Reflection

Today we went to the National Gallery and were told to identify these paintings (above), I found them all quite different in terms of perspective, composition, structure, palette, light/dark, surfaces etc. For example, The Watering Place seems like it has been taken from the perspective of someone walking up the path, with light cast upon the path, which draws you in to the painting. Whereas, Cup Of Water and Rose on a Silver Plate is so still and quiet, nothing draws you in. As well as this, the palette used in the paintings are different for example the watering place is painted using yellows, greens and browns whereas Cup of water and rose on a silver plate is painting using dark browns, whites and pink/ crimson.

The painting I was most drawn towards was George Bellows- The Men of the Docks (above), mainly because I like the Impressionist style of painting and I felt that it held aspects of Impressionism. Whilst standing in front of the painting I took some notes about the work; I felt that the perspective was withdrawn like an outsiders perspective yet it looked as if the artist was watching from nearby. The composition was interesting with men gathered, huddled together in the foreground of the painting and the water behind them leading towards the cityscape in the background, your eyes automatically move from the men, across the water and to the city. The palette that has been used is cold, greys and blues as well as black-browns, lots of muted tones, it conveys a cold, wintry feeling. There is light shining across the water which is shown through shadow in contrast with areas of brightness. I liked how there was build up of paint making up the water which gave it a different textural appearance to the rest of the piece. It was clear just by looking at the piece that the men wanted to get across the water and when I researched further I found that the artist was in fact painting a group of immigrant men waiting on the docks of Brooklyn waiting to be chosen for work loading/ unloading ships coming into the port on a cold winters morning. If The men didn’t get chosen they wouldn’t earn any money and so this is quite a sad and desperate painting which I feel is conveyed clearly through the painting, Manhattan is shown in the distance almost as if they’re living a completely different life from the wealthier workers in the city and they ‘can’t reach’ that life because there are cold waters in between them.

I did a few studies (below) of Men Of The Docks, the first study was in charcoal, I was just roughly mapping out where all the shapes, structures and figures were in the painting and this is what made me think about the metaphorical connotations of the piece (the poor workers unable to reach the big city in the background). The second study I did in black biro pen because I wanted to more solidly map out the structures in the piece, I released that all of the structures along the sides of the painting lead your eyes across the water towards Manhattan in the background. For the third study I used black marker pen and just mapped out the figures as i liked the way Bellows painted them huddled together and I wanted to see if it was still effective without the sorrow being landscape. I then used pencil to draw the figures more accurately in my fourth study. For my fifth study, I used oil pastels, this was an attempt at a colour study although in hindsight it would have been better done with paint where you can blend colours more easily. I wanted to do a texture/ surfaces study using paint but I did not have any paints with me at the time.

Part 2: fine art painting specialism

Part 2: fine art painting specialism

Movement in time and space- transcription project: gallery visits & studies

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