ASS4 - Final

Assignment 4 Final

    The build up towards this moment from doing landscape paintings has been a big eye opener for me. I really feel that landscape painting is what I can paint best and I also have enjoyed every exercise. I have tested my skills, pushed myself to add more detail and to make sure I look harder at what I am seeing. 

     I know I am not the best painter in the world, but I feel from research and exercises, I have come a long way since the start of painting 1. However I do feel that is has took me until this Assignment to truly build my confidence and my skills further. 

   My tutor pointed out to me that I have a naive style. I have looked at other artists and researched and I do feel he is correct and I have pushed my work in that direction looking at artists with a similar view of the world. 

I am going to talk about each painting I have done up until now, write what I have learned and other things that will be useful to help put me in the right direction of what to create for my Assignment final 4 painting.

View from a Window or doorway

     As this was my first attempt at landscape painting, I decided not to try and put my style on it and just to paint what I was looking at. I felt it came out well. I like the textures I have created here, with the bushes and creating distance to my painting. I do think I could of done the curtain differently and made it more realistic because looking at it now, it lets the painting down. There is too much texture on the curtain and I should of done it smoother, to look more like material. This painting made me realise I actually enjoy painting bushes and reflecting light off them to give the viewer idea of the direction of the sun.

Hard/Soft Landscape

      I decided for this I would attempt a hard landscape. I researched a lot in to how Niave artists paint hard landscapes and I discovered by using bright colours and how to use them to compliment each other, makes your work more attractive to the viewer. My favourite learning curve in this painting was the style I did the bush. From starting with a black base and working in layers with leave shapes getting brighter and brighter. I had so much fun with this and I love the effect it made. At this point I was beginning to see my naive style coming out in my work. The road and pathway could of been applied with more detail but overall I thought this was a good attempt. My buildings I painted, do look very hard textured and I like the final outcome of them.

Linear Perspective

This landscape was another I enjoyed doing. It was one of my favourite spots on my way home from work, that I pass every day. As I enjoyed my bush technique style for the Hard landscape, I wanted to use the same technique applying black first, then building up on objects, to create depth and texture. I did this for the ground and the trees. Yet again it created a great effect of depth and volume on objects. I like the way the bark on the trees show the direction of light. for the Orange bushes in the background I did the same technique, but by using a dark orange as a base, as I didn't want them to have black in them. I came to realise that this style/Technique I was creating for my own voice had a lot of possibilities and helps to create detail and texture, which my tutor said my paintings were lacking. I wanted to put sun rays into this painting but looking at it now, it does not seem so realistic and perhaps I should of left them out, or did them with a yellow colour instead of white, to make them not stand out so much. 

Aerial Perspective

     Aerial Perspective was a new thing for me, that I didn't already know anything about. It really interested me knowing the atmosphere changes the background colours. I have always noticed this when looking outside, but never wondered why the farthest hills change colour. I just thought it was something to do with our eyes not having good enough vision.
    I was at the lake district for this one camping with a friend and I decided to take my sketch book. I was glad I did as there was enough opportunity to show an Aerial Perspective. I decided on a silhouette of trees I was by, with the hills behind it. I did enjoy painting this and I liked how I created texture of the trees in the foreground. I did show clearly the change of colour of the land in the far distance due to the atmosphere. I don't think this is one of my best paintings, as I feel there is not to much to look at, but I feel I have shown I understanding of Aerial Perspective.

Creating mood and Atmosphere

    Creating a mood and Atmosphere painting was a fun experiment for me, to see what I could create form my head. I decided (as I was hungry at the time) to do a Dessert land. I think the final outcome was good, again not one of my better paintings, but felt it was a good idea. The problem I found with this painting is that I could not grasp how to use my new style of layering up to create depth and texture. I think this is due to it being an imaginative place and I could not 'see' detail in-front of me. Perhaps I should of got some real desserts and looked at there textures to improve on this. I do like the doughnut and some areas where I have added detail have worked out well. I think this painting has helped me to realise mood and atmospheres can be used in landscapes to create dramatic effects and stories.

Painting Out doors

     Painting outdoors was really enjoyable this experience taught me a lot and I got to use my layer dark to light style throughout. I did a lot of research for this and planned and I think the outcome works out really well. I've learned that painting outdoors needs a process due to weather, times the light of the sun moves and to find a landscape you can express what you see, or a story in which you want to create. Overall I was happy with this painting. there were a few areas to point out, which I could of improved on. The barn looks too small compared to the middle fence and it looks like I have proportioned it incorrectly. Also the sign post is a bit wonky, just below the sign that is attached. I had a good time being surrounded by my landscape that I was painting and shall be painting outdoors some day soon again.

Painting From A Working Drawing

       I decided to paint an area of my living room for this painting. I think I did the area justice and I am really happy how well I painted the table. The lines are a lot straighter compared to previous work in other assignments. I feel that the palm tree has a great texture and all the colours work together well. Painting from a drawing leant me that if you take in enough information, you can create the scene away from the area. The only issue I had was that the chairs pattern was not correct. I had forgotten to capture it. what I could of done is practised a few textures before hand, to help with this issue. This exercise helped me realize that, if you do enough research of your area before hand your painting will be a lot easier to paint as you will be use observing that area.

Squaring Up

    For this task I decided on a cottage, I spotted in Chester. I really admired the building, with all the different colours of plants and thought it would be good to paint. I got to use my new found texture style again with the plants and bushes which worked out well. It really creates depth and detail to my work. I did make a mistake with this paintings as the flower pots on the left should of been positioned to the wall of the cottage. I carried on with the painting and it still looks good. I had another chance to practice with a grid in the next following paining, which worked out better. I learnt from this, that using a grid is very helpful to blow up pictures.

Working from a Photograph

      I was looking through some pics on the internet and I came across this beautiful one of polar bears in a sunset. I love how it creates there silhouettes, with a boarded glow around there fur. I also liked how the light makes the snow on the ground, seem blue. For this painting, I put a grid on the photo to attain the correct proportions. I enjoyed painting the sunset which I did first. I then used my own style for the bears and the ground painting from black then adding texture but using blues and reds to show the reflection of light in this scene. I didn't want to copy the photo completely, so I put more texture on then the photo. I loved doing this painting, it created such a good effect with the sunset and the glow around the bears. I learned from this painting, that I have really found my style of building up colours to create texture and depth. I don't think I can say anything bad with this painting as I really do like it.

Overview of all my paintings, Ideas and Techniques to use for my Final Painting

    So now I have looked at all my painting I can now say I have learned the following things form this Assignment 4:

• A new painting style of painting a dark area and applying texture/Detail with lighter colours on top. Its a good way to create detail and depth to your work.
• Using colours that compliment each other make your paintings stand out more.
• Different Perspectives such as Linear and Aerial create different effects in landscapes.
• Using your imagination is fun but also can be negative as have no sense of detail.
• Mood and atmosphere are important as they make your paintings more dramatic and tell a story.
• You have to be prepared to work outside. Weather,time, landscape, clothing and carrying items are all things to think about before setting off. 
• By drawing an area first, looking at colours tone,lines and texture, help collate enough information for you to go away and paint the area you were observing.
• Using grids to blow up images is useful when transferring a sketch or photo. It helps to get the proportions correctly.
• photos are good to paint from but you also need research to stop your painting look a little flat as you cannot observe the volume of objects from a photo.

       From what I have learned and created I have decided I would like to paint another sunset scene, but with more detail and on a bigger scale. I will now do my research on what I want out of this painting and what I want to express to the viewers.

Assignment 4 Final

Sunsets

    Sunsets are obviously seen all over the world. They are in images with moods and atmospheres of holidays, romance and safaris. Sunsets are classed to be very relaxing and one of the most beautiful sights in out world. It can transom a landscape for at most 30 minuets to a unfamiliar alien like scene. A sunset transforms the whole sky . The suns light Scatters, which affects the colour of light coming from the sky. The details are determined by the wavelength of the light and the size of the particle. Molecules and small particles in the atmosphere, change the direction of light rays, causing them to scatter and resulting in colourful sunsets.

   I am going to look at a few and put them here of some examples to try and give me some ideas of what I would like to do for my final.

In this sunset it portrays to the viewers of a relaxing area, most probably a good advertisement for a holiday. I can see here a sunset is not just yellow and orange it can form main colours such as blue and purple. With the orange and blues in the sky they work well compliment each other and make it an even more powerful sunset to look at. 

      Wildlife in Africa are usually popular scenes in sunsets for the viewer to see a safari experience. With a sunset, trees and animals its a wild natural image. I just love seeing a sunset with animals. It has to be one of my favourite sights especially to capture it in real life too. The black silhouettes of the trees and animals, in front of a sunset creates a very dramatic effect.

     Another sunset popular scene is that of romance. A sunset with a couple creates a mood and atmosphere which shows warms and love. It looks relaxing and just an ideal moment to say I love you to someone special.

Different Seasons 

Different effects can also effect a sunset depending on the type of season:

Spring

    In spring the best sunset is actually the sunrise. In spring plants are growing, trees are waking up and baby animals are running around. The sunrise in spring is one of my favourites. Its as though the sun is waking up the land. It looks really beautiful when there is blossom on the trees. It also works well on cold spring mornings when there is frost on the ground which sparkles. The sun set is no longer an advertisement here for warm weather, but more of a sign of growth and nature waking up for another year.

Summer

Typically the best time to see the sunset. The atmosphere is warm and reflects the rich orange colour which is what most people think of when they are thinking of holidays. The sunset tends to have a lot of orange and the blue of the sky makes it look beautiful over the sea. It is a relaxing mood created buy the sunsets atmosphere a great moment in the day to chill. 

Autumn

         Autumn sunsets are quite different too, the leaves are turning golden glorious colours and the branches are being revealed on the trees, The colours of the leaves and the sunset create a scene of different shades of oranges and browns. It sets peoples ideas of autumn such as harvests and Halloween. The sun is lower in the sky this time of year which means the sunset does not last as long and the sunsets tend to be colder then summer.

Winter

    In winter time when you get a sunset or sunrise it is an amazing sight especially if there is snow. The light of the snow and the sunset/sunrise together creates different colours. You see more pinks and oranges and the show changes to a shade of blue, making the orange sky and the blue ground compliment each other really well. It reminds me of a crispy cold winters morning, with some mist and the suns rising, feeling the warmness on your face. This has to be one of my favourite times to experience a sunset and cheers me up during the cold winter months. The winter months have less light and more darkness and the trees are fully bare and asleep. Frost is also a pretty sight with the sun, it makes it sparkle reflecting the suns light.

Sunsets by artists

Leonid Afremov Sunset by the Hill

http://afremov.com/SUNSET-BY-THE-HILL-PALETTE-KNIFE-Oil-Painting-On-Canvas-By-Leonid-Afremov-Size-30-x36.html

         I chose this painting as I liked the colours used for the sky. The rich colours create a warm mood. The familiar scene with the sea and a boat creates a bold image and is very pleasing to the eye. I want to use the sky here as an idea /technique for my own painting.

Barbara Honsberger Winter Sunset 2010

http://www.absolutearts.com/cgi-bin/portfolio/art/your-art.cgi?login=honzygirl&title=Winter_Sunset-1282509570t.jpg

         I think this paining caught my eye because of the contrasts of pinks and whites. It has that typical wintry mood to it and I feel that the pinks and the whites, gives you a sense of the coldness. It just shows the use of colours can also show a sense of temperatures in a landscape. This artist has also layered light colours on to dark which is similar to my style but she applies her paint differently to me.

Catherine Musnier Zebras

http://www.catherinemusnier.com/tableau-peinture-art-naif/Couple-de-zebres.jpg

      At the very start of this assignment Catherine Musnier, was an inspiration to me. I liked her techniques on how she builds up colours in her paintings. I gave it a go for myself and found that using my style of paining and building up colours, gave a good effect to my paintings, as well as added detail which I was lacking. Here she has painted a sun set with Zebras. Her paintings are of a naive style and I admire the use of colours together.

Joe Kaz Winter Sunset

http://www.joekaz.com/

    This painting for me is more so to look at the colours used rather then the painting as a whole. I can clearly see again that using blue and oranges together work really well, not only are they complimentary to each other but also capture the actual realistic view of a sun set. This artist has also used blue for the snow, it also helps to set the mood to make it look cold.

Karen Tarlton Sunset Starry Winter

http://karensfineart.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/original-oil-painting-sunset-starry.html

    This painting caught my eye because of the bright colours and the way the artist has captured the sunset. She has used bold strokes of colour, in a circular application creating a wintry sunset scene, which also looks windy. Karen has put bold strokes of yellows and oranges throughout this painting. I think this gives it a sense of leaves swirling around on a winters windy day.

Marion Dutton Winter Sunset 

http://community.saa.co.uk/art/00/00/00/00/02/01/08/07/05/09/images/medium/546

     I really liked looking at this paining. It is very calm and the artist has put a lot of detail in to it. I like the way the tree on the right is built up and has created depth within the tree. The colour of the sunset sky is reflective in the stream, bringing the ground and the sky together. I also like the trees on the left they are very life like and the placement of white on the bark really gives you that sense of a typical wintry season.

Deciding on Three landscapes

     After looking at sunsets and some artists paintings, I would like to try to attempt my own winter sunset. As it is just turning Autumn here, I will not be able to experience a wintry day so I am going to look to see if I can find some wintry landscape images to get Ideas from. 

I have had a look and I have picked out three that I really liked the best:

Winter Pink Sunset

     I picked this landscape out because of the aura of the sky it is a very wintry scene, the pinkness of the sky works well with the snow. However even though its a winter scene the mood creates is a cosy one,  due to the warm colours in the sky. What I also like about this landscape is the trees and the way the snow has fallen upon then it creates a lovely effect and would be interesting to paint.

Winter Road Sunset

     This Road sunset captured my eye because its quite different to what I've looked at already. The snow is now reflecting the sunsets light turning the snow orange, pink and blue. I do like this landscape but may be not enough detail for what I need for my idea of a final.

Wintry Woodland Sunset

     I picked this one because of the colours and the composition on the scene. It is on a slope making it more interesting. The trees look fun to paint as there all different shapes and I like how the trees go on in to the distance with the suns rays coming through in-between them. The sun is also making the snow appear yellow and orange which is combining the scene together. The mood and atmosphere is of coldness on a winters morning.

Landscape Decision

   After looking at these three, I have decided I like the Winter Pink Sunset and the Wintry Woodland Sunset the best out of the three. The reason I didn't choose the Winter Road sunset is because I feel it lacks composition and character compared to the other two. I am now going to attempt to sketch and use watercolour paints to do each one in my sketch book to help decide on which one I like the best.

Winter Pink Sunset

    Here I have attempted to paint the Winter Pink Sunset. I found with the water colour paints quite hard to create more of a pink sky. I do think I have created the scene to be wintry, but after trying it out I don't think it has come out well as the image in front of me.

Wintry Woodland Sunset

   This is the Wintry woodland Sunset Scene and I really enjoyed painting this. I think I have captured the atmosphere well and the oranges and blues work well together.

   Having now looked at these to landscapes further and tried to quickly sketch/paint each one,  I have decided that I would like to paint the Wintry Woodland Sunset. I like it because of the colours and the trees and the atmosphere it creates and also that the land is not flat which adds some character to it making it more appealing to the eye. The wintry pink sunset one, just seems to washout out compared the woodland Sunset and I think the lack of bright colours may also be the reason that I was more attracted to the woodland scene. 

Added Foreground 

   Now I have my landscape, I still feel I could do with something more in the for ground, so I decided to have a think about it and see what I can come up with.

After some thought and looking on the internet I came across this image:

    This wolf I feel would be very fitting in the foreground and it also helps with the glow of the sun around his fur. I am going to sketch him in my sketch book to try and capture him.

     Here is the watercolour Sketch I have done with the wolf. It has came out well and I feel comfortable in including him in the landscape. The colours will really work well with the chosen landscape and the wolf is a very fitting foreground idea due to the landscape being in a woodland area. I am now going to look at how to put my wolf in this land scape.

Merging Wolf and Landscape Together

      Now that I have done the landscape and found what I would like in the foreground, I have thought how I am going to get him in my landscape scene at the right proportion, so I can paint the landscape and the wolf as one. I have decided to use a program on the computer called Coral Draw to cut and paste and put the wolf in the landscape.

   On Coral Draw there is a tool to trace over images, so I cut and paste the wolf in the landscape and used trace tool to create a painting effect, to see how the wolf looks in the land scape just to get an idea.

    I do think choosing the wolf was the right thing to do. Its a really good finishing touch to the landscape. The colours work well and putting him on the left hand side, creates a good composition.

     Here I have put him with his feet in the snow, but now looking as it, I may also take the land he was standing on in the photo and insert that in too. I think this will make him appear more closer in the foreground.

   I have now added the land and I do feel it looks more better, then the wolf being on his own. I am really excited to create this painting, as my idea and composition is coming out really well. 

    I also have just attempted to put him on the other Landscape, the Pink Winter Sunset. I just wanted to see what he looks like on there. He still works out well here, but I prefer the other one still, because of the vibrant colours throughout the landscape. 

Final Decision

    This is my final composition of my landscape. I decided in the end to add more of the grassy area, where the wolf was standing. I do think it is a good composition, with good use of colour and creates a wintry landscape that I had in mind. I am now going to sketch/watercolour this on A3, to get a final tester in before the main painting.

Final Sketch

      This is my last sketch. I used watercolour paints. I really do like the out come and feel I am happy with the composition and idea still. The wolfs face looks a little unrealistic, this was due to the watercolour paints and I could not add much detail. I think I am ready to paint. I will use this, the photos and my coral image as good references during my painting.

Painting

Colour Test

    First of all I am just going to match up a few colours and decide on which I shall be using. I don't want too many, so I shall now experiment and see what is best:

   I have decided to go with:

• Black
• White
• Yellow Ochre
• Burnt Umber
• Sap Green
• Prussian Blue
• Lemon Yellow
• Red

   I feel these colours work well together and are bright, to help put across my landscape atmosphere and mood I want.

Textures

    I want to use my new technique and style I have built up throughout this assignment. By looking at the final composition, I am going to build up the trees from dark to light building them up to create depth. I don't want to just paint the sky as it is, I want to add texture to it. I will try to do this whilst painting it. Looking at the ground, I do want to keep this smooth but I will add some areas showing light hitting it from the sunset. I am now ready to get started. 

What am I using, to paint my landscape on?

 For this Assignment, I am going to use an art board, I really have grown to like them. I feel they are better then paper or canvas, which can be awkward to carry and keep moving around whilst painting. I have chosen a bigger board then I usually paint on. I have found one which is the right shape to fit my painting on, as well as blow it up bigger then the image. 

Grid My Composition to apply to my Art Board

I have got my final composition and have put a grid on it. This will help me sketch it correctly on to my large art board. I am going to put the grid on my art board and sketch lightly using pencil to put the basic shapes of my scene. 

Start Painting

Evening 1

    I have now got my landscape transferred to my art board and I am going to start painting:

     I have spent 3 hours on it so far and this it what is looks like. I really like the effect I did on the sky. The sky in my painting has more green then in the image, but I do actually like it. I painted the sky using a flat brush, adding thick strokes across it, to create some texture. I think it makes the sky have more detail. I have added the clouds on top and the sun is in the correct position in the painting. I have added in the background forest which is in 3 separate layers, to create the distance, I think it works well. I am now going to Paint the snowy ground in the middle.

   I have painted the ground in the middle and some of the foreground areas. I need to wait for all this to dry before I do another layer. I will then add textures through out the landscape and add the wolf into it too. I have put a yellow glow around the wolfs area already to capture the glow on his fur. I really like the colours I have used, they work well together through out my whole composition.

Evening 2

        I waited a few days for it to dry and have tonight painted again. This time I have added detail in the background, added some more detail to the sky and added detail to the trees in the middle ground. I really like my finished technique on my trees . This is my new style I found along the way and I really have fun doing it. I think it creates a real good effect. It looks like there is snow on the fir tree, which is just how I wanted to capture them. I have also added detail to the snow in the middle ground. I have kept is smooth but added light and dark areas, to show the sunset reflecting off the ground.            Lastly tonight I started to add some detail to the foreground, on the grassy area where the wolf is standing. I am really happy with it so far. I will have to wait again now, a day or so to add the next parts on which will be the wolf and the last part of the grass in the foreground.

Evening 3 - Finished

    After another evening I have now finished my painting. I am so happy with it. Its bright and colourful. I have created a cold wintry woodland sunset scene, just how I see it and there is so much detail to look at. I finished tonight with painting the wolf. He was a bit of a task for me as it was a first time I had to paint fur but he has come out well.

   The texture of the wolf I have painted was done by the use of a small round brush to add the detail in. I can clearly see he is a fury wolf and has a mixture of colours. The only issue I had with the wolf, was the right hand side of his face some how it has come out wider then it should be. I don't think you can notice too much as he just looks like he is turning his head anyway but it is not correct as the image of him. I finished the foreground off by using my dark greens to add bold texture of mossy grass, at the front, this created a closer effect to the viewer.

     I think my new style works really well with my type of paintings, Especially on landscapes with trees and leaf areas. I have tried to show this throughout this painting and I think it shows good detail in my painting.

Overall

    Overall this final has been really fun and interesting to create. I have used my own ideas, my own techniques and everything I have learnt through out this assignment. I think my painting are now starting to look stronger and I can really see it here in this final one. 

   My tutor told me I was lacking detail, but now after finding a style I enjoy doing, I have creates detailed texture through out. Not only do my paintings look good far away they now look interesting close up. 

  My research of sunsets was good to do and it showed me different ways I could of captured a sunset. I do like my final decision. My sky looks a lot more greener then it was but it still gives a great effect. 

   I showed a few people my painting to get feedback.They were all admiring it. I didn't tell them what is was about. I asked them to describe the painting and one lady said 'Its a scene of a cold winters evening in a forest with a wolf.' She said it look cold, which I was glad to hear as that was the atmosphere I was aiming for. Another person mentioned 'The sky looks like the northern lights with all the colours involved.' I think this is also another good comment, as I do think it really suits this painting well and you do see images of the northern lights in some forest areas.

   The only faults I cant criticise about my painting is my wolfs face. I did it a bit to fat on the right hand side. I didn't want to amend it, as I didn't think it looked so bad he just looks like he is turning his head more. Also the middle ground snow area looks good but I feel maybe I could of done more to it. Perhaps by adding some yellow to add some detail but then again I don't think it needs any more detail as it may become too much. Overall I am very happy with it and I feel I have included all I have learnt along the way.

Overall Assignment 4

   In this assignment I have improved a great deal. I think I have found my best painting subject which is landscapes and during this assignment, I have found my naive detailed personal voice. It has took me till this Ass4 to discover it but I am finally glad. I have really pushed myself with this assignment. I have moved home and every moment I had I got my head down to make sure I put everything in to this assignment, to become better at painting. I feel this is the start and I will keep now developing the style that I have found and am happy with.

   I feel this assignment was about me growing as an artist and taking it more seriously to improve myself, not just to learn but to also bring out more of my talent. 

   Throughout my Blog I have done a lot more research and keeping updates to how I have done each painting and I think this has also helped to. I am looking forward to my tutors feedback and starting my final Assignment 5 to push myself further and improve my personal voice more.