Research into specialist pathway
Before starting this unit I first needed to decide on a specialist pathway. During my past units my specialist pathway was graphic design and although it has taught me a lot I found it a bit limiting at times. For example my work was often too detailed or didn't contain enough typography. For this unit I will choose from either fine art or illustration.
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Fine art
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Fine artists create original and thought-provoking work, which may be aesthetically pleasing, shocking, or disruptive, through a variety of media. Fine art interests me personally as it is very freeing to be able to make a painting or sculpture for communication my thoughts and ideas without having to link it to a specialist pathway. A disadvantage to fine art is that it could be difficult to try and portray a message through the work.
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Illustration
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An illustrator would us art to portray a story or message. This can be a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video games and films.
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Both illustration and fine art interest me as an artist but fine art stands out the most to me the most because I personally see myself most as a fine artist, favouring making a piece of art that is aesthetically pleasing and detailed over an artwork that portrays a story.
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Theme
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My chosen theme for this project is time. I have chosen this because it is more abstract and open ended. After researching into how this theme has been used and interpreted by other artists I found some great examples like Monet's work "wheatstacks" and Salvador Dali's more abstract work on time. I will use these as inspiration when generating ideas for this project. my first initial idea for a piece of work related to time is to make landscape that show the passing of time whether that's the different times of day or the different seasons in a year. The purpose of this could be to communicate ideas of how the world is changing and the effects that we are having on the landscape. This could connect to climate change or could just be a way of communicating the decay of our landscape and our environment either through mankind or nature.
Claude Monet
Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer),1890/91
When researching into the theme of time I found many great examples of how different artist have taken this idea and interpreted it in many different ways. The idea that interests me the most how I could focus on the landscape and how it can change through time.
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Artist Research
Although abstraction is something that interests me . I personally find it too limiting and is left to the subjective opinion of the viewer rather than my own opinion on the theme. This is why I don't think its the direction that i want to take my work in this unit.
Out of all the artists I researched Monet's work wheatstacks has inspired me the most because it has led me to decide on making landscapes for my final piece. My idea now is to make an effective landscape painting that successfully portrays the passing of time
Memento Mori- remember you must die. A memento Mori is an artwork designed to remind the viewer of their mortality and of the shortness and fragility of human life.
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This idea of a memento Mori interests me as an artists because I can use this idea to relate to the theme of time while using the primary research from the natural history museum. I can also practice with observational drawing using skulls provided by the college.
David Hockney
'Nichols Canyon' (1980)
I found David Hockney's work with landscapes inspiring because his bold use of form and colour interests me and I will take inspiration from his work when making my own work.
Pierre Bonnard Landscape in the South (Le Cannet) 1943
In this painting, time can be seen in two obvious ways. One way is through the old age of the woman and her wrinkly skin, denoting that she has lived a long life. The other way time is shown is by the candle burning in the lantern, diminishing its wick. This painting can also be seen as a pause in time, a moment singled out in the continuously moving world
Gerrit van Honthorst Old woman examining a coin by a lantern
This work by Pierre Bonnard has an interesting use of colour that gives it a unique feel although in my opinion it is too busy so I wont use this in my development
Richard Diebenkorn
Richard Diebenkorn is the artist that inspired me the most out of al the artists I researched. His use of colour and mark making is very interesting and i would like to take inspiration from this and transfer it into my work.
Exhibitions and Galleries
In 2015 Richard Diebenkorn had an exhibition in the royal arts museum showcasing his work from expressive abstraction (top right) to figuratism (top left). In this exhibition the art speaks for itself being shown on display with thin frames to fully exaggerate the work as the main vocal point.
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I intend on using this to inform how i will presnt my work
A 2012 David Hockney exhibition, in this exhibition David's work was presented as a collection of canvas' that when put together makes a larger landscape.
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If I had discovered this technique of displaying my work earlier in my project would have attempted to use this technique to possibly show different times of the day but to have the same landscape to link it to the theme of time.
Comparing Richard Diebenkorn and David Hockney
From all the different artists and ideas I've researched I have narrowed it down to the two artists that interest me the most and have given me the most inspiration. Both these artworks have a strong use of colour in their work although they use it in different ways. Richard Diebenkorn is expressive with his mark making his work is usually more abstract rather than Hockney's more photo realistic style that focuses more on the bright vibrant colours. To me Richard Diebenkorn style interests me the most and i would like to use it as inspiration for my final piece.
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Mood board of Richard Diebenkorns work, this helped a lot when trying to transfer his style and feel to my work.
considering ethics and the environment
As I will be using acrylic paint for my final piece I decided to research the ethical and environmental impacts it can have. On the Parliament website I found an article on how pouring the acrylic wastewater down the drain can harm aquatic life and the environment. Because of the common contents used in acrylic paints that are not environmentally friendly like, toluene, xylene, and benzene-based solvent all of which can be hazardous waste.
Furthermore, when the acrylic paint thinner evaporates it leaves behind excess formaldehyde additives released in the air during the drying process these methanol vapours can cause respiratory problems.
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Although the use of acrylic paint can be considered as unethical the subject of my painting is ethically sound because it has no use of offensive images and written material of a sexual or political nature. My work also doesn't contain any risk of copyright or property right because I have personally been in the landscape and have used primary source photos for most of my work.
Before making any work I first started to gather photos that I could use for a primary source later in my project. For these images I took photos from the same place as the sun sets, my idea for this is to make some experimental work that shows the passing of time.
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Planning
Although taking multiple pictures at different times does clearly convey the passing of time it would mean having to make multiple painting to covey the same idea, a way i could make it simpler avoid using a lot of time I would be to make stencils of the path and the trees and paint in the different times of day.
My own primary source photos
When taking my primary source photoss ive also made sure to take note of the textures of the bark and the colours on the water, these sources will help when bringing my work to a higher level.
I felt taking pictures of sunsets was relevant to my theme because it shows the passing of time as the sun setts
This image almost shows how I could show time in one image.
These are all pictures of the lake that I painted my primary source. I used these as reference photos to help when transferring onto the canvas painting
This image almost shows how I could show time in one image.
I have later come back to the lake that I previously painted to see how it has changed over spring. With the difference of just a few weeks it is much more green and overgrown and some yellow lily's have grown .
When comparing the images it is clear to see how much it has evolved over time, the mane visible difference is that a vine has covered the lake giving it an interesting texture.
I plan on trying to convey this feeling of spring by using bright greens and yellows, using these images as a reference and for inspiration.
The right image is successful at presenting just how much the branches and leaves have grown over through spring. I feel this could almost be a photography outcome that shows nature.