Category: Summer Term

I walked around the woodland, absorbing the atmosphere and deciding where I wanted to paint. In the end I decided to paint in the same location that I did my last painting. The height and grandeur of the scene is perfect for the atmosphere I want to capture, and it works well having the same scene focused on for both A1 pieces, since I stood in the same spot for the fist A1 piece I did.

I completed the piece over two nights, working from sunset to darkness. Until it was pitch black.

I found the work really came together as the darkness came, my process (similar to the A3 pieces) was to work light to dark, adding the richest, darkest, most opaque colours last under torch light. Witnessing the changing light and mood, and not just the scene in front of me but the whole woodland surrounding me, created a piece that I don’t think could be replicated in a studio.

I decided to use a similar shape of structure for the two pieces, since the shape was inspired by the same scene, it naturally meant the structures took similar shape.

I am very pleased with how the two pieces look together, there is a real sense of light and dark, which is reflected in the two images of the view from where I stood when painting.

I considered having a dark background to the painting completed at night, so when the tape was removed it revealed a black background. However looking at the two pieces next to each other, I realise the same white lines is what ties the pieces together.

A number of artists have been influential in this project, such as Howard Hogdkins (from Lent term but still relevant to this project) and Maria Chevska. But the artist Piet Mondrian (from Lent term) progressed his style in a similar light to my work; gradually moving towards abstraction. His work started as expressive landscapes and eventually settled on extreme abstraction. This pairing back of work is something that I investigated at the beginning of my investigation into woodland, but couldn’t relate to at the beginning of the project. I was very much settled on the idea of describing the world around me in a more literal sense. Now however, I can see that abstract painting offers the potential to capture something deeper and closer to human experience than an accurate depiction of a landscape.

I am happy with the conclusion of this project, I have found my own language with paint, which I would like to continue exploring and refining in the future.

This A3 test in my sketchbook combines an ink painting of woodland, using the technique I developed last term, with the abstract paintings in acrylic layered on top. Normally I paint the acrylic en plein air, but for the purposes of this test I worked in my studio, from a photograph, because the important test here is combining styles and working in the studio meant I could get my idea down much more quickly.

After completing the experiment, I know that this style is not something I want to explore further now. Perhaps if I continue with this work after the project ends, I could push the idea further but there needs to be a lot of adjustments to the style and method, a lot of time and experimentation, and from this experiment I can’t see it having enough potential to be worth taking forward.

The issue is that the combination of both ink painting and abstract colour leaves the piece feeling very busy. So busy that neither style has space to show it’s full potential. The piece is left feeling messy and confused.

I am glad I did this small experiment, it has shown me that moving forward I want to focus on abstract lines and shapes. I think the reason I brought the ink back was because my comfort zone up until now has been work with recognisable descriptions of the world – not in total abstraction. So I had a calling from past paintings to bring back recognisable shapes into my work. I now know that for this work to be successful I need to embrace the abstraction, since that is where my work is being most successful and has the most potential.

I wanted to make a wire sculpture of the shapes I have been adding to my paintings to help me draw lines with angles that create the illusion of depth more effectively. It is hard to tell whether a viewer of my work would be able to ‘see’ the depth of the shapes I am sketching, since I am so invested in the idea. Perhaps I should test the shapes on people unconnected to my project and see what they perceive.

I wanted a small scale piece, that used less wire and was easier to move around. But I realised whilst making it, that working on a bigger scale with the thickness of wire I had would have been easier.

After getting a guide with the wire, I transferred the images to Photoshop and added black straight lines on top. These lines would be my guides when adding shapes to paintings in the future:

Doing this small scale test has helped me to know how I can create the illusion of towering box shapes with simple abstract lines.

(I am going to test these images on people and see how easily they can see the shapes.)

Two A2 pieces completed in the woods. I decided to take more time to do these. Instead of quickly applying paint and moving on, I set myself up in a location more permanently. It meant I could pause and consider more between layers, and could take more time to look and be in my surroundings.

These are the two pieces before I added lines. One of the pieces I wanted to test putting tape down on location before painting on top.

I took more time to think about the texture and thickness of layers before applying them. Adding a larger range of thick and thin applications to create more depth.

Due to all these new approaches to painting outside, the style of these experiments seems more successful. I have noticed I am drawn to scenes of clearings in the trees above, and areas of space below the canopy surrounded by trees trunks. This kind of scene seems to give me a good framework for painting, and connects well with the framework of lines I am adding to the pieces.

After completing the painting in the woods, I made a small sketch of the shape of the structure I wanted to add in ink once back in the studio. I thought about adding the ink outside, but practically, painting them back in the studio seems simpler.

I used a thinner brush than before to add the ink lines, which I think works better because the black doesn’t overwhelm the rest of the painting. Practising on A4 paper before works really well.

For this second experiment I put down thin strips of masking tape once I had decided where I would be painting outside. The tape underneath creates much sharper, lighters lines that appear to have more structure and sharper corners.

However I do like the immediacy of the ink on top, except it is not as obvious with the ink that I am attempting to draw a dimensional structure.

What next? 

So these experiments have worked really well. I like using both the ink and the tape to create the structure, so they need to be tested more before I choose to only use one.

It might also be worth testing some more structural line drawings using a more technical method, working out which angles work to create the illusion of a three-dimensional shape. Perhaps constructing a model would help with that?

I am thinking that next I should work on a larger scale, perhaps on board so that I can have better setup when painting in the woods.

The larger scale will give me more space to push my abstract colour forward, and more space to paint structures that will have a sense of the height and grandeur I am trying to capture.

I spent the afternoon outside, drawing, walking and painting in my sketchbook, finishing with this A2 below. Based on the view I had looking up at the sky.

Because of all the prep work I had done before working on paper, I felt confident with the paint and the setting, and was happy with the outcome. I like how the paint gets more concentrated towards the centre of the canvas. However I still don’t know whether I like seeing the stark white background around the edges, or if it would be better to have the background a colour.

Then, when I got back to the studio I added ink lines to the sketchbook pieces first, and then to this paper piece. Doing some small tests next to it first to work out what shape would work.

Adding the lines back in the studio is a less intinctual way of working, I only had the painting and an image of the woodland scene to base the lines on. Next time I want to try adding the lines immediately after the acrylic has dried, when I am still in the woods.

Overall I am happy with the outcome of the piece, and think is a positive start. I want to try different forms of lines next time, perhaps a thinner brush to apply the ink, or putting tape down before painting so the lines reveal the background.

The method of spending some time in the woods painting and drawing before doing a final piece at the end seems to work well, I’ll continue this method in the future.