Laura Bennett

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Advanced Painting - Project 2

This painting, titled "Vanity," is composed of objects that represent the excessiveness in one's appearance. While choosing objects for this particular project, I had to keep in mind the criteria of the assignment. In this painting, I had to include 3 of the following: (1) transparent in nature, (2) organic in nature, (3) geometric in nature, (4) contrasting visual textures, and (5) elliptical quality. I started with the bottle of clear-pink nail polish. This satisfies the requirement (1) transparent in nature. Keeping with the theme, I chose the 4-sided nail file. The various sides of color and texture fulfill the requirement (4) contrasting visual textures. Next was the bottle of nail polish remover. It's shape is elliptical, satisfying (5) elliptical quality. To add some variety, I included the bracelet made of black irregular-shaped cultured pearls. Because pearls are formed in living oysters and mussels with a substance called nacre, this object satisfies the requirement (2) organic in nature. Most importantly, the objects vary in size, creating a visually stimulating composition. Once I put together the still life, I had to follow the formal elements: (1) high-low key values/light and dark contrasts, (2) negative space and cast shadows in low chroma, (3) high-low chroma areas, (4) a sense of volume and visual weight of all forms, (5) depth i.e., a foreground, middleground, and background, (6) varying brushstrokes in scale and shape, (7) scumbled areas that diffuse some areas, (8) non-overworked, clean, fresh brushstrokes, and (9) a sense of atmospheric space.
When the painting of this still life began, I started with an underpainting to layout the values of the forms. Once it was dry, I began scumbling the background to achieve a sense of atmospheric space, and the apply the paint in an interesting way. Along with the background, the bottle of nail polish remover began to take shape, and I applied the paint with various brushstrokes and in high-low key values to create the form of the bottle. The cast shadow of the nail file on the bottle of nail polish remover is painted in low chroma. The variety of saturation areas on the bottle imply the depth of the objects from foreground to background, as well as the shape of the bottle. Although challenging, I achieved the look of contrasting textures on the nail file by applying the paint to the (deep pink and purple) smooth side with long, clean brushstrokes. The rough (pink) side was treated with an assortment of brushstrokes (short and fresh). As the bottom of the smooth side of the nail file descends off the canvas, the saturation of color is reduced to show that it is appearing in shadow. By modeling the top of the nail file, I was able to convey a sense of volume, making it appear 3-dimensional. The bottle of nail polish was treated differently, as it is made of glass. By studying where the light appears through and on the surface of the glass, I was able to model the glass bottle with high and low key values to create the desired appearance. This technique also shows on the black cap of the bottle. Taking the time to study the light was crucial to achieving the look of glass. The most challenging of all the objects was the bracelet of pearls. Because the pearls look like they are several different colors, I had to first map out the shape of the pearls on the bracelet, and then model the pearls with high-low key values, highlighting where the light hits the pearls. Adding highlights to all objects where the light hits them is the final step in achieving a balanced work of art that has depth, form, and atmospheric space.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Advanced Painting - Project 1

Using custom chroma strings, I created a painting using a simple, analogous harmony with yellow and green-yellow. My still life simply includes an apple, a grapefruit, and a wooden block. Although not the most interesting objects, I created an interesting composition showing adequate negative space and incorporated a wide range of values and chroma saturation to portray a true sense of form and depth. I Included an accent where the apple and the wooden block meet - this shows that the apple sits on the block and creates a middle ground, foreground, and background to work with. Because the cast shadows and negatives spaces are painted in low chroma with blended edges, the sense of atmosphere definitely shows throughout the piece. By modeling the objects using a variety of brush strokes and edges, I feel that I have successfully achieved my goal of creating an interesting painting with a simple, analogous harmony.

After customizing high to low key chroma strings of orange, violet, and green, I created a balanced, triadic harmony in this painting of an apple, a grapefruit, and a wooden block. Because the composition shows a balance of negative and positive space, along with the balance of the color scheme, the piece is highly interesting to look at. The high to low key chroma strings, and the variation in value create form. The high saturation of the objects pulls the objects forward, compared to the low chroma saturation of the background, and creates atmospheric depth. The harder edges of the objects against the background pulls the objects forward as well. The blended edges of the low chroma cast shadows flows from one object to another, allowing for more depth. By modeling the objects with various brush strokes and well defined accents and highlights, form and visual weight are evident in this piece. Because this piece is not too overworked, I feel that it effectively exhibits a triadic harmony with three balanced hues and an interesting composition, as opposed to painting the local hues.

My final piece of the series is painted with a complementary color scheme of blue and orange. I chose to do a complementary color scheme because the contrasting harmony is a lot different from simple or balanced harmonies, as exhibited in the first two pieces. Although challenging at times, the process remained the same. By modeling the objects with a variation in scale of the brush strokes, I felt that I had created a piece as interesting as the first two. Like the analogous color scheme, incorporating only two hues into the piece was the most difficult part; Painting a sense of form, depth, and visual weight with only blue and orange to work with was tough, yet achievable. I was satisfied with the results, regardless of the challenges I had faced.