ASS3 Final - "A good Gossip"

Assignment 3 final 

    For this final assignment I have to put all the things I have learnt together to create a portrait either of myself or someone else,

     To help me decide on what I want to do I am going to research other artist portraits and see what I like about them , how they have applied there paint, the colours they have used to persuade mood, atmosphere and the context of the background they have used all combined to create a good portrait.

Sir Joshua Reynolds by Sir Joshua Reynolds

oil on canvas1747-1749

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw05282/Sir-Joshua-Reynolds

  

    I put this painting in as I really like how the light is in the artist's eyes whilst trying to paint himself squinting to see. I think it was a really good Idea and a good outcome.

Self-Portrait-1782

http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/rococo/Elisabeth-Vigee-Lebrun.html

      I really think painting has to be one one my favorite portrait, She looks go elegant and there so much detail involved. I know she is outside but for me this is a beautiful painting. I like the luminous effect on her clothes and skin. It sets off the portrait really well. The feather texture on her has is perfect.

Princess Albert de Broglie by Jean August Dominique Ingres 1853

http://www.jeanaugustedominiqueingres.org/

    This is another painting I spotted and thought wow! How life like does the texture of the dress look. It is how I would picture it. It looks that good you could almost touch it. For this painting the background is darkened to make the painting have depth and for the figure stand out in the room.

Christiane Vleugels sleeping beauty

http://christianevleugels.com/

   I picked this painting as I like the tranquility feel to it. The light from the sun coming through the trees on to the woman, shows the shadows of the branches which is a pleasant touch to this delicate painting. The colours used set the painting off well and it has a relaxing sense to the painting, which suits the title.

Alyssa Monks

http://originalpaints.com/photo-realistic-paintings-by-alyssa-monks/

   I spotted Alyssa work last year and I was not believing what I was looking at. She is I feel one of the best portrait artist of my time. Her paintings are that good they look like photos. The has to be one of my favorite and I like the water droplets in the foreground. These paintings are done on a large scale, which I think it is needed to put so much detail in to it as she has.

Harding Meyer

http://www.thecoolist.com/oil-portraits-by-harding-meyer/

Francoise Nielly

http://picssound.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/inspirational-knife-painting-artwork-by.html

     These last two paintings, I chose were due to the techniques of applying the paint in block areas on the canvas. I particularly like the last one the best, because of the vibrant colours used. Even with in all of these colours the artist has still managed to input tone in to her painting.

Prop's used in paintings

     Now I have had a look at some really interesting paintings I have decided I don't just was my figure to be sitting or standing, I want them to be doing something, a normal day to day thing. the main things I can think of are:

• Reading
• Drinking
• Eating

     I am going to now research portraits further of people holding books and cups and other things i can find, underneath them I will write a quick list of what I like about them:

Tamara de Lempicka, Wisdom, 1940-41.

http://artezza.tumblr.com/post/22136655460/lesfemmesartistes-tamara-de-lempicka-wisdom

• Warm colours
• Red and yellow, gold to show relaxation

Young Girl Reading 1770 Jean-Honore Fragonard

http://www.artble.com/artists/jean-honore_fragonard/paintings/young_girl_reading

• Perspective
• Sitting down
• Corner of room   

Mary Cassatt, Young Woman Reading, 1876

http://www.artble.com/artists/jean-honore_fragonard/paintings/young_girl_reading

• Background texture
• Fabric of sofa
• Angle of figure draped on sofa

Charles Edward Perugini, Girl Reading, 1878

http://www.artble.com/artists/jean-honore_fragonard/paintings/young_girl_reading

• Realistic
• Light hitting the model for the right
• model looking down

Dora Carrington, Lytton Strachey (1916). Oil on panel. Bequeathed by Frances Catherine Partridge (née Marshall), 2004

http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/painting-and-drawing/art439145

• Angle of figure in bed with book
• hand in foreground

David Goatleys

http://ryderharrison.blogspot.co.uk/2010_04_17_archive.html

• Dressing gown
• Glow from window
• Woman looking cosy with her warm tea
• Flowers

TEA DRINKING, painting, 86x100 cm, oil on canvas, VLADIMIR VOLEGOVhttp://www.volegov.com/tea-drinking-painting/

• Summer feel from colours
• A lot of light coming in from outside
• A mother with her child
• Yellows and greens working well together and white creating a dramatic light effect

My first Ideas from the paintings I found above

      After finding these example of paintings of figures doing day to day things, I really like the idea of using cups in my painting. I like the reading ones, they see to me more relaxed and having quiet moments to themselves. I want to show a bit of character to my figure so I feel drinking and having a scene in the right place could help with this.  

Background options

       For the background I am thinking may be a window or a wall with something on it I want to keep it simple as the key point in my portrait is the model with her cup. I really first need to decide on what colours I am going to use that will help me decide on the background I wish to use.

Idea Final Decision 

Composition

    I have now got my model with me which is my nan, I am going to sketch a few ideas to see what I come up with. I decided as shes quite elderly, that it is best for her to sit down for this portrait. I made her a cup of tea and let her enjoy that whilst I am going to sketch her.

   I have sat us in my kitchen at my dining table. This is usually where we sit to have a good natter and catch up. I am now going to sketch her a few times and see what I can decide on.



     I have now done some stretches and I really am excited about this project. Whilst she was sitting there she was talking to me and she also took a call on her mobile phone. 

    I really enjoy drawing ways that i could of my nan. I decided that my nans usual character was chatty and we are always gossiping. I was telling her a story about a friend and she was shocked about something I said. I asked her to pose that position and I also quickly sketched that out too. once I finished this sketch I was really excited about the idea I had. 

    My idea was to have my nan sitting there, with a tea having a general chin wag moment. so the viewer could see that she was shocked about something I had said, and this portrays a good gossip portrait which I am going to call it. Whats even more fun about my idea, is that I was sitting opposite her with a cup of tea too. I have sketch that in the foreground, so when the viewer looks at my painting they feel that they are the one who is sitting with my nan discussing something. this also shows a story to my paintings.

    So far my idea has now got a character's expression, shocked emotion and a story. I now need to look at colours and techniques to show mood and atmosphere.

Colours and Techniques and practice

    I have decided to look at some colors and techniques that I feel will be best for my painting: 

     As you can see I have now looked at skin colour and ways to apply my paint on my canvas. I have decided the best way to put the paint on my canvas, would be to start with the face and paint the darkest areas first then paint the medium and then the lightest. This way I will be looking at the tones and putting those together on my painting to create my nans face. I may then blend them together. I am not sure yet but I shall see what I get to it. I have chosen a green and a blue for the background that I had created whilst mixing. I think these are kitchen colours but are also relaxing, which is a mood and atmosphere I get when I am around my nan. Her face has pink cheeks so I will need a hint of pink for some areas.

    I am now going to do a very quick sketch with pastels just to put the colors on to get a sense of how it is going to look:

After just finishing this, I think the colours are going to work well, I know my nans face looks very funny but it was a quick sketch just to get the colours correct. I am going to use red for the cups to show the warms of the tea.

   Start painting my portrait "A Good Gossip"

transfer of image to canvas


 

  I have now got my sketch on my canvas and I am feeling really confident that this is going to be a good paining and fun to do. My nan is now back with me, I have asked her to come again just so now when I start painting I can see the tones on her face. The window is behind me so the light will be coming from the from of the painting.

Begin Painting

    

    As you can see I have now started to add different tones of her skin on to my canvas so far so good.



I have now been working on it a while, as you can see I have made a mistake with her eyes I ended up painting them wonky. I will now have to wait for the to dry before I can reapply to correct this area. I have also started filling in the back ground with block colours I will at texture on to them afterwards. 

    When it dried I started the eye area again and above is how far I have gotten so far. I have now finished the face and I have started on the background of the painting. I think  the face area of my nan I have done well, I ended up blending the colours up a bit and I am glad I did as brings the colours together.



After another two goes at it I am finally finished. I think it looks good and I know I worked really hard on it. Its a portrait that has a lot of key aspects that I have learnt along the way:

• Mood and atmosphere
• Expression and emotion
• Character
• A story

     By bringing these together, I have created a fun portrait for viewers to enjoy and one that I hope brings a smile to a face or two. I feel I have really captured my nan well and she thinks the painting is so just like her and her personality. 

    Some areas to critique :I feel some areas on her face, now looking closely are a bit patchy and you can see the charcoal beneath my painting. I found her hands were hard to do and concentrating on the tone there was quite difficult. Her hands are quite veiny  and I didn't add this in. I also feel I could of improved on the background more and put a bit more detail in there as it is quite basic. If I had to do this painting again, I would of moved the table by the window to get more of a contrast of light over my nan to create more tone. Apart from these things I feel I have done a good job with my final 3 Assignment.

overall Assignment 3

   Overall portrait and figure Assignment has been a bit of an adventure. I started off feeling a bit demotivated from my last Assignment review. I picked myself up and listened to what my tutor has said and I wrote a list, so that every time I did an exercise I would make sure I would input what he had guided me. I started off looking at human form, then on to portraits and then on to interiors. Each step I took, I took on the challenge and instead of just doing my usual thing sticking to my habit, I took on experimenting and exploring my artist hand. to see what I could create. I let go and freed my tight and precise painting habit. My eyes are now open and I have actually started to enjoy experimenting and not caring so much as how I am painting. My mood and atmosphere painting was my breaking in point and from there I can see in my own paintings, that I am exploring my own ideas. I have started to actually believe in myself again and trust my own ideas. I have really enjoyed this assignment, because its helped me a lot personally and also I had so much fun painting people. My favorite has to be my character portrait of my woman as a clown, I really enjoyed expressing my fun self and then getting messy and flicking paint every where. I have had a lot of fun and looking forward to Assignment 4 painting the outdoors, summers coming up so its an ideal time to start.

ASS3 - Project 3 - People in context

Exercise: A figure in an interior

 I have been looking forward to this exercise as in my Assignment two, I could not grasp the perspective of a room well, my tutor guided me and I re-did some research- making sure I use a ruler! I am going to look over that again now, to see what I discovered and then attempt this exercise.

     I wanted a different look for this painting. I want to put someone in a room, that I have not painted yet. I like the idea of the kitchen. Things that are in a kitchen such as a cooker, cupboards, shelving. I feel this could be a good challenge to practise my perspective. For my figure in my kitchen, I am going to ask my friend Amy to pose for me. This will be ideal for her, as she loves cooking, so I hoping my painting will impress her.  

    I think the best way to show her in the kitchen is by standing at the table in my kitchen cooking/baking a cake. This will show the use of a kitchen on a general day basis. 

    I now have Amy with me in my kitchen and I have got her in position to try out a drawing in my sketch book.

   I have now done my sketch and I am happy with it. I feel I have got the perspective correct here, which I am happy about. The hardest parts were the cupboards on the wall, to the left and the left doorway. I feel my friend Amy is positioned well in my drawing and she looks like a natural chef.

    Next I thought about colours to use: I decided I wanted the colours to be food based. After thinking about which food, I decided using peppers. The colours are bright and vibrant. I think these colours will work great together and make my kitchen stand out. For Amy I decided that I will do here apron blue to make her stand out of the room. 

    I have started sketching it out with charcoal on my canvas using a ruler and getting the perspective proportions correct. Now that I have sketch it out, which took me a while with the charcoal, I am ready to paint. 

     As you can see I have started and so far I am happy with the colours, I have applied, I want my technique to be very expressive. I have decided to paint in block areas first then for the next layer show my expression.

    Here above is my painting now all blocked in . I will have to wait for it to dry before I can paint it again. 

My painting is now dry and I am ready to let loose on my painting. 

     I have spent 2 hours on this and I am so happy with the end result. This is a different type of painting, that I would not normally do. I really enjoyed just applying the paint on to the canvas and flowing it on the paper, in to the directions I see the areas going. Such as the cupboards on the left. I have applied the paint so that it aims towards the vanishing point. I think this makes the room look even more longer. I have used some white to show the light reflecting off surfaces. I feel this painting was an eye opener, not just for perspective, but also a new technique of applying paint, that I enjoyed. The colours look vibrant and bright. You can instantly see that this is a kitchen. Amy looks well in the painting too. I showed it her and she loved it. She said when I have finished with it, she would like to have it off me. Which I think was a positive comment. 

      Overall I feel I am getting better at perspective and adding a figure in a room is quite hard, as you need to show their volume and correct proportion. I feel I have done this here well. I think things that I could have improved on, was to add more detail on my objects in my room, but I wanted to keep it simple, so that you can see my correct angles of them. I am really happy with what I achieved here.

Interior Research:

I have to pick 2/3 paintings and give an explanation of what I think the artists intentions are and to look at the technical creative solutions that they brought to the subject:

PAUL CÉZANNE

THE CARD PLAYERS, C.1892-5

http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/collections/paintings/imppostimp/cezanne_card_players.shtml

    When I was browsing for paintings on the Internet, this is the first one that stood out to me. This was due to the colours used were eye catching together and I like the rustic effect on how Cezanne applied his paint.

   The perspective in this room is really clear by the table in the middle. Its a bold statement and the only white object in the painting which makes it stand out. The people all around the table, are all if good size to the table. I think Cezanne painted this to make the viewer feel welcome to come and play the card game. The rustic colours. create a male scene, which I sense there is betting also going on in this game too. The men are all relaxing playing a game, which I think may have been one of Cezanne's enjoyments he wished to share with us. 

Oil on panel painting, depicting a family scene in a domestic interior. 1815-1820.
Artist unknown

© Geffrye Museum, London

http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/collections/explore-our-collections/item-detail/?id=O22831

     Looking at this grand painting, I guess who ever the artist was, he/she wanted to show the richness of this family. With a lot of gold colour on the frames and mirror in the background, you can sense their intentions were to show just this as well as the men with big well fed bellies and Costly objects surrounding them. He contrasted this by not just showing us a painting of a rich family but also by the use of royal colours to help create the scene. 

    The woman's dress looks like luxurious silk. The way he has shown the light on her dress is beautiful and shows to me elegance of the lady. The perspective of the room works well and the painter has created depth, by showing the corner of the room. He has used dark shadows behind the chairs to create a sense of depth to the room which works really well.

Betsy and Mark

1988 

http://www.ethelfisherstudio.com/Figure_Painting_17_BetsyMark.html

   Ethel is a 20th and a 21st artist as she is still around today. This painting really caught my eye. I love how you get a sense on there being a sunset outside and the sun's last rays of the day are reflecting on her figures in her room. I think her intentions were to show a couple investigating something. I can see on the back wall, there are lots of pictures, which look like they are mostly about travelling outdoors. I sense they are talking about where to go next. The man is looking really in depth into the woman as though he is interested in what she has discovered. I think she has also created a sense of wild and outdoors, by painting them with a window in the background. The outside with vibrant colours, shows bushes close to them. They are also both dressed well, so you can they could have the money for it. 

    The other idea I had, is that they may be artists themselves and the pictures on the wall at the back are actually paintings and they are both researching something to do with art. Ethel has got the perspective of the room well here. The focus in the painting is on the table and the two figures The background when you look at it looks blurred, this creates a focus on the foreground where the figures are. This creates depth to her painting and makes the message of the figures researching, stand of from the painting. 

Now I have looked as some paintings I understand it also helps to have a story or a message to show the viewer, which makes the painting more interested and meaningful.

Exercise: Telling a story

      For this painting, I have been thinking about this for a while and because I have been watching a lot of Sherlock Holmes lately, I wanted to create a murder scene. I wanted a dramatic effect with just using whites, greys and blacks and the use of red for the blood of my victim. 

I drawed four ideas in my sketch book of what I would like. I decided on the murder at the bottom on the stairs. I want my victim lying at the bottom of the stairs, with a shot wound and my murderer in the foreground, I don't want the viewer to see his face, but I want his body there with a gun in his hands. The viewer will then see a story of a murder unfolding in the painting. The murderer is there but the viewer does not know who he is, he could be her husband, burglar or someone else, but that’s what will make it more interesting for the viewer. They will have to use their own imagination of what has happened here. 

     I have now done a bigger drawing of the scene in my sketch book. I found the perspective of the stairs quite hard to do but I think I managed it well, I just hope I can transfer it well to the canvas in charcoal.

     With my painting, I now have to decide where different shades of black and white are going to go to create a dramatic effect. I want my murderer's suit to be black so that stands out with his gun shining at the viewer. I want the walls light in the room to help highlight the victim on the floor better. 

     I have transferred it on to the canvas now. It has again took me a while to get the stairs right perhaps because I was a bit nervous about getting them drawn correctly. They are quite a challenge to do, as you have to think where the lines are going to be angled. I am going to begin painting now.

I have how started painting and it is coming on well. I am going to fill every area in firstly and leave it to dry, to see what I need to do next. I think the use of the different shades work well. I have also used the greys to fill in my victims form.

After it dried I spent a few hours on it a few days later and this was my outcome. 

     I think the way it has turned out, creates an even more eire effect than I thought it would, which helps to show the story better. It has a creepy kind of look to it. For my victim I added the blood around her and used a hint of red in her limbs to create subtle shadow areas on her body. I felt there was quite a lot of blood there for one gun shot so at the end I added in another shot wound, just so that it levels it out a bit. My scene is a bit gruesome but it works well. I could of spent longer on this and added more detail, but ideally there was enough in my painting to show the story. I think the stairs look fine, some of the steps are a bit wonky but I think the perspective works well. I like the banister, at the top of the stairs which set of the stairs well. My murderer in the foreground creates a great effect on my scene. I however am not too keen on, how I have applied the paint to this painting. It seems a bit basic and I could of been a bit more expressive. I think I was concentrating too much on the story, then thinking what marks/strokes I could make to fit the murder scene. I could of done sharp scratches with paint brush strokes to show a chilling effect in my application of paint to inform the viewers more of a horror scene. 

   Overall I was happy with the story idea I had created. I felt I could of improved on my paint work. I am happy about the stairs as that was a bit of a challenge to take on, but I think if I spent more time on them, they would not be so wonky. This exercise has helped me to next time think more about what you are trying to portray to the viewers and how you can get them involved with your painting.