Title: Streams and Reflections
Size: 18 in x 12 in Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Date of Completion: 10 - 9 - 2021 For this project I wanted to do a duo project that connected to my main theme of time, similar to most of my works. I also wanted this to serve as a test for my development of a landscape, specifically something akin to a hillside against a stream. |
Artist Inspiration
My artist inspiration for this project is Piet Mondrian, and his work, "Landscape Near Arnhem". He uses his blending and color to reflect the lighting of the time of day. He also uses a considerable amount of line and movement. He uses line to separate and shape out the landscape, clearly showing the farmland. He then also uses the movement to etch the viewer's attention in that direction. I wanted to replicate something similar in my work, where I would be able to use the color and blending in order to show the time of day, specifically night and day. If possible, I was also hoping I would be able to use this inspiration in order to improve upon my use of movement as well. The movement would most likely be applied throughout most of the picture, being through the hills, the stream, and the sky.
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Planning Sketches
Since I wanted to attempt a landscape for this project, I started by doing sketches of what I found to be simple. The process for this project would likely improve my blending abilities, and help make them more flexible and applicable by using it in a new setting. When I did paintings prior, they often stayed with thing that primarily had a singular focus, that being trees. The main focuses of blending though would likely be the hill themselves, being able to show light on the right portion of the picture, while the other sides of the hills would be darker, with much less light to cover it. The sky following would also have a hint of blending to it, becoming slightly lighter the further right it went. Some clouds would be added, and would hopefully be easier with the type of white paint I am using.
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I also wanted to experiment with a new technique that involved adding a tint of color to the overall piece. Every color would have a specific color tint that would be visible across the piece and represent the time of day. Since the basis of this technique would be to represent times of day, the colors I would likely use are blue to show the night, and something similar to orange to show the day. I feel like this would bring a new level to my theme by including more details that bring emphasis to the time of the pieces.
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Process and Experimentation
To start the project I began by forming a minor sketch across the canvas I was using. Unlike the previous attempts of me using a sketch on the canvas, this sketch was far lighter as to not interfere with any of the paint on my canvas like my previous projects. I then started by completing the river, as it is likely the simplest portion to start on. I intended for most of the project to have a sort of blue hue in order to resemble the night lightning across the piece. I then started doing the trees, making them look withered and broken, before moving onto the hillsides themselves. The hillsides started with an extremely dark, nearly black shade of green, which I then progressively lessened as the piece goes further left. I was somewhat content with how this turned out, but it was likely a bit too dark for what I intended to represent, especially when I wanted to include the blue hue.
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As I continued, I noticed that my paints started to thin out while they were drying, becoming significantly more pale. This actually helped work in my favor, as the spots I considered to be too dark significantly brightened after I completed this portion of the project. I was still a little discontent with the color used for the sand and the trees. The trees seemed a little more like they were burnt rather than withered, and had an odd shape. The sand looked as though it was desperately brought together and forced to blend into the picture, with mediocre results. Despite that, they did not seem like anything too detrimental to the representation for my theme. I could still visibly tell it was supposed to be a picture of a part of the river at night. However, the lighter area that is supposed to represent where moonlight shines stood out too much in contrast to the strong dark colors that had been placed.
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For the next part of this project, I wanted to create a similar, but not exact landscape that represented the time of day. However, this part of the project was actually a continuation of the first part, showing more of the hillsides and the river as it goes along. The lighting for this part of the project however would come from the opposite direction of where it originally came. If you were to think about where the light came for both pieces, it would likely be the center of their skies. The strongest challenge in this area was definitely my use of blending, as it was difficult to make clean, different shades of the brownish green I was using. This resulted in visible and clear spots where the blending turned out to be more like layers.
I had attempted to change the layers to blend more visibly, but the paint was beginning to thin and have little effects on the areas. I was also conflicting over whether or not I wanted to darken the area to make it easier to differentiate them. However, after trying that on the rightmost hill, I noted that it just seemed to stand out even more. Similar to the first variant of the project, it was becoming too dark for what I intended it to be, so I had opted to leave it as it is. Should I make new paint, I may be able to correct the areas so that they look much more like changing levels of light rather than different colored grass. This also was a major problem for the sky, where it appeared in a single, extremely light shade of green rather than the intended yellow with a blue tint. In my personal opinion, this is an even greater challenge than the grass proven to be, because it was difficult to adjust the color that had been placed in this area, similar to the grass. This area however, was difficult to change because I had intended to use strong amounts of white in the area, which were often not placed well over the greenish white. |
Reflection
Overall, I was still contents with the products of this project, though I do admit it's shortcomings. The first portion of the project is my likely favorite, due to how well it turned out. I still wish I used some different colors on the trees and the sand, but they were not something that couldn't be fixed with a bit of effort. The strongest challenge other than the colors was likely the lighting of the work. I wanted to represent the night, but the intensity and lighting of some colors was much darker than I had anticipated, making the grass look more blackish than green. As for the second portion of this project, the strongest challenge was definitely changing the shades of the main color I was using to form the grass. The color was a greenish-brown, and was extremely difficult to change shades without overloading it with yellow or white. This caused the "blending" of the piece to appear in layers rather than my intended result. It was also difficult to form a color for the sky that had the shade of orange in it. What I got was a result of an extremely light brown rather than something like a light blue sky with an orange tint. What I was proud of, however, was my use of transitioning to be able to connect my two pieces. The second part of the piece clearly looks like an extension of the first part of the project. If I had to redo this process, I would likely spend more time experimenting with lighter colors for the first piece, and more flexible colors for the second piece. I would have also liked to have expanded on my use of texture in this artwork, primarily on the water and possibly the grass of the artwork. The water has texture present but not in a way that reflects the movement and vibrations of the water. The grass was practically bare and smooth rather than having the standard prickly appearance. I was not considering adding them to a great extent, but I was not satisfied by the smooth presentation that they had.
Overall, I was still contents with the products of this project, though I do admit it's shortcomings. The first portion of the project is my likely favorite, due to how well it turned out. I still wish I used some different colors on the trees and the sand, but they were not something that couldn't be fixed with a bit of effort. The strongest challenge other than the colors was likely the lighting of the work. I wanted to represent the night, but the intensity and lighting of some colors was much darker than I had anticipated, making the grass look more blackish than green. As for the second portion of this project, the strongest challenge was definitely changing the shades of the main color I was using to form the grass. The color was a greenish-brown, and was extremely difficult to change shades without overloading it with yellow or white. This caused the "blending" of the piece to appear in layers rather than my intended result. It was also difficult to form a color for the sky that had the shade of orange in it. What I got was a result of an extremely light brown rather than something like a light blue sky with an orange tint. What I was proud of, however, was my use of transitioning to be able to connect my two pieces. The second part of the piece clearly looks like an extension of the first part of the project. If I had to redo this process, I would likely spend more time experimenting with lighter colors for the first piece, and more flexible colors for the second piece. I would have also liked to have expanded on my use of texture in this artwork, primarily on the water and possibly the grass of the artwork. The water has texture present but not in a way that reflects the movement and vibrations of the water. The grass was practically bare and smooth rather than having the standard prickly appearance. I was not considering adding them to a great extent, but I was not satisfied by the smooth presentation that they had.
Compare and Contrast
Compare
We both have a strong emphasis of our blending in these pictures. There is also a hint of movement present in Mondrian's work. My projects focus on movement to a significant degree, though they are not as clean as they were used in Mondrian's work. We also focused on our overall use of color, attempting to add a single color to all the colors across the work (In my case, blue and orange). Mondrian was able to use this technique far more efficiently than I was, but I was still able to perform this technique to a visible degree on both pieces.
Contrast
Mondrian's work has a stronger sense of tone across his piece, having a hint of blue in a sense that it does not blot out the rest of his work. His work is also more variable in it's use of color overall, being much more flexible and being able to show where reds and yellows were used individually, despite the tint. He also lacks any clear connection to my theme, with his work being focused more on the tranquility of the landscape. My work on the other hand, focuses primarily on a theme of time, transitioning between the two across a landscape of hillsides and a river. His use of blending is also much stronger than mine, being able to cleanly separate the differing parts of the landscape, while I was challenged by my use of color and blending, due to the intensity or inflexibility of the colors I was using.
We both have a strong emphasis of our blending in these pictures. There is also a hint of movement present in Mondrian's work. My projects focus on movement to a significant degree, though they are not as clean as they were used in Mondrian's work. We also focused on our overall use of color, attempting to add a single color to all the colors across the work (In my case, blue and orange). Mondrian was able to use this technique far more efficiently than I was, but I was still able to perform this technique to a visible degree on both pieces.
Contrast
Mondrian's work has a stronger sense of tone across his piece, having a hint of blue in a sense that it does not blot out the rest of his work. His work is also more variable in it's use of color overall, being much more flexible and being able to show where reds and yellows were used individually, despite the tint. He also lacks any clear connection to my theme, with his work being focused more on the tranquility of the landscape. My work on the other hand, focuses primarily on a theme of time, transitioning between the two across a landscape of hillsides and a river. His use of blending is also much stronger than mine, being able to cleanly separate the differing parts of the landscape, while I was challenged by my use of color and blending, due to the intensity or inflexibility of the colors I was using.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
My inspiration definitely impacted my approach to the composition of the pieces. It influenced my blending and approach to the overall coloring of the painting. Unlike my previous projects, this one attempts to include the tone and hue of nighttime and daytime across the entire work.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
My inspiration doesn't connect to my theme of time as well as some of my other inspirations. Even when taking meanings into interpretation, I couldn't really connect anything to time with this inspiration. However, this inspiration does have an approach to melancholy landscapes and work overall, which is something that I find useful to reflect upon.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While researching my inspiration, I came to the generalization that the details of aspects revolving time will make my theme more clear and stronger. To make the theme more clear, I would need to bring attention to the transitions throughout the work, thus I have recently been making radical transitions through my work, such as different times of day.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
Like my other recent projects, I wanted this project to focus on the concept of time. This time, I wanted to prioritize making the presentation of time the primary focus of my inspirational research. I wanted an inspiration that would influenced how I work and presented my theme of time. This inspiration completes that as it influenced me to add the change of color and lighting in the work to reflect the time of day. This was not really present in Project 1 as much as it is now.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made the inference that in order to make stronger connections to my theme, I would need to make different approaches in order to reach this goal. With my next projects, I may begin to focus on finding inspirations that help me develop on my skills and techniques, even if the medium of my projects begin to change.
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
My inspiration definitely impacted my approach to the composition of the pieces. It influenced my blending and approach to the overall coloring of the painting. Unlike my previous projects, this one attempts to include the tone and hue of nighttime and daytime across the entire work.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
My inspiration doesn't connect to my theme of time as well as some of my other inspirations. Even when taking meanings into interpretation, I couldn't really connect anything to time with this inspiration. However, this inspiration does have an approach to melancholy landscapes and work overall, which is something that I find useful to reflect upon.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While researching my inspiration, I came to the generalization that the details of aspects revolving time will make my theme more clear and stronger. To make the theme more clear, I would need to bring attention to the transitions throughout the work, thus I have recently been making radical transitions through my work, such as different times of day.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
Like my other recent projects, I wanted this project to focus on the concept of time. This time, I wanted to prioritize making the presentation of time the primary focus of my inspirational research. I wanted an inspiration that would influenced how I work and presented my theme of time. This inspiration completes that as it influenced me to add the change of color and lighting in the work to reflect the time of day. This was not really present in Project 1 as much as it is now.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made the inference that in order to make stronger connections to my theme, I would need to make different approaches in order to reach this goal. With my next projects, I may begin to focus on finding inspirations that help me develop on my skills and techniques, even if the medium of my projects begin to change.
Bibliography
Landscape near Arnhem (Getty Museum). The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/340695/piet-mondrian-landscape-near-arnhem-dutch-1900-1901/. - Image Source
Landscape near Arnhem (Getty Museum). The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/340695/piet-mondrian-landscape-near-arnhem-dutch-1900-1901/. - Image Source