After the pointer from my tutor in her feedback to Assignment 1, it is only now that I find the time to include a blog entry for my research on this artist. Karen Armitage is a contemporary British painter. Her works include not only watercolours, but also pastels and oil paintings. I’m including a selection of her works from an art prints site to illustrate my thoughts and findings. The quality of these web images is not very convincing. Better resolutions can be found at Bridgeman Education Library.

A dominant theme in Armitage’s works are flowers. I particularly liked the Magnolias, and also the Cyclamens. There’s an airiness in these watercolours that I find very interesting. Some areas are worked out, others are withered and pale. It reminds me of the photographic effect termed depth of field. With a short depth of field, only elements at one particular distance appear sharp in all details, while everything closer and everything further away is increasingly blurred.

What I liked less with these paintings was a tendency of overworking the watercolours to reach perfection. There’s not much to see of an original brushstroke or chance effects inherent to the medium. It is a very controlled approach. It has beautiful results, but they are almost too perfect and this takes away a lot of the liveliness that could be achieved in a painting of flowers.

Interestingly, the oil paintings appear much less overworked, as for example the Myosotis Bleu (2002). It may be a question of the medium. I have learned that watercolour quickly looses the charming immediacy when there’s too much layering and brushwork. Whereas oil paint seems to permit endless reworking without loosing it’s freshness, maybe even the opposite – reworking seems to add depth and lead to the essence of what is supposed to be depicted.

The pastels: I like that they are not detailed and how they include bright colours and strong contrasts, for example the Carpet Factory in Morocco (2000) or the Libary at Thorpeperrow.

I’m quite unsure about my own attempts with using pastels, but when I compare, I feel that I’m heading towards the right direction – overlays to create different colours and tones, but not closing up the paper under a thick layer of pigment, or smudging.

From the watercolours, I’d like to take away how nicely the compositions fill the picture space. The focus is on what the artist found essential, but this is nicely framed in a receding context. The Pansies in a Conservatory are included as a reminder.

Sources

Magnolia Box, an art print site, with quite a selection of Karen Armitage’s works: http://www.magnoliabox.com/artist/2864/Karen_Armitage