Project 2:
"Stepping Stones"45cm X 60cm
Oil painting on canvas October 8 ,2020 Exhibition Text: This artwork I created "Stepping Stones" was inspired by looking at several oil Impressionist paintings of children sitting by ponds, specifically Boy Playing in Water by Terri Hamlin and Boy at Pond by Scott Gaspar. My intent behind the work is to display an ironic feeling of social anxiety, as the boy in the painting is soothed and content in a red chaotic sky. I decided to twist around my theme fear in more of an ironic sense to add more depth within the disorder. |
Planning:
Inspiration:
While researching for inspiration, I found several painting images of children playing with water. This piece in particular called Boy Playing in Water by Terri Hamlin, I specifically liked how calm and soothing the painting is with the smooth painting style, and the hazy water reflections. The thought of painting water to me would be a great aspect to add to my oil painting as my goal was to give off a calming atmosphere within the painting. The overall color choice of the piece feels cool and as though it was painting during fall, or around that time specifically. As the boy is lazily staring into the pond, he has a stick in his hand and pokes the water with it creating ripples within the water. I feel as though the water in the piece is emphasized heavily as my attention towards the painting is constantly being drawn towards the ripples being made in the water. From the Elements of art, the texture of this piece looks soft, and line work isn't harsh or noticeably visible. In my own piece, I plan to use the figure of the boy poking the water with his stick, and the overall "cool" atmosphere the painting gives off (a lazy autumn feeling). |
This painting called Boy at Pond by Scott Gaspar is my overall approach towards the visuals of my water within my painting. I want to display a similar color palette of the water and change the brightness and dullness of the water (while displaying highlights, shadows, and ripples). I also want to draw the stones where the child is facing towards to make the background look as similar as possible. I adore the color choice used within the water aspect of the painting, as it is mixed with dull hues of gray and black mixed in with lighter blue hues creating a dynamic within the color choice. As similar with the other piece, a boy is lazily staring into a pond, however he is not interacting with it. From the Principles of Design, there is heavy movement in the piece as it shows what it seems to be a splash in the water (the child in the photo supposedly threw a stone in the pond) and ripples forming because of it. There is a contrast between the blue hues of the painting the bright yellow shoes of the boy and the grass (a drastic change in the brightness and dullness of the water).
|
Sketches:
Sketch 1:
Although out of all the sketches, this was my favorite drawing considering the proportions of the little girl sitting by the pond. This sketch was suppose to convey as sense of relief, as the girl is sitting down by some ducks looking calm and content. My theme is fear, but specifically I wanted to display the opposite as a sense of "false reality". For each sketch, I want each character to look calmly over a pond, as the phobia for this drawing is "social anxiety" although the painting is ironically calm. I sadly decided not to use this sketch considering my painting skills, as I wouldn't be satisfied with the final product as much as I love the sketch for it (I feel as though my painting skills wouldn't match my sketching abilities). |
Sketch 2:
This sketch I used for my oil painting, as I was trying to combine the overall features of both of the boys in the inspiration pieces above. I wasn't trying to overdo it with the shading or analyzing every part of the drawing, so I did a quick sketch trying to get proportions down and shapes. I also started faintly drawing a background for the piece, trying to draw out stepping stones for the child to sit on, and an overview of the mountain/fountain in the background (there are some faint designing aspects of plants and trees, but that was an additional design aspect. I wasn't sure whether to confirm this design aspect in the final piece or not). |
Sketch 3:
This is a sketch I did for fun displaying a more of a "clustered" feeling as the girl in the drawing is being trapped underwater. This picture was meant to display a different phobia related to my theme "fear", but I felt as though this didn't necessarily matched the content and soothing emotion I was trying to give off. This was no more than merely a test subject for my painting, and just exploring different themes or topics to draw about (I found this sketch to be interesting, but not enough to use). |
Process:
Process:
I started lightly sketching out my illustration onto the store bought canvas (usually, I would make and gesso the canvas myself, but buying one made the process go slightly faster). I carefully shaded some areas of the piece to help remind myself where the shadows are (making sure not to add too much graphite). After the drawing was sketched out on the canvas, I started to slowly start painting the skin on the drawing, adding small details from time to time. The colors I used to paint the skin tone on the piece are lemon Yellow, Carmin red, and Titanium white (to blend both the yellows and reds together). I used Raw umber to add sharp details such as the eyes, nose, and shadow underneath the neck. I had to redo the skin portion of the piece several times because I would accidentally make the shade either too dark or too light, as I wanted to get an even coating. When the skin was completed, I started working on the portion of the piece, as this part took the longest to complete. I used several shades of cyan, first a lighter shade to have a base coating, and shading darker areas of the water. When the water portion was dry, I went over with white and started adding sparkles within the water to add more depth within the piece. Next, I started painting the stepping stones and grass sprouting from them. Since I didn't have a spare green oil paint to use, I mix together yellows and blues to make my own differnet shades of greens to use for the weeds. I used the same green hues for the background, as I would paint different trees to add more detail to the painting. I started to paint the mountain landscape in the background shortly, then I started adding smaller details with sunrise (along with a small flow of water falling from the mountain tops), showing glow marks within lighting Lastly, I blended in rougher areas of the piece, sharpened some edges, and set my canvas to dry. |
*Click to enlarge slideshow process*
|
Experimentation:
Using oil paints for the first time was struggling for me, since I had absolutely no experience with the medium before. I was trying my best to layer the colors as if it was acrylic paint, but it only made it more challenging for me. The issue was knowing whether the painting dried or not, leaving waiting hours on end with a painting that is still wet. I also experimented in which were I got my canvas from. Instead of usually making my own canvases, I decided to buy one from an art store (Michael's). As I was testing out how this canvas absorbs paint, I noticed how easy it is to spread the paint around (with the canvases I make, the texture takes in more paint forcing me to layer it constantly. Surprisingly enough, this wasn't the case for this material). On a separate sheet of paper, I was trying to document and see how the oil paints react when water was added to them or just trying to blend in general (adding water in fact made the paint more blotchy and harder to move around/it was unpleasant). I realized when painting that these paints took longer to dry (approximately 2 to 3 days without heat) and I found that nerve wracking, especially when I would make a mistake. I would be punished and forced to late longer in order to paint over it. |
*Click to enlarge slideshow experimentation*
|
Compare & Contrast:
Similarities
|
Reflection:
Critique:
In the end comparing this painting to my other pieces involving my painting abilities, I believe I did the best when it gave off a corresponding emotion to the inspiration as it felt like a cool autumn evening. I felt when painting this piece that the store bought canvas I used instead of making my own canvas looks much smoother and blended better. When I made my own canvases previously, I would have trouble trying to evenly gesso the canvas to have a smooth layer to paint on, rather since everything was already finished for me, it looks tremendously better. Painting with oil paints for the first time was not a terrible experience, in fact I prefer these over acrylics as they were easier to blend and manipulate with. My favorite part of my painting was how the water turned out. I love how smooth and ripply the water ended up becoming, as that was my over emphasis of the painting. My flaw is how the face of the boy in the painting turned out to be. What made matters worse is that I had to constantly redo that part since some areas didn't match up with others, or overall I would mess up trying to paint in the facial features of the boy. I didn't dislike the final product because of it, but overall I felt as though that was the biggest let down in the painting. In the future, this has helped me better myself as an artist as this helped improve my painting skills greatly, as painting this piece helped teach to hold a brush steadier and more refined instead of being shaky. In the end, I felt I've improve the most with this painting piece.
In the end comparing this painting to my other pieces involving my painting abilities, I believe I did the best when it gave off a corresponding emotion to the inspiration as it felt like a cool autumn evening. I felt when painting this piece that the store bought canvas I used instead of making my own canvas looks much smoother and blended better. When I made my own canvases previously, I would have trouble trying to evenly gesso the canvas to have a smooth layer to paint on, rather since everything was already finished for me, it looks tremendously better. Painting with oil paints for the first time was not a terrible experience, in fact I prefer these over acrylics as they were easier to blend and manipulate with. My favorite part of my painting was how the water turned out. I love how smooth and ripply the water ended up becoming, as that was my over emphasis of the painting. My flaw is how the face of the boy in the painting turned out to be. What made matters worse is that I had to constantly redo that part since some areas didn't match up with others, or overall I would mess up trying to paint in the facial features of the boy. I didn't dislike the final product because of it, but overall I felt as though that was the biggest let down in the painting. In the future, this has helped me better myself as an artist as this helped improve my painting skills greatly, as painting this piece helped teach to hold a brush steadier and more refined instead of being shaky. In the end, I felt I've improve the most with this painting piece.
ACT Responses:
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork.
The inspiration from both pieces Boy Playing in Water by Terri Hamlin and Boy at Pond by Scott Gaspar relate to my piece by the pose of the boy sitting on a stone pad by a pond, and the water shown piece as it shows ripples and depth in the shadows and highlights of the water.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach of both the pieces is showing the innocent of the children sitting (or standing) by the and watching over it, as my goal for my piece was create a calming atmosphere for the audience viewing my painting.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Conclusions I made about the two artists I researched is that majority of painting art styles they used were Impressionist, and they painted children often in praire backgrounds.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My overall theme is fear, but I was focusing on the social anxiety aspect. I decided to make it a satirical as theme, as the painting is meant to be content.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
References that I made during my research is that majority of the Impressionist paintings I used for referenece (especially oil paintings) I noticed that the brushwork looks soft and blended unironically.
The inspiration from both pieces Boy Playing in Water by Terri Hamlin and Boy at Pond by Scott Gaspar relate to my piece by the pose of the boy sitting on a stone pad by a pond, and the water shown piece as it shows ripples and depth in the shadows and highlights of the water.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach of both the pieces is showing the innocent of the children sitting (or standing) by the and watching over it, as my goal for my piece was create a calming atmosphere for the audience viewing my painting.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Conclusions I made about the two artists I researched is that majority of painting art styles they used were Impressionist, and they painted children often in praire backgrounds.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My overall theme is fear, but I was focusing on the social anxiety aspect. I decided to make it a satirical as theme, as the painting is meant to be content.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
References that I made during my research is that majority of the Impressionist paintings I used for referenece (especially oil paintings) I noticed that the brushwork looks soft and blended unironically.
Bibliography:
“Boy at Pond by Scott Gaspar.” Fine Art America, fineartamerica.com/featured/boy-at-pond-scott-gaspar.html.
“Child Playing in Pond Water Painting, Boy Playing in Water by Terri Hamlin.” Fine Art America, fineartamerica.com/featured/child-playing-in-pond-water-painting-boy-playing-in-water-terri-melia-hamlin.html.
“Complete List of Phobias.” The Recovery Village Drug and Alcohol Rehab, The Recovery Village Drug and Alcohol Rehab, 16 Sept. 2020, www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/phobias/related/list-of-phobias/.
“Child Playing in Pond Water Painting, Boy Playing in Water by Terri Hamlin.” Fine Art America, fineartamerica.com/featured/child-playing-in-pond-water-painting-boy-playing-in-water-terri-melia-hamlin.html.
“Complete List of Phobias.” The Recovery Village Drug and Alcohol Rehab, The Recovery Village Drug and Alcohol Rehab, 16 Sept. 2020, www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/phobias/related/list-of-phobias/.