Choice Piece- Landscape Painting
"Humboldt"
Size: 1 foot by 2 feet
Medium: Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
April 21, 2017
*temp pic*
Exhibition Text
Karen Armenta
Humboldt, 2017
Choice- Landscape Painting
This landscape painting pertains to the serenity of nature and how certain places in the world can hold the most value. Inspired by Claude Monet’s Water Lilies and by Frederic Edwin Church, landscapes are illustrated in dream-like states. Memories lie in the littlest of things and it is our experiences that make up how we see the world. I value from Humboldt Park and chose to paint my memories of this comfort place as a way to let my audience feel what I feel.
Humboldt, 2017
Choice- Landscape Painting
This landscape painting pertains to the serenity of nature and how certain places in the world can hold the most value. Inspired by Claude Monet’s Water Lilies and by Frederic Edwin Church, landscapes are illustrated in dream-like states. Memories lie in the littlest of things and it is our experiences that make up how we see the world. I value from Humboldt Park and chose to paint my memories of this comfort place as a way to let my audience feel what I feel.
Artistic Inspiration
"Water Lilies, 1906." The Art Institute of Chicago. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.
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"Landscape In The Adirondacks." Landscape In The Adirondacks - Frederic Edwin Church. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.
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I was inspired heavily by the vast beauty of landscape paintings and the different movements that incorporated the beauty in landscapes. I found inspiration in Claude Monet specifically for being within the movement of Impressionism. Impressionists' use of color and expression through movement and color create moods for the audience, and I wanted my piece to have similar feels of that. Monet's Water Lilies is a painting of a body of water that also has greenery and uses the water's reflection to enhance the complex serenity of nature, similar to what I planned on going off of. I wanted to extract the same splotchy brushstrokes that Monet used and almost seemed to blend things together. I thought it was beneficial to draw inspiration from a painting that included a body of water to get an idea as to how I should show that my piece had a body of water.
Frederic Edwin Church is also another artist that I got inspiration from. I did some research on artists that specialized in landscape paintings in order to see how every detail plays a role in the depiction of a setting/scenery. Church expresses remarkable views of nature at its finest with the perception of sunlight. Shading and highlights are strongly used to emphasize the time of day it is and how light affects how certain objects in the painting are depicted. Church creates these breathtaking artworks of landscapes that almost gives the feeling of wanting to be surrounded by nature. Nature is always connected to man and Church weaves this idea into his works. His use of blending is impeccable, to the point where everything in his paintings look almost realistic. The paintings, to an extent, retain dream-like qualities to them, but it gives the painting more of a feeling of serenity.
Planning
I had planned to base my piece off of the serenity of Humboldt Park located on Oklahoma and Pine St. The idea was to paint a landscape portrait of different places in this park, to capture the beauty of nature. In doing so, I went to a place that I felt emotionally connected to and could use as a way to express my own memories and experiences with an audience and make them appreciate what I want them to appreciate.
I took multiple shots of the park: I took a picture of the deck with the body of water surrounding an isolated patch of trees, the view of the children's park, and a pathway in the park. I have very special memories of the dock with the view of the body of water and I wanted to experiment with color and feeling. The children's park reminded me of my own innocence and my own child-like nature and I wanted to see if it had potential in becoming a subject in my piece. The path in the park made me feel lost because I didn't know where it led to since I've only been to that park a handful of times. These pictures all hold meaning to me, and as an artist, that is the most valuable thing I could interpret in my painting.
I took multiple shots of the park: I took a picture of the deck with the body of water surrounding an isolated patch of trees, the view of the children's park, and a pathway in the park. I have very special memories of the dock with the view of the body of water and I wanted to experiment with color and feeling. The children's park reminded me of my own innocence and my own child-like nature and I wanted to see if it had potential in becoming a subject in my piece. The path in the park made me feel lost because I didn't know where it led to since I've only been to that park a handful of times. These pictures all hold meaning to me, and as an artist, that is the most valuable thing I could interpret in my painting.
Sketches
Process
I first began the process of applying gesso to a ready-made 1 foot by 2 foot canvas. I continued this until the gesso dried and I got outlining the image onto my canvas. I did it freehand so that I could get the mindset of putting forth a 'splotchy' style to fit the bill of being inspired by impressionism and loosely from abstract art. I heavily referenced the shot I took of the dock and the pond from Humboldt park and used that as a guide as to how I would paint the image.
I started off with the base colors of the sky, the water, and the boards of the dock. From there, I added shades ad highlight to give depth and form to the objects I was trying to paint. This is where I incorporated some blending of shades and highlights with different values of the same color as the base. Once having done that, I continued to add on to my piece, finishing with the trees, the sidewalk, and the other little details of shading to the trees, water, and dock. I had to blend many colors with the boards to get them to look realistic to also imitate my artistic inspiration of landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church.
I started off with the base colors of the sky, the water, and the boards of the dock. From there, I added shades ad highlight to give depth and form to the objects I was trying to paint. This is where I incorporated some blending of shades and highlights with different values of the same color as the base. Once having done that, I continued to add on to my piece, finishing with the trees, the sidewalk, and the other little details of shading to the trees, water, and dock. I had to blend many colors with the boards to get them to look realistic to also imitate my artistic inspiration of landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church.
Experimentation
I had intended on making this piece a digital piece but I opted for it because of time. I wasn't at all experienced with this medium, although I really wanted to give it a shot, but because of time purposes, I had to change it quickly because of it. I did not want to risk anything and so I decided to take the safer route with this piece. I also think that painting it would be more helpful in the process of stimulating feelings for this piece, since the jaggedness of my piece would be more intentional for style. I attempted to blend using the watercolor tool that came with my program, but I found it hard because of my lack of experience.
After spending more time on the process of my painting, I found new ways to make my painting look similar to that of the original picture that I intended to "recreate'". As a result, I attempted a splotchy style to also make use of my artistic inspiration. I experimented with the blending of tones and values of the colors I used and even the shading. Highlighting with white and blending it with my index finger was one way to do it. This was seen with the blending of the water and the blending of the boards on the deck, along with the trees in the background.
I also found success in making the sidewalk with a scrunched up napkin. I applied paint to it and dabbed the white on to parts of the sidewalk to give it the gravel effect a sidewalk has. Later, I blended a bit of gray to the sidewalk so that the white wasn't as harsh on the eyes as it was after I applied the white.
After spending more time on the process of my painting, I found new ways to make my painting look similar to that of the original picture that I intended to "recreate'". As a result, I attempted a splotchy style to also make use of my artistic inspiration. I experimented with the blending of tones and values of the colors I used and even the shading. Highlighting with white and blending it with my index finger was one way to do it. This was seen with the blending of the water and the blending of the boards on the deck, along with the trees in the background.
I also found success in making the sidewalk with a scrunched up napkin. I applied paint to it and dabbed the white on to parts of the sidewalk to give it the gravel effect a sidewalk has. Later, I blended a bit of gray to the sidewalk so that the white wasn't as harsh on the eyes as it was after I applied the white.
I had experimented with the water-coloring technique but digitally, similar to this video I watched on YouTube for guidance. This was tricky for me since I was inexperienced, so I tried to get it to look similar to water coloring, but it almost looked like I was using the acrylic paint blending method instead of a water color blending method. I wanted to try to copy the way that this YouTuber blended her paint, but it ultimately did not give the same effect I wanted it to be.
Reflection
As I reflect on my final piece, I have decided that I could have developed better time management skills because if I were to have had more time, I would have been able to further get in to fine detail and make this piece look very similar to the original shot. Alas, there is only so much time to do things in life and I had to make the most out of my time. In all honesty, this isn't how I viewed my piece to turn out to be, and I am not sure I like it as much as I could. I feel like I could have done better, but because of how rushed I felt and lack of motivation, I finished with this outcome. Even with my first intended medium of art, I had little to no experience and that is what led to me not wanting to go through with it. That also felt rushed and not well done and I opted out and instead decided to gow with a painting in order to make up for lost time and compensate with my somewhat decent skills in painting.
The intended patchiness of my piece, to me, looks like it was unintentional and it looks as though I didn't try at all, when in fact I did. I could have had the decency to clean up parts of my piece, but I didn't. I'm not satisfied with his piece because of how I know that I could have done better and know that this isn't my best work of art. I can say that I am satisfied with the blending in the dock, since that is what I spent the most time with. I felt as though the dock was the most important part of my piece, since the foreground was being emphasized due to the meaning that it held to me. The dock is the center of my attention when looking at the shot that I took and I wanted my audience to focus on it. The starting point is the dock and the movement in my piece shows it going from foreground to background. The dock leads to the water, and the water leads to the trees and sky.
If I could do this piece over, I would definitely try again with the digital art only because I want to see the results if I were to go through with it. Maybe my outcome would have been different since it would have been done digitally. Then again, maybe it wouldn't because of how little I have experience with digital art.
The intended patchiness of my piece, to me, looks like it was unintentional and it looks as though I didn't try at all, when in fact I did. I could have had the decency to clean up parts of my piece, but I didn't. I'm not satisfied with his piece because of how I know that I could have done better and know that this isn't my best work of art. I can say that I am satisfied with the blending in the dock, since that is what I spent the most time with. I felt as though the dock was the most important part of my piece, since the foreground was being emphasized due to the meaning that it held to me. The dock is the center of my attention when looking at the shot that I took and I wanted my audience to focus on it. The starting point is the dock and the movement in my piece shows it going from foreground to background. The dock leads to the water, and the water leads to the trees and sky.
If I could do this piece over, I would definitely try again with the digital art only because I want to see the results if I were to go through with it. Maybe my outcome would have been different since it would have been done digitally. Then again, maybe it wouldn't because of how little I have experience with digital art.
Connection to ACT
Identify cause and effect relationships between your inspiration and your artwork.
My artistic inspiration caused me to want to create landscape paintings and the effect of that was making me realize what nature truly means to me. I believe that nature is always connected to man and though it may not be apparent in one's life, it is significant in memories whether they know it or not. Nature has always been a part of mankind and our genes hold traits that once favored nature and used nature to our advantage.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Nature is everywhere and nature is capable of evoking many feelings to a person. Nature could be correlated to the Earth we live in and the success and failure of our environment could lead us to have positive or negative feelings on the things we do to help it or destroy it.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While conducting research on my topic, I came across the lack of landscape artists. I think when people think of landscape artists, people associate the artist Bob Ross to that due to social media. Nature isn't as appreciated as it used to be, and landscape paintings were more favored in the past rather than in the present.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I wanted to provide the connection that mankind has with nature. I wanted to express how nature can evoke feelings to a person, and how people have connections to the environment they live in.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made the inference that people are forgetting about caring for their environment. I felt like because of social media, the impact we have on nature is not emphasized and we are ultimately leading the way to the destruction of the Earth.
My artistic inspiration caused me to want to create landscape paintings and the effect of that was making me realize what nature truly means to me. I believe that nature is always connected to man and though it may not be apparent in one's life, it is significant in memories whether they know it or not. Nature has always been a part of mankind and our genes hold traits that once favored nature and used nature to our advantage.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Nature is everywhere and nature is capable of evoking many feelings to a person. Nature could be correlated to the Earth we live in and the success and failure of our environment could lead us to have positive or negative feelings on the things we do to help it or destroy it.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While conducting research on my topic, I came across the lack of landscape artists. I think when people think of landscape artists, people associate the artist Bob Ross to that due to social media. Nature isn't as appreciated as it used to be, and landscape paintings were more favored in the past rather than in the present.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I wanted to provide the connection that mankind has with nature. I wanted to express how nature can evoke feelings to a person, and how people have connections to the environment they live in.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made the inference that people are forgetting about caring for their environment. I felt like because of social media, the impact we have on nature is not emphasized and we are ultimately leading the way to the destruction of the Earth.
Bibliography
"Review." Information reviews about Impressionism. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.
"Impressionism Movement, Artists and Major Works." The Art Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.
Kottasová, Ivana. "Artists tackle 'man vs nature' debate." CNN. Cable News Network, 20 July 2012. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.
"Impressionism Movement, Artists and Major Works." The Art Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.
Kottasová, Ivana. "Artists tackle 'man vs nature' debate." CNN. Cable News Network, 20 July 2012. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.