a famous painting

Nude Descending a Staircase by Marcel Duchamp

Duchamp has captured movement. The figure crosses the painting, this mmovement allows the eye to travel with ease across the canvas. It is an abstract depiction of a nude subject decending a staircase and a beautiful and unique one at that. With any abstract piece come an opinion, a vision and value in the artists ideas and thoughts. It is stylized therefor no one can copy it, no one can perfectly replicate a personal style or opinion, because every opinion is unique (i believe that this adds value). Artists with opinions and different visions from the rest show another side to the world and this is valuable and interesting for the viewer.

movement captured

Duchamps style is geometric, cubic and done in dense developed layers. One wonders how he has created sush shapes, the canvas hops soft movements accompanied by bold geometric shapes. It is a balanced composition throughout the canvas, with a mixture of swift stokes and sharpe complete shapes. It is an interesting piece full of quuestion in his process which layers came first, such a fluid compostion to create this moving beauty. A piece that provides a visual you can explore and wonder about... mind bogling.

This piece holds futurist styles of it's time (1912). The major style of this time was cubo-expressionism. most deffinitally influenced by his fellow arts of his time, picasso and georges Braque the style was depicted in both mediums of painting and sculpture. it depicted movement in music and literature. This style lead to the surrealist movement. Artists were recording their opions in a modern manner, full of opinion creating new-age, untraditional and unconventional images. Radical artists.

Ambiguous space and shapes that one was left to interpret. This piece holds vast opinion therefore holding unmeasurable value in society.

creating the illusion of surface and texture

still life with peaches and a silver goblet, Jean Simeon Chardin

Vincent Van Gogh

Banquet with mince pie (plus detail), Willem Claesz Heda

Each artist miniputlates the paint in a different way to obtain a different texture. Heda's painting presents the use of highlights (whites) to add shine to the subjects. the silk and metal on the table turns white where the light would hit strongest. This mixed with the shadodws of the creases and of the sides of vases that are no longer touched by the light creates rich value. Heda's piece is full of value and leading theses colors into one another smoothly creates the illusion of smooth shinny materials.

Chardin also has shine on the goblet by showing the strong highlights, he successfully conveys the goblet's luster and metalic quality while contrasting creating a fuzzy contrasting quality on the peaches. By dabbign the paint on delicatly with the tips of the brushes bristles, he has created the detailed and miniscule feel of peach fuzz.

Different from the rest is Van Gogh who exibits a chunky rough style, the tyles seem hard and cold as he scratches into the thickly laid on paint. And each piece of the woven chair looks sturdy, solid and bold. Van Gogh's piece too holds value and shine on the curves of the chair, but his textures are created by stronger thickers movements with his brushes.

color mixing chart

refletions on the small studies

What i found difficult during these studies was to keep the concept of studies, to make them quick and act on impulses. I had to try and keep my momentum up so i could make these paintings simple and basic.
What i found to be successful was when i was working based on my impulses, putting colors down as i had mixed them and seen them, not constantly blending. I like it when i start putting colors down as strong individual hughs, that cna stand alone but end up working with the others to create a complete composition.

white objects thumbnail sketches

i chose the thumbnail on the right, i liked the unbalance and white space that i plan to utilize. The simplicity of the composition and the objects will allow me to focus on the many tones and temperatures found in the white, making the variaty of colors my main focus or subject.

(what i see)

all the layers, progressively moving from the strong colors into more white,

but still acknowledging the richness of the white

My Small Studies

My Small Study Set-ups

composition

Still Life With Three Puppies, by Paul Gaughin, 1888

I enjoy this composition. The subjects are evenly dispersed across the piece and it allows the views eye to move throughout it with ease. The flow of the piece is simple and gives equal value to every aspect of the painting. No object is valued over the other and beauty and balance is found in this simplicity.

Morandi vs. VanGogh

Irises, 1890, Vincent Van Gogh

Sunflowers, 1888, Vincent Van Gogh

Still Life, 1955, Giorgio Morandi

These two artists most definitely contrast one another, Morandi a man of simplicity and Van Gogh one who picks up a great deal on the small beauties in details. Morandi conveys beauty in simplicity, the objects are shown as solid pure objects. The pots appear dense, the thick smooth colors are give the objects great weight. His composition is simple and modest and the colors are aswell, it sets a tranquil cool mood.

Van Gogh on the other hand has wispy paint brushes of many vibrant colors. The petals see delicate, thin and light. There are many colors and textures that make up each piece of the painting. Van Gogh depicts every aspect of the flowers down to the seeds on the sunflowers, and the small line detail on the Irises. The vibrant colors and lively subjects are full energy and freshness. I like both of these pieces very much but i love Van Gogh's great eye for unexpected detail (finding light turquoise in the whites of eyes, and the many textures that make up each flower). His colors are also very fresh and clean. While his subjects are quite tranquil his pieces set an enjoyable tranquil atmosphere.

what I know now...

-primary colors: red, yellow & blue
-secondary colors: orange, green & purple
-you create secondary colors by mixing two of the primary colors
-complimentary colors are the colors that sit across from the another color on the color wheel.
-you can emphasize someting in a painting, by using composition to lead the viewers eye to the object. You cn use contrast in color (complimentary colors) or tone. You can use shadows and detail to make the object stand out from the rest.
-You can add complimentary color to the current color of the object creating a darker hue of it.
-to show light you can use the lighter colors, with more white creating a shine on the object.
-use darker colors in contrast to the lighter colors of the objects closer up to set the object farther back in the layout. Or you can make the object smaller than the objects closer or in the foreground.
-I would sketch or lightly layout the painting, create the disired composision. Then paint what i see giving equal value to the objects as i give to the space that lays between them, resulting in a complete and rich piece.

a painting I remember

The Guernica by picasso
this past summer i traveled through spain and visited the Sophia Reina. It ws a notable expirience to be so close to sucha master piece. Being able to see the brush stroke of a genius, someone with a unique opinion and profound thoughts.

my skills as an artist

My strength as an artist is that i value the process just as much as the final product. I love watching my piece grow and enjoy working and seeing the many layers of paintings that combine into one final piece. The many major and minor adjustments and the time and thought spent creating the art is what brings alot of the value to a piece. I think it is important to acknowledge all of the hard work that makes up what we see in the end.

why I'm taking oil painting

I took this corse because of my strong interest in the arts. I would love to continue producing new pieces and learning from my time spent working. Time spent concentrating on my passion is time that i value.