Using Paint and Colour

During the last few lessons we have started to learn about colour. The primary colours - red, yellow and blue - are the colours that cannot be made by any other colour. Secondary colours are made by mixing two primary colours together - orange, green and purple are all secondary colours. 

Using water thins out the paint - the more water that is used the more translucent the paint is. Water does not change the tone of paint, however mixing it with black or white does. 

There are many different types of marks you can make when using paint, using different materials with it. For example, here we dipped cardboard into paint, spreading it across the paper. This creates an almost abstract mark, leaving trails of patterns behind it.

Using black, white and grey paint, I used cardboard to create an abstract piece using these marks. I like the lines that the cardboard creates, as well as the texture that it gives to the paint.

Here we used sponge to create different marks. This was different to the cardboard because the sponge soaks up the moisture, making the paint spread further, whereas with the cardboard, it didn't spread very far unless a lot of paint was put on it. I used a dabbing technique to create a different effect. This technique creates a different texture and could be used for producing picture such as clouds, mist, trees etc. 

Using a paintbrush creates a different outlook. For example, the lines created are thinner, and are less textures. Using a paintbrush works well for painting more detailed parts of paintings, as well as creating more lines and shape of the piece.

Henry Moore and Andy Goldsworthy Sketchbook Studies

Looking at Henry Moore's drawings and paintings, he uses many different types of marks to create shape, tone and depth in his drawings. I noted down a few of the marks and patterns he uses that I found interesting using fine-liner and biro as I feel that these are what can change the whole outlook of a drawing. For example using straight lines as opposed to more of a scribbling technique can give the drawing a more smooth texture, rather than a rough and messy one.

Here I was looking at parts of Moore's 'Pink and Green Sleepers'. Using coloured pencils, I was looking at the way the lines curve to create shape and depth within the drawing. I also added bit of newspaper to them to create a slight collage, carrying on from the collage on the page before. On the blanket and the arm Moore has used lines that arch there way round to create the shape and the curves in the drawing.

Using a fine-liner pen, I drew a hand similar to Moore's 'The Artist's Hands V', practising the mark making techniques that Moore uses. I think that these techniques worked well as they create tone and texture in the drawing, allowing the viewer to see the shape of the hand being created.

Around the sellotape, I decided to paint around it using earthly colours such as brown to link in with Goldsworthy's use of nature. I then stuck down paper cut into the shape of leaves to also give it the natural element. 

I find that this piece does not work well because the use of materials do not reflect the ones that Goldsworthy would use in his pieces, such as real leaves, pebbles or sticks. To improve this, I will cover what I have done around it in white paint, and then use leaves or twigs to write out his name in order to reflect the materials that Goldsworthy uses.

Looking at Andy Goldsworthy's work, I noticed that lot of them included different shapes going down or up the gradient, then surrounding a hole. I decided to create a piece similar to this style, however using less natural resources and shapes. Using cardboard, I cut out squares and glued them into the places I wanted. I then painted them using dark red, orange and yellow showing a small gradient through the squares. I painted the middle black to show a strong contrast from the bright yellow, which represents the 'hole'. As before, this piece does not portray the mediums that Goldsworthy would use, so is not a good representation of his work. 

Here I was looking at Andy Goldsworthy's 'Pebbles Broken and Scraped'. I drew this using a pencil, smudging tool and a rubber. As above, this piece is also not a good representation of his work as pencil is not a medium Goldsworthy would use. To improve the page that this is on, I will use a transfer technique of my own piece (below) and one of Goldsworthy's pieces on top to show the differences in colour.

Here I collected some leaves and arranged them in a circle in my sketchbook, the lighter colours on the outside and the darker ones on the inside. 

After attempting to stick them down with glue, I decided to use sellotape as the glue did not work. I feel that this has affected the texture of the piece because the leaves are under the layer of sellotape. This takes away the 3D feel of it, as well as the proper shape the leaves have. However, here the use of leaves portrays one of the mediums that Goldsworthy would use, so is therefore a better representation of his work.

This is the complete page - I photocopied the arrangement of the leaves I collected and created a transferred image onto sellotape, finally sticking a sellotape transfer of Goldsworthy's 'Rowan Leaves Around a Hole' on top of it to create a layer of colour. I did a similar thing with the leaves underneath, however stuck Goldsworthy's image on top to show a different kind of contrast.

Improvements:

To improve the Andy Goldsworthy page, I painted over the brown paint and the paper leaves with white acrylic paint so that it couldn't be seen anymore. I then used twigs that I had collected to spell out Andy Goldsworthy's name. I feel that this works better as it uses mainly natural materials and suits his style more. 

Rather than ripping the page out of the sketchbook, I ripped out the pieces of cardboard, which left interesting shapes on the page which I thought would be a good background for some more studies of Henry Moore's work. At the top of the page I drew from a picture I had taken of my own hand with a biro pen. I used some of the same techniques as Moore did, such as cross-hatching and scribbling.

Underneath this, I used the collage technique again with newspaper, to contrast the newspaper collage surrounding the pencil drawn hand I did earlier. Again, I used an image of my own hand to make it original.

To further study Andy Goldsworthy's work, I decided to create another shape in my sketchbook using leaves. I used dark purple, green, orange and yellow leaves and blended them so that there was a graduating colour change. I think this piece works well because it links well with the style of Goldsworthy's work as I have used natural materials and bold and vibrant colours.



I feel that I am not working well with Andy Goldsworthy's work as it is difficult for me to create art in the style of his work. Most of the pieces should be created outside as they are natural materials so don;t last forever.  It is difficult to produce work like his in a sketch book, so I think I will change my artist to one that is more similar to the works of Henry Moore. 

Transfer Activities

'Pebbles Around a Hole' (1987)

Andy Goldsworthy

http://thecooponline.com/2012/12/18/andy-goldsworthy-winter-meditations/

Using this piece by Andy Goldsworthy, I decided to use a transfer technique that we were shown in class to further represent the idea of 'layers'. After printing out the picture in black and white, I stuck sellotape over the image so that it was completely covered:

After doing this I  soaked the image in water, then began to strip away the layer of paper with a sponge:

As you can see in the images above, the ink has been transferred to the sellotape, and where the areas were white in the original image, it has become transparent. 

After cutting put a hole in my sketchbook, I stuck the transferred piece in the middle so that you can see through it, almost like a window. Around this I painted the background with acrylic paint and then used paper from another transfer technique that give the look of falling leaves. 

 Here is another transfer technique that we were shown in class. Using paper that had been painted with fabric paint, I cut it out into the shape of leaves as they are a material frequently used by Goldsworthy. Placing them face down onto canvas material, I ironed over it until the colour had transferred from the paper to the material. I then stuck this underneath the sellotape transfer (as shown above) so that the colour showed up through the black and white.

Using Henry Moore's 'The Artist's Hands IV' (1979), I did another transfer onto sellotape and stuck it into my sketchbook after smudging some charcoal underneath. I think that this works well because it brings a further depth to the image rather than having a plain white background.

Using the same image, I did a collage of different coloured and textured paper underneath which brings some colour to the image as well as adding some tone to the actual drawing.

Overall, I think that both of these transfer techniques work well because they both give the original drawings a different perspective and outlook, giving different layers of tone and shape, allowing space for experimentation.