Artist research - Gael Stack

Gael Stack is and American painter, she is also a full time professor at the University of Houston since 1974. Stack's work is very unusual compared to other artist that I have researched, at first sight when I seen her work, it reminded me of scribbles and drawings made in a maths books, during a boring lesson. However her work is far more ineradicable and interesting. In her work Stack uses fragments of images, words, drawings etc.and she layers them to create a final piece. 
Here are some images of her work bellow called;
(Forty-one songs #10, ink, graphite, coloured pencil on vellum, 2010)(Forty-one songs #31,ink, graphite,oil, coloured pencil on vellum, 2010). 
I have noticed Stack usually uses a variety of mixed media in her work.

I really like Stack's work, because it isn't flawless or neat and perfect. Instead she scribbles over the top of her work, draws other things over her drawings, and even messes up her image by leaving smudges and fingerprints etc. She isn't afraid to be expressive or different. It also seems like she is inspired by Chinese art, as in some of her work I have seen Chinese style drawings, like in the first image of her work in this analysis(Forty-one songs #10)
One piece of her work that I will analyse in more detail is called Forty-one songs #19, 2010)

When looking at this image with the squared paper , this is what I meant by saying it reminds me of a page from a maths book. In this work, she once again uses a range of mixed media like ,ink, graphite, colored pencil on vellum. The variety of different media makes her work more lively and vibrant.
What I really like about this image is, how it is quite plain and uncomplicated with fairly thin and simple (birow etc) lines, but because they are bold, the whole image doesn't actually need a of stuff going on to appear defined or intriguing. Stack uses a variety of shapes, some are quite sharp, whilst other are linear.

In the majority of her work Stack adds black tones(with graphite) to make a specific subject/image stand out more than others. However in this piece of work, there isn't something that is really strongly  overpowering other images, it seems quite balanced out. 
Possibly just this part of the drawing (image bellow) that is darker than the rest of the work, when I look at this piece of work It does grab my attention more than the rest. Although not for long as I get distracted by other parts of the composition.
Colour wise the artist uses a lot of blue, red and orange shade/colours as well as some black for tone. I like that these colours are never too bright or intense, so they don't create a dramatic contrast or give the image a synthetic look.

I think Stack created these pieces of work to show a different way of being expressive. Also to show that art work doesn't have to have an expectation of being ideal, perfect and neat. It can be very beautiful in a completely different way, people just need to realize and know how to look at it, to understand the feelings of the artist.

I could interpret this work to my theme (environment) by just doing sketches of different things I see/observe outdoors, possibly indoors with natural organic materials too. 
I have already done some work in the style of Stack in my sketch book. Here is an example of one of my drawings that I have done. 

Artist research - Emily Leonard

Emily Leonard is a full time American landscape artist, from Tennessee. Most of her subject matter concentrates on observational paintings of trees,forests and empty roads. Her work style is somewhere between representational and abstract art. Although Leonard uses a variety of mixed media, her main media is oil paint. Here are some of her paintings bellow.

(Under tender limbs buds will start to gather,mixed media on gessoed paper, 2009) (What You Whispered Keeps Me Satisfied, oil 2005) (Tyne Boulevard / I know I should go,oil, 2006)

The reason I like Leonard's work is because she looks at everyday things like a trees, that most people don't really take notice of or they find trees to common and boring, and she creates something very beautiful and expressive through the use of the right colours, shades and brushstrokes. She does't even always try to create photographic or realistic paintings of landscape or nature, she just goes with how, what she is observing is making her feel, and reveals her feelings and thoughts through expressive, momentary and prompt sweep of the paintbrush. It is quite easy to tell this when observing her work, as she often leaves clear brush stroke lines on the paintings. 

In a interview Leonard has said "My process and practice mimic these movements: I break down an image and build it back slowly with hundreds of washy layers, glazes and gestures.... I want them to come upon the viewer as such – slowly and intimately, as if the viewer feels like he found this image instead of me. I want to get at the experience of being in your body in a place. Rather than painting the tree out the kitchen window".

One painting that really makes me imagine what it feels like being at that place is "Follow That Lonesome Roadside, oil, 2006"

When I look at this image I straight away think of a freezing winter evening at sunset, that makes me shiver. At first it's mainly because of the dark blue road that looks like it is covered in thick layers of ice, and the leafless trees all in the open, with only evergreen trees that create a shadowy and and gloomy atmosphere. The use of darker oil paint colours, like O-H blue deep together with burnt umber and green umber, creates a very cold, isolated and lonely feeling. As if indicating that the darkness will overrule the fading subtle sunlight, that adds some kind of warmth to the cool atmosphere. This may be due to the use of the dark shades of brown(burnt umber) creating darker tones that make the sky(napels yellow extra) look very gentle compared to the rest. Also the yellow((napels yellow extra) sky and the dark O-H blue deep road stand out well because yellow and blue primary colours compliment each other. The overall use of colour creates a harmonious effect to the whole image.

In her work Leonard uses natural and slightly blurred lines, to create blurred edges and smoothing boundaries, these with the help of graduated tone, add depth to the painting. Making it appear gloomy and faint, as well as more 3D.
Another way of how Leonard builds up depth  and modifies colours in her painting is trough glazing. Which is done by applying thin translucent layers of oil paint over and over each other. 

I think Leonard creates this kind of art work, because she sees beauty and is fascination in nature. She wants to express and share how she feels about something she finds amazing and calm, through painting it out so people could experience and understand what she has felt , maybe even remind them of something, or somewhere they have been or seen before. She doesn't just want the viewers to see her work as a "painting of nature" and nothing else, she wants them to use their senses and travel to that moment to imagine what it's like there etc. Because personally I find her work to be tranquil and peaceful.
I believe her work is very easy to relate to my theme as I am focusing on the environment and nature. And Leonard's landscape paintings have given me ideas and inspiration. I have already done work in her style, here are some pictures of my drawings etc. 

Sources
http://www.emilyleonard.com/

Artist Research - Blu

For my artist research I wanted to find an artist who not only creates interesting bold work, but also has a true meaning behind it. I also wanted to find an artist who's work relates to my "environmental" theme. So after some research I found an Italian artist called Blu(Blu is the artist pseudonym, as his true name is unknown). Blu creates street art urban paintings, on various buildings etc. He first started off in 1999, when he began creating street art in his home town called Bologna (Italy).

In the beginning, Blu had a limited amount of media and techniques, he started off by using spray paint. However he gradually progressed and began painting using house paint with the help of a roller that the artist mounted to a telescopic stick. This allowed him to be more creative with his work as well as gave him a larger surface area to paint and work with.

Here are some of Blu's work bellow;

As probably seen above, Blu's artwork has a theme about society, corruption and the damage that humans have done to the environment.

I think this is what impresses me the most about his work. Because at first his work may seem ridiculous and weird, but actually it is so meaningful and powerful, Blu is pointing out the flaws of the modern society through his work. This really relates to my environmental theme, and how environment is neglected. As his work illustrates how the world is possibly changing for the worse, as people become less and less caring about everything that surrounds them, just so that they could benefit themselves. Like in a image that I studied in class of one of his work,called "A Stuffed Cake" it is a street art painting of a cake full of toxic waste barrels, on the walls of a building in Milan, Italy.
 I looked into the reason and meaning behind this image, and I found out that it is related to expanding dumps in Southern Italy, and how there are more and more of them being dug up, and there is rubbish being brought to the dumps from various distant places of Northern Europe. Even though people are against it, they are still being ignored. Personally I think Blu has expressed this "issue" quite well, through this painting.  He uses the idea of the cake to represent landfill sites/dumps, as the layers of the cake, are representing the building up of tons of rubbish, gradually layering and layering in a similar manner.  The greenery on the top of the cake represents the beautiful olive trees that grow in the fields of Italy. I think Blu, is trying to put a point across, that if the dumps will continue to be dug up and filled, not only will it pollute the environment, but the beautiful plants etc. that Italy is famous for, will be lost. Also maybe he represents this problem as a cake, because Blu is trying to highlight how the dumping of the pollutants etc. is simply covered up, like a cake, so no one really sees the issue, until they look inside.

What really stands out in this work, is the use of the colours, especial the contrast between the both secondary and primary colours of blue,orange, red, green etc. and the duller grey/black layers. Making it really bold and adding visual depth to the whole image.
Also this image contains a strong use of lines, for instance the grass, and some of the layers of the "cake" soil. This  helps to create texture and tone, making the work look less plain and empty, also I noticed the shapes are mostly oval, and round, this is why the image appears to look 3D form, so it  looks more like a real cake.
Even though the whole image is laid out slightly to the left side of the wall, it doesn't look odd or out of place, probably because of the arm that is stretched out holding the plate with the cake. It makes it look more proportional, and fills up some of the empty space. Also I think the whole image is arranged well as firstly when I look at it, I immediately focus on the greenery, that gives me the impression like everything is perfectly nice and fine. However then  I am encouraged to gradually start  looking down, this is when the "slightly" harmful litter begins and grabs my attention, and so the more I look down the more of the severe toxic waste I start to see, so right in the bottom it is the worst. This may have been composed in such way, because (as I mentioned before) the artist is trying to explain how  everything is covered up, meaning it looks perfect at first glance, on the outside, but when you start looking into it deeper, you see the ugly side of it. 

In class, I have began doing work, similar to Blu's, I used this cakes image and tried to, recreate it using his style, whilst experimenting with different mediums and materials.
I tried using different bases and backgrounds, and I tried creating texture and shapes with graphite, pencil, conte-crayon, feltip pen and Biro pen. For some images I had more time given than others, like the bottom left page, with several images, was done in 3-5 min and had to be continuous line, I personally found that difficult. Also the fact that Blu's work is very fine lined and bold, made it harder for me to make it look anything like his work. Mainly because every time I tried to get a thin fine line, I would just end up making the lines thick. I could next time try and use a fine liner, to see if it works better. My favorite drawing was the very bottom right one, using conte-crayon. Basically, when I was shading the page (to get some tone) traces of writing (that I had done on other pages whilst pressing down hardly) appeared, creating an accidental texture, which looks similar, to the original "Stuffed Cake" texture.

Kurt Wenner

I have decided to look up some other artist that can relate to my theme about environment, and I found an artist called Kurt Wenner, who does 3D pavement street art. The reason why I found this artist interesting, is the fact that he “blends in” his artwork with the environment around it, making his work look very realistic. Almost making it seem like what he has drawn is suppose to be there.

I feel like his work is related with environment so much, as his 3D “optical illusions” are something people don't expect to see in their every day life. Kurt Wenner is almost trying to brighten up the dull and lifeless surrounding, by creating something that people will be surprised and fascinated by, maybe even taken out of their comforting and safe day to day environment. However his work does give a very strong visual impression, especially knowing all of his work is done with chalk.

I may not be able to use the style of the artist and to street art on pavement, but I could try doing realistic 3D drawings of various objects relating to my theme.

Source http://kurtwenner.com/pavement_gallery_4.html

Joseph Mallord and Michel Keck work analysis

This is a painting created by an artist called Joseph Mallord, called “Norham Castle – Sunrise”. Created using oil on canvas in 1835-1840. The artist full name is Joseph Mallord William Turner, he was born in 1775, in London, England, however his exact date of birth is unsure. By the age of 15 Turner had one of his paintings exhibited at the Royal Art Academy. When he was 18 years old, he already had an art studio. By the age of 27 he had become an associate of the Royal Academy. The artist died in on the 9^th of December 1851 from a serious illness.

Thought his career, Turner used mediums such as watercolour, oil paint and prints. His oil paint technique was influenced by his watercolour paintings. His original style was created when he started using oil paint in a translucent manner, this technique created a similar effect to watercolour.

One of his works that I am studying (Norham Castle – Sunrise) is a landscape painting. The inspiration for this painting came to Turner, when he visited the Norham Castle, in 1797. However it was only almost 40 years later that this painting was created, along side other attempts of paintings and sketches to portrait the scenery he had seen there. This painting is said to have been “unfinished” but by Turner's perspective the one that represented that moment he had seen just as wanted. It is said that he was inspired by purple rocks, blue river pools, glittering trees and the endless hills.

Here are some of his other attempted paintings he had created of the sunrise by the castle(Norham Castle on the Tweed Sunrise and Norham Castle on the Tweed)

Looking at his other paintings it is very clear that in the very last painting Norham Castle – Sunrise, it's almost hard to tell what is being shown, as the whole image is quite blurred and unclear, nor is the castle visible at all, just the hill that it is suppose to be on and the river etc.

I think the reason his painting is so unclear, is because he isn't trying to focus on the castle or objects around it. Turner wanted for people to look at the painting and focus on the actual sunrise(sun rays at dawn) and that moment alone, gently outlining the nature around it, like the river and the hills. Maybe because the castle would be a distraction.

This other image that I am analyzing is created by an artist called Michel Keck called “Searching For A New Distraction” created in 2012, using mixed media on paper.

Michel Keck is a self- taught abstract painter. She started creating her art full time in 2003. She has said that two of her artist influences are Thomas Kinkade and Matt Lamb. Keck has also said that when she is creating something, she is unsure of what she is trying to achieve.

Most of Keck's work is abstract, her work is unique, as she uses a mixture of mediums. This can be clearly seen in the Searching For A New Distraction collage. Where she uses a big variety of tones, colours and media. I think this make the image look quite uplifting and energetic as well as very expressive. I can only guess what she is trying to portrait in this image, but in my opinion when I look at this painting,I get the idea of celebration, or a party, maybe because of the dancer women and the amount of vibrant colours being used. Personally I don't like the use of colours of this work, there is too much, so it gets hard to concentrate on one subject.

Comparison

When looking at the two artist images, there are some very clear differences, for example;

The actual style and composition of the images is different. Turner's painting concentrates on the sunset and the nature around it, in a way the atmosphere dominates the entire painting, even though it consists of lots of tones there isn't much detail on it. Whereas in Keck's work it is harder to have one focal point , the first time I look at it, I concentrate on the photographs, but then suddenly I get distracted by the darker colours more down in the bottom. However her work has very fine detail. Like in the close up picture bellow, where it's clear to see lots of individual writing etc. Text and photographs is something that Turner's work does not include.

Another difference is Turner's image has very warm and cool colours, that compliment each other. Like the light purple/blue sky and the light yellow sun with the golden yellow river banks, balance each other out. The sun almost warms up the cool sky, giving a warm and soft effect. I think the choice of the almost tinted colours and the very light delicate tones gives a very calm and peaceful effect, as well as making it look a bit more 3D.

Differently Keck's work is more 2D, it uses mixture of different vibrant colours, from bright pink, to very dark blue, to orange, green,brown, dark purple and many more. As well as darker tones. This shows strong expressionism to me, like she is trying to express her feelings with layering these tones and colours, in a way the darker tones represent anger and the lighter tones happiness. Yet it is very hard to identify a gradual change in colours, as it can go from a dark colour to a light one straight away, maybe because they are not blended in together as much as in Turner's piece. This is because Turner uses light and loose brush strokes, to both create a light effect and graduation in the change of colour.

Also in Turner's work there isn't really any strong shape or line, it is all very smooth, and blended together. Keck's work on the other hand has clearly got a big range of lines, both from the coloured lines and the pen/pencil marks etc.

Keck's work leaves some open space, differently Turner's painting is fully filed, with no empty space left. This is why Keck's work to me appears to be more unfinished, like something is missing.

Although the images differ, maybe because of the different use of media or just the fact the they were made in different time periods. In my perspective they both share the similarity, of the artists expressing their feelings, by showing them in their work. Also I have notices even thought Keck's work has more colours in it. In some parts of the image the colours and tones are slightly similar to Turner's work. Like the lighter sand like tones and the softer purple/blue tones.

In class I have already tried creating paintings of my own, in the style of these artist, images bellow(I will upload more pictures later on) Also because Turner's work is meant to be translucent, it relates to some of the work I have also done in class like when I used oil paint and turps substitute to lighten the oil paint and achieve lighter tones that are more translucent. Also relating to Keck's technique of layering different materials and colours, I have done a similar thing of layering paint,chalk,ink,paper etc. in my old book (will also upload an image later on). 

It is hard to relate this to my theme (environmental neglect) I have thought though of the concept of layering like in Keck's work. Maybe it could be related to layers of litter,leafs or other stuff that build up in the streets and create this sort of "image" for the environment.

These are two images I done in the style of Joseph Mallord William Turner in class. I firstly applied some emulsion onto the base of the paper. I definitely needed it since the book I'm using has glossy paper, and without it the paint would not stay as well. After the emulsion had dried I used acrylic paint.  I only had primary colours, blue,red and yellow and some white paint. So I had to mix colours to get other colours, tones etc. When painting this, I discovered that applying paint with a paint brush isn't good, because the brush leaves clear brush strokes and the colours don't blend together. So instead I decided to use a sponge for my painting. As it easily blended colours together, so instead of a quick colour change, the colours changed gradually. Also leaving a almost smooth texture.


Sources http://www.pinterest.com/pin/544724517400576376/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/544724517400576220/

In the street

Photos I took, while out in a random street. This may really link to what i want to do for my theme. Because I had an idea of the theme of ignorance and neglect. Simply the idea how people live in a environment where things around them change gradually, become broken-down ugly. Yet they don't seem to notice or care, instead they choose to ignore it and live with it. Those little things add up, and the surrounding they are in becomes unpleasant and unknown. I genuinely though of linking it to the whole idea of the meaning behind the collage of Robert Rauschenberg's overdrive. Where in the analysis of that collage I mentioned how people don't pay attention to the surrounding around them, as they are in this trance of ignorance.  So this is pretty similar, we go around places wearing down, and ruining what isn't ours. We simply don't care about the effects we cause, nor the fact that the traces we leave behind are not always great.
Images taken with Nikon D3100

pink autumn

Close up Images of leafs taken in my back garden. I personally really like these images, because of the contrast in colours. I like how the leafs have these very vibrant pink,red and yellow colours, not only making the leaf look unique but also making it stand out from that cold, dark and dull background, giving a strong effect. I can relate these to my project, as the leafs represent the end o something, a cycle. They are gradually becoming old and fragile, from what was once something very strong and green, but during that transformation they have their own beauty to it, like the brown warm colours they turn into.
To take these photos I used a Nikon D3100 and I also used a close up camera filter, to get closer shots. I think I may also do the same, but with different colour leafs.