy and movement is emitted in the series 'Low Tide', by his use of paint pours, drips and splatters over the often strong underlying colours. A great variety of  textures are created by both opaque and watery transparencies. These combine well with calmer flatter areas. I think the stronger base colours and occasional pours in the top layers, help to give a great sense of depth and contrast.
http://johnworthingtonstudio.com/

No. 3 detail

William Baziotes, Gerome Kamrowski and Jackson Pollock did a collaborative painting, 1940-41,  which appears to demonstrate great control over the process of 'action' painting. The calm areas could have been masked off to isolate them from the 'action' painting or painted around afterwards to make defined borders. My guess is it was produced from a combination of these methods and more.
http://www.weinstein.com/artists/gerome-kamrowski/

Advantages (and disadvantages) over more conventional methods of painting:
Could have several paintings on the go at any one time, space permitting - limited by the amount of floor space and protective covering available.
The pre-mixed colours in containers are easy to isolate from one another. Mixing of tonal variations not as important.
If things didn't seem to be working out I found that adding further layersgenerally resolved the situation.
Disadvantage - hard to control the results, I found I just had to go with the flow. However, with plenty further experience I'm sure more control would come about.
Messy process, but this to me is part of the fun - until it's time to clean up that is!