With #1’Don Quixote’s Vision’ perhaps I lost the original focus for it mainly because the day I visited the site to paint it was a clear and bright day, and I ended up using that as the background and influence, (which I still feel in itself worked well, I came back very happy with what I had done that day) but I do accept the original intention was the feeling of size and menace in the sky, which did get lost. By #3, ‘Ruinas Romanos’, I had realised that I can add in a sky from another day and use that; after all I was looking indeed at a narrative and not just a painting of ‘what is there’. I had felt that my assignment 4 painting had gone well because I had laid most of it down en plein aire, which had given it a fresh, gestural and looser approach; this had made me keen to try and do this again and I had chosen landscapes in part to be able to work outside. I do feel I have learnt from this. It has been very helpful and a learning experience to revisit this work and to do more sketches and then a colour sketch as well; I feel it got me back nearer to my original vision for this work.
In the composition for #3 ‘Ruinas Romanos/La Refinería ‘ I felt the steps were always going to be the main focus and I liked the idea of them leading you up into the modern, industrial world; this is the juxtaposition I was aiming for. I decided to put in the wall so as to balance the colours that I had put into the sky and still feel this worked quite well. Really most of the ruins were just that: stones on the ground so I needed to put the column bases and pillars all together, where I hoped they may have been previously. I think my looser, dryer brushwork worked well on this painting, giving a more open, looser effect with a ghostly feel.
I understand that I need to reflect more on my handling of the paint, and brushstrokes, and to make notes in my sketchbooks along side the sketches themselves, which would help me to focus my thoughts and also to understand what I was thinking and planning when I look back at my work.
This is in response to tutor feedback on assignment 5.
I have been researching the work of David Bomberg in particular his charcoal sketches and his use of an eraser. I also have Turner’s dramatic skies and use of light in mind, having revisited his ‘Dolbadern Castle’.
Today is a rare stormy day here in Spain and I have been up on the terrace trying to catch a dramatic sky with charcoal and eraser. The wind turbines were added from my photographs afterwards. All in my A3 sketchbook with the pages divided into A4 and A5.
#1#2#3#4#5#6
With #5 & 6 I was trying to convey the movement and slicing of the blades; the ‘whump’ as they turn. #1 I caught the sunlight coming down through the clouds and these turbines are actually in the distance from my terrace. I think it looks a little like a crucifixion scene. #2 I am pleased with the composition and sky, I think it describes the sheer scale of these machines. #3 shows the distant mountains well, and also it describes the rain in the sky, a wind cutting through. #4 I tried to portray the clouds around the blades: Iam not sure this would work well in a colour study as the lower clouds tend to be more mist like.
I think I would use #2 to paint, this composition works best with the emphasis on the sky and the turbines. I would really work on that sky, using a lot of dark grey with some lighter colours breaking through; swirling the paint and maybe also showing some circular movement of the blades as in #5. The mountains beyond would blend into that sky, and just some detail on the hill in front; all very loose with a lot of dry brush strokes dragged in there as well.
Using charcoal worked well for these studies. I found a range of depth in just using black on white and it worked well to blend lightly with my finger and then lift with an eraser or darken with another swipe of the charcoal. It also enables one to work quickly and capture a sky as it is moving above you.
I have now decided that I would like to experiment using colour and so I tried some greys and pinks for the sky in my sketch book and then worked on a piece of A3 cardboard that I coated with 2 layers of white acrylic. A sponge worked well for blending the sky, which I used quite dry. I tried to keep it very like #2 and also to add in some of the movement from #4. I used a hb 6 pencil to straighten the turbines slightly as well. This blended it quite well. I brought some of the pink down into the hint of a town on the hill. With perspective, looking up more at the turbine, it gives a sense of the scale of the thing and the feeling of being slightly overwhelmed.
It was just a quick study but I can see how a more dramatic and dominant sky works well for this painting, giving it more drama and menace and movement. I think it perhaps better reflects my original intentions for this painting.
Raes…’works are often inspired by specific places which she uses as departure points for a flight of colour and sweeping compositions. Rae uses washes of bold colour; merging form, line and hue into each other with dynamic composition, breaking up the picture surface with thrusting lines. The works draw the viewer into the artist’s vision, emitting energy and warmth. Rae rejects the term “landscape painter” because the patterns and items left behind as traces of human presence are her prime interest.’
First impressions: her work looks very abstract and colourful. I suggest it all looks rather flat; there does not appear to be much depth described, although the fading of the colour in the distance, as in ‘Winter Almonds’ does occasionally add some Ariel perspective. I do like her use of line in the Almond trees, the stark blackness of them offset against the wonderful hot colours on here.
This screenprint is a little darker – the sunflowers appear to be at the dead and drying stage and maybe this is in the early sunrise, which they are reaching up for. I like the looseness of it and the the small dots suggest seeds, pollen, dust motes….it is bold and confident.
What can I take from Rae’s work? I do not feel I am ready to be quite so abstract; although I want to push myself more that way – however I love her bold use of colour and the slashing, bold lines, which the Spanish landscape certainly lends itself to.
It would seem there was an exhibition of her work on Gibraltar last year which I missed, which is a pity!
There is a nice introduction and history about Bomberg on the Tate page (above). I have visited Ronda many times, indeed it is not too far from where I am living so I am familiar with the gorge and the famous bridge and the houses clinging to and climbing the cliff walls. The work above seems to be have executed very quickly, capturing an evening light. There is a lot of dynamic shading and use of an eraser for the light on the houses. I would question if you were not familiar with Ronda, whether you could actually work out what the sketches were of, although they describe a mood and a light. In ‘The bridge and gorge, Ronda’ , I can see the familiar cliff walls and the bridge as they are well known to me. Source: http://www.jameshymangallery.com/artists/80/1225/david-bomberg/the-bridge-and-gorge-ronda?r=artists/80/sold/david-bomberg
He seems to have used long vertical strokes to describe the height of the cliffs; of the bridge itself there is not much detail.
The image below is much clearer to see. This an interesting view and perspective, looking down from the side of the bridge. The light areas where the light hits do appear to be erased away, something I should consider in my own sketches. asource: http://www.jameshymangallery.com/artists/80/1221/david-bomberg/the-bridge-ronda?r=artists/80/sold/david-bomberg
There is a interesting short documentary here: http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/bomberg-ronda
Looking at Bomberg’s paintings, they are much clearer whilst still maintaining that dynamic and bold style. I note the blue of the sky and been also used on the cliff side, to balance out the colours.
This painting below really speaks to me.‘East valley Cuenca’, 1934
oil on canvas
20 5/8 x 26½ in
source: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/david-bomberg-1890-1957-east-valley-cuenca-4991793-details.aspx (I have been chasing this image on many searches but this is the best I can find. I note the limited pallette and just the sheer scale of the view…the distance in there beyond the town itself and the drop of the gorge, the bold brush work. THIS is what I would like to bring to my own work. This has an almost abstract look to it and yet clearly you can be drawn into this scene, with the smaller marks in the distance describing trees and towns beyond. The jagged hardness of the rock and then the upward push of the brush for the houses above. The cyprus trees rising tall in the gorge. Fearful tracks and roads along the sides. The colours are so beautifully balanced and in harmony.
This might better have informed my own work, ‘Don Quixote’s Vision of the future’. I think the hill and the towns I did ‘live’ worked well, indeed with some similarities to this free style, but then putting the foreground and turbines in I did not take such risks and they were perhaps not bold enough….
Comparing this to Turner’s ‘Dolbadarn Castle’, source: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-dolbadarn-castle-colour-study-d04166
Similarities are the limited pallette, the boldness of the brushwork, although Turner’s is a much softer effect, although still dramatic. The perspective is more looking out from the flatness of the lake to the towering mountains beyond, whereas Bomberg’s is from a high vantage point looking down and out to the distance, giving you the feeling of being on high. Bombergs is stronger, bolder, harder; this is needed to reflect and describe the sheer rock here. Bomberg’s has only a small amount of sky, whereas Turners clouds and sky seems to take up almost half of the painting, although with the mountains showing through, the drama here is in the clouds and the light coming through.
The brushwork for Bomberg’s is angular, straight lines, Turner’s is round, circular, sweeping. Both clearly show the atmosphere and the feeling of the place, something to aspire to.
‘Study a man-made object. Focus close on one part of it and try different viewpoints.’
When I started this I did not feel a great enthusiasm for the exercise; however, I now find I have been drawn into the whole process and my ideas seem to lead on from each other. I chose a bottle of scent as a starting point, as I felt it would offer interesting light on the glass and the liquid. I did a few sketches, and then was looking at the liquid and and bubbles that form if shaken slightly, and I thought to put it together into the round bubble shape and to mix the elements up a bit. The name has dots of red too, which add colour and interest. the liquid is a light yellowish green. I thought a blue background would work well. I thought to kind of condense the bottle into the circle and turn the top round side on.
I dropped some water onto a plastic plate I had painted blue to study the light on the water.
Eden #19 abstract
A2 canvas on wooden frame. Well, I am not unhappy with it. I think my bubbles work well and add interest. Maybe I could have done the glass a little better but because I changed the shape that made it more difficult. I admit I did enjoy this exercise and it has opened my mind to be more receptive to abstract working in future.
This really was an entertaining read – much to my surprise! Collings tells the story of Modern Art in an amusing and witty way and seems to cover just about everything. Also a good reference book to keep and refer to. (By the way, I didn’t steal this from a library…it came with that bar code on it! 🙂 )
So I learnt more about artists I was familiar with and many that I had not heard of. A useful reference book to dip into for research and inspiration.
‘Abstract by looking very closely at a familiar natural form and expanding what you see in an arrangement of lines, shapes and colours.’
I am in love with this rock down by the river. It is quite soft, and often seems to have changed. I think parts of it wear away. Sandstone? It has been calling to me for a while and I am thinking I could use this to abstract – maybe select a part of it to zoom in on, and put a complementary colour around this area. I may try a little ‘frottage’ on it next time I am down there.
So I did and the results are below. It was very windy and the rock stands a bit proud to be able to do this, so it wasn’t really the result I had hoped for, but it was a chance to look closely at this structure.
I have been sketching the rock and thinking how best to do this.
I tried a few colours and added some flour to the acrylic (from the previous exercise) to give a rougher effect, which worked rather well. I think the blue background works best but maybe not textured as it looks like an island on the sea. The violet is too intense.
I like the blue so I think of a sky with some clouds, as if this part of rock is floating. Little lines of wispy clouds. I start painting this onto an A2 canvas and then I realise….it seems familiar!!! So I do some searching and of course come up with Magritte’s floating rock (“Castle of the Pyrenees”) Now I realise this is getting surreal, rather than abstract but now it is there I want to paint this. It has also made me realise how much researching other artist’s work influences you, even on a subconscious level.
Reflection: This exercise was about looking closely at a natural object and abstracting from that. I realise I may not have quite fulfilled what was asked, but I am rather pleased with my result and the process which carried me there. I think the colours work well together and I am pleased to have used my ‘mixing flour with acrylic’ idea from the previous exercise. I think this has given a good rough and sandy effect here. I like the contrast of the rock with the smooth air and the fluffy clouds.
the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.
“the juxtaposition of these two images”
‘I think the idea of juxtaposition in terms of qualities of soft / hard, warm / cool etc sounds a good focus. The wind turbine and pueblo or Spartacus v Blade Runner sounds intriguing. I recommend that you keep it simple and don’t put too many elements into the piece.
I think working directly from the scene did help you to loosen up and enjoy the paint handling process. Perhaps build in a good series of drawings, using loose gestural qualities in charcoal to start the process. Practice your gestural in the evenings from your photographs.‘
#1: Don Quixote’s Vision
My aim is to contrast the modern, hard, solid and strong lines of the wind turbines, using cooler, bolder lines with the warm, gentle, soft mountains and towns in the hazy distance. My idea behind this is a modern vision for Don Quixote to tilt at, with the Spanish countryside and white ‘pueblos’ behind.
I drove to the hill with the wind turbines yesterday (Manilva) and found a suitable parking spot. There is a track that goes right up to and past the turbines. They are HUGE when you get close and actually a little bit scarey… It was VERY windy, which is I suppose is why they are positioned there. It was not possible to sketch on the top of the hill but I managed to do some watercolour sketches from the car, looking out towards the distant mountains and towns to explore the colours in the hills and the sky. I took lots of photos and worked from them when I got back to do some gestural charcoal sketches and try to work out the composition I might choose. All in all a positive start. I have a canvas (50 x 70) which I will prime ready for a possible painting trip tomorrow morning, (cancelled due to the weather breaking)and I will decide on the composition later after I have tried out some more sketches. I think it will be portrait, even though it is a landscape, as I want to show the height of the turbines.
I tried a few more studies. I still need to decide the composition. I think it doesn’t matter if I add the position of the turbines afterwards, after all, I am unlikely to complete the whole painting ‘en situ’. Having a large turbine central is dramatic but maybe cuts the picture in half, making it too dominant.
This afternoon I tried another composition sketch in colour and I think maybe this works better. There is some rule of thirds creeping in here…But I will paint in the moment when I am actually there – the sky may be very different now and quite dramatic as the rain has come back to Spain in the last few days.
colour composition sketch
Had a wonderful morning painting yesterday. Very bright, sharp light and low wind levels so I could get out of the car and work. (Got attacked by large ants and a millipede got onto my mix plate…) I feel happy with what managed to put down, although slightly worried that the colors are too sharp, and need to be softer for the ariel perspective…but this is how it looked to me yesterday.
I have spent a few hours today working on this. I am not quite sure if I have finished or not…I tried to make the mountains bluer and paler but not sure it worked. Over all, I think the balance of the elements is fine. I have tried not to get too detailed and I also tried to give some movement to the blades by blurring some white near them. The turbines had turned yesterday and were rotating slower. I think the track works well and leads your eye into the picture.
#2 Car graveyard/Stork nurseries: This is the one I was not so certain about; however when I went or the reccy I discovered mountains of scrap metal all gleaming in the sunshine. On closer investigation(I got told off…I was trespassing 😮 ) I could see, and indeed I asked in my best Spanish – they are cubes of squashed, scrapped cars all gleaming in the sunlight. I was very excited by this and thought what a great juxtaposition with the birthplace of birds and the graveyard of cars. All that gleaming metal and then the undergrowth around there and the trees, and the storks themselves (they were still there so they don’t all migrate.) I don’t think it will be possible to work outside there, I have been back twice already, so I am going to work from my sketches and photos. I was also inspired by the earlier exercises where the paint was scratched off or into and I think this sgraffito technique might work well to describe the scrap in an interesting way. I am also remembering that tutor commentary on the student Adrian Eaton, and how he had scratched into the paint to show metal and wire fencing to great effect.
I sketched some storks to include on the nest or in the sky.
I started experimenting on acrylic paper with using silver paint (mixed with white, paynes grey and black), and scratching with the end of the brush whilst it was still wet to describe the metal and I ended up painting a whole picture. I am quite pleased with the effect for the metal. I think the idea of the dark fence showing the forbidden area is good and I might keep that. There is also a cannon type gun in there (from the war I guess…or army reject) and maybe I can use that somehow too (any cars left alive get shot 🙂 ) I will buy a canvas that is more square in shape this time but I think I will go portrait again, as I want the height for the stork’s nests.
So this is the composition I am going to work with, including the stop sign and the red pipe and the gun.
I spent 2 afternoons painting and after a few more tweaks I feel it is finished. The prep was all super useful, especially the stork sketches and the compositional water colour sketch. I decided to put in the railing at the front to add more depth to the picture overall and also to add to the ‘forbidden area’ feeling. I also added in the hills behind which I felt was needed , working from my photographs of the area and to give a feel for where this was situated.
#3: Ruinas Romanas/La Refinería
Yesterday I visited Carteia Roman Ruins, near San Roque. A strange place, among the oil refinery and so close to the sea, I had no idea. We were given a free guided tour but when I explained that I wished to sketch and paint I was told I could not be left alone…the guide did say if I went on a day when there were no other visitors she would sit with me as I painted for an hour. So I am a bit stumped actually. I really want to do this, the last one, ‘en situ’ as I could not for the last one. So many forbidden areas and I chose 2 of them… 😦 However I got some great pictures and it was an amazing morning, so interesting.
I have been doing some sketches and working out which view might work the best. I think I am going to have to mash it up a little, or it could just look like a pile of rubble…the best pieces have been moved but I can move them back into my picture. I have been back again but it is not going to be possible to paint there which is disappointing; however, I am going to have to be creative here anyway to get the effect that I want.
I felt I had stalled a little on this one – and this had been my original inspiration for this series of painting! My cat is really ill so I have been nursing him and could not seem to put my mind back on here. I did manage to decided on the composition though. The steps need to be there as they are interesting and lead the eye up to the refinery I think.
Yesterday I marked out loosely with paint where everything should be and thought, this is going to work. We have been having some amazing morning where there is low lying mist around the fields and trees and above clear sky and clouds. I could take my canvas up to the top terrace and paint this onto the canvas; the mist around the trees and the refinery towers coming through. This morning I did just this and it worked; I had the picture in my head at the same time as looking at the sky and the mist below. This is something to note for the future that I can paint ‘live’ somewhere else onto an existing work to get that fresh, spontaneous look.
Working from my sketches and photographs, I slowly built up the rest of the picture, keeping that misty feeling to it. I balanced the colours of the sky in the stones and the wall, which was there anyway.
Evaluation & reflection:
I think it doesn’t matter in which order they are viewed, however the order I worked on them is fine. I think they work well as interesting and unusual local landscapes of this area of Spain, and they also work viewed together with similar shapes and colours therein. It is strange perhaps that I chose portrait view for them all in the end, even though they are landscapes, but they all had ‘height’ that I needed to capture and I felt this worked out the best.
Painting outside requires quite a lot of planning. It is best not to assume that you are allowed to paint somewhere as it is disappointing to find this is not the case (however I am pleased I overcame these problems and it worked to my advantage in the end). The last one #3 is perhaps the most interesting view, with bolder, more adventurous brushwork, and I am pleased with the colours. This was the one that originally sparked my idea for this series of paintings back when I was working on assignment 4, so it is always worth looking back and focusing on earlier ideas to follow through.
Reflection overall:
Looking back over this module, I feel that my work has become bolder; I am more confident with my brushstrokes and not afraid to work in a looser and freer way. I find I can capture things quicker, I have noticed this particularly in life class situations and also when painting en plein aire. However, I am aware that this is something to develop further and take forward from this module. I have also found the benefit of researching other artists work, and how this inspires and influences my own work, sometimes even at a subconscious level. Something else I have learnt is the develop of my own ideas, to reflect critically on them and how one idea can then lead on to another, as evidenced by the development of my ‘Selfies’ project, which lead on to ‘Without Me’ and which I still feel I can develop on further.
I have recognised the need for more preparation work before starting work on a painting; I still have that impatience within myself to ‘get on with it’, (which may be why I love the challenge of painting outside and life drawing groups, which is an immediate reaction to describe what is in front of me) but when I do prepare thoroughly the result speaks for itself.
I am very much looking forward to starting work on my third module and seeing where this takes me.
‘Experiment with mixing materials from the landscape to build texture into your painting.’
I collected sand, flour, marjaram, earth, poppy seeds, cous cous, rock salt to try mixing with acrylic paint. I chose a green paint that I had purchased cheaply from a Chinese bazaar.
The flour worked rather well and mixed in to form a thickish paste, and I feel this could be used to give a empasto effect quite well, maybe because flour is absorbent. The larger ‘bits’, the rock salt and cous cous did not work as well – I think glue would need to be added as well as it did not cling onto the paper very well. Smaller ‘bits’ the seeds worked ok. When I added another colour on top this worked really well as it highlighted the effects. I will explore these more at some other time.
18/10/2017. Very nice to be actually working with other artists/beginners and to have someone teaching and looking over your shoulder. We started this week using charcoal, stick and compressed and a white stick, plus rubber on brown paper. A rough pot. The light kept changing. I think I got a good likeness to the pot. The teacher recommended using the rubber a lot, although I seem to recall from Drawing 1 it was not recommended..? She reminded me to put white against the dark areas to make them stand out. I hope I am not taking on too much at the moment as I am working on assignment 5 and this has to be my priority for the December deadline. But a lovely morning lost in the drawing moment 🙂
25/10/2017. Another good morning. we took 15 minutes each to draw each other, trying to concentrate on the light and dark areas and not get caught up in the detail. Maybe I got too detailed but not bad for a short draw. We then drew each other without lifting the pencil from the paper, then again using both hands at once. Interesting experiment. I am enjoying this class. I found today’s work very freeing,although I remembered a lot of this from drawing 1.
30/10/2017: 3 of us got together to do some mutual drawing of each other. 20 minutes each. Charcoal and conte stick. A good session, although I didn’t draw Jane very well!
01/1/2017: We had a model for this class and the weather allowed us to work outside in the courtyard. 4 x 20 minute sessions. For the coloured one I continued on to add on colour using pastels. First full body one not quite right on proportions, face detail good likeness. Better proportions on the coloured one.
9/11/2017: Kasbar, Gibraltar. Life drawing session. I was not able to get to the Jimena group this week but heard of a new group starting on Gibraltar so thought I’d go and join them for a night. Not much room, no easels so no chance to paint but I worked with charcoal and pencil and enjoyed the session. I think I am getting faster at capturing what is actually there.
I like the blue so I think of a sky with some clouds, as if this part of rock is floating. Little lines of wis
Through aquamarine 