Poster Proposal

 

 

Exhibition Pieces

These are the two conclusions that I will be using for the exhibition. These two piece differ in terms of the composition, the techniques and even the materials but share an onsite experience.

I have chosen to develop a response to the landscape by using natural seascapes and coastal landscapes as my inspiration, based on images and sketches that I recorded on a trip to the beach and pine woods. I made the decision to work on a larger scale then I ever have before (in acrylics), which is why I chose to use A2 paper for these pieces. I started by giving each piece a simple composition, in watered down acrylics, responding to the photographs that I took at Ainsdale Beach. When I returned to the beach, the weather was extremely windy and dark, I found that the clouds were very heavy and full of rain. I used lots of dark greys and slate blues, to convey this in the painting. I used many layers for this painting because the colours of the sand were very difficult to capture in the acrylic paint that I used. I wanted to use many layers for this piece because I wanted to clearly show that there was a background, mid-ground and foreground. This meant that I had to work in a particular order, starting with the sky, then moving onto the grass/dunes, the sand and beach itself and then when all of the painting is dry I painted the fences to model thier shape and structure.

In the right hand seascape, I did not use any brushes in this piece but only palette knifes. This left the strokes rough and textured, which is the complete opposite of the smooth surface of the sand dunes painting on the left. To make the paint act more like the oils that are traditional use for this painting techinque, Polymeric Thickener was added to make the acrylic paint more buttery and easier to apply with a pallette knife. I began with blocking out the basic composition (strata, high horizon) in watered down acrylics. I then mixed a light slate blue colour for the sky, and let this dry. Later on I mixed a darker and a lighter shade to add in some rough tones, that I hoped showed the type of weather that was going on in the beach, which was windy and very cold. I ued untreated acrylic paints in various shades of brown, greens and blues, layering with brush and palette knife to create a rough surface on the seascape. I later put white acrylic paint on the page and scraped it off to reveal small amount of lightly tinted paint on the sea. While painting the sand area I used the polymeric thicken to give a texture that made this section much in contrast to the sand on the sand dune painting.

When both these pieces were completed and dry, I varnished both of these pieces to seal in the paint and give them a glossy texture that helps pick up on the brush marks and tones.

Exhibition Development

I have chosen to develop a response to the landscape by using natural seascapes and coastal landscapes as my inspiration, based on images and sketches that I recorded on a trip to the beach and pine woods. I made the decision to work on a larger scale then I ever have before (in acrylics), which is why I chose to use A2 paper for these pieces. I started by giving each piece a simple composition, in watered down acrylics, responding to the photographs that I took at Ainsdale Beach. When I returned to the beach, the weather was extremely windy and dark, I found that the clouds were very heavy and full of rain. I used lots of dark greys and slate blues, to convey this in the painting. I used many layers for this painting because the colours of the sand were very difficult to capture in the acrylic paint that I used. I wanted to use many layers for this piece because I wanted to clearly show that there was a background, mid-ground and foreground. This meant that I had to work in a particular order, starting with the sky, then moving onto the grass/dunes, the sand and beach itself and then when all of the painting is dry I painted the fences to make them stand out from the paper.

Reponse to Beach Photographs

In response to the photograph that I took of the beach a few days ago, I began to

Trip to the Beach

After looking over the photographs that I took when I first visited the beach and woods, I found that I needed more images of sand dunes and waves in portrait rather then landscape. I then proceeded to wrap up warm and go down to the beach in high wind and rain. Although it was cold and wet I got the photos I required.

These are a select few of the photos that I thought turned out the best. 

Response to Monet's Work

After studying Claude Monet's work I decided that I would understand his methods better if I tried them out for myself.

 

The top picture is a image of the Sand Dunes that I took myself and looked at the painting 'Terrace At The Seaside' This was painted in 1866 and was once of Monet's earlier pieces, and was painted just one year before Impressionist painting become popular.

 

I tried to keep the painting realistic but add some amounts of impressionism, this is what Monet will have done when painting. I started with a simple wash of thin acrylic paint in dulled down tones. I then after letting it dry overnight, started to add definition into the sky and add the clouds into the painting. I did this step first because it meant that when I painted in the dunes, which are the midground, the sky would clearly be behind the grass on the dunes. I found that the foreground of the painting was my favourite part to do, because even though the way it was painted was simply done, it still looked like a fence made from pieces of wood.

'Terrace At The Seaside' by Claude Monet

Monet painted this landscape in 1866 and he tries to show the viewer

"the border line between a free realism and Impressionism” as said by
William C. Seitz. He used for this painting like nearly all of his other
painting, Oil on a canvas. When painting the sea the brush strokes are
free and gives a calming feeling to the sea. The sea is also flatly painted
as opposed the complicated cloud filled skies of his other works.
Monet was influenced by his surroundings in many of his paintings
and was also influenced by his uncle, M. Lecardre, who was a successful
ship chandler. I find this painting to be very contrasting, with the flatly
painted skies and green-blue seas, but then in the foreground has
brightly coloured flowers gardens and blossoms.