2nd Experimental Painting

 

ā€œHuman life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpieceā€ – Vladimir Nabokov (Lolita, 1997)

The novel/film adaptation is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narratorā€”a middle-aged literature professor called Humbert Humbertā€”is obsessed with the 12-year-old Dolores Haze, with whom he becomes sexually involved after he becomes her stepfather.

I forgot how I chanced upon this film, but since then Iā€™ve identified references to its characters in songs I listen to ā€” eg. It Started In The Winter, composed by Jeremy Lloyd for The Dukeā€™s Men of Yale, one of my personal favourites.

The lines that hit me the most is:

Lay safe in Ivory sheets and
Sketch verses of Shakespeare
‘Round your bedroom wall
But we were not like Shakespeare
Ran out of things to say
And like our penciled verses
Began to fade away;

highlighting the impermanence of love, which I had chosen to portray in this piece of work for my submission. It is a collaborative piece, and will not remain the same throughout its time of exhibit (only possible with your help!). The ephemeral nature of love will be the subject of my painting, but I also wish to know what YOU perceive love to be — seeing as everyone experiences it differently. Stop by the foyer and jot down (with the available markers, or any one of your own – no colour restrictions) what love means to you ā€” yes on the painting itself! Together, you and I will complete this piece at the end of the exhibitionĀ 

ANALYSIS

I had chosen a reckless style of painting, wishing to convey a sense of forbiddance as portrayed in the film. The brushstrokes used to paint Lolita and Humbert Humbert are forceful, suggesting an almost rebellious character. The whites of the canvas are left visible, and not completely covered by black paint, creating a mysterious feel, but also resonates with Vladimir’s quote which I had chosen as the title of this piece.

2nd Still Life

 

 

 

I initially couldn’t colour match the red of the heels to any one of theĀ  oil tubes I had, and spent too much time mixing colours which eventually were all too dark. It was all thanks to Joan who, like a deus ex machina, came over with one of the tubes that was a perfect match. She also helped me see the lights and the darks in my set up, and encouraged me to place an equal importance to the background of my composition, which helped to create a depth in my painting (though it would have been better, I believe, if it was more blurred, thus allowing the actual set up to be the centrepoint). The transparency of the glass cup and bottle was interesting to paint, and I had to use A LOT of whites for highlights! What I really loved about this though, is the colour. Red, blue and green just somehow work together!

3 Portraits

It is cool to see the improvements in tonal differences over the course of three weeks. While it was tough for me to get the lights and darks in my work in the first two weeks, I think I managed to the capture (at least some) contrast in my last piece. I produced very flat paintings with no three-dimensionality the first two weeks, but was proud of the results on the third week.

(Left a board in school, will take a picture of it and update this post later!)

First Experimental Painting


The shift in medium – from oil to acrylic, initially proved to be a setback for me. Intimidated by the very bold and vibrant colours, I was scared to apply my first stroke, skeptical as to how it will stand out against the canvas, which was primed in black. However, pressured by the limitations of class time (3 hours is too short a time to paint!), I was forced to do so. Interestingly, I felt that I understood the theory of colour harmony through this medium better, seeing as we had to really be careful of the relationship of two (almost neon) colours, and where we place them on the canvas. Abstraction really helped me to focus less on the little details, and to see the set as simply shapes and colours. While this was a fun set up to study the emotions conveyed through our brushstrokes, I felt that there was too much going on to really scrutinise on a single one without being distracted by the other.