Category Archives: Assignment 5

Tutor report: Assignment 5

Overall Comments

Hello Patricia, thank you for submitting your work for Assignment 5 online. The work is clearly presented, as has been the case throughout the course, well done. All work has been presented in your online blog due to you currently living in New York and the postage being prohibitive. You have worked through all of the exercises on this section and have grappled with areas you have found difficult. You have worked hard and conscientiously throughout the course. There have been times when you have struggled with some of the exercises but you have kept working and tried different approaches. You have tried to push yourself out of your comfort zone on several occasions and have shown some willingness to experiment and explore the medium.

Remember the assessors will want to see evidence of experimentation, exploration and progress over the life of the course. I think you can confidently show that you have made progress and that your work has developed.

Feedback on assignment

Develop a series of paintings using methods and a subject of your own choice.
Establish what links the pieces. Before you begin think about

Size
Medium

As you start concentrate on observation and research of the subject

Prep work

Great that you had arranged to attend a life drawing class. And a good idea to use it as a basis for your set of themed paintings. You have done a substantial amount of preparation work and have thought about several different approaches to the final piece.

The series of five minute poses are a really exciting set of drawings. The energy is there, the subtlety of the tone in describing form has come through, really accurately rendered proportions , excellent Patricia. Much much more of this approach and experimentation would greatly benefit your style development. The male figure set of sketches, particularly no 8, are also interesting.

Final Assignment pieces.

Good that you identified a connection with de Lempicka and followed this up. Your notes on how you developed your work and ideas are very informative. There is attention to composition, medium, tone and abstraction. The pose you have chosen is a strong composition and you have also experimented with this to some extent. Each painting has its own qualities. The styles are very different and this was intentional. The connecting factor was the figure. I think it may also have been interesting to select one of these styles and try using it to depict a series of five different poses. I can see from your writing why you have chosen the different styles you have. As a series, 3 and 4 seem to work well together. And also 1 and 4. Think about this and how you might develop it. There are myriad combinations of painting that could be developed from this set.

I note you have gone on to do additional life drawing and have entered that on your blog too, good. Your work has come together well on this section Patricia, well done. Be sure to include all of the prep work and final pieces in your final submission for assessment.

Comments on some of the other project work.

It’s good to try new techniques and then incorporate them in to your existing style, to widen your own vocabulary of mark making and in order to develop what will become your signature in painting. Your own unique style will develop by exploring what marks you are capable of making and that feel natural to you. I can see you are exploring this throughout your work.

Drawing on coloured ground.

Despite you not being happy with how these two pieces have turned out, and I can understand why, I do still think you have clearly shown the effect of the ground on the final piece and this is the point of the exercise.

Tonal studies on a coloured ground.

Blue shoes on coloured ground. Final piece. Very accomplished. Lovely application of paint. Good use of the coloured ground coming through, excellent tonal qualities. Good rendition of the shoe texture.

The onions. Img 0851, despite looking a little like pomegranates I actually think this painting is really good Patricia. The application of the watercolour is beautiful. It is more fluid and confident than in the final image which has more detail. This is a lovely style. I would recommend you have a nother go at the two onions several attempts until you feel completely happy that they look like onions but still have this beautiful expressive paint quality. I think it is some of the detail which is a little too random, the amount of definition is perfect but where it is, is a little misleading. The brown squiggle on the right hand bulb perhaps needs to be done with a much smaller brush for example.

Collage exercises

Good to read that you felt you had learnt from this experience Patricia. You say that you thought it might be better to do the exercise first and then the research. The thing I noted here was that the research you did seemed to have little impact on your own collage, or at least in your blog you didn’t relate the research with the exercise. Was your approach influenced by what you had seen in any way? Please do make that connection in writing in the blog as this is exactly what the assessors will be looking for. Sometimes try things out that other artists have tried out in your own way and make a note when you do that.

Using resists experimentally.

Some beautiful and subtle work here Patricia in the flowers and the pineapple in particular. The portraits conceptually too are very interesting, ghostly pieces. Lots and lots of potential for further experimentation here!

Mixed media on coloured and white paper.

In img 0977 I can see you really beginning to pull together several of the techniques and approaches you have been introduced to over the course.

Img 1003 – the shadow on the right hand side is excellent Patricia, so soft and evocative of the edges of feathery flowers. Excellent.

Img 1008 – very unusual and effective technique. The pale blue wash provides a solid clam background and the use of the blue pen for detail gives a very illustrative quality to the painting. Interesting.

Img 1016 also very effective, the combination of wet paint application and the fine detail, works well.

Free expression.

You express your thoughts and concerns over the concept behind the Ebola piece very well. This is a worthy topic for research and exploration of people’s thoughts and fears and an interesting topic for a visual art project. I personally wouldn’t have guessed what this was about without a title. I think the spidery line work is definitely unsettling but the choice of colour makes me think more of a fairy’s. The use of wet blurred technique is good and effective but again, the colour needed to reflect more the feelings of anxiety, fear, despair. And the blue/pink /yellow combination doesn’t get this across. Dental surgery is much more effective from a colour point of view. Even though it uses some of the same colour scheme it is more intense, perhaps because they are alongside the black too. The sharp black lines also get across pain, and the blocks of yellow work well. As a stand alone abstract piece, it is quite child like in its delivery, but as an expression of emotions, which this exercise asks for it works well.

Magnification

Interesting series of work Patricia. I can see you are working hard here to develop the series. You experiment to some extent with different styles of watercolor paint application and mixed media. I think you are starting to get somewhere with it but haven’t quite arrived. Further development could have taken an even more magnified approach, very close up. However you are starting to develop a confidence with trying out different approaches here and the final image comes across as assured. The idea of making the rocks look watery by using a wash technique works well too. Good work.

Sketchbooks

I haven’t seen an actual set of sketch books face to face, I don’t think. Perhaps the first assessment? What I can see from the blog is that you do a fair amount of sketch and prep work. Much of it is commented on above. You will be expected to have several sketch books of varying sizes to send in to support your work for the final assessment.

Learning Logs or Blogs/Critical essays Context

Your online logbook continues to be very comprehensive. You include gallery visits, and brief biographies/info on artists whose work you have come across. I don’t always look at the whole logbook in detail but have skimmed through most of it this time. I can see that you have reflected on other artists work. When you get onto the section about ‘Lightbulb’ moments you start to talk about how you might apply techniques and ideas in other artists work to your own. Excellent Patricia, this is exactly the way the assessors want you to be thinking as you continue your studies (and beyond). This needs to happen regularly. It is not always, by any means, essential to be thinking of other artists work when you make your own work, but at this stage as a student it is essential to be constantly learning from other artists and recognizing what it is you that you do learn from them. Sometimes their work subconsciously affects your own and it is not until after, some times a long time after, that you realise this. Remain open to it.

I think your comments on Kiefer’s work are insightful. He’s a very topical artist in the UK at the moment due to his retrospective at the Royal Academy. He’s an excellent example of mixed work too, and his watercolour sketch books are my favourite, they a pronounced fragility and vulnerabitliy. Look them up if you haven’t already seen them, particualry as several of them are books of watercolour figure work. Also look at Tracey Emins watercolour figure work. Though often not pleasant subject matter Emin is very good at capturing emotion in her application of line and paint in her figure work

As an artist, is some times hard to know what your own work is about (I mean all artists in general) , and at these times, it is just important to keep going. Sometimes it only becomes apparent afterwards what the purpose or point of the work is. At other times you have a definite plan in mind, but not all the time by any means.

Your reflective comments are well considered, your research provides you with lots of good starting points for future exploration. The blog is very good Patricia.

Pointers for assessment.

Read the notes online regarding submission of work and quantity of work to submit. The original handbook suggests 10-15 paintings or final work along with carefully selected preparatory work, including sketchbooks and learning logs. If you have further questions about this do get in touch.

Assignment 5: Series of five paintings

The general idea I had was do work towards abstraction from my photo, starting out with an observational painting and then increasingly follow what I might discover while studying my subject. I chose a large format (18 x 24 inches / 45 x 60 cm or roughly A2) for my series based on the experience that I like to have a bit of space to work on.

Figure I

This painting started with a pencil underdrawing, focusing on accurately capturing proportions and tonal areas. The idea of abstracting by neatly separating tonal areas lingered through my head and informed the approach. But soon after some layers of watercolour, I felt that the entire painting had become too dark and too tight, therefore decided to wash it all off and rework on top. But then looking at the washed off painting, it looked so natural that I just added the contour lines of the figure with charcoal pencil, spray fixed it and stayed with the result.

At this point, I made a break and did some research on Tamara de Lempicka (blog article), because my charcoal drawings of the female nude had reminded me of her paintings. It was very interesting to learn that she had also painted in cubist style. I spent quite some time reviewing her paintings and was impressed by their strong visual language without ambiguities and the intense colours.

Reflecting on my own first painting, I made some notes about what I wanted to take further:

Move towards abstraction. I had in mind the progression I developed in the series of paintings from the rocks at the seaside, where I tried to follow up visual ideas and depart from accurate representation
Experiment with media and colour. I was interested in using transparent wax to retain white areas while being able to work with broad strokes over the entire surface. I also wanted to experiment with the technique of a charcoal underdrawing to create lines and shades, then use watercolours to emphasize shapes and perspective. I also thought about using ink to obtain real deep, waterproof black marks and clear lines. Pen and ink combined with a wet-in-wet technique was might also be interesting
Try out different approaches towards ‘painting a figure’. One idea was inspired by the life drawing class instructor, who pointed to the concept of ‘surface planes’ to depict the three-dimensionality of the body. These surfaces were oriented in different orientations and angles in space and he suggested to train our eyes to perceive these surfaces when looking at the model. Another approach I considered was to try and find increasing simplification of shapes and reduction of detail.

Figure II

The second painting was also based on a pencil underdrawing for the figure, but I tried to loosen up a bit. I used transparent wax for the lighter areas, then made a wash over the entire surface, and after letting it all dry, used black ink to block in the shadows of the figure. I tried to simplify the shapes and reworked lighter areas with white oil pastels, and darkened the background with a layer of charcoal.

I felt the drawing was still too naturalistic but I liked that there was an increase in dynamics and ‘presence’. Somehow this figure felt closer, intensified and more real than the first one.

Figure III

This one was definitely inspired by Tamara de Lempickas figure drawings in its bold approach to shape. I used charcoal for the outlines and to block in areas of shadows. The process of drawing was very different from earlier drawings because I mentally prepared each stroke and where I wanted to place it on the paper. There were some corrections involved to make the lines for different parts of the body correspond to each other. The charcoal layer was fixed and then worked over with watercolours. The approach was kind of ‘naturalistic abstraction’ – the forms and shapes are distorted, but they convey much energy and movement and the figure remained recognizable as a female nude in her seated position. There was also a compositional effort to ‘fill the plane’ with the figure, reducing the amount of background area.

Figure IV

I wanted to develop the abstraction further and spend a lot of time looking at my photo source. I was aware of the danger of monotony by working from a single photo and retaining the same pose for all paintings. So I began to explore compositional alternatives and followed ‘visual phantasies’ I developed while looking at the painting. There was an idea of dissolving the unity of the figure by bringing its components closer to the edges, thus transforming the overall shape. I imagined the face turned upwards to the sky, the arms oriented vertically, parallel to the left and right edges of the surface, and the bent leg parallel to the lower edge of the surface. Another aspect that interested me was the interplay of hard and soft edges to indicate figure versus ground.

These ideas were integrated gradually into the painting. It started again with a pencil drawing where I tried to develop a different shape of the figure, following these ideas. It resulted in distortion and a ‘strange body’. I retained the correctly placed right arm and added a second displaced silhouette with the arm closer to the right edge. I used colour to dissolve the strict distinction between figure and ground, letting the blue background develop into the back figure and taking up the orange of the foreground figure as a second background colour. Then I employed black ink for the shades and edges of contrast. I used a dagger brush and moved it around to approximate the shapes of the shadows. These marks indicate the background behind a shape, but also the shades within the figure.

I intensified the blue and orange colours with several layers of watercolours and finally added a layer of black oil pastel over the background which greatly improved the overall effect because it helps the eye to distinguish between figure and ground.

What I like about this painting is that it depicts phantasies and imagery, there’s a dream-like quality to it and I feel there are lots of interpretations possible around female identity and self-perception.

On the other hand, after these four paintings, I felt that I had made considerable progress towards abstraction and imposing my ideas and phantasies on the subject, but it all did not make use of the particular qualities of watercolour as a medium. So far, I had used watercolour only to bring selected plain colours into the composition, but I missed qualities like transparency, running colours into one another, and accidental shapes. So I set out to develop a different approach for the final painting of the series.

Figure V

Before starting with the painting, I paused for some research on ‘watercolour figure drawing’ to see how others approached this. I was looking for works that looked like actual watercolour paintings, lighter and more subtle than what I’d done so far. My findings are summarized in this article.

When I had some guiding ideas how I could possibly treat my materials differently, I started with an underdrawing using a watersoluble graphite stick. This time, I made energetic, broad movements, trying to get the main traits of the figure right, but not worrying about details. I was following through a different visual perception of the photo which I had developed over the time working on the series. This is hard to describe. It works like a different reading of light and dark shapes, maybe similar to what happens when a familiar image is turned upside down and the brain tries to make sense of the unusual patterns that no longer resemble known objects. Actually my brain was switching between my standard perception and this new abstract perception, and I tried to focus on the abstract reading of patterns to guide my work.

My colour selection was guided by the idea of having a cooler colour for the background (Indigo blue) to make it recede, and warmer colours for the figure to bring it closer (Perylene Violet and New Gambogue yellow). I used a large round brush and worked fast, with broad strokes. The painting was quickly finished.

The difference was that I didn’t fiddle around with details, and painting felt more like throwing darts – first concentration to aim, then quickly execute, then pause to breathe. It was a very different experience of painting compared to how I usually work. It reminded me of the cliché of artistic genius, where the artist is celebrated for simple strokes that have high expressive value, but I just let myself go for it.

I think I slightly overworked the painting and the yellow turned out less friendly than I wanted it, but overall I’m quite satisfied with the result. It does look more like a watercolour painting and it’s energetic. I also captured elements of the abstract shapes I perceived. This might not make a difference to other viewers because after all the abstract shapes are just different interpretations of the same object. A possible path for extended work on this subject might be to further emphasize these abstract elements and make them more prominent and easier to detect for others. I remember that part of a quote: ‘Art (is not …), Art makes visible’. I’m not sure what this would lead to, but it could be an interesting task.

References

More Artists: Tamara de Lempicka
Some research on watercolour figure drawing

Some research on watercolour figure drawing

While working on Assignment 5, the series of five paintings, I made a pause to research for a more ‘watercolour style’ approach to figure drawing. To gain a quick first impression, I did a Google image search which came up with several interesting leads I could follow up. None of the hits were by more widely known artists, but nevertheless they helped me forming ideas how to tackle my task differently. Of the many I saw, I selected works from three artists that came close to the qualities I wanted to have in my watercolour painting.

This nude by Charlene Thomforder (Rose I, 2008) appealed to me for the interplay of delicate, expressive lines and the subtle watercolour washes.

I like how she uses fairly light washes to differenciate between figure and ground: The white paper is left for the highlights of the right shoulder, where the wash denotes the background tones. By contrast, the lower part of the body is indicated through coloured shadows, and the background is just white paper.

The two watercolour figures by Christina Havens (2011) convey a more impressionistic, soft overall impression. The background and the linework are more integrated with the figure, which is a consequence of using watercolour pencils which dissolve when water is applied, as opposed to using pen and ink for lines.

The nude by Steve Fleming reminded me of Egon Schiele’s expressionist line qualities. On his website, Steve Fleming’s watercolour figures show his development from a conventional to a much looser and expressionist approach. I find this one very appealing for its focus on the essential elements of the pose – the head resting on the arms, and the bent body. There were more on the website with darker colours as well, which I liked a lot.

References

Charlene Thomforder: Watercolourways blog
Kristina Havens: Watercolour drawings from the live model
Steve Fleming: Alternative approaches to the figure

More artists: Tamara de Lempicka

The charcoal rendering I had employed in the worked out drawings of the male figure and the female nude reminded me of Tamara de Lempicka – the strong contrasts, the shadings vs edges, the style. Therefore I was taking a closer look. at this artist after the first nude painting which I found somewhat “expressionless”.

My memories of Tamara de Lempicka’s works were faint, but looking at her works, I find the resemblance to these charcoal renderings striking. I think her 1932 Self Portrait (Tamara in the green Bugatti) comes close to the essence of what I remembered.

I found a website that presented her works in chronological order, and going through these, I was impressed by the bold figure drawings which were quite different from my own attempts so far.

It was interesting to see that de Lempicka had also been working in Cubist style.

Later in her life she experimented with a different painting technique, which I actually prefer over those works for which she’s become well known.

While continuing to paint I hadn’t been aware of it, but there was obviously quite some influence on the approach I took. This concerns particularly my treatment of shadows and lights and figure vs. ground. It’s not that I had de Lempickas paintings in mind while I was working on my series. I think the influence was rather due to similarity in approach so that the resulting images show resemblance. I think seeing her works has also encouraged me to go bold with the female form, in particular with Figure III, the orange figure with green background.

References

Images from http://www.delempicka.org