Paula Rego (f/a)

Paula Rego

For my part of looking at six different artists I have chosen Paula Rego...... I did this by heading to the artist section at the college library. As I looked through the books I felt I had wanted something unusual......Having children myself the prints Rego's done in the style of Nursery Rhythms jumped out.


    

Doing a printmaking brief I could appreciate the works a little more than just unusual sketches. Looking at another book I liked the way her painting style was childlike and grotesque....again different to your usual artists like the other great (Monet, Gogh) in the art section.

We are to look at another artist and to do a copy of the process and medium they use to the best of our ability.  I choose the work because I like the black lines around the figures and the amount of stuff happening in the pictures.....  


At first I didnt know what to draw, but I had been feeling a couple of things and decided I would try and tap into these as a starting point. While private and I probably cant say a few of these, One thing that did come out was the ego and alter ego's that some artist's putt into they pictures...Rego had done this by creating characters in are work as a way to express frustration of an indivual etc.... Dog lady, monkeys and rabbits etc.

I did take photos of my work which I will add once back at college on Tuesday.....





I thought about myself and soon came up with my alter ego could be that of a leopard.... a little bit flirty but strong and independent.... If you haven't seen a female leopard engage with a male I suggest you do........Its erotic and fun, it seems every time the male finishes he bites the back of her neck..... nasty and I like it haha..... I can see myself definitely a leopard with this in mind.

Apart from the sexual likeness they was something else I had towards the animal.  I just this moment thought about the dreams of freud and wondered what it would have regarding a feeling or meaning about the leopard....

  Leopard is reminding you that there is always a period of rebirth after a period of suffering and death on some level. This big cat is the healer of deep wounds and will bring old issues to resolution through the reclaiming of power that was lost during the time of the wounding. He is reminding you that you have many resources, skills, capabilities, inner resources and patterns available to you that will allow you to do a broad range of tasks at will. These resources can be physical, mental, psychic, emotional and spiritual.

Alternatively this cat is letting you know that you need to accept your own spots and use them as your own strengths. Stop hiding because of your own perceived weaknesses. You have the power and the strength to accomplish everything you dream of. You simply have to believe, have faith and find the right path. Persistence is the keyword.

I find the link between where I am in my learning and what it actual says to be correct.... funny that isn't it!

Rego herself made work with links to other artist'... One being Diego Velazquez.

the fitting

Joseph's dream

Diego Velázquez.

Here I found Picasso also studied Velazquez work.....Picasso really does have a connection with every art movement or artists.... Finger in every pie !!! Bit like georgie porgie nursery rhythm he kissed many a girl also.

Las Meninas is a series of 58 paintings that Pablo Picasso painted in 1957 by performing a comprehensive analysis, reinterpreting and recreating several times Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez.


                                             

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I found working in an others style did give me another way of looking and trying out techniques I maybe wouldn't have.  I felt frustrated at the same time as I feel my ability to get what images I foresee in my mind, to be good enough when on paper. I can't seem to execute it.... I think this is because I dont plan out any work or practice things before my final picture.

watercolour tests

 my still life watercolour I started a couple weeks ago and never finished.  Enjoyed doing it at the time and will try and finish it from memory and pictures....

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 I feel that my eye is going more used to actually looking at the spaces and form of object so much more now..... While i have along way to go if is time that seems to be my biggest enemy.

Jim Dine (printmaker)

Jim Dine

What it says about him, Dine is inspired by the power of simple images to be both familiar and symbolic. His repetitions of tools, bathrobes, or hearts are easily understood by the viewer, while also suggesting deeper layers of meaning. He often works with subjects and images from his childhood, giving his work both a sense of innocence and shared nostalgia.

Source http://www.theartstory.org/artist-dine-jim.htm



something so mystical and fairy enchanting about this print........I liked the detail and contrast in tone...It has movement you can sense a wind blowing the flowers... looks a little like an illustrative effect.


love the lines, it adds a aged look and a wear and tear feel of the past life.... little eerie but this adds to its feel.....cant help but think another couple of objects would of added another level...... maybe I'm thinking of a still life thing.....

Jim Dine, With Aldo Behind Me, 2008, etching, drypoint and mechanical abrasion



With the tools I like the flash of light you get like a reflections of shine...... simple and detailed in a very photographic style.....



This reminds me of my work and I sense the enjoyment of everything around you being art.....everyday objects looked at and studied, as well as fit for purpose.

I like the diverse subject matters and the different feeling each one provokes ..



I like the loneliness this heart etching creates inside me..... big and bold.. &...full (look how 3d it looks compared to the background) yet just there! like its awkwardly been placed there. it shouldn't be there!  I think I would like it in dark green also


I think I would like to study some more of his work.... but for now the little look has shown me a different look at etchings and drypoint etc as a more illustrative sense.... Its like all of these are like little studies for something else (scrapbook)      I like how real they feel.  I think timeless studies.






 







so many different subjects.... I like his work....but at different ends of a scale...(1) as a mixed media or (2) because/for its very basic detailing...Like the above cutters, its simple true and basic... but that's the stillness I like.....

morandi etching

Morandi

For our Printmaking with were to look at the etchings by morandi.

My thoughts






   

What I first notice is the tones...If I half close my eyes you can see the highlights jump out and the parts of thedsarker objects where morandi has seemed to etch lines closer together to add darker tone.. I love the highlights really because they look so light, and I noticed the light seems to come from the right rather than the left! This makes me think of the set up and if it was a staged lighting or natural light that moved as time past. I like how simple it looks and how still. But then it gives you so much to. To follow the contours and take your eye through and around the objects, giving them energy. You feel like you know them personally and could actually pick them up.

I think that I could learn a lot about mark marking from just looking at these etchings. I get the sense that he would have done many observational sketches before committing to the etching itself.

Again I haven't looked at the artist works or facts but just from my own personal thoughts.

First oil still life (f/a)

Oil Painting Practice 01

Well today Wednesday 30th November, is the day I actually try out oil paints for what I could say is really my first real attempt at the medium. 

Feelings - fear at the unknown. blocking in of colour was our first hurdle, something we all seemed to approach with caution. I think looking back I'd now be more expressive with making marks now.

I prefer the oils to the watercolour, and feel I want to throw in on thick and with confidence. This will hopefully come in time as I do more work with this medium. I feel I need to slow down my thoughts, relax and enjoy learning the processes and build up of a painting.

Its so strange for me to spent so much time on, well anything. For this reason I enjoy still life, because it gives me exactly that........still........frustrating as I find the learning process at times it gives me so much more in return. As a busy mother, the silent process of studying everything I've learnt this past year and half seems to be finally making some sense. The looking through, round, at the object, noticing how the eye can deceive what it thinks it sees and breaking things down. To actual take the time to look.

I find it hard to, I get a tension headache sometimes! F,ocusing I guess is harder than it looks when your not used to working in a certain way.

I prefer some of the earlier processes I'd done to the other later things. Its not really to you see it on the camera that you get a better understanding of what works and what doesn't.

 I did enjoy making bold marks on some of the objects. Like this coffee pot! I'm always hard on myself when it comes to my work but with this I can feel a real interest. While it looks shite and amateurish I can see some positives as well as the negative (this is a massive turn around for me)

So while I'd love to start again, as a learning outcome I've picking up lots of information already about this medium.  Will be happy to finish it off tomorrow, but with no real sentimentality about the work I've done. I do feel that if I keep doing oil medium I would soon begin to feel a relationship between me and my work.

Great fun and lovely to step back from our other subjects if only for a little while.

rhyparagraphos

So Saturday 26th November starts off with a trip to the house from my partners home. Cold hungry and alone. My children are at they dads and I intend to draw and paint, while cleaning relaxing and the thousand other things I have buzzing around in my head......You know you should do, yep need to do this should be doing that!

Life eh!

Breakfast, the bread is out of date and the eggs! Part baked rolls and bacon it is! So I can cook the rolls in oven, I decide to fry the bacon! Yes unhealthy as it is in modern day lifestyle to actually fry the bacon, I'm freaking hungry, cold and in need......MMMmmmm I forgot how salty the bacon can taste. Fat dripping over everything as it melts into the butter giving a shiny contrast against the dark crispness of the bacon. I'm taking back to a time of a younger me. I feel good so good I'd recommend it to everyone.

I sit down to watch Apples, Pears and Paint that I had downloaded days before with the intention to watch but just never seemed to have had the time.

Within seconds of watching it I start to feel something like empathy and  begin to experience an overwhelming sense of emotion. I smile as tears round down my face! As they are now writing this blog. While I'm only 18 mins into the programme and have paused it to begin to note my thoughts down here I still am not sure of what is happening. I think if honest I'm probably tired. But if I think to 15 mins ago the feelings I found in relation to the bacon and a memory of childhood or young adolescent, I can't help but wonder if somehow I have also paused that person and only now and again bring it out.  I like having time to myself. To let go and be STILL...........

The word rhyparagraphos comes from the Italian author Pliny the elder in this writing on Natural History. The word describes the artist Peiraikos's work on still life as being distasteful or of low class style of painting.  This I liked and could really look into more as I felt an interest with it.

I just got a text asking for my time at 12 to help someone! Its gone the openness I was feeling shut up shop within seconds (that vulnerable part ran back into its safe place, boom like lighting) then my heart sank as I got the pull to do or be again..... Its tiring and never ending the demand we have on our time.  For now I will watch some more of my programme and hopefully again be able to tap into the enter part of my self I just seemed to find.....Who have thought what impact a bacon sandwich (and lack of sleep) could have had .

My First Still Life (watercolour) contains images of dead birds!

My First Still Life 

I don't have my first actual watercolour but this is the second one I decided to do.  The first one I felt that I tried to hard and didn't give myself enough freedom to experiment with the medium. I made time for myself to do another painting.

This time I wanted to add an outline with fine liner. I had thought that the ink was waterproof......After a small test I covered my paper and ink with water.......OOPS   so the fine liner was not waterproof after all. It bled, I decided I didn't have the time to start again and continued regardless.

I wanted to keep the colours light and try to see how to highlight with the medium. I found it gave me a greater understanding of how this medium works.  I would like to practice more.

After been offered these birds, I've took some photos that I intend to paint but also  incorporate into a still life with other things I have around the house.

I have many other picture but you get the idea.