Exercise: Colour Accuracy

I chose objects which made a pleasing arrangement, but although I did a couple of sketches beforehand, I felt that the whole thing was overwhelmingly complicated for some unknown reason. So, I did as suggested in the instructions and focused on a smaller area where I found some interesting angles, juxtapositions and shapes. I was mindful to be also aware of  tonal relationships. Things seemed to slot into place so much better once I had done this. I covered the surface in a dark mid tone wash and objects were outlined with a light grey.

When mixing the lighter tones in the rusty red surface cloth I experienced some difficulty as naturally they were turning pink which wasn't the intention. To combat this I added some burnt umber but had to be careful as this in turn had a darkening effect. The nuances of hue and tone on the chilli pepper were also very challenging for me. In fact it seemed to take forever before I was sufficiently satisfied  to leave it alone. The candle and the foreground stone were the only aspects I felt happy with both during the process and with the result, partly because I was aware of having taken a more relaxed approach to these. But what was the other part?  I think the point of the exercise was to obtain accuracy in colours above all else, which I achieved, but I found myself being dragged into trying to create a realistic appearance, which again frustrated me somewhat.

Research Point 3 Optical Effects and Op Artists

Introduction
Impressionism recorded nature in terms of light and colour. Post impressionists rejected these limitations and instead sought to be more expressive. They were not concerned with depicting the effects of light and other visual effects like those seen in the impressionist movement, they were less idyllic. They wanted to express their meaning beyond the surface appearance; they painted with emotion, intellect, and the eye. The post-impressionism painters stressed their personal view of the visual world and had a freely expressive use of colour and form to describe emotions and movement.
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/influences/post-impressionism.html

Impressionists
 
They portrayed overall visual effects instead of details, and used short "broken" brush strokes of mixed and pure unmixed colour—not blended smoothly or shaded, as was customary—to achieve an effect of intense colour vibration.
source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism

Post Impressionists 

Post-Impressionists extended Impressionism while rejecting its limitations: they continued using vivid colours, thick application of paint, distinctive brush strokes, and real-life subject matter, but they were more inclined to emphasize geometric forms, to distort form for expressive effect, and to use unnatural or arbitrary colour.
source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-Impressionism


Neo-Impressionists

Georges Seurat was interested in the technical division of light into the colours of the spectrum. He is commonly regarded as the foremost Pointillist. Both Seurat and Paul Signac were founder members of the Neo-Impressionists. Seurat did not agree with some aspects of Impressionism. He did not believe in the practice of Impressionists mixing of pigments based on intuition, but contrary to it, by keeping them pure and using pairs of complementary colours, placing them directly alongside one another requiring the viewer to combine the colours, perceiving them as interfering with one with another..This practice was known as Divisionism. This term was coined in a book written by Signac - 'D'Eugene Delacroix au Neo-Impressionnisme' (1899). Seurat's approach was very logical and scientific and largely influenced by Chevreul's colour theories. He used opaque colours to obtain greater light reflection - this bounces back rather than penetrating first as with a transparent colour.

A contemporary and friend of his Paul Signac, was very similar in approach. which was one of applying unmixed paint in dabs side by side based on the above theory and a scientific analysis of light. The resulting pictures had such a brilliantly luminous quality, their full effects became evident only when viewed from a distance. After Seurat's death in 1891 Signac moved towards more colourful and vibrant effects. Signac and Seurat's experiments with colour division made a great contribution to the development of Fauvism and Abstraction.

Seurat's painting 'Bathers in Asniere' is an early illustration of his developing Pointillist techniques. It depicts male workers bathing on the left bank of the Seine with an industrial scene in the background. On very close inspection of a high resolution web image it is possible to make out some of the effects of optical mixing in certain areas such as on the lower half of the man seated on the orange cushion. Aswell as using complementaries he used small dabs, some going in various directions - cross hatching in the foreground and thin horizontal strokes on the water.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathers_at_Asni%C3%A8res#mediaviewer/File:Baigneurs_a_Asnieres.jpg

Paul Signac
http://www.wikiart.org/en/paul-signac/the-papal-palace-avignon-1900

The dominant colours used here are purples and pinks. Because large areas of dots of analogous colours such as orange and yellow on the main building are juxtaposed with its complementary shades of blue it gives rise to a shimmering vibrant effect.
From about 1900 small mosaic like squares of primary colours took over from dots in his paintings.

The Op Artists

Op Art sprang up in the early 1960s. Among its main sorces were Josef Albers - a former pupil was Richard Avuszkiewcz.


Op art, also known as optical art, is a style of visual art that makes use of optical illusions.

It is a method of painting concerning the interaction between illusion and picture plane, between understanding and seeing. Op art work art abstract, with many of the better known pieces made in red and yellow. When the viewer looks at them, the impression is given of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibration, patterns, or alternatively, of swelling or warping.

Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op_artBridget Riley is the most well known of Op Artists. She studied Seurat's pointillist technique which help to spark her interest in optical effects. Her early was in black and white, from 1966 in colour.Typical effects of her paintings would be intensely dazzling optical illusions appearing to vibrate and pulsate, causing the canvas to appear distorted. A typical example is (Cataract 3), a large scale painting in greens alongside reds and areas of grey. The effect of looking at this is quite disorienting. This is her first work in colour. Prior to this Riley paintings were in monochrome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Riley,_Cataract_3.jpg

Another famous exponant was the late Victor Vasarely. He was very popular and had a major influence on fashion and design. He used warm colours and was most concerned with creating the illusion of movement. 
I later had the good fortune to be able to view one of his op art paintings and one of Bridget Rileys on display in the Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin. I'm not sure if there was a tremendous advantage in seeing them 'in the flesh' - one would not get a great sense of impasto brushstrokes for instance, as as the brushstrokes are quite smooth. Riley's is a relatively small painting, but Victor Vasarely's is 160x160cm, so the scale difference was worth seeing.
xttp://www.immacollection.com/eMuseumPlus?service=direct/1/ResultDetailView/result.inline.list.t1.collection_list.$TspTitleImageLink.linksp=13&sp=Sartist&sp=SfilterDefinition&sp=0&sp=1&sp=3&sp=SdetailView&sp=16&sp=Sdetail&sp=0&sp=T&sp=0&sp=SdetailList&sp=0&sp=F&sp=Scollection&sp=l86#.VQ69vY6sWHk
Victor Vasarley:
http://www.immacollection.com/eMuseumPlus?service=direct/1/ResultDetailView/result.inline.list.t1.collection_list.$TspTitleImageLink.link&sp=13&sp=Sartist&sp=SfilterDefinition&sp=0&sp=2&sp=3&sp=SdetailView&sp=3&sp=Sdetail&sp=0&sp=T&sp=0&sp=SdetailList&sp=0&sp=F&sp=Scollection&sp=l2047#.VQ6-A46sWHk

http://www.op-art.co.uk/op-art-gallery/victor-vasarely/Vega-Nor

Exercise 8 Exploring Contrasts and Exercise 9 Successive Contrast

1. Harmonious colours: Painted a series of 5 small primary yellow squares along the top of the grey paper from left to right.
then surrounded them with yellow/green, green/yellow, yellow/orange, orange/yellow and red/orange.
2.Complementary colours: Two colours which are tertiary colours - inside yellow/green (brightest) inside square and outside - red/violet, and visa versa, cause one another to appear more vibrant. My eyes seem to jump from one to another. The yellow/green being more saturated than its complementary with white added is more intense.
3. Inside square beige (neutral), outside - 1.orange, 2. blue. The same effect here as no.2. I don't know why - the white frame around the neutral beige appears to anchor the two complementaries above it. The neutral, even seems to be in turn enhanced by the saturated colours. This beige and the surrounding grey ground cause the white frame to appear vibrant.
Harmonious colours (those close on the colour wheel or spectrum) modify one another when juxtaposed. This is the opposite of the effect on complementary colours when juxtaposed, each is enhanced. Neutrals enhance colours on the outside of the colour wheel - saturated colours.
Most colours (apart from yell and orange) look quite strong before dry and acrylics dry a shade darker. The yellow/green is a very bright  but need a second coat to bring this out, as the yellow portion doesn't cover as well as a colour containing the addition of white, because  it  is opaque.

Above - more experiments on white background. In general I think all colours look brighter on a white ground than a neutral or dark one.
The muted orange and orange squares, being harmonious still subdue one another and the complements of the same saturated orange with blue still enhance one another.
Below these the pale violet and green hues makes the blue appear darker. The blue is enhanced by the surrounding black, but I'm not so sure if the same is true when blue is on the outside bordered by white.

Successive contrast

Exercise 7 Still life man made objects

Although I did consider other subjects, somehow I had a strong compulsion to paint glassware. Viewing images of Morandi's bottles and jars for the research of still life painting, must have got into my head somehow.
When I experimented with a few connotations I noticed the combination of straight and curved contours and reflective clear and dark glass surfaces formed interesting negative shapes and juxtaposition of angles. When I did a few very simple line sketches of these arrangements  each one inspired me enough to consider perhaps using in the future as part of a series. On studying my small tonal sketches I was impressed by the air of static calm the subject emitted  The reason for my final choice of a square format was that it appears to balance the arrangement of verticals and horizontals. On a very dark blue ground I used mostly calming (analogous) colours such as blues, purples and greens, with the exception of yellow ochre and white on the supporting surface, also ceruleum blue and yell ochre on the wall behind both under the paint on the right and in a thin wash over the paint towards the centre to give an impression of reflection. Ceruleum blue was added to other colours to cool them down and help them recede, if necessary. Cobalt blue was added in the same way for the warmer hues to help them advance. Other colours were alizarin crimson, burnt umber, pthallo blue and a touch of cadmium red.  All the background surfaces were painted using plastic and cardboard cards. They were very enjoyable to use and produced a very textured effect. Curves were more difficult but possible with smaller cards, tending to producing quite angular marks. I did find them quite liberating and easier to handle than palette knives.
In the background I had trouble getting the correct tone directly behind the objects. So, I toned down the overly warm and then overly light tones with glazed  of pthallo blue, then pthallo blue mixed burnt umber. The majority of the objects surfaces were painted with a brush as I think this created a pleasing contrast of textures with the background.
The highlights on the rim of the drinking glass where fiddly and I had to adjust and re-adjust it several times. It still seems to look a bit heavy.

Before further glazes

The tall jar was the most challenging to get the tones to look convincing. I think I got there eventually, but not before applying quite dry layers in multiple tones (it looked too broken up and very unappealing to me), then covering it all with opaque blue to try and reflect the colour behind. This caused it to look dull a flat, so I then varied this effect with dark blue using smooth wavy movements of the brush and wrist. I think the cause of most of my problems here were due to getting confused with the tones by following all three of the below:
1. the actual objects in front of me.
2. a monochrome photograph.
3. the sketch,
ie. the tones on the photo looked different to those on the actual objects and I feel now that I should have followed just one, probably the sketch.

After alterations -
glazes

I changed some of the background's colours but kept to the tonal values as much as possible. It looks more true to the charcoal tonal sketch - which I had simplified to broad areas of tone.
Of the two paintings - this one and the previous still life natural objects, this is my preference. To me it exudes a look of calmness and  at the same is time inviting. The colours and tones, I think play a big part in this. The lighter toned areas in the background prevent it from becoming what would otherwise be a dark and sombre  atmosphere.
Natural Objects: In comparison - I'm not sure if I like the colours used - dominated by muted green of the underlying cloth and the muted brown purple of the onion which look a bit hard together. I've also left a hard boundary between the green surface and the light area behind it. Even so, though the objects are quite mundane they have very interesting features.

LATER:
The blue behind the bottles looked quite heavy and my tutor suggested  it would be possible to alleviate this by going over with layers of glazes.

Glaze experiments

Several layer of mixes of cerulean blue, alizarin crimson, yellow ochre and white were applied thinly in combination with a little matte medium to help maintain the integrity of the paint. Certainly I think the glazes have had the intended effect; the blue has calmed the deep yellow and the yellow ochre has calmed the blue. The dark red/blue over most areas seem to add some cohesiveness. The pale blue area and the yellow orange in the lower part, were popping out a bit too much in relation to the rest of the composition. The glazes seem to have had the desired effect, though have dried to a fairly dull finish. Of course this change later if I decided, maybe with glaze medium, varnish or similar.

Another variation the above

On this second version, the shadow on the left side of the far left bottle was softened after I took a photo of this one. I followed a very similar techniques as in the first. I prefer this one in many ways: more harmonic - colours seem to balance better especially the lower surface, apart from the tall bottle, which I think is slightly too close to the top

Part 2 Research Point 2

17th Century Dutch Still Life and Flower Painters: The genre of still life painting was extremely popular in Holland during the 17th century. I have to admit that I am not a number one fan of paintings with such a high degree of realism but I can't help but admire them for the obvious skill involved in achieving them.

These paintings usually featured opulent and exotic object reflecting the life style of collectors for example Willem Kalf 'Still Life with Lobser, Drinking Horn and Glass'. This is full of texture and great depth with very fine detail. The light is soft and warm and the luxurious objects have a jewel like quality.
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/willem-kalf-still-life-with-drinking-horn

Symbolic/Iconographic (Vanitas) Paintings:
Pieter Claesz 'A Vanitas Still Life'

Painted in warm monochromatic tones, again bathed in warm light seemingly sunlight from a window above, also sugested in the reflection off the glass. The theme is meant to be the transience of earthly life. Te skull represents death - feature of many 'Vanitas' paintings. The watch symbllized time forever moving on and the overturned glass - life flowing away.

Jan Davidsz de Heem 'Still Life of Dessert'
This is incredibly detailed. The objects are arrenged to give a look of casual abandon as though they are the leftovers of a sumptuous feast - the increase in affluence among Dutch society  was due to improved efficiencies in food production and increased manufacture, exportation and importation of goods. Though the subject of leftover food might sound mundane it was the remains of such a sumtuous feast as to appear quit tempteing. Along with the white tablecloth, it emerges from andcontrasts strongly with the dark background. The shiny ornate looking vessels ans plated at add to the ostentatious look as do the rich drapes in the dark background.

History
Still Life only became a subject in its own right early in the 17th Century after the Reformation, which brought about the end in popularity of religious paintings in Northern Europe. Before this time still life usually formed only part of a larger scene.


Still Life was also popular in Spain during the 17th century, less so in Italy with the odd exception ie. Carravagio. It didn't catch on in France until the18th Century where trompe l'oeil was commisioned French Aristocrats containing opulent arrangements of food and drink.
In contrast Jean-Simeon Chardin chose to paint ordinary humble items on a small scale bringing with the effect of bringing their great beauty to life.

In the 19th Century certain continued to paint still life subject, which fell from favour for a while in comparison to other genres. Although many famous artists included still life in their work. The changed with the experimental techniques of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Notable amongst them were Paul Cezanne whou was at forefront of reviving still life as an important art form. His style greatly influenced the development on Cubism. Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers', 1888 is another well known still life example. Those of Henri Matisse who belonged to the group of 'Fauves' artists, otherwise known as the Wild Beasts, loved to explore the use of bold colour, simplified perspective and forms and in many cases the use of shapes with bold outlines.

20th Century
Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso were regarded as the pioneers of Cubism in the early 1900s, though, being great admirers of  Cezanne, they were influenced by his methods. Braque invented the use of paper colle (pasted paper) in a way which went against conventional perspective  and modelling methods, creating a flat appearance. Their approach (like Cezanne's) was concerned more with how to arrange colour to give flat abstract look than the rules of perspective. They would use multiple viewpoints for a subject rather than only one, painting many still lifes bordering on abstract. Juan Gris developed his own unique version of Cubism.

 Picasso - STILL LIFE   WITH BASKET OF FRUIT c.1910

Many more styles have evolved and flourished since then and a wide range of approaches have been tried.

Some artists combined realism with abstraction, such as the American artist Georgia O'Keeffe in her flower painting close-ups, and the more abstract orientated Stuart Davis.
Giorgio Morandi very successfully made a long running and thorough exploration of everyday objects such as bottles, boxes and jars in muted colours. MC Escher was famous for his creations of optical illusions, one such being 'Still Life and Street'.

Morandi - STILL LIFE WITH JUG AND BOTTLE

Joan Miro is well known for surrealist floating images but this particular still life painting, full of  symbolism about political oppression, is quite realistic in style.
http://www.actingoutpolitics.com/joan-miro-sees-the-violent-end-of-the-tradition-of-still-life-as-a-symbol-of-harmony-with-nature-in-western-painting-%E2%80%93-miro%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cstill-life-with-old-shoe%E2%80%9D-1937/

Wayne Thiebaud began slightly before pop art but is often regarded as a pop artist, producing work in a very similar vein. Well known are his paintings of mass produced food displays - simplified to their basic shapes. He has been influenced by both proto pop and abstractionism.
There are quite an array of tasty looking goodies on this site:
http://www.theswellelife.com/swelle_life/2013/01/the-delicious-world-of-wayne-thiebaud.html

Moving along to the present, Glenn Brown - is known for his modern, often distorted and sometimes controversial reinterpreted abstractions of well known artworks by famous artists.

'I do not feel embarrassed at attempting to express sadness and loneliness' is meant to be based on a painting of a vase of flowers by Van Gogh, I suspect it is the famous painting of sunflowers.

William Scott

Exercise 6 Still life with natural objects

Since I did the tonal study on the white ground I have learned to blend edges more where I want to play them down in relation to edges in areas that I prefer to draw attention to. Though I used oils for this exercise, as opposed to acrylic in the tonal study, I have become more used to using acrylic retarder with acrylics which extends the drying time of the medium giving extra time for blending. I discovered these advantages when I did a painting for my daughter before Christmas.
For shadow areas, I am aware of a growing confidence in using touches, and sometimes entire mixes, of the objects complementaries on neighbouring surfaces, although not always successful I  seem to having less of a  problem working out a solution than previously - hopefully this will continue...(see also below - problems).
I completed the painting in a couple of sessions, so it meant I had to apply fresh paint over still wet layers below. Exercise 5 - Drawing in paint  - also in oils, entailed using the same method in places, but I don't think I was as successful there, as I made the mistake of painting over some areas which were starting to dry and this had the effect of causing the paint to sink, resulting in a comparatively dull looking surface. Whereas, on this occasion I was mindful not to make the same mistake and the result was more successful.
Nevertheless, I think partly due to the layers of wet paint I couldn't seem to obtain adequate contrast between the highlights and mid-tones even though I tried to use the brush with very light pressure at a low angle to canvas so as not to disturb the paint underneath, a certain amount of it did sink in, but the result was better than in Exercise 5, I think because the paint underneath was still workable. I will probably have more confidence to use the same method after doing this painting.

Another problem for me was with the cast shadows: I tried mixes of dark green and alizarin crimson for the garlic's cast shadows together with the garlic's complementary - purple which resulted in a muddy brown. I should have realised this would happen as the amounts of each complementary were too equal. So, I rubbed off as much as possible with a rag and tried dark green, with just a hint of crimson. Later I lightened the tone further with a paler mix of green which was less dominant and, I think, much easier on the eye. I definitely still have a long way to go but perhaps this will become second nature eventually. I think it was mainly a case of softening some of the tones with a lighter mix the effect was much less jarring than before. I have left the edge  of the green cloth at the back but I think this would also benefit from some softening of the edges.

Finished

Adjustments made later somehow didn't include the above mentioned idea of softening the rear edges of the green cloth. Re- the the right side of background cloth, I received comments in my tutor report that it misinforms and looks confusing due to overworking.  Yes I could see this fault on reflection; it did look too fussy, so I applied some mid-green, light cream and a small amount of dark green tones, blending them into the overworked area. I really concentrated on simplifying the myriad of dark little marks around the larger garlic. However, doing this caused it to look out of balance against the other green areas - the hues didn't exactly match with what was there. So I tentatively added some of the same colours to the rest of the cloth, including the front edge, which looked a sickly yellow beforehand, not picking up anything in the composition, looking as though it didn't belong. Once I had made these alterations it the back of the cloth appeared to fit in better. Hopefully I have changed the cloth area enough to make a difference for the better. I'm not sure if  I've done enough but I knew I could easily get carried away if I did much more, then regret it.

Exercise 5 Drawing in Paint

For this exercise I wrote more notes than usual in my sketchbook. Early experiments with composition didn't seem to work. I felt I also needed to be positioned somewhere I could have materials to hand and be relatively comfortable. Anyhow, when I finally made a choice of composition they were ornaments in a corner of a window sill, so I don't think they look too contrived. However available space to move objects around in different positions was quite restricted. At the same time I wanted to take advantage of what possibilities for the negative spaces were available to me. The bird which was one constant almost throughout my preparatory work, was something I couldn't move around much as I want it to appear as though looking out of the window.
Throughout the sketches and preliminary drawings I tried to retain a constant position during each, relative to the object to try and reduce the riskk of distortions caused by moving. I marked the floor around the easel and around the front of my feet. I don't think I fully understood what exactly was required from this exercise. I got the impression that the aim was partly to produce a painting emphasising linear aspects. But I couldn't see any mention of inclusion of tone or form, so I decided to include it anyway right or wrong.
Using acrylics I drew in the objects outlines with a fine brush in dilute raw umber on a tinted ground of raw umber.
I continued with the remainder of the painting using oils, roughly applying darkest tones first, then the lightest. During in this painting I felt inhibited most of the time and I had the urge to loosen up my technique but was unable to. Alas this is nothing new..

It wasn't long before the lines around contours completely disappeared under the thicker paint. I meant to re-assert them at the end but couldn't build up enough confidence, not to mention enthusiasm. The peachy orange on the surface to the right, I think is too bright and overpowering and needs toning down. Overall, I was disappointed with the final result, considering all the preparation work I'd done for this. Now that some considerable time has passed since I completed this painting, I feel aforementioned extras  need to be done to improve matters and perhaps help to give me another perspective on it.
There is an example of a very flat still life by Picasso on this link. I find the effect intriguing and I would like to try out the technique sometime soon..

Picasso's Dish of Pears is located towards the end of this link's page: