Final Assignment Submission

Topic 1: Depict certain weather or atmospheric condition

I reworked the perspective of the houses to be a bit more wonky to give it character. I think the overall colour harmony could have been better, I was trying to be a bit more spontaneous while referring to my colour tests but I think the colours of the houses can be less muddy looking.

Topic 2: Landscape painting

For this landscape painting I tried to focus more on achieving a range of warm greens and yellows with red/orange as the accent colour. I tried my best to redesign the angles of the slopes to have more variation after receiving feedback that the shape design was a bit repetitive. I also took note of the amount of detail I add so that I don’t overwhelm the viewer. Overall I am pleased with how this turned out.

I’ve compiled all of my works into a pdf for submission:

https://entuedu-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/clim101_e_ntu_edu_sg/ES3h02Zvf49OjIU5MqiJRzUBwSQuQCfWd7CgUZF2TfAORQ?e=t2qYkO

 

Mark Making Research

Before experimenting and trying out mark making in class next week, I thought I’d go do more research on it so that I am aware of the possibilities of this form of art.

Mark making is used to describe lines, patterns and textures on any surface of our art piece. I suppose any form of mark – be it a dot, scratch or smudge – is deemed mark making. It is interesting that although a mark on its own may be insignificant, a series of markings may mean something. It is able to express emotion, be conceptual or symbolic.

I found an article on thoughtco.com about how marks are used in paintings which I thought was interesting and not exactly what people think about. I learnt that the different styles of artists can originate from a simple mark. For instance, the example given by the website is Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” (1889) and “The Bedroom: (1889). The paintings are completely different. Different themes, different colours. However it is still recognisable as Van Gogh’s work because of the distinct layers of strokes that he uses. Another painter with distinct strokes or marks that I already know of is Claude Monet.

Link to the website: https://www.thoughtco.com/how-does-mark-making-affect-your-paintings-2577630

Van Gogh, Starry Night (1889) | Taken from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-dalio/starry-nights-from-the-film-touched-with-fire_b_9227378.html
Van Gogh, The Bedroom | Taken from http://www.jackygallery.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=498

Mark making is closely related to automatism (or automatic drawing) and mono printing. Automatic drawing is drawing without thinking, and avoiding conscious control of your actions.  Here are the types of techniques categorised under automatism (and my own explanations/definitions to refer back to):

  • Frottage – brass rubbing
  • Decalcomania – method similar to the ink blot test
  • Torn Paper Collage – torn paper randomly dropped onto canvas and then glued
  • Grattage – scraping wet / dry paint on canvas using a scraping tool
  • Sand Painting
  • Froissage – soaking a crumpled piece of paper in ink, creating a veined effect
  • Coulage – pouring molten metal materials into water to solidify into shapes

There is an artist that creates interesting, mystical images using the decalcomania technique. Oscar Dominguez primarily uses black gouache on canvas. He spreads the gouache thinly on a sheet of paper before pressing it to his canvas. Despite the lack of colours, the images created are fantasy like and show some sort of narrative. There are various textures on the canvas which bring attention to his work.

Oscar Dominguez, Decalcomania | Taken from https://decalcomaniaproject.wordpress.com/decalcomanias/art-2/
Oscar Dominguez, Decalcomania | Taken from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/134756213822517034/

A piece of work that is done using the frottage and grattage technique that I really like is Snow Flowers by Max Ernst (1929).  Though he uses colours for this piece, I can observe that the scraped white paint on the black canvas gives a very interesting effect, something that I may want to try for my own project.  Depending on the tool used for scraping, I think it will give different results every time which would be fun for experimenting.

Snow Flowers by Max Ernst (1929) | Taken from https://www.artsy.net/artwork/max-ernst-fleurs-de-neige-snow-flowers

André-Pierre Arnal is an artist that uses the froissage technique. It reminds me of tie-dye. What is interesting about the froissage technique is that you do not necessarily need any other tool other than your “canvas” to produce the patterns and textures. It shows that choosing the right canvas for your work makes a difference in the final outcome of the art piece. Combining the froissage method with decalcomania and frottage / grattage might produce more interesting textures in my opinion. 

André-Pierre Arnal, Froissage | Taken from https://www.ceyssonbenetiere.com/en-exhibition-Andre-Pierre-Arnal-2015-luxembourg-1011.html
André-Pierre Arnal, Froissage | Taken from https://www.wikiart.org/en/andre-pierre-arnal/froissage

Mono printing is similar to  stamping.  The following are the techniques:

  • Printing from glass
  • Printing from acetate
  • Overprinting
  • Linear drawing – paper placed over rolled out ink on a glass slab, use pencil to go over it
  • Developing textures – making blobs onto paper directly from the paint tube

I found artists that found their own method of making mono prints! Mitch Lyons dyes wet clay with paint, scrapes of some layers off of it and then lays his canvas on top of it to create prints. 

Mitch Lyons, Clay Mono print | Taken from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/477944579175418370/

Martha Castillow is another such artist that does clay mono prints. I never thought of printing this way before. It is unlikely that I am able to do something like that in a few weeks for my assignment, but I can definitely gain some inspiration from their technique.

Martha Castillow, Clay Mono Print | Taken from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/277745501997329908/

I also went on to Pinterest to gain ideas on what I can use for my mark making assignment. I created a mini board for some of my favourite images.

Looking through Pinterest, I see that marks created by organic items seem the most interesting, though marks created by hard surface objects can look interesting too depending on how you use them. Binding stuff together to make your own brushes seem to be popular.

I turned to Instagram next to see what ordinary artists / people like us are using for mark making. It does not seem to be a popular form of art on Instagram, but I found some images that I can gain inspiration from.

A number of people liked to stick materials to the ends of sticks / brushes to make their own custom brush, while a handful of people liked to use branches, twigs and leaves for their prints.

 

I really like this image above, because this artist used a variety of organic and inorganic materials. The patterns produced are definitely of interest.

After scrolling and looking at more work, I have some ideas for my tools but I’m still looking for an “aha!” material. Something that is different and fun.  I am going to bring organic and inorganic items to experiment during class time.

Other than the materials used, the techniques used can also make interesting marks. I am inspired by the Torn Paper Collage method and intend to experiment with broken CD parts instead of paper.  Combining materials is also something that I’d like to try.