DEVELOPING TECHNIQUE / WHAT NEXT?

Working on another fairly large canvas (1800x1200mm) with varying intensity of cadmium yellow. Testing various additional colour options in the blue/grey range.

Discuss trial options with Virginia - small scale trials watercolour silkscreen/attaching coloured card etc

                                  
                                Coloured card testers

Opt for working at smaller scale and staying with acrylics on canvas as colour values on watercolour/screen inks are markedly different.

 

                                                                        

                                  

                          Slight altering of colour saturation influencing spatial perception

WHAT NEXT ?: Further development of 'a personal language'

My Blog is an active part of developing my practice as an artist, part research/ exploration  part record, part reflection - a test station for ideas. Steve Joy's description of his studio as a 'laboratory of the  mind' seems apposite.

A number of particularly strong interests have emerged during the course of ART 271:

• the power of understatement - the less there is the more you have to look - usually monochromatic  (Agnes Martin / Max Cole / Rebecca Salter)

•  the power of colour (Patrick Heron / Anselme Reyle / David Hockney)

• the tension between geometry/structure and accident

• spatial perception/manipulation within the picture plane

• reluctance to employ more overt landscape references (Hockney) but do not want to sever all links/association with landscape character/space

• the need for some rigorous thinking to underpin the work, avoid 'pattern making' and work through a set of ideas rather than constantly moving on without attempting to resolve issues

There is obviously some difficulty in reconciling the first two items. However the slow increase in technical competence is gradually opening up further possibilities e.g. the value of underpainting and the layering of washes.

Paintings to date have, deliberately, been relatively simple - exploring tone or colour, space, geometry and free washes....

Next series of paintings will aim to:

• Up the 'content' without returning to 'brush marks without purpose' - reintroduction of grids/structures, possibly based on plan layouts of gardens/buildings

• Retain limited palette exploring fine gradations of hue/saturation.

SHAUN SPACE + Eleanor Moreton

Viewing in a Gallery

Reviewing the blog with James he suggested putting some of my work in the Shaun Space, away from the clutter of the studio. Definitely a worthwhile exercise as the work looks markedly different in a 'gallery space.' (See below)

Interesting to see the two images juxtaposed - both exploring spatial issues but in very different ways. I have now, on several occasions, explored a mononchrone and a 'colour' painting in tandem.This has proved beneficial in that one is thinking around differing issues so when a temporary 'block' appears concentrating on another work is definitely beneficial.

I questioned the artist, Eleanor Moreton, after her lecture, on this point and she said she often had 20 -30 different works on the go at any one time and there was definitely productive cross fertilisation was possible, even likely!

Ideally in a gallery setting these two works could do with more space between them.

Two loose monochrome/colour grid compositions

Observations 

• the applications of the Payne's Grey field colour by roller has give a lightness and subtle variation of density which helps 'activate' the field and add to the spatial tension
• right hand picture is, perhaps, overworked and works best without the two 'pink' semi translucent lines (which were the last to go on). Also works better in a portrait format (See blog 'Contrasts and Bands 11/03)

Space/colour exerise

• Textured ground and 'smooth' stripes  work well together
• Controlled colour more successful than earlier, less disciplined attempts   

Eleanor Moreton- Reflections

Her talk was very interesting to one struggling to develop their practice, I particularly liked the disciplined thinking which underpinned her work:

• Frequent use of earlier work of established historical painters (e.g C17 Dutch).
• Not necessary to 'like' the work but to engage with it in some way
• Developing a language which makes a contemporary statement about an earlier, recorded, situation
• Usually working across many paintings at anyone time (see also note above) -she noted how developing one painting might allow sudden insights into problems with another work
• Work also often making comment on current social situations - e.g. the vacuous existence of many bored rich women (Orange County)! Also nice send up of 'Collectors' - basically the people she/her gallery  are trying to sell to!
• some of her work employs several 'styles' within a composition e.g in figure work quite literal portraits are seen juxtaposed with much more stylised renditions
• Usually some sort of narrative behind the work, not necessarily fully explicit
• Much spatial ambiguity in the relationships of figures or even parts of figures on the canvas/card
• Believes in providing 'just enough information' so the viewer must engage and, therefore, contribute to the work.

If only there was access to more intelligent, articulate artists!!

A DELICATE LINE

Trial,error and trial

Move on to large square format canvas (182 x 182cm) primed with diluted PVA

Objective- to explore pictorial space without the use of colour; key influences -Agnes Martin, Max Cole and Rebecca Salter (Ref early 271 research and later Artist's i
Influence)

•  Top two thirds (approx) white applied with roller and diluted with PVA from top down - selected proportions provide 'landscape' reference

• Bottom third banded in decreasing widths towards the centre, top edge taped, lower edge loose with roller

Addition of a single line
Seeking to explore the spatial potential, place a single string vertically on the canvas
This immediately activates the space in a way which a painted line could not, redolent of the effect obtained through the 'mark making/ polyfilla' exercise (See Blog- 19/04 Mark Making - another angle)

Resolve to explore this potential.

Using string - black/white/fragmented black to introduce grid, working across the painted spatial indicators, increasing spatial ambiguity.

Observation

Major problem in resolving overall composition -strings removed and relaced on right side of canvas to achieve more baalanced composition -not entirely successful, yet to be resolved!

Subsequent discussion with visiting artist Kate Liston. She was interested in the marks made where the string had been removed - a sort of ghost of a past action. Maybe there is something in this sort of 'hidden narrative of actions'? 

PLANT SOURCE

Beguiling Iris

Again exploring source material in relation to degrees of abstraction. Iris reticulata has a particular resonance of blue and yellow which provides a start point. A branching form is also trialled.  Patrick Heron produced a series of 'abstracted flower paintings hwichn are visually exciting - See Research Section
 

Background olive green incorporating dull purple/red

Observations - (own reflections plus discussion with PW)

Not really successful on several fronts:

• main difficulty opaque quality of background which is heavy and lacks the liveliness of much recent work

• lack of interaction between ground and form

• simplistic composition 

Possibilty of reworking ground and loosening composition

MARK MAKING - another angle

 Polyfilla and nails

Following on from the Monochrome Discipline and the work on 'Autumn'  painting (Blog 24/03), resolve to explore mark making form a different angle making marks directly into polyfilla. This also fits with my interest in 'seriality and repetition'.
( Further ref Blog Research/Gallery visit/Barbican/Raushenberg)

       Process

• mould  made which can be reassembled for a new 'pouring'- 500x300mm ply with sides to provide for 15mm depth of polyfilla
• rhythm of nails placed on 50x25mm board with guide nails to ensure clean pull through
• base treated with PVA and then filled with wet polyfilla mix and allowed to go off for 30mins
• 'nail bar' pulled through with one pass after this time
• action repeated with other moulds 

 

       Observations

• Seriality and Repetition - each piece was made in the same way but the results are markedly different, presumably due to unintentional changes in the creation process- minor difference in fill level of mould and amount of water incorporated into the original mix (it would be interesting to recreate using precise measured quantities and times to see if more accurate replicas could be produced). There is a philosophical debate to be had about the impossibility of producing totaly accurate facsimiles!

• The discipline of the line spacing is crucial to provide coherence to the piece

• The three dimensional element to the work produced a modelling through light falling on the piece which could not be achieved in paint

• How might lessons from this be transferred to paint/canvas?
   
   

THE IDEA AS DRIVER

Following experiments with banding, lines, grids and colour (See Blog :Contrasts and Bands- 11th March/ Monochrome Discipline) I have become concerned with the' idea as driver ' using an idea or memory as the basis for a work. Attempt to put together recent work using  grids, lines, colour and space on a larger scale to express an overarching idea.

Long been interested in 'the seasons', their character and visible expression. The challenge is to develop a language which utilises the the power of 'lines' or bands and colour to express my feelings on Autumn (sounds corny but if Twombly can base a work on the Four Seasons why can't I have a go at one!)

Developing the expression 

• Seen as essentially horizontal banding- a time of dying down, layering, leaves falling upon leaves, gradual build-up of layers

• Early memories of light coming through leaves,with brilliant glimpses of sky

• Quality of light, coldness yet warmth of colour.

The execution

• Again working on 'natural' canvas sealed with PVA

• underpainting of lemon yellow 

• follow with layers of cadmium yellow, cadmium yellow deep hue, cadmium orange, cadmium deep red, purple, deep purple

Acrylic on canvas (2000 x 1400mm)

Attempt to introduce light cerulean blue to top third of canvas which will break colour harmony and introduce a degree of tension, but hopefully help to balance the weight of warm colours as they are layered into the lower part of the canvas.

Blue zones taped and underpainted with white, prior to overpaintng, to maximise impact.

Observations:

• OK with the introduction of blue which has done largely what I had hoped
• Interestingly the overall colour does not seem as warm as I expected/hoped (suppose Lemon yellow underpainitng is inherently cool)
• Like scale of canvas - imapct quite good, much larger and it is difficult to control the washes/banding
• On discussion with Virginia she was reminded of carpets/rugs which often incorporated landscape based motifs
• Interested to hear comments from others

MONOCHROME DISCIPLINE

Viewing Rebecca Salter's work (See Research) it is evident that working in monochrome can lead to subtlety and intimacy' Her six years in Japan must have passed on something of their feeling for texture.
After my work on Contrasts and Bands (Blog: March 11th) which sought to utilise colour exploiting a dark background, resolve to limit palette and experiment with grids and spatial properties of differing intensities of paint.

Acrylic on canvas (1430x 940mm)

Ground sealed with PVA and then coat of Payne's grey applied with roller giving interesting 'active' backround without brushmarks.

Grid applied in two intensities one with considerable dillution, the other with thick white 'straight from the tube' .

Placing of 'grid lines' also adds to spatial ambiguity.

Verdict
Reasonably happy with result in that it acheives a certain spatial interest and responds to the scale of the canvas. It perhaps illustrates the importance of 'knowing when to stop' as I believe that further work would not ncessarily have brought further improvement. It will be important to re-evlauate in a few weeks time to see if this judgement holds!