Part 1

Project 1

Brushes

Often I feel that my drawing is much better than my painting. I have never really bothered to work out why. Until now that is! It has not taken much reading around blogs and information sites to see that my processes are rather removed from the norm. I tend rush and to be rather haphazard in the selection, use and care of brushes . No wonder therefore my results frustrate me.

In fact my first attempt at this mark making exercise left me very disappointed. What was wrong? Are all my brushes past it? Is the paint past it’s best? Why does everything look messy and quite similar?

Time to do some reading!

Learning points:

• Flat, Filbert and round brushes all behave differently and should be loaded with paint and deployed in specific ways to achieve the best technical performance. E.g. To produce petals: round brushes need to be rolled round quarter wise in paint and pushed onto the support before being pulled towards the user.

• longer brushes held at the end are especially good in oil media to allow artists to stand further back. In the same way as pencil grip alters the flow of a drawing- different marks are achieved by altering the position of hold.
• Two colours can be loaded, one on each side of a flat brush to produce an effective blend.
• Maintenance of brushes- including the use of brush soap keep the shape and produce better results. I disposed of at least half of my brush collection and stored according to type. This will focus my mind on correct selection and use until it becomes second nature.

This time I enjoyed the experience, took my time and learned for the first time the basics of brushmanship.

Jackson’s .(2017) How to care for your brushes.[online] https://www.jacksonsart.com/a-guide-to-brushes [Accessed 08/01/20]

Exercise 1: getting to know brushes

I have become very used to sitting down looking up close at sketching work. Helpfully the prompt to use long brushes not only focused me on mark making but also reminded me to observe my work from further back while creating.

The seascape was rather frustrating as my old and misshapen brushes hampered progress. The red lighthouse scene and apple were painted with new brushes and I felt happier and more relaxed using them. I found better results when I loaded the paint brush- there was less dragging , although I did use this deliberately to give some texture to the sea in the monochrome. It sounds obvious but I had forgotten to use round brushes for curved work and I spent time observing how round and filbert handled.

At the beginning of a painting my natural default, I know, is straight lines using the long edge of a flat brush. During the exercises I became more aware of this and changed things by switching brush types. Looking at the completed works I notice that this theme continues and although I love curves and natural leaf shapes I rarely use them. Is this a lack of confidence? Do I avoid them because traditionally I tend to grab a flat brush making it more difficult to achieve these shapes?

I feel more at ease with the sharper, neat lines created by synthetic brushes. Hog hair large round brushes proved less easy to control. Maybe I can use this knowledge to my advantage in later work? I will also be more aware in the difference in movement and behaviour in a brush as the paint dries out there is less bounce and more linearity to marks.

Exercise: working without brushes

I had forgotten the freedom and luscious feeling of working in oil…

I am confident that my new adventure has begun. While experimentation in acrylic has been fine, it is a also safe and my purpose in this unit is to move forward. As I began to experiment in oil a wave of delight hit me. I felt the drive to explore marks and media enhancers with rag, sponge, sticks and various knives. Each is detailed on post-it notes in my sketchbook.

Discoveries:

• Blending allows semi- transparent layering; softening and surface change from shiny to matt
• Adding liquid and impasto medium enhancers allows later soft blending as well as greater flexibility and flow in mark making and creating texture
• colours are more likely not to darken and textured treatments look more natural
• I enjoyed using cards and palette knives perhaps more than brushes
• Fiver free rags allowed me to blend and soften the work at a variety of stages. Leaving time for the drying process to begin allowed a more gentle and natural blending. The drying rate of different coloured oils and the use of medium like liquid in must be considered in this process.

Different media may produce different expressions of me

My overriding conclusions were that this was fun and my strokes on the paper changed from lines to swirls and curves. Is this perhaps due to the greater sense of movement within the paint? It could be coincidence but the oil work provoked a different response in my audience. For the first time in ages my trusty critic and hubby ‘saw’ his own story in the oil piece. This was interesting as it was just marks to me but perhaps the freedom of the medium lent itself to my subconscious working independently to express something?

Reflection:

Project- Transparent and Opaque

I tried this first in acrylic ( see sketchbook) and later once I had gained mor confidence to return to oil it became a part of my assessment practice pieces as different coloured layers over my sky wash.

Transparent washes in acrylic alter the texture of the finished work. My feeling is that for white glazing I will have to be careful not to use too thick an overlay or it will detract from the vibrancy of the colour

Eg the bottom of this graduated red is glazed and also much duller.

Monochrome studies

I have always liked the drama of monochrome but not thought too much a lost what it’s use does to the image. in this quick example of looking up into a treetop I think that each produces a different effect. Black on white to me makes the treetop fade more into the distance elongating it while the white on black is more traumatic and perhaps gives a sinister look. This gives me more to play with when creating atmosphere in work. Eg Should the image be a night scene to give more of a haunted or misty look?

Project- working on different grounded colours

Although not an actual exercise I was intrigued to try the impressionist pixilated technique. I like the way that tones feed into the background to improve a sense of depth by tone. I am not sure that my attempt works particularly well as I need to improve differentiation and clarity of the image when viewed from further back. I feel that the darker work shows a more 3D effect perhaps because I have added toned longer strokes .

Exercise- tonal study on white ground

I really enjoyed this exercise. It took me back to basics and allowed me to concentrate more fully on putting depth into my vase using tonal shading and brush strokes.

The end result included a range of tones instead of just a light and dark but I feel the change was necessary to allow me to achieve the depth that I wanted. once again my slow and deliberate oil paint strokes were not blended and this takes away from the overall effect. I feel now after more practise that I could achieve this without the stripy effect!

Tonal study on dark ground

This is a rough work used as a practice for my assignment idea. The grading in tones is simple and only to show the further away stones receding into the darkness. I have also used stumbled marks and added acrylic medium to make a textured effect on the closest stone. I think that the dark background works effectively to show depth of tone and distance as well as being a technique which lends itself to the mysterious haunted look which I liked in the white on black tree monochrome exercise .

Chiaroscuro- my main findings on this technique are posted under research. However I kept this in mind when trying to compose my assignment piece. I like the way that darkness emphasises the lighted features and really for me it is an extension of what has already been talked about in the monochrome and work on dark ground exercises .

I was particularly struck by the image of Paul and Peter in dispute painted by Rembrant. ( see chiaroscuro article in research). Extending this idea to a group of similar light tones surrounded by darkness appealed to me. I have tried to work on this in my later practise pieces.

I feel that I cannot go completely dark as this would take away the stones which are important to the message I want my picture to give. However I have tried to heighten the dark tones in the near ground and sky. As the article says this technique means that less detail can be shown on objects in the darkness it accentuates the light areas.