Research Point : Chevreul's Colour Theories

Find out more about the colour theories of Chevreul and make notes on how particular artists have used Chevreul's theories to expand the possibilities of painting.

Introduction

I really enjoyed this research point although it was a very involved and extensive piece of work.
I have been interested in colour ever since I was a small child when I would obsessively arrange my felt tipped pens and coloured pencils into colour graduations. When I did 'O' level art at school, my mum lent me a book about colour which I pored over and in the process acquired a very rudimentary understanding of complementary colours. This resulted in multiple paintings of green and red peppers. At 'A' level back in the 1980s we painted colour wheels and did exercises about colour harmony but Chevreul's name was never mentioned. It never occurred to me to question where the information about contrasting colours and the colour wheel had come from. I just took it for granted that the rules I was given about complementary colours and their mutual enhancement when juxtaposed as well as the effect of mixing red and green in the shadows for my peppers were common sense and common knowledge . It wasn't until I visited an exhibition at the National Gallery in London last summer entitled 'Making Colour' that I first heard of Chevreul. The exhibition was mainly concerned with the production of pigments however one of Chevreul's colour wheels was exhibited in the first room of the exhibition. In the gallery bookshop after the exhibition I coveted a copy of John Gage's 'Colour and Meaning: Art, Science and Symbolism' Thames and Hudson 1999 (reprinted 2013) but couldn't justify the expense of buying it. This research point gave me the perfect excuse and I have enjoyed reading this text which approaches colour in the context of art history looking at the very complex world of colour research and theories including physics, physiology, psychology, neurology and philosophy. I will confine my discussion here to Chevreul and much of the information here will have come from this text but also from a more succinct summary of Chevreul's work which I found on the Internet 'Chevreul's Colour Theory and its Consequences for Artists' by Georges Roque Click here to link to the paper published by the Colour Group (Great Britain). I will write a subsequent essay highlighting some of the other areas of colour research which I found interesting.

Chevreul's Life and Work

Michel-Eugene Chevreul (1786-1889) was a chemist and a very successful one. His interest in colour arose because he was employed by Gobelin's manufacture in France. In 1824 he was made their director of dyeing (1),(2). His task was to oversee the dyeing of wool and silk for the manufacture of furniture, carpets and tapestries. His interest in the interaction of colours was stimulated by his observation of unforeseen effects of one colour of thread on the apparent colour of another - I will go into this in more detail later

In 1828 he published 'memoir on the influence that 2 colours can have on each other when seen simultaneously'(2) which introduced his theories of simultaneous and successive contrast. In 1839 he published a much more in depth book about this subject ' On the law of simultaneous contrast of colours and its applications to......' (many applications were listed including painting). 
Chevreul continued to publish on this subject throughout is very long career (He worked until the age of 97). Other publications include 'Chromatic Circles' 1855, 'Outline of a way to name and define colours' (1861) and 'On colours and their applications to the Industrial Arts' (1864)(1)

Law of Simultaneous Contrast

'In the case where the eye sees at the same time two contiguous colours, they will appear as dissimilar as possible, both in their optical composition and in the strength of their colour' (1)

The development of this theory was stimulated by a perceived problem with the dyeing of black thread which was to be used in blue and violet fabrics. Weavers complained that the thread was not dyed adequately because it appeared dull. When Chevreul analysed samples of the wool he found that there was no problem with the dyeing. He therefore developed his theory that the wool appeared dull because of the the effect of the colours it was placed with. Hence the problem was not actually to do with chemistry which was his speciality but was about how the colours were being perceived, a potentially even more complex area involving physiology, neurology and psychology. (1)

He proposed that the brain has a tendency to exaggerate the differences between adjacent colours and also between adjacent areas of different tonal values. Hence a dark grey placed next to a light grey will appear darker especially along the border - where the light grey will appear lighter. A green placed next to a red will look greener and the red will look redder. He defined this as follows:

'If we look simultaneously upon two stripes of different tones of the same colour, or upon two stripes of the same tone of different colours placed side by side, if the stripes are not too wide, the eye perceives certain modifications which in the first instance influence the intensity of the colour, and in the second, the optical composition of the two juxtaposed colours respectively. Now as these modifications make the stripes appear different from what they really are, I give to them the name of simultaneous contrast of colours; and I call contrast  of tone the modification in intensity of colour and contrast of colour that which affects the optical composition of each juxtaposed colour' (1)

Chevreul knew about complementary colours and the source of this knowledge was the work of Buffon. In particular his observation of 'accidental colours' which he published in 1743.  Buffon had noted that when looking at a spot of a particular colour on a white background, a halo of the complementary colour would be be perceived around the spot. In addition, after staring at a spot of colour for example a spot of red on a white sheet and then staring at a blank white sheet then an image of a blue-green spot (the complementary of red) would be seen. (1)

Chevreul proposed that ' Two juxtaposed hues will be perceived as the most different as possible when the brain adds to the perceived hue a little of the complementary of the juxtaposed hue and vice versa' (1)

This seems to be analogous to the 'halo effect' observed by Buffon.

To make this clearer it could be illustrated by imagining a white pattern on a red background. Depending on the size of the white motif compared to the area that is coloured red, the white pattern may appear to be tinted green. This can be counteracted by adding a hint of red to the white. This is something which would have proved very useful to those in the business of producing textiles and wallpapers. 

Chevreul also concluded that when two complementary colours are juxtaposed that mutual enhancement occurs. 

Chevreul's law does depend on the size of the samples juxtaposed. Large samples of colour placed adjacent to each other obey the law of simultaneous contrast at their edges whereas small marks and threads become assimilated. This was a criticism aimed at Chevreul but Chevreul was aware of this and had not overlooked this phenomenon :

'There is a contrast of colour whenever differently coloured surfaces are properly arranged and susceptible to being seen simultaneously and perfectly distinct from each other" Whereas " There is a mixture of colours whenever materials of various colours are so divided and then combined that the eye cannot distinguish these materials from each other in which case the eye receives a single impression. ' (1)

The phenomenon described above Chevreul applied for example to the mixing of thread in tapestry. The application of Chevreul's law to different sized samples of colour was to cause subsequent confusion in the development of the theories in particular of the neo- impressionists and pointillists - this will be covered in greater detail in a later research point about optical effects. 
Chevreul considered this mixing of colours by the eye to be a sort of subtractive mixture. We would today call this assimilation or optical mixture.
Chevreul's work was subsequently criticised because when he explained his observed phenomena there was confusion between additive and subtractive colour mixing (mixture of light versus mixture of pigments). This confusion about the physics of colour was widespread  in Chevreul's time. (1)

Chevreul's Influence on Artists

Chevreul's theories were exerting an influence on artists even before his book was published because he gave a series of public lectures between 1830 and 1850.
Initially the most enthusiastic recipients of his work were people working in the applied or decorative arts rather than fine art painters. They found practical applications for his theories in the distribution of colour in many fields of endeavour. 

Painters who did consult Chevreul initially included Louis Hersent a neo-classical painter and a professor ay L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He was also consulted by Louis Daguerre during the period in which he was painting dioramas. 
Chevreul became good friends with the painter Horace Vernet. Vernet's specific area of interest was in the painting of battle scenes. However, none of the above named painters allowed Chevreul's theories to exert a major influence on their work. In fact Vernet was criticised for exhibiting poor colour harmony in his work. (2)

Chevreul's theories were primarily of interest to artists who wanted to apply science to achieving greater colour intensity in their works and were looking for simplified rules to follow. However, there is some confusion and in Chevreul's time there was widespread misunderstanding as to what Chevreul's intention was. It was taken as fact that Chevreul would have recommended painting the simultaneous contrast of colours. In fact he was more an advocate of "contrasts of analogous colours" that is colours that have similar lightness. He also advocated 'economy of means' and painting in flat tints with reference to oriental painting. This was an area of interest to neo-classicist and romantic painters in 19th century France. This can be seen in the following examples of paintings by Delacroix and Ingres.(2), (1)

Eugene Delacroix: Algerian Women in their Apartment
Oil on canvas 1834 (picture source: wikipedia.org)

Eugene Delacroix: Entry of Crusaders into Constantinople
Oil on canvas 1840 (picture source: wikipedia)

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres: Odalisque with
a Slave
Oil on canvas 1842 (picture source wikipedia.org)

Unfortunately, time has taken its toll on these paintings and the colours have changed making the effect of the juxtaposition and arrangement of colours less easy to read. In the Delacrox painting of the Algerian women there are almost (but not quite) Chevreulian complementaries with the arrangement of orange and blue. In his painting of troops entering Constantinople he particularly took care to juxtapose complementary colours on the flags - blue and orange, yellow and violet and red and green were juxtaposed - the effect can't be as clearly seen today because of the degeneration of the paint.

In the painting by Ingres shown above, red and pale green are placed alongside each other to heighten the impact of the red. This suggests that Ingres may have been aware of Chevreul's work. However, I can't find any reference to Ingres and Chevreul ever meeting apart from Chevreul's comment to the painter Signac (when he visited him towards the end of his life) that he should consult Ingres who would tell him all he needed to know about his theories (unfortunately Ingres was already dead).

Delacroix, however, was known to have bought lecture notes from someone who attended one of Chevreul's lectures and he also had made an appointment to visit the chemist (but had to cancel owing to illness so never actually met him). So he was clearly interested in these theories. (1)

Impressionism

The impressionists would not have been too keen to admit to the influence of Chevreul on their work as their apparent aim was to paint exactly what they saw and depict the effects of light. However, Chevreul's work suggests that this is not actually possible because of the changes in perception of colours and tones when they are juxtaposed.
There is, however, some potential evidence of the influence of Chevreul on the painting of several impressionist painters. Look for example at Monet's poppy field of 1873. Click Here to view on the Musee D'Orsay Website . We can see a skillful use of red and green here. Monet himself said, " Primary colours look brightest when they are brought into contrast with their complementaries".

Pisarro was the first of the impressionists to put his paintings in white frames and also to tint his stretchers with the complementary colour of the dominant hue of the painting. This is clear evidence for the conscious application of Chevreul's theories. (1)

Neo Impressionists

These artists moved away from the impressionist ideal of looking directly at the effect of light in nature and became more concerned about the organisation of the pigments on the canvas. I will include more detail about the work in particular of Seurat and Signac in the research point later in this section about optical effects.
Signac visited Chevreul, and Seurat also said that the chemist was an influence in the development of his technique. Looking at the two paintings below there is evidence of attempts to apply Chevreul's theories in the development of the technique of pointillism.(1)

Paul Signac: The Breakfast. 1886-87 Oil on Canvas
(Source: wikipedia.org)

Georges Seurat: A Sunday afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
1884-86 Oil on Canvas. (Source: wikipedia.org)

Both artists have placed dots of complementary colours adjacent to each to each other, aiming to make their paintings visually more exciting and luminous. This is more obvious in the reproduction of the Signac painting above and does seem to create a liveliness or vibration on the canvas. It is more difficult to see the technique on the small scale reproduction of the Seurat painting. In fact it almost seems as though the colours are somewhat greyed in the Seurat reproduction. I will go into greater detail about how successful or otherwise the techniques of the neo-impressionists were in the subsequent research point about optical effects. (1), (3)

Post Impressionists:

The Fauves

Perhaps unsurprisingly the next group of artists wanted to move away from the pointillist or divisionist style. They though that contrary to the stated aim of increasing vibrancy that the dotted application of the colour caused a reduction in the vibrancy of each adjacent colour (more on this later under 'optical effects'. The fauves, reacted against this and started painting in large areas of flat pure colour of contrasting hues.(4) Examples are shown below:

The Green Stripe - Portrait of Mme Matisse
Henri Matisse. 1905. Oil on Canvas 
(Source: wikipedia.org)

Estaque: Andre Derain. 1905. Oil on Canvas
(Source: wikipedia.org)

In both off the examples above it can be seen that there is little attempt to build form with light and shade. Instead, flat areas of bold colours are juxtaposed. Red and pink re contrasted with green in the Matisse portrait. In the Derain Landscape there are many examples of complementary colour contrasting with each other - in particularly red with green and orange with blue. Chevreul himself was an advocate of painting with flat as I have mentioned above. (2)

Van Gogh was also interested in the use of complementary colours, not only from the point of view of the visual impact and harmony of the colours but also in terms of their potential symbolism. He explained his aims in his letters to his brother Theo. He made studies of flowers:
"Seeking oppositions of blue with orange, red and green, yellow and violet. Seeking broken and neutral tones to harmonise brutal extremes. Trying to render intense colours and not a grey harmony" (1)

Vase with Pink Roses: Vincent Van Gogh. 1890.
Oil on Canvas (Source: wikipedia.org)

Link to Van Gogh's - The Sower 1888 (wikimedia.org)

In the painting 'Vase with Pink Roses' there is a subtlety to the contrast of the touches of pink in the roses with the green of the leaves and the paler greens of the table and the background.  In 'The Sower' there is a similar contrast of marks of orange and blue as is seen in Paul Signac's 'The Breakfast'. There is an aspect of pointillism to his technique but the marks made in laying down the colour are larger and bolder- (more clumsy but not in a bad way). 

Van Gogh also wrote that in his 'The Bedroom' of 1888 (below) he thought that the combination of colours he used should provide a restful sensation for the viewer. He had carefully planned the positioning of the colours on the canvas. (1)

Vincent's Bedroom in Arles. Vincent Van Gogh. 1888
Oil on Canvas (Source: vangoghgallery.com)

Abstract Artists

Robert Delaunay started to experiment with pure abstraction in 1912. He and his wife Sonia co-founded the movement which came to be known as Orphism. Before this, however, he and Jean Metzinger made a development from pointillism using larger mosaic-tile reminiscent marks of flat colour. They called this 'divisionism' 

Click here for an example of divisionism 'La Dance (Bacchante) by Jean Metzinger - 1906 (from wikipedia.org)

Click here for an example of a divisionist Landscape by Robert Delaunay on wikigallery.org

From 1912 - 1914 came the development of  'Orphism'. Delaunay started to paint abstract work and was mainly concerned with the dynamic possibilities of bright colours - so the colours themselves would be the form of the painting. He found in the work of Chevreul, a set of rules he could apply to organising his colours and he freely admitted to the influence of,"The Brilliant Chevreul". (1)
Delaunay's state aim was to generate "colour movement'. He terrorised that complementary colours were harmonious and vibrated slowly when placed together whereas colours close to each other on the colour wheel would vibrate quickly. He thought that the arrangement of there vibrations on the canvas would give dynamism or colour movement. (1)

Disque Simultané. Robert Delaunay.
1912. Oil on Canvas. The inclusion of the word
Sumultané in the title signals Delaunay's interest in
Chevreul's theories (Source: wikipedia.org)

The disc paintings also show Chevreul's influence in that they are an investigation using areas of flat tints (4)

Link to Simultaneous Contrasts: Sun and Moon 1913 (moma.org)  This painting also illustrates a similar dynamism through juxtaposition of colours.

Delaunay's theory of colour movement didn't come directly from Chevreul, but he did get influence from Chevreul's study of stained glass windows. The chemist said that they were a great example of simultaneous contrast because they offered well defined distinct sections with vivid colours which contrasted against each other and against the opaque leading between the panes. 
Delaunay was inspired by both the transparency and the contrast and symmetry to paint a series of paintings based on windows. In these paintings there are angular areas or colour with both hard and soft edges - here the influence of cubism and Cezanne's painting technique can also be seen. 

Link to Simultaneous Windows on the City. 1912 (wikipedia.org)

Several other artists were investigating these phenomena at the same time, Notably Fratišek Kupka and Sonia Delaunay. I will go inter greater detail about the work of Sonia Delaunay after I attend the Study visit to her retrospective exhibition an Tate Modern in April.

Link to Frantisek Kupka - Positioning of Mobile Graphic Elements. 1913 (wikiart.org)

Link to Sonia Delaunay - Electric Prisms. 1913 (wikiart.org)

The work of Chevreul has continued to influence artists either directly or indirectly until today. This as also partly due to the fact that his theories were heavily influential on two of the great teachers from the Bauhaus - Johannes Itten and Josef Albers. Both of these teachers wrote books on the subject of colour Josef Albers - Interaction of Colour and Johannes Itten - The Art of Colour. Both of these texts borrow heavily from Chevreul's work.(1) I will include more detail about this in the subsequent research point about optical effects.



References:
(1) 'Chevreul's Colour Theory and its Consequences for Artists' by Georges Roque. Based on a paper presented in Paris in June 2010 to the Colour Group (GB) meeting colour and textiles: From Past to Future. Published by The Colour Group (Great Britain) http://www.colour.org.uk 2011

(2) 'Chevreul between Classicism and Romanticism' (Chapter 15: pages 196-208) in 'Colour and Meaning- Art, Science and Symbolism' by John Gage. Thames and Hudson 1999 (Reprint 2013)

(3) 'The Technique of Seurat - A Reappraisal' (Chapter 16: Pages 209-218) in 'Colour and Meaning- Art, Science and Symbolism' by John Gage. Thames and Hudson 1999 (Reprint 2013)

(4) 'A Psychological Background for Early Modern Colour' (Chapter 20: Pages 249-260) in 'Colour and Meaning- Art, Science and Symbolism' by John Gage. Thames and Hudson 1999 (Reprint 2013)

Tutor Feedback: Assignment 1

  My responses to the feedback are in blue italics inserted in the document

Tutor report

Student name	Aylish Giamei	Student number	511033
Course/Module	Painting 1: Practice of Painting.	Assignment number	1

Overall Comments

This is a very exciting submission, which shows a grasp of understanding the fundamentals. It is obvious from this first part of painting 1 that you have understood the rules and now you are ready to push them to create innovative, energetic work that depicts your personal style and concepts. You clearly enjoying playing and investigating paint media and it’s very positive that you go beyond the instructions and delve into what you want to do as well as following the exercises several times. There is potential in the physical approach to your work so be careful not to be too representation all the time.

This is great feedback. It gives me encouragement that I have made a positive step in part one and can build on my approach from here.

Feedback on assignment

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity

Handling your brushes: you are very right in saying that this exercise is “a first unsteady step in the right direction”. You have delved into these exercises and played with your tools it seems. Even at this early stage that you are quite expressive with layering and being abstract rather than the more formal works of still-life.

Applying paint without brushes: this series of works seems to give your work energy and a vibrancy so don’t forget this. It’s exciting that you have let yourself go almost immediately. You have clearly enjoyed it, both the process of looking for alternative tools and also the outcomes. There is a sense of balanced colour and movement coming through.

I must continue to keep this exercise in mind when working on other exercises.

Painting with pastels: I can see from your drawing course that you are quite competent in using pastels. However when you have combined them with paint and mix media the energy increases as does the vibrancy. A subject matter of using fruit can be quite mundane and overused but you have used the beauty of the pomegranates colour as a feature in your work. Thus what you are doing is communicating your personal interpretation through the way you use colour and textures. Just be careful to refine the work e.g. if you are going to layer up, layer up the surfaces well (cut fruit on left hand side).

The point about the layering is fair. This was a very rapidly executed sketch and I didn't spend time refining it.

Transparent and opaque: the smaller more illustrative studies are your strongest as they hold more character of a winter tree. When they are enlarged they become quite solid objects and lose that fluidity. However, as you say your energetic style comes through when you are filling in the negative shapes. Overall, this exercise has allowed you to focus on adding detailed rather than working only working expressively.

Yes I did feel that the trees became more solid and 'clunky' when I moved into the painting from the sketching. This might have something to so with my inexperience in handling the materials. I'm hoping that my work will become more fluent, fluid and therefore appear more natural as I continue to wrk and therefore gain confidence.

Working on different coloured grounds: there is an array of studies for this exercises and well done to you for investigating the requirements of this exercise in many different ways and going beyond the instructions. The smaller thumbnails are a great collection of how to work out composition and get your tonal qualities right. It is good practice to do preliminary sketches so you are confident in what you are observing and also working with your media.

The study on a white ground is the strongest as there are raw brush marks, which add an uneasy atmosphere to the cold colours you have used, almost like broken glass so there is more of a narrative. The shadows are a little unbalanced and mismatched to the objects compared to the ones on the medium ground. The comparison of all three is an interesting approach and this shows that you have confident skills in creating tone and understanding the blending of colours.

The study on the white ground was the first one I did. I often find that my first attempt at something is more interesting that subsequent iterations. There was more nervous energy in that study so what it lacks in accuracy (unbalanced shadows) it may have made up for in interest and narrative.

Assignment: you have realised your time management skills and although you were disappointed with the end result, it is start of a personal style. I agree with you, although the first exercises were very exciting and even if you spent too much time on them, you can realise that an expressive, experimental and gestural style is more your approach to painting. The assignment piece is technically good with the viewer following the perspective into the trees but yes the colour scheme is quite garish and overloaded. However, the concept behind the work is very interesting and at this level to focus on a narrative and bring this into our work is a very exciting place to be as oppose to only painting what you observe, so all is not lost.

Yes I suppose I lost sight of these positive aspects of what I did in the build up to this piece because the end result fell short of what I had envisaged - but that I guess there will always be something of a gap between imagination and reality in the production of art. I am happy as this feedback is more positive than I had expected. However I have also learned a lot from the disappointment - especially regarding time management.

Sketchbooks

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Demonstration of Creativity

Your sketchbook is exciting and full of visual information. Not only have you tried the exercises several times but also you have helped yourself move on by looking at artists in-between. There are explorations of colour, textures, mix media and small studies that lead onto more exciting pieces. A very good way of working by delving into it. Keep this up!

Thank you! 

Learning Logs or Blogs/Critical essays

Context

You commentary is in-depth with a focus on the processes, your personal critical review of the work and links to artist research. You have not only descried the success of your work but the failures too so you can push yourself next time. The stories behind your works are interesting so continue to do this. Your artist research is also relevant but try and go to more exhibitions to see the work in the flesh as I think once you see how paint can be applied, it’ll inspire you even more.

I did go to several exhibitions during part 1 of the course. I had written up my notes in my sketchbook but had not put them in my blog (again time management problems). I must not have made clear enough that these were exhibition write-ups so as soon as my sketchbook arrives back I will put them in a better format and put them in my blog.

Suggested reading/viewing

Context

Anselm Kiefer- large textural pieces combining natural materials and paint. His concepts behind the work are very interesting. He has an exhibition on in London at the Royal academy, London.

This was one of the exhibitions that I visited and I found it truly inspirational and very moving. I will write my responses more clearly in my blog.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner- german Expressist style with holds a raness and a play on colour and brush strokes.

Peter Doig- relating to your assignment piece, atmospheric and gnarly.

Leon Kossoff- thck layering of paint to create a sense of chaos and energy.

I am aware of all of the artists you have mentioned and will enjoy taking a more in-depth look at their work. 

Pointers for the next assignment (Action points)

More exciting compositions- although your work is exciting in application of paint, some of your compositions are bland for what you are capable of. Instead of a bowl of fruit why not have decaying fruit. Be alternative and unusual in your subject choices.

Yes - composition is a definite weak point for me which is whey I end up making so many small sketches - I have to work it out with a drawing implement because I can't see it in my mind's eye. I like the encouragement to look for the unusual - I will do that.

Work larger to compliment your expressive gestural style so you can really push yourself and bring the physicality of you approaches into the work. Have a look at Jackson Pollock’s ‘Action Paintings.’

I like to work large - I think I started small because I wasn't very confident with the media. I will get bigger! I saw some of Jackson Pollock's work on a trip to Venice last year at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. I loved it - I really like work in which you can see the physical involvement of the painter and the exploitation of the characteristics of the medium.

Audience and narrative- you have started to do this already in your assignment piece but think about adding a narrative to your work. What are you trying to communicate to an audience, what do you want people to see in your work?

 I'll try to strike a balance here between thought out narrative and spontaneity - to communicate ideas and narrative without over-thinking and losing the energy of painting.

 Assessment potential

You may want to get credit for your hard work and achievements with the OCA by formally submitting your work for assessment at the end of the module. More and more people are taking the idea of lifelong learning seriously by submitting their work for assessment but it is entirely up to you. We are just as keen to support you whether you study for pleasure or to gain qualifications. Please consider whether you want to put your work forward for assessment and let me know your decision when you submit Assignment 2. I can then give you feedback on how well your work meets the assessment requirements."

Tutor name:	Diana Ali
Date	07/01/2015
Next assignment due	16/03/15

The main points I need to work on:

(1) Time management

(2) Maintaining the fluidity of initial sketches when moving into paint

(3) Colour mixing

(4) Writing up gallery visits on my blog

(5) Look at Kirchner, Doig and Kossoff

(6)Exciting compositions and subject matter

(7)Work bigger

(8) Narrative and communication

Random Sketchbook Pages

I will use this section of the blog to include sketchbook pages I have made during the course but which are not directly related to the course exercises or assignments.

Gouache and water soluble coloured pencil sketch of pomegranates.

Assignment One

For assignment one there was pretty much a free choice of subject matter- the only specification was that the painting should be at least A3 in size and should be representational rather than abstract. 

I decided that as this painting does not count towards the assessment result I would give myself permission to play about a bit with the 'stuff' of the paint. I particularly wanted to apply paint in a variety of ways. I also decided to do a landscape painting as this was the section of the drawing 1 course that I was weakest and least confident with. It might seem an odd choice to go with my least-favourite type of subject matter but there were two reasons for this. The first was that I had been inspired by the changes happening in the landscape in the local area in this season. The second was that it afforded an opportunity for me to practice an area of weakness without it adversely affecting my final marks for the course.

I started with a few sketchbook pages. First some rapid sketches of the plane trees with autumn foliage still attached which I see when I drop my son at the station every morning for school. I was also attracted by the uniform planting of a group of birch (I think - or maybe poplar) trees on the road to my Son's school. They are very regimented in tight rows like rows of soldiers - planted with military precision. This gives rise to a repeating pattern. 

In one of these plantations there is a small bent gnarly tree at the very edge of the rows. This made me think about the contrast of 'one among many' - an individual amongst all this uniformity or the triumph of nature over man's intervention.

At this time of year, the vines are also without leaves. I love their gnarly, twisting - almost black shapes. Because of the lack of foliage you can easily see the posts and wires that support them and they again create a regular repeating pattern on the landscape. Many of the vineyards around here use light coloured concrete posts and en masse these started to remind me of military cemeteries. I wondered why these military analogies kept coming to mind. I realised that I had been exposed to lots of media interest in WWI recently because of its centenary. I had also visited the installation of poppies in the moat of the Tower of London. An art installation which had thoroughly captured the public's imagination with its symbolism of one poppy for every British soldier killed in the war. 
I had also visited Exhibitions of the work of Anselm Keifer and Sigmar Polke. Both German artists made work commenting on WW2. In particular the vines reminded me of Anselm Keifer's 'Black Flakes' - a desolate and snowy landscape which has symbolism representing the landscape of the holocaust.

Because of the way my mind was working, I decided to visit the military cemeteries at Cassino which is only about 1 hour's drive away from where we live. This served two purposes. A well as allowing me to sketch the uniformity of the gravestones it also acted as an eye opener for my son who is 14 years old and desperately wants to become a pilot - so he is considering entering the air force when he is old enough. We first went to the commonwealth graveyard. It is well kept with manicured grass and pruned trees. The stones are all uniform but large numbers of them have pictures of the soldiers attached or floral tributes and many are engraved with individual messages from their family. my son got quite emotional reading one of the messages which read "Sleep well daddy - from George" and he also went quite pale when he saw that some of the dead were only 17 years old. The rows upon rows upon down of the stones really brought home to him the implications of war.

We also visited the Polish cemetery which is up near the monastery of Montecassino. This is a much starker memorial. there is very little green here. Most of the cemetery is clad with a light coloured stone and the grave-stones are cross-shaped. I only identified one grave which had a photograph here. An there was only one grave which had any flowers. I found the image of this single decorated grave among all this uniformity quite poignant. There were also occasional stones on which were draped cheap plastic rosaries or crucifixes in lurid colours. I made several thumbnail drawings in my sketchbook. 

At a certain point - I realised that I had come a long way away from what had been my original intention for this assignment. I think this was when I started to draw triangles and measure where I thought the flowers for the focal point should be placed on the page. I realised I'd got too caught up in the symbolism of it all and in the process of 'making a picture'. It was perhaps getting all a bit too contrived. I remembered that often during the drawing 1 course pieces where I had been over thinking had been less successful than those that were more instinctive. I went round in a complete circle and decided to go back to whet had interested me in the first place - the uniformity of the planting of the trees. When in doubt "keep it simple stupid"

I was seriously running out of time to complete this assignment so I made a very rapid colour study in acrylics before proceeding with the final painting which is approximately A2 in size.

I started on a ground of a pale wash of yellow ochre. I then applied a graded wash of cerulean over the sky and I under painted the darker areas of the grass and forest with alizarin crimson (mainly because I'd seen one of my fellow students do this in a landscape via our Facebook group and I thought it had worked well with hints of the crimson showing through the green).  I used a lot of titanium white for the trees but overlaid washes to dull down the trunks as they receded into the background. I used a palette knife and sharp contact of light and dark to paint the tree which is the furthest forward to try to make it the focal point. In order to represent the fine branches of the trees further back I applied scrapings of alizarin crimson and burnt umber using an almost dry bottle brush. For the undergrowth in the foreground I created some texture by applying paint quite thickly and then working back into it using colour shapers.

Overall, I'm quite disappointed with the end result of this painting and think that if I had the time to rework it I would probably go in a different direction. I think my main problem with it is my handling of the colour. The greens in the foreground are too lurid and this combined with the cerulean of the sky combine to put me in mind of a technicolour film or a kitsch and overly coloured landscape photograph such as you might find on a box of chocolates from the 1970s. 

However, on the plus side I did do what I set out to do in playing with palette knives and colour shapers and I do think I've communicated something about the repetition and uniformity of the tree planting. 

The good news is that the next section of the course is all about the handling of colour so I'm sure my skills in this area will improve.

From this section of the course I have learnt that I still need to work on my time management. I spent quite a lot of time on individual exercises and was left with very little time in which to complete the assignment. I must address this in part two because it is imperative that I stick to schedule with this course in order to be able to complete a degree within the time limit because I really spent far too much time on drawing 1.

References:

(1) http://www.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/kiefer-76.jpg