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.

Research task - Henry Moore and Andy Goldsworthy

Henry Moore

 'Pink and Green Sleepers' (1941)

Henry Moore

Graphite, ink, gouache and wax on paper

www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/moore-pink-and-green-sleepers-n05713

'Mother and Child' (1949)

Henry Moore

Bronze

http://catalogue.henry-moore.org:8080/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/search@/8/invno-asc?t:state:flow=44bc25d4-27b5-456a-8c25-076cd7e4d212

 'The Artist's Hands II' (c. 1979)

Henry Moore

Etching on paper

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/moore-the-artists-hand-ii-p02908

'The Artist's Hands II' analysis

Henry Moore was born in July 1898 in Castleford, Yorkshire, and died in August 1986 at the age of 88. He was alive during both the first and second World Wars, and many of his works are based on his past experiences of the wars. He is most famous for his sculptures, drawings, graphics and textiles. His father, Raymond Spencer Moore did not want his sons to work in the mines, but rather to have a formal education. In primary school Henry began modelling in clay and carving in wood, and decided there that he wanted to become a sculptor. He developed a good understanding of art from his art teacher in Castleford Grammar school, however, later his parents decided that they did not want him to be a sculptor, so at 18 years old he volunteered for the army service. In 1917 he was injured in a gas attack during the Battle of Cambrai, so he spent the rest of the war as a personal training instructor. After the war, he received an ex-serviceman's grant to continue his education at the Leeds School of Art. As he returned to London, he accepted a seven-year teaching job at the Royal College of Art. There he met Irina Radetsky, a painting student at the college, and they married in 1929. After six years of teaching at the Royal College, Moore assumed the role of the Head of the Department of Sculpture in the Chelsea School of Art. Due to the outbreak of World War Two, the school was evacuated to Northampton and Moore resigned from teaching. During the war, he produced powerful drawings of Londoners sleeping in the London Underground whilst sheltering from the Blitz. These drawings helped to boost Moore's International reputation, particularly in America. After the war, Irina had a child named Mary in 1946. Due to the loss of his mother and several miscarriages, Moore produced many artworks of a mother and child.

Moore's inspirations came from natural forms from the earth. He believed that works had to have an energy, or life of its own. It had to be independent, unique and interesting. Things like the nature influenced him to create beautiful sculptures like he did. 

In 'The Artist's Hands II', Henry Moore has used pen to create a beautiful drawing of one hand in another. Moore has used lines in many different directions to create the shape and tone of the hands. For the background he has used a scribbling technique that is dark by the hands and gets lighter further out. The centre point is just below one of the knuckles of one of the hands that is holding the other.

The formal elements, such as form, line, tone, colour and texture, in this piece have been used in many different ways to create a unique and interesting drawing. Due to its small size (190x254mm), its form is different to how it would be if it was larger. This has caused the hands to be drawn larger so that the focus is more on them. He has used cross-hatching and a scribbling technique to put more emphasis on the dark and light areas, making it more bold. Moore has used linear mark making,drawing lines in different directions to create the shape of the hands as well as the tones. There are no lines defining the outline of the hands, making it look more realistic.

On the back of the hand, Moore has drawn the lines more dense and closer together, to give the illusion that it is darker; however, on the other hand there are less lines and is less cross-hatching, giving the impression that it is lighter, showing a contrast between light and dark. For the background, Moore has used a mixture of the two, subtly graduating the layering of many different densities to represent the shadow that the hands have created. The use of black and white in this piece gives the drawing its contrast. The contradiction between light and dark i the drawing is shown more early through the use of black ad white. Moore's use of pen onto paper creates thin lines, some dense, some spread out, creating a rough, messy texture, as opposed to the smooth texture a medium such as charcoal would create.

The centre of the drawing is just underneath the first knuckle of the hand, which is white, immediately conveying the strong contrast between light and dark. Both arms come from each of the bottom corners of the page, joining in the middle, leading the viewer's eye to the main subject of the piece, which represents a strong bond and unity.

Moore's subject is the aged body. He did many drawings similar to this in 1979 of his own hands when he was eighty-one years old and was not very well. He quoted; "Hands convey so much, they can beg or refuse, take or give, be open or clenched, show content or anxiety. They can be young or old, beautiful or deformed".  The drawing is portraying the beauty of hands, not just physically, but in many ways they can be used.

This piece of work could relate back to the theme of 'layers' because of the layers of tone that is created through the build up of lines and texture. I also like the style that has been used because it shows free movement and creates lots of texture in the drawing. For future pieces of work, I would like to create a piece using a similar style and subject to this, linking it back to 'layers' by creating shape through tones and lines.

Andy Goldsworthy

'Pebbles Broken and Scraped' (1985)

Andy Goldsworthy

http://www.artnet.com/artists/andy-goldsworthy/clearly-broken-pebbles-scratched-white-with-kCvKgpehec5kSrr4-1ogtg2

'Sticks Framing a Lake' (2003)

Andy Goldsworthy

https://aepgege.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/andy-goldsworthy-blog-task/

 'Rowan Leaves Laid Around a Hole' (1987)

Andy Goldsworthy

www.artnet.com/artists/andy-goldsworthy/rowan-leves-laid-around-a-hole-yorkshire-eHcaMqPgsQFLwgG1yrzhSQ2

'Rowan Leaves Laid Around a Hole' analysis

Andy Goldsworthy was born in July 1956 in Cheshire. From the age of 13 he worked on farms as a labourer, allowing him to spend lots of time outdoors, living with the nature. He associated the repetitive quality of farm tasks to the routine of making sculptures. Goldsworthy studied fine art at Bradford College of Art and received his Bachelor of arts degree after studying at Preston Polytechnic. Photography is a very important part of his work because of its impermanent state. He stated, "Each work grows, stays, decays - integral parts of a cycle which the photograph shows at its heights, marking the moment when work is most alive. There is an intensity about a work at its peak that I hope is expressed in the image. Process and decay are implicit." 

In 1982, he married Judith Gregson, and they had four children together. The couple later separated, and Goldsworthy now lives in the village of Penpont with his partner Tina Fiske. 

Goldsworthy has had many exhibitions and installations between the years of 1996 and 2012 all around the world including the UK, Australia, America, Brazil and France.He has won many awards including the Northern Arts Award and was appointed officer of the Order of the British Empire In 2000.

Goldsworthy only used materials from the natural environment, including flowers, icicles, leaves, mud, pinecones, snow, stone, twigs and thorns.

In Goldsworthy's 'Rowan Leaves Laid Around a Hole' you can see layers of rowan leaves placed in a circle shape around a hole in the ground which is in the centre. The colours of the leaves change as they go further out, starting at yellow, going to orange, then red, then a darker red or purple.

The formal elements used in this piece are very different to the ones used in Henry Moore's drawing. Goldsworthy has placed the leaves around the hole perfectly to create a circle in the middle, and the leaves are positioned so that they keep that circular shape throughout. The artist has created a gradual increase of colour intensity, starting with dark red, then increasing to a bright yellow. The tone of the luminous yellow compared to the dark black hole creates a strong contrast, capturing the viewer's eye. The colours are extremely well blended and create a strong visual impact.

The centre of the piece is a black hole in the ground, surrounding this are brightly coloured leaves that create a strong contrast of light and dark. The circle shape of the hole is kept throughout as the leaves get darker and further away. The contrast in the middle captures the viewer's eye.

The colours and contrast in this piece overall remind me of an eclipse. The fact that nothing is manmade in the work represents the beauty of nature and how it has grown. The fact that it is a temporary piece of art could be portraying how nothing beautiful lasts forever, and that it will go when the seasons change.

This work could relate to the theme of 'layers' because of its physical connotations - the layers of leaves, tone and colour, as well as its metaphorical connotations - layers of nature, beauty and time.

 Comparison between Henry Moore's 'The Artist's Hands II' and Andy Goldsworthy's 'Rowan Leaves Laid Around a Hole'
Both artworks have similar textures which have been created in different ways. In Moore's drawing he uses cross-hatching and a scribbling technique, creating a rough texture. A rough texture is also created in Goldsworthy's piece because of the unevenness of the leaves that have been placed there. Both works have strong contrasting colours. As Moore's is in black and white, there is a great difference between light and dark, and there is a lot of blending of the two colours, causing some parts of the drawing to look grey. This is similar to Goldsworthy's piece in which he has used a strong dissimilarity in light and dark, however, he has also used colour to show an even greater contradiction between the bold, vibrant yellow and the dark black. 

One of the differences between the two is the materials that have been used to create each piece. Goldsworthy has used leaves that have been placed on the ground in an ephemeral state - they could be washed or blown away at any time, and if they are not then over time the leaves will decompose - the piece is only temporary. In contrast, Henry Moore's piece was drawn with pen onto paper, which is a permanent action, as it is sending a different meaning compared to the one Goldsworthy's piece is sending.

Own Work in the Style of Antonio Lopez Garcia

I have decided to look at Antonio Lopez Garcia's work. his style consists of lots of shades and tones with pencil as well as the use of construction lines. Above is part of Garcia's 'Mary's Hands'. I used pencil to represent his techniques; most of his pencil drawings have quite a grainy look to them, and it was quite difficult to achieve this, however I feel I did the best I could.

Looking at another hand drawing of Garcia's I used watered down acrylics quite freely

 with my paintbrush to represent the construction lines that Garcia has used within his drawings. This was quite hard to achieve with the acrylics but I am pleased with the outcome.

Here I have chosen my own objects to draw in the style of Garcia. I found that drawing the image above proved to be quite difficult as the charcoal didn't smudge as well on the textured brown paper. I am not too happy with the drawing as it doesn't represent the detail that i wanted to show in the artist's style.

Above I used watered down acrylics as I did with the hand earlier on. I tried using construction lines as done on the hand, however I feel that it didn't work as well, again, because of the brown paper. Also, to link in the the theme of layers, I put together a collage of ripped up brown paper to add more texture and interest to the overall drawing.

Using the same free style as the hands on an earlier post, I drew a more close up part of the object. I feel this went well and I achieved the look I wanted, however I am unsure about the object I have chosen as I feel that these drawings don't quite achieve the style that Garcia uses.

I chose a different object to accomplish this style, and have also resorted back to pencil on paper to further fulfil the style. I feel that this drawing went better than before because it represents Garcia's style much better than the other mediums on brown paper. To improve on this I think that I need to add construction lines to add more to Garcia's style.

I decided to take pictures of my own hand to draw as this is a subject Garcia uses a lot. I used a pencil and a smudging tool to accomplish the grainy look that Garcia uses, which I feel works well. I think I will be drawing more hands in the future using different mediums such as biro, acrylics, and perhaps some paints to add some colour to the studies.

  

  

Antonio Lopez Garcia's '1964 Gloved Hands' - Own Drawing

I decided to draw from Antonio Lopez Garcia's '1964 Gloved Hands', working with a fine-liner pen to add variety to the mediums I have been using.

Above I started drawing the outline of the fingers, and filled in the first part of the
shading using downward strokes. I wanted to achieve the grainy look that Garcia uses in many of his pencil drawings, but I felt that this technique wasn't fulfilling this style.

I decided to use a more free technique by using the pen to shade in different directions, giving it a more messy and free look. I feel that this technique works better as it gives the drawing a more grainy look.

For the lower part of the hand which is darker than the rest, I pressed harder with the pen and shaded with the lines closer together. However, for the lighter parts of the hands such as the finger tips, I didn't shade as much to show the highlights on the glove. 

Finishing off the drawing, I drew in lines to add in the layers of detail such as the creases in the glove. I was happy with the result however felt that the drawing is quite bold and contrasts a lot with the white background, so needed something to help it blend in a little more. 

To be consistent with the same style throughout, I shaded the background lightly to give it a gradual gradient, blending in with the white. I am quite pleased with the outcome as it portrays the grainy look that Garcia uses in many of his drawings, and although it doesn't use construction lines, it uses a messy, free style that is shown in the artist's work.