Freedom in Painting: Black and White ( Preparation and Reading )

 I signed up  for 'Freedom in Painting: Black and White'  at  Creek  Creative  immediately after the excellent course  ' Painting the Novel'  earlier in the year, Ashley is such an excellent tutor. 

As usual I overprepared !  I've been meeting up regularly with fellow artists Hazel and Teddy  ( always  so inspiring )  and in between times we've been  sharing  what we've been up to on Instagram. 

I've long been a fan of Terry Frost  and I can still remember the impact  of seeing  one of his 'Through Blacks' paintings ( above) from 1972-3   at the RA exhibition . With it's collaged semi-circles  and subtle variations, it looked very different when viewed  from the side or full-on, one of those pieces that has to be seen in the flesh to appreciate.  In the catalogue he talked of " while making 'through blacks' I got the experience of seeing the blue side of black, the red side of black and the yellow side of black"  The colours on the left hand side were the one he was mixing from.   There's more about the process and his thoughts on colour perception here. 

Spurred on by the  postcard sized colour mixing exercises that Teddy had done,  I had a go myself  with acrylics on watercolour paper, including  using some of the combinations I love from watercolours . I like to see a hint of the colours that made them when mixing blacks.  

  Above:primaries Azo yellow, Alizarin Crimson and Phalo blue ( with overlayers of white)

Below: Ultramarine with burnt umber/burnt sienna

 One of the bonuses  was that the burnt sienna and ultramarine are transparent ( at least in the Winsor and Newton range I was using) so you get translucent blacks (and a bit of granulation as in watercolours. )

I also had  an extensive trawl through my considerable collection of  art books and catalogues to find  inspiration.  Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham  is one of my favourite artists,  I love  her abstracted  landscapes - you can see the dry stone walls in the painting above. 

Wilhemina Barnes-Graham 

Prunella Clough is another favourite particularly how she renders textures 

Likewise, the textures  and change of scale in Nicolas de Stael ( and love that edge of red )

I could have chosen any painting in the book I have of Anthony Whishaw's work , he uses a lot of black and white , I like the subtle variations in line and mark . 

The subtle, ghost-like layers of paint in work by Ian McKeever ( below) has always appealed ( I used his 'Temple Paintings' as inspiration for my series of Honesty quilts). This time I picked  out pairs of paintings where he'd used black on white and whites on black - get very different effects

 Then I spent a long time looking through the catalogue  from the RA Abstract Expressionism  exhibition -  so many examples to choose from , remembering the huge scale of many of the works : the 'drawings' of Willem de Kooning; the large gestural  brush strokes of Franz Kline; the collage of Conrad Marca-Relli  

Willem de Kooning 

Franz Kline 

Conrad Marca-Relli 

Conrad Marca-Relli 

 On the requirements list  for  the course was  at least 2 canvases and a range of different black  and white paints . As I also needed large quantities of paint  ( including 2 x 500ml of white!) for the David Tress class at Lund Studios    I  put in a  a large  order of supplies! 

We had instructions to paint one of our  canvases  in black paint beforehand. While I was doing  so , I painted some canvas paper I had and experimented  with  transparent mixing white (I've never used it before) . Mixed with  matte or gloss medium it has definate possibilities for glazing rather than using oils. 

  Next - how did the class go!

Ways into abstract painting week 4: Tate Modern Visit

I've spent most of the last week stitching and painting my entry for SAQA 'Made in Europe II'   but  with that completed ( a day before the deadline!) I can concentrate on looking through my notes and sketches  in preparation for tomorrow's final session of 'Ways into Abstract Painting' . It's gone so quickly!

Last week we had an 'off site' visit to Tate Modern to research the work of a variety of artists , looking at the ways they use colour, composition, paint application etc.   We  were working in small groups , finding   artists who used one of each of a range of painting techniques  eg impasto, directional brushmarks and then discussed what their starting point was ( observational, memory, random ) and how treatment of the work affected the atmosphere or feeling of the piece) . Then individually  we did sketches of composition looking at tone and colour study.

Duncan Grant Interior of Gordon Square

We started in ' In the Studio' and the group I was with looked at works by Duncan Grant and Matisse . I wouldn't necessarily have chosen this work myself but  I  like how it's obviously based on a room and easels etc but interesting composition and colour choices.  Then the security guard suggested I deposit my rucksack in the cloakroom/lockers and on my return  it was difficult to get back into discussions so contrary to instructions , I went and looked at work on my own.
It's probably just as well, I'm not very good at looking at artworks with others unless it's a tutor pointing out key features etc. When I go to exhibitions with friends or Ian , tend to go round separately

Max Ernst The Entire City

Jean Miro Painting 1927

It was interesting to look at work with an initial focus on painting methods - picking up on the 'grissage' of Max Ernst and the outlines and subtle layers of Jean Miro. The intense blue initially looks flat but looking closer you can see directional brushmarks.

Nicolas de Stael Marathon 1948

Nicolas de Stael  was an obvious example of impasto! The notes on the wall/ website suggest that the title perhaps indicates the comparison with creating a painting and the extended exertion of a race. 

However the composition to me looked like a head  or helmet like the ones worn at the battle of Marathon  ( Ian' s interests in military history obviously rubbing off on me....)

Tsuyoshi Maekawa Two Junctions

I was so wrapped up in analysing this artwork with its' combination of burlap, paint  and a colour palette similar to the coastal ones I'm using at the moment that I lost control of my crayons . One rooled behind the security wire so I had to ask a security guard to retrieve  it for me!

Pierre Soulages Painting 23 May 1953

Nearby was this large work by Pierre Soulages,  with its calligraphic heavy directional brushmarks.

I paid homage to Gerhard Richter  and did a quick sketch of Winifred Nicholson's calm  piece in ' Art and Society'  I like her quote about abstraction:

"the nature of abstract colour is utter purity – but colours wish to fly, to merge, to change each other by their juxtapositions, to radiate, to shine, to withdraw deep within themselves."

By the time I'd looked once again at Shozo Shimamoto's ' Holes' I'd run out of steam so had a quick look around the Giacometti before meeting up with the class for coffee and to discuss our findings.

It was really interesting to see what others had discovered, some had concentrated on just one or 2 paintings,  others had  a different mix to my own selection. I'd missed the Kurt Schwitters and the Peter Doig  so had a look at those before returning to City Lit. With browsing in the bookshop and getting sidetracked by Magdalena Abakanowicz I only had  10 minutes to eat my lunch!

Shozo Shimamoto  Holes 1954

In the afternoon we started on a project working from a similar starting point to the artist we'd chosen.  Most people were looking at composition  but my starting point was the process used by Shizo Shimamoto of layering newspapers . I was interested to read more about the Gutai group  having coincidentally  looked at work by 2 members.

I  had a happy afternoon glueing  pages and torn up bits of text and pictures from that day's Metro onto cartridge paper and then applying white paint using different methods ( credit card scraping, brushwork etc )  ready to tear up and layer the following week. . Reading more about  his work  and the process involved  I realised that the  delicacy of the orginal piece come from multiple layers  of newspaper glued with flour and water  contrasted with the use of enamel paint - I don't think what I've prepared will work in the same way. 

I've also been thinking about  why I wanted to do this class ( to help with  abstract composition in my textile pieces) and how I could best use what I've learnt so far in a final project.   Further work on holes and tears requires  more attention to materials and process than can be achieved in a days' class so I'm putting that interesting topic to one side for the moment.   

So for tomorrow I'm looking at the brushmarks/ impasto of De Stael and Soulages  and have printed and laminated photos so I can do some colour mixing , (particularly of greys)   in preparation for the next in my ' Birchington Breakwater ' series.