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Part 2, project 4, research point 4 – Dutch realist genre painters

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Project 4 is about interiors and this task requires an investigation into the way the Dutch genre painters, as they were called, achieved their sense of realism, space, and the occupants in the room. Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) was one of these and happens to be one of my favourite artists because of the warmth he brings out in his portrait models. His interiors, though, impress as well; their domesticity and mundane but beautifully intimate and gentle compositions where so often the key character is shown in light from a high window. This one, The Milkmaid c 1658-60 (left), for me … Continue reading Part 2, project 4, research point 4 – Dutch realist genre painters

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Part 2, project 3, research point 3 – optical effects

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

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

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Part 2, project 3, exercises 1&2 – contrasts

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

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