ASS4 - Project 3 Expressive Landscape

Research

       Surrealists dream like landscapes are one of the types of paintings I enjoy looking at. I think you can actually see so much imagination and ideas from artists around the world. Some landscapes are ideas of peoples views of other world, places they create in there minds.

     I am going to look at a few paintings by various artists. In my next painting the project is to create a mood and atmosphere. I am going to be looking and thinking about my own ideas and what fascinating landscape I can create using my own imagination.

Salvador Dali

To look at him you automatically think of him as a bit of an eccentric. This is one artist I do remember studying whilst as school. I even remember having a go at painting a scene involving melting clocks in a lands scape. I remember being really chuffed with it and proud as my teacher liked my work. 

'La persistencia de la memoria' (The Persistence of Memory)

http://www.moma.org/collection/works/79018

       I think this has to be one of his most iconic pieces of his art work. His theme here is time and decay in this land scape. His use of colour are vibrant and the scene stands out in front of you. His ideas with the melting clocks shows his great imagination here. The atmosphere here is showing time rules over every thing even the land.

The Three Sphinxes of Bikini (Les tres esfinxs de Bikini ) 1947

https://www.salvador-dali.org/cataleg_raonat/resized_imatge.php?obra=629&imatge=1

      I was just searching on the Internet and came across this land scape scene. I really like this one. Its simple but when you look at it you realise that Dali used his imagination to show that trees look like the back of peoples heads with there hair as the leaves. I like the colours used here, the head in the foreground really stands out at me. With simple use of complimenting colours together, I think this is a really good example of a unreal world Idea.

Sleep 1929,

http://www.jackygallery.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_30&products_id=420

   Dali in his work created creatures with tall legs and on stilts. This painting was one of Dalis dream world visions. He has regarded sleep as a monster supported by crutches This is quite a fun painting with an interesting idea. Really to me sleep cant be a monster because he is always asleep, he even needs aid of the crutches so he is not a monster, but to me more of a friend that provides us with rest. I really do like his idea here and again you can really see that Dali had a wide imagination.

Max Ernst

     I have had a look at his work and his idea behind it and to me I don't really appreciate his work. its not my taste of art at all:

EUROPA NACH DEM REGEN (Europe after the rain)

http://thewanderlife.com/sedona-arizona-imagined-landscapes/

      Don't get me wrong, he was really good with his imagination. He had been involved with war and these traumatic events in his life, were the meaning behind his imagination in his art. It pushed him to create works of ugly landscapes, which to me look as though it is parts of landscape that has been rained on by acid, the areas are rotting away. There are even dead war human bodies that are forming the land scape in this scene. Perhaps this is what he wanted to show, what its like to of seen and been in war to imagine the most ugliest and gruesome scenes he witnessed. his paintings were to captivate his inner mental view of what he had been through.

Giorgio de Chirico

Piazza d’Italia circa 1956. 

http://timkanebooks.com/2014/07/08/de-chirico-and-his-fantastic-landscapes/

    This painting is exactly what I picture a dream scape to look like. On the surface it looks simple and straightforward, but then I start to wonder. What is that train doing in the background? Who are those two people talking? it surrounds mystery. I like the way the shadows in his work are extra long, creating am idea that the land in this scene is like a flat dessert.  The colours used are simple yet work well together making each object noticeable and stand out. 

 Mystery and Melancholy of a Street 1914. 

http://timkanebooks.com/2014/07/08/de-chirico-and-his-fantastic-landscapes/

   This is one of de Chirico’s most famous paintings. I notice the shadows of two figures just out of view. That creates an unsettling image for me as my mind desperately wonders who or what they are, are they danger for the young girl outside playing? His use of shadow is a good idea as it makes you wonder what story is hidden with in his paintings. 

Dragan Mikhailovich 

 http://vsemart.com/serbian-naive-painting/

       I wanted to try and find some paintings that I can relate to with a Naive style. I discovered this artist and was immediately drawn in to his ideas. The paintings are beautiful landscapes with a lot of detail. I think the one above with the giant pumpkin on the sea is a very imaginative idea. There is a whole little town based upon the pumpkin. 

     This painting above, also of Dragan Mikhailovich fascinated me too. I like how he created a path that starts form the ground world, which then travels to a town in the winter sky. The colours of naive art are typically bright and I do think this is my taste in art. I am really attracted to the naive way by the colours and the way the paint is applied to the painting. There are lots of textures created. 

      Now I have looked at some dream worlds, I am going to look at ways that artists show emotion in there landscapes:

Paul Nash, The Mule Track (1918)

http://spartacus-educational.com/ARTnash.htm

Like Max Ernst, Paul Nash was also a painter of war. His work appeals to me a lot more then Ernst's. I think this is because I can see the emotion in Paul Nashs art. I feel I can under stand it better and it is more of how I would picture a war scene. There are blasts form bombs, fire and just utter destruction of buildings in the landscape. Nash wanted to share with others what war was like. He wanted to be a messenger for all the army to give non fighters an insight to what they were dealing with. His work produced terrible and fearful images which is the emotion he was trying to make the viewer feel. 

Graham Sutherland

Western Hills

1938 / 1941

'Western Hills' I feel is a great example of showing atmosphere in a painting. Sutherland did not paint outdoors but instead painted the suggestive forms of his beloved Welsh landscape from memory. The vibrant colours and textures of this painting create a richly atmospheric scene. I like the rich oranges and yellow it creates a scene of a sunset or sunrise with the suns glow over the hills.

Emil Nolde 

watercolours of Emil Nolde (1867-1956)

http://www.artpane.com/Books/B1032.htm 

 

    

 These paintings are among the most beautiful and important works of the 20th century. Emil Nolde created lots of these types of paintings. In this painting above I can sense the nearness of the sea. In the background I can see hills, with what looks like rooftops far away. In the foreground the sea is creeping towards the land. The reds create a really emotional atmosphere. I get a sense of rage from the natural areas, the sky and the sea, but beyond this there is the blue sky and the blue hills which gives me a feeling of calm over in the distance. Emils images are powerful and vibrant. 

I read on Art Plane website: 'Sea and sky are experienced as fateful forces of nature. The setting sun transforms the sky into a glowing sea of colour as twilight gradually envelopes the earth. The sky becomes the stage for cosmic events, for the struggle between light and darkness.' I think this comment really justifies Emils type of work showing the power of nature. 

Colored Sky above the Marais, watercolor on paper, c.1940,

   Nolde is equally interested in lesser dramas. He is attracted to the nuances produced by the light on a rainy day, with its gradation of colours from blue to green with added yellow and red. But above all he is excited by the full strong colours and the dramatic happenings of nature.

Gustav Klimt

Church In Cassone

http://www.klimtgallery.org/Church-In-Cassone.html

     I like Gustav's work, he inputs a lot of texture with in his paintings. I admire this scene with the tall trees and the white buildings. The different colours of greens compliment the white buildings and creates a vibrant painting with a lot of interested textures, The use of textures helps the painting to become more interesting and creates an effect that you could agree and feel the textures to their true form.

http://www.fridakahlo.org/the-wounded-deer.jsp

The Wounded Deer, 1946 by Frida Kahlo

    


     As mentioned in previous projects, I do enjoy looking at Frida's art. Its really interesting and every painting of hers I have looked at so far, makes me question the meaning beyond the painting. Such as this one, with her head on a deer that has arrows in its body. Was she feeling hunted? trapped maybe? from her injuries she had in her accident when she was younger? I think the arrows are symbolising her pain she is feeling. The background is the forest with dead trees and broken branches, which implies perhaps the feeling of fear and desperation. Far away is a stormy, lightning sky which also seem to me as a bad meaning in the painting.

     I researched further in to this painting. The true meaning behind it is that, in 1946 Frida Kahlo had an operation on her spine in New York. She was hoping this surgery would free her from the severe back pain but it failed. This painting expressed her disappointment towards the operation. After she went back to Mexico, she suffered both the physical pain and emotional depression. In this painting she depicted herself as a young stag with her own head crowned with antlers. This young stag is pierced by arrows and bleeding. At the lower-left corner, the artist wrote down the word "Carma", which means "destiny" or "fate". Just like her other self-portraits, in this painting Frida expressed the sadness that she cannot change her own fate. Frida used her pet deer "Granizo" as the model when she painted this portrait. She had many pets which she used as her surrogate children and deer is her favourite kind. This painting has multiple interpretations from different people. Some said it expressed her frustration over the botched surgery. Others said it portrays her incapability to control her own destiny. And some people said it has sexual implication and expressed her struggles in different relationships.

Research Conclusion

      After looking at all these different types of ideas, I now get an understanding of how to input a mood and an atmosphere in to a landscape painting. I like the fact that colour of nature can deeply affect your scene, the meanings behind dream worlds and events that have happened. I now want to use some of this research to create my own in the next exercise. 

Exercise - Creating Mood and Atmosphere

Ideas

    For this project I need to create Mood and atmosphere in a painting. I have had some thought to what I want to do and decided on creating my own dream world. I have had a few ideas such as: a landscape from a insects view and a landscape which is created by using peoples faces as mountains. Although these sounded as interesting, I really liked the idea of creating a food land. I want to use food objects to create a landscape which is fun and all you can eat. I want to create a sweet atmosphere and the mood will be hunger. I am firstly going to sketch some ideas out and see how I get on.

Sketches

    Whilst sketching I decided that a land of desserts would be fun to create. It will be bright and bold. I have drawn out a few basic ideas. I like the idea I have created with a giant doughnut in the centre, in the distance. It reminds me of a rainbow in the real world. I also like the idea of trees being lolly-pops or canes with candy floss on. I want to include sweets such as cakes, chocolate eggs, marsh mellows and toppings such as icing and sprinkles. I think also to create depth, I want to include a river of chocolate starting from the background to the foreground. I am now going to do a quick painting in my sketch book to test out the types of colours I think would help to create a sugar/sweet landscape. 

    After doing my quick paining test, I have decided that pastels colours create a sense of sugar such as pinks whipped with yellows and blues. Whites are good for Icing which will help my doughnut stand out from the background. I think my landscape scene will be a good example of a mood and atmosphere, with a mood of hunger and the atmosphere of the landscape being a sweet/sugary scene. I am happy with my idea and now I am going to begin painting.

Painting

      I have now began painting. I have started to paint in the basic shape areas of my landscape. I am still playing around with the colours at this point, deciding what tones to use in the background compared to the foreground. I still think the colours seem dull then how I want them to look. I am going to wait for it to dry and try and improve this on my next go at it.

     Now its dried I am going to again paint and see if I can get my colour looking better this time. I am hoping to get a bright and bold landscape. I feel that I need to pick up the  tones in my scene. 

I have now gave it another go and it looks a lot better. I created brighter colours by adding more colour and less white to the mixing of colours to create a more vibrant ground in the landscape. I think it is looking well. I was trying to put some swirls in the chocolate river but I am not too keen on it. I am going to paint over it and treat the chocolate river as though its water. Next layer I will be adding detail and forming my dessert scene to look delicious.

   After two more times painting I have finished my landscape I am pleased with it. I think I have created a scene that shows a mood and atmosphere well. I like the way the chocolate river adds depth to my landscape. I think my idea of a dessert land works well and by using my imagination, I have created my scene from my head what I think a dessert world would look like. There are a few things which I could of improved on looking at it now its dry, which is to of added more detail to the ground and the river. On the river I put white speckles of paint, to try and show the sugar in the chocolate sparkling but it just looks to me as though its not finished and I could have done better here. The other thing I have to mention is the marshmallow hill on the left in the foreground. To me I used the wrong colours and should of just painted it to look like a proper marshmallow. It now just looks like a hill which is covered in sugar. 

Overall

Overall, I think I have shown I understand Mood and atmosphere with my research, my ideas and my painting. I found it fun to do and letting some of my imagination out on the canvas was a good experience for me too. As I am a keen illustrator I like the fact that I could use my imagination for this task. I think I am beginning to understand to paint a good painting you need to think of what you want to portrait to the viewers and then how your going to do it. This can be decided my use of colours, mood, atmosphere, meaning/story. They are all needed to create good art.