An Impact on my Environment

VSW14 Painting: Materials and Methods (3)

Plein Air painting?  Not exactly.  But this project was so much fun!  We were told: "work within your own environment to create a new tension or dynamic using colour". There was an area outside my studio where nothing would grow and edged by a horrible fence:

I decided to do something quite bold with the fence:

I was charmed when my granddaughter contributed some extra stones to complement my Zen effect:

The light plays on our new space in quite different ways depending on the time of day and the weather:

 This was the "Before" condition:

 
 

Lighting it up in Colour

VSW14 Painting: Materials and Methods (2)

Finally we were allowed to play with colour ... as long as we followed the instructions carefully.

Colour Cube - primary colours, 12 x 12 x 12 cm

Colour Cube - secondary colours, 12 x 12 x 12 cm

In this cube we started from each of the primary and secondary colours and then vary saturation, tone and hue. We moved on to a still life, which we used to investigate complementary colour, tint and pointillism. 

Apples, oil on canvas paper, A4

Apples, oil on canvas paper, A4

Pointillist Apples, oil on canvas paper, A4

The final studio task was to transform a familiar space.  I chose my garden and my kitchen.

Garden Transformed, Oil on canvas, 92 x 62 cm

Cook Under Pressure, Acrylic on canvas board, 92 x 62 cm

Doing it in Black and White

VSW14: Painting, Materials and Methods (1). 

The first half of the course was completely black and white.  That was a requirement.  The giraffe, on the other hand, was optional.  Somehow I couldn't get away from him; I hadn't realised that one exercise would lead to another.  Suffice it to say that he isn't in two of the following eight pictures.

Acrylic on primed paper, A1

Acrylic on canvas paper, A4

Acrylic on canvas paper, A4

Acrylic on canvas paper, A4

Encaustic over plaster of Paris on board, A4

Acrylic on canvas paper, A4

Acrylic on canvas paper, A4

Oil on canvas paper, A4

Drawing on the Other Side of the Brain

VAR11 Visual Arts Research: Introduction to Drawing.  

So, an introduction: we covered line, tone and perspective.  We drew in black and colour and we also made collages in white.  We investigated the use of text in drawing.  We collaged some more.  Above all we learned that the modern drawing is not just putting line or shading on paper. Drawing extends beyond mark making into conceptual areas such as the drawing together of ideas and the possibility of using a variety of media to create three-dimensional works that can be considered drawings. ... Mmmm! I had some difficulty with this as a definition and created a test question about a 'drawing' from an exhibition that the New York Times reviewed on April 7th, 2013.

Image: Judith Scott, Untitled, 2002. Found textiles, dimensions unknown. (Reproduced from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/nyregion/a-review-of-extreme-drawing-at-the-aldrich-contemporary-art-museum.html?_r=2&)

Here are some more traditional drawings that I made during the unit.

Three Boxes. On A4 paper.

Black Still Life. On A1 paper.

My Dresser.  Drawn with a cockatoo quill on A3 paper.

'Have you got a light?' On A1 paper.