This task allowed use of the same still life set up as in the previous exercise and so I was able to benefit from having made sketches and a painting to help teach my eye and brain how to direct … Continue reading Part 2, project 3, exercise 5 – still life in colours reflecting mood
The task is to make a still life using two complementary colours and white. I chose sap green and cadmium red. First some sketches using a charcoal pencil. Then drawing out with a watercolour pencil on … Continue reading Part 2, project 3, exercise 4 – still life complementary colours
I’ve discussed elsewhere on the blog how Seurat and Signac, amongst others, following on from Chevreul’s meticulous account of colour the ways colours interact with those adjacent to them, how leaving a white space between dots was said to emphasise the effect, and what the optical impact was on the viewer. Pissarro is reported to set his paintings in white frames in order to capitalise on the effect of complementary colours, and Monet used the principle to enhance colour intensity, his many poppy fields being cited as good examples of this. Seurat is said to have summarised ‘the six principles’ … Continue reading Part 2, project 3, research point 3 – optical effects
The objective of this exercise is to demonstrate the influence of similarly toned or complementary colours on each other (ex 1), and experience the illusion referred to as ‘successive contrast’ (ex 2). Exercise 1 requires a base layer of mid-grey over which a series of squares is filled with colours of differing relationships. Squares 1-5 follow the brief, using ultramarine blue as the central colour with the surrounding squares filled with similarly toned colours including cadmium green, payne’s grey, and white mixed with the original blue. The sixth square contrasts the blue with its complementary colour, orange. In the next … Continue reading Part 2, project 3, exercises 1&2 – contrasts
I have three metal birds – sparrows possibly – unreflective and almost an absorbent black. They’re textured but it’s hard to see. In contrast there’s that totally flamboyant beetle – shiny, bright, iridescent amd as big as the birds. I … Continue reading Part 2, project 2, exercise 4, still life man-made objects
I am on something of a treadmill at the moment and so I’ve taken the brakes off. This exercise is the second in this project leading towards and eventual still life assignment, and requires the use of natural objects. I … Continue reading Part 2, project 2, exercise 3 – still life natural objects
I’m using an A4 sketch book for this, trying to keep things in one place after earlier experiences selecting which books had which best selection to send off with an assignment. This top page is untreated and I used wet-in-wet to make some general flower shapes before mopping with paper towel and training some of the pigmented edges in directions indicative of petals. When it was dry, I used a limited palette of reds and oranges (the flowers) and blue/green for the stems and leaves. Meanwhile, I applied a layer of white gesso to the page beneath for the next … Continue reading Part 2, project 2, exercise 2 still life with flowers
The task here is to find a ready-made still life – that is a collection of objects already positioned somewhere in the home that draw the eye – then make a series of sketches to get a feel for the … Continue reading Part 2, project 2, ex 1 still life sketches
Research the still life and flower painting of the 17th century Dutch Golden Age. Make notes on particular paintings you admire and find out about techniques. Research at least one with iconographic significance and discuss the meanings ascribed to the objects. Explore still life through the 18th to 20th centuries and discuss how the subject matter was dealt with; in particular the early Cubist approaches of Braque and Picasso. Consider how contemporary artists are interpreting this genre. Specifically, this task refers to 17th century masters from what’s known as the Golden Age. Running an initial search, my first thought was … Continue reading Project 2, Still Life. Research point 2, Dutch still life painters.
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