After submission of my assignment 3 piece to my tutor and discussing with her in our skype tutorial about the more successful piece coming out from my daily self-portraits project from week 9 ‘Portrait objects’, I decided to submit that work in a slightly adjusted presentation for assessment in July 2017. I abandoned thus the originally submitted assignment 3 piece completely.…
Tag: painting
Assignment 5: “Memories, the Uncanny & the Un-Homely”
My personal encounter alongside the process of deterioration of a house, memories with an uncanny sensation. ❖ Inside of Us: The Uncanny & the Un-homely ❖ Finding my Theme: I found my theme after reflection on my tutor’s feedback after my last assignment related to painting as documentation and the link to Cornelia Parker’s ‘blowing the shed’ documentation. I was remembering a residential building in…
Study Overpainting transferred paintings
Till now I overpainted photographs and acrylic transferred photographs from images I took on location. I wanted to go one step further and see my painting responses to my own paintings. For this study I decided to use the images from project 2 ‘Textured ground – Triptych‘ – images click here. I went to inkjet print no.2 and no.3 and…
Sketchbook (16): Over- and repainted photographs
Some of my A3 sketchbook paintings – overpainted photographs based on acrylic transfer inkjet prints (in acrylic, ink, and watercolour) In context of my personal project ‘The uncanny and the un-homely’
Overpainting photographs: A painterly interrogation
A collection of inkjet printed double photo cards overpainted with oil paint:
Preparation: Process Painting
Introduction I got informed by my tutor after last assignment feedback that the sequence of intermediate painting steps can be more than merely a narrative and illustration of my making. My two more successful examples from Part 4 are the one from Project 1 – ‘Hard and Soft Landscape‘ => with a narrative and emulation of natural phenomena and the other…
Preparation: Overpainting of photographic images
During part 4 I experimented with photographs and got into the notion of the associated memories of old, especially family photographs (see. Project ‘Squaring Up‘). My tutor felt these paintings as quite successful related to the sequence and showing step separation (similar to interim stage print proofs) and the possibility to work more with photographs. The idea was discussed how…
Preparation: Texture, Index and abstraction
Texture & found materials: Already in previous parts and projects I worked with textured grounds for my paintings. My examples: Part 4 – Project 4 – ‘Landscape outside‘ and Project 5 – Ex3 ‘Working from photograph‘ Part 5 – Project 2 – Ex 1 ‘Textured ground‘ and Ex 2 ‘Mixing materials‘ I contextualised especially Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945) – see link…
Preparation: Monotype, monoprint and other transfer experiments
During part 4 I experimented with some surrealistic automatic techniques like Decalcomania. Decalcomania is a kind of monoprint, a monotype – one of a kind. I used it successfully in project ‘Linear Perspective‘. The rationale for applying a random pattern of paint was to trigger emotional responses of the viewer with association of mental stages of mind (vertigo, claustrophobia). The starting point was my…
Project 3 – Exercise 2: Abstract painting from man-made form
As in the last exercise I decided to look at specific images from my series of photographs taken on site. Final Paintings: Painting #1: Enamel and acrylic on canvas board (50 x 40 cm) Painting #2: Oil and acrylic on canvas board (50 x 40 cm) (remark: the photograph doesn’t show the complex luminosity of the painted surface completely) Preparatory…
Artifacts #4
‘Artifacts #4’ Acrylic paint, oil paint, enamel, objects, glue, gesso (each 24 x 18 cm) – Intermediate space –
Project 3 – Exercise 1: Abstraction from study of natural forms
Abstraction: In the context of this project of ‘Abstraction’ I wanted to understand a bit more of other approaches in painting and looked already some time ago into the Korean movement ‘Dansaekhwa‘, also called ‘Korean monochrome painting’, that evolved in the 1970s. I find it intriguing how the artists look at painting as ‘an act of physical movement and interaction with the…
Artifacts #3
‘Artifacts #3’ Painting #1-6: Acrylic paint, oil paint, objects, glue, gesso (each 24 x 18 cm) – Intermediate space –
Project 2 – Exercise 2: Mixing materials into paint
Continuing with experiments paint and found materials. For this exercise I decided to go through a more methodological series of materials. The materials I choose are linked to my subject matter of residential building, interior, living on countryside as well she more linked to painting as suc: Salt Ground Coffee Tea Leaves Earth ground Rabbit hide gue Bee wax …
Project 2 – Exercise 1: Preparing a textured ground
Moving ahead with the exercises I let my ideas and site experience for my personal project inform my experimental exploration of materials and painting approach. In previous exercises I already uses some textured grounds for paintings (e.g. Part 4 – Project 4 ‘Painting a landscape outside‘ – ‘Artefacts‘). Therefore not totally new to me. In scope of this exercise I will…
Project 1 – Exercise 2: Dripping, dribbling and spattering
Another exercise I couldn’t image how to embed this into my personal project. Thus another fresh run with fun and experiments with different media. I was hopeful that I will be able to build some ideas for my project while experimenting ‘the deterioration of a residence building – an uncanny experience’ Contextual research: Looking up some information about Pollock’s painting approach, the paint…
Project 1 – Exercise 1: Impasto
The last part of the course is me setting out on a series of experimental and rather abstract painting approaches. I haven’t decided yet how to included those as part of my personal project or to keep them strictly separate. Thus I decided for this first exercise just to look at it with fresh eyes, not to be bothered with my…
Assignment 4 – ‘A Constructed Landscape’
I described my contextual research, my initial experiments and my plan forward for this assignment in a separate post at: https://ocapainting1.stefanschaffeld.com/?p=3055 Final Painting: The constructed Landscape (12 segments each 40 x 40 cm – total 120 x 160 cm), Ink and acrylic on primed paper 600 g/sqm Preparatory work: As roughly outlined in my initial thoughts I looked up first my two sketchbooks…
Artifacts #2
‘Artifact #2’: Acrylic and found objects on canvas – sized and gessoed (37 x 63 cm) -Intermediate space- This ‘Artifact’ is lost – as I re-used it as support for another painting => Project 5 – Exercise 3
Part 4 – Review painting and sketches
My reflection on part 4 ‘Looking Out‘ Which have been the most engaging exercises? => The most physical engaging exercise for me was Project 4 ‘outdoor painting exercise‘ and as a kind of continuation Project 5 Ex3 ‘Working from photograph (Cloud Sublime)’. The most mentally engaging exercise with surpisingly outcome was P5Ex2 ‘Squaring up (Memories)’. Besides those exercises I find my sketchbook explorations…
Artifacts #1
‘Artefact #1’: Series with found objects and pigment, acrylic medium Acrylic on board each (24 x 30 cm) – An Intermediate space –
Project 5 – Exercise 3: Working from a photograph ‘Sublime cloud’
My reference photo: Final Painting / Works: ‘Sublime Cloud #1’: Painting Acrylic and and found objects on primed canvas (37 x 63 cm) Contextual research: For the painting I envision a rather atmospheric painting I can relate back to my site experience as well as using my painted support on site with encapsulate found particles as the starting…
Project 5 – Exercise 2: Squaring up – ‘Memories’
The course material suggested to look at townscape or individual building that involve perspective. This method can be applied to drawing and photos. I was looking through my collection of picture and found eventually a good image for this exercise. The squaring up method is to ensure accuracy of scale and proportions and to consider as a guide that should…
Project 5 – Exercise 1: Painting from a working drawing ‘Presence’
This exercise asks to follow a certain method in three steps: linear study with focus on main shapes tonal study with focus on values and tonal contrast color study with focus on color relationship, dominant colors and light effects. I understand that making those studies would have a couple of benefits (to be confirmed at the end): Isolation of different…
Project 4 – Exercise: Painting a landscape outside
This exercise will require some time and some efforts especially as it was getting cold outside. I decided to paint a place not far from my Swiss home in Bern. Close there is the ancient river Aare. In summer time the river is full of water but in fall time the water is low and one river bed is dry.…
Project 3 – Exercise: Creating mood and atmosphere
Look at your early paintings and think how each subject could be handled differently to convey a more explicitly gloomy, moody atmosphere – or a different atmosphere altogether: Overall I do believe that my paintings from project 2 are rather expressive and evoking powerful and at times mysterious atmospheres. With my paintings from project 1, I am not that sure, especially…
Project 2 – Exercise 2: Aerial Perspective
Aerial perspective as an artistic device. The term was invented by Leonardo da Vinci. There is a saying by Leonardo “Thus if one is to be five times as distant, make it five times bluer.” HE also said that the more distant the objects the more they approach the color of the surrounding atmosphere. Claude Lorrain and W.M.W. Turner made this term…
Project 2 – Exercise 1: Linear Perspective ‘InsideOut’
The course material mentions shifting perspectives and the focus on line. Using colour and tonal contrast as an additional visual element not necessarily relate to the objects and form. Colour to create “a sense of indeterminate space that is structured just by line”. Contextual research The rules of linear perspective as a mathematical based perspective around one central vanishing point from…
Project 1 – Exercise 2: Hard or soft landscape – ‘The Rock’
For this exercise I will build on my sketchbook works that I keep as a daily routine for exploring my surrounding environment and for experimentation. I am taken a view from a window out of the residence building of the clinic in Meiringen (Bern) Switzerland. Meiringen, also know as the place of Sherlock Holmes story ‘The Final Problem‘ (Wikipedia). I will…
Project 1 – Exercise 1: View from a window or doorway
“Painting is like an open window on the world.” – Alberti (De pictura ,1435) “A window becomes a frame for its variable content, a marker of difference between what is inside and outside” (Orell, 2003) Ideas for my view of the external world: I notice that I did kind of looking out paintings in part 3 – project 3 ‘A Figure in an…
Assignment 3 – A Figurative Painting
This assignment will consolidate my learnings of portrait and self-portrait painting. Elements that need to come through: handling paint, interpreting my subject, exploration of possibilities in portrait painting, and consideration of background. Initial thoughts: After my last exercise and the concept of modern slavery and human trafficking in context of cultural history I found that I need to take a…
Project 3 – Exercise 2: Telling a Story – Keti Koti
This exercise asks for a painting that creates a simple narrative, involving one or several human figures, and produces a painting that gives the viewer the clearest possible idea of what’s happening. Use all of the resources of colour, tone, shape and line to create a painting that goes beyond the merely figurative to convey a simple narrative. Use of exaggerated form or distort…
Daily Self-Portraits: Week 9 – ‘Portrait objects’
This week’s goal is to make each day 9 smaller paintings on one page capturing portrait partials and other objects that are directly influencing my self perception. By that I will paint a collecting of items that at the end present myself. I took some inspiration from Carole Schneemann‘s ‘Partial Portraits’, 1963 and the Cluster pictures by Juliette Blightman hanging on…
Project 3 – Exercise 1: A figure in an interior
In this exercise I will look at how to depict figures in an interior scene. As this subject can be very complex and challenging to paint I will try to simplify and to focus on key elements in my paintings. Final paintings Painting #1: Acrylic and oil on acrylic paper (40 x 30 cm) Painting #2: Acrylic on primed canvas (50 x 50 cm) Contextual…
Daily Self-Portraits: Week 8 ‘The Eyes of the Skin’
Task for this week: Bodily engaging painting – body painting – painting with my body – another self-portrait “The Eyes of the Skin” (Juhani Pallasmaa) Traditionally vision was considered superior and alongside words the dominant aspects in art history and aesthetics. Other senses as touch and smell were since Aristoteles considered as inferior. Pallasmaa (2005) looked into those aspects in the context…
Daily Self-Portraits: Week 7
Plan for this week: Revision and reflection Form the previous weeks there are several aspects and approaches that I would like to follow further: Color to depict mood and atmosphere Luminosity through color and tonal contrast and layering Additive and subtractive painting, textured grounds Bodily interaction I think it would be beneficial to dedicate one week to one specific theme. Task…
Project 2 – Exercise 4: Conveying a character
First I am looking up the word character to possibly understand some variations of it (http://www.merriam-webster.com/): character – the way someone thinks, feels, and behaves : someone’s personality – a set of qualities that are shared by many people in a group, country, etc. – a set of qualities that make a place or thing different from other places or…
Daily Self-Portraits: Week 6
Plan for this week: Further exploration in context, different viewpoints, working in oil Learnings: Luminosity: using japanese paper with oil, absorbing oil (learning from part 1) and translucent to backlight Working in oil takes really more time – challenging for one painting a day. The last paintings were actually done in two days. Focusing on one focus area can make the overall…
Project 2 – Exercise 3: Creating mood and atmosphere
Idea: Atmosphere of mental health, sadness, isolation, melancholy based on my work experiences as an art therapist. Using myself as a mirror (and with a mirror) and as a carrier for the mood that I experienced while working with patients in a psychiatry clinic. General symptoms of depression are: fatigue, worthless, hopelessness, emotionless, dumb, emptiness, anxiety, insomnia, sadness or ‘feeling blue’. General a high…
Daily Self-Portraits: Week 5
Plan for this week: in oil and acrylic, leverage my self portrait learnings, new poses Learnings: with a coloured ground, still wet scratching is another way to build shapes (reminds me at the scratch works at school time in oil pastels, black overpainting over coloured spots) Luminosity: based on strong tonal contrasts or by multiple transparent layers Concept: Mirror reflection…
Project 2 – Exercise 2: Head and Shoulder Portrait
Contextual: The last exercise brought me closer to using flesh colors and color pads application to depict believable forms. For this exercise I would like to look at a different approach that I studies partly already in my personal project ‘Daily Self-Portraits’: looser brushworks and bolder color use with at times thicker and thinner application. Overall to achieve a ‘lighter’ painting…
Daily Self Portraits: Week 4
My plan for that week was to exploring planes in color with less focus on linear qualities. For some of the works I got inspired by works by Walter Sickert and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye for their use of muted and broken colors. I was travelling so I used rather pastels due to space limitations (#23-28). I find those materials quite useful to take…
Project 2 – Exercise 1: Self-Portrait
Since the beginning of this part ‘Portrait and Figure‘ I started with my personal project of one self-portrait a day (available on this blog at: https://ocapainting1.stefanschaffeld.com/?cat=64). Exploring various media, viewpoints, angles and proportions of surrounding space. Experimenting with different painting approaches and expressions. Most of them are painted within one hour. Selection of first three weeks of daily self-portraits: in watercolor, ink,…
Daily Self-Portraits: Week 3
Learnings: Working with palette knife enabled me to work more investigative with additive and subtractive marks With some inspirational references to other artists (#17-21) I was looking into other perspectives of painting. Plan for next week: Exploring planes and less drawing in paint. Inspirational sources: Elizabeth Peyton (#19-21), Jonathan Yeo (#17-18) newest on the top: #21: Gouache on paper (30 x 40 cm) =>…
Daily Self-Portraits: Week 2
This week I decided to follow just my intuition and to work in some other materials and with stronger emphasis on surface and additive and subtractive painting. I focused more on broken colors and limited palette. Learnings: With a more experimental approach like in my sketchbooks I got a loose approach. Experimenting with oil sticks was fun – challenging on…
Project 1 – Exercise 3: Tonal Figure Study
This study’ aim is to convey form through tonal gradation in color. Final painting Acrylic paint on paper (48 x 36 cm) Sketchbook studies Looking with my model for interesting poses and viewpoints. I decided eventually for the sitting pose with the light from the window in the back. As it was a bright daylight and the room was quite light…
Daily Self-Portraits: Week 1
This is my start with daily paintings of myself. Without prep drawing painting directly and immediately on the supports. Using paint and brushes, spatula or at times other tools. I kept quite an open and experimental approach this week. Just enjoying working with paint and my tools and see what results is coming out. At times I tried in the…
Project 1 – Exercise 2: Linear Figure Study
For the first study I used the chosen pose from Ex1 and went after preparing my support straight into drawing with paint. I continued with further elaboration of the shapes and form of the figure and decided as contrasting element a looser approach for the negative space. I decided for a off center composition to emphasise the bending body and…
Exhibition – Otto Mueller (1874 – 1930) in Emden, Germany
During my stay in Germany, I went to the exhibition of Otto Mueller (1874 – 1930), a german expressionist and member of the group ‘Die Bruecke‘ in Kunsthalle Emden (http://kunsthalle-emden.de/mueller/). The title of the exhibition was ‘Otto Mueller – natuerlich nackt (naturally naked)‘ Otto Mueller was an important artist of the German Expressionism. He joined 1910 the group ‘Die Bruecke‘ (The Bridge)‘ founded…
Part Two – Assignment 2: ‘Interior Illumination’
Aim: To demonstrate my understanding of colour, tone, composition and the development of my technique in my chosen medium. I will build on my learnings so far in this course and consider viewpoint, perspectives, tonal values, contrast, relationships and mood/atmosphere. Finished Paintings ‘Interior Illumination‘: Painting 1: Oil on acrylic ground on canvas mix (60 x 80 cm) Painting 2: Oil…
Gallery Visit – Ian Davenport (b. 1966) in Zurich, Switzerland
Ian Davenport – Cadence (15th April – 28th May, 6th June – 16 July, 2016) at Gallery AndresThalmann (http://www.andresthalmann.com/CMS/en-GB/Exhibitions/Ian%20Davenport%20-%20Cadence.aspx?Sel=8) Already in the context of my personal project as started during part 5 of Drawing 1 course unit, I was fascinated by the work of Ian Davenport and his ‘color obsession’ and puddle paintings of parallel color stripes in multiple variations.…
Exhibition – Paul Signac (1863 – 1935) in Lausanne, Switzerland
Exhibition about Paul Signac ‘Une vie que fil de l’eau (A life as a son of water)’ in La Foundation de l’Hermitage, Lausanne from 29 Jan – 22 May 2016. (click here – accessed 18 May 2016) The intention of the museum was to show with almost 140 oil paintings, watercolours and drawings the prolific career of Signac as a neo-impressionist artist…
Project 2: Linear qualities in painting – Contextual research
In preparation for this exercise I was curious to see what else I can learn form drawing with paint and linear qualities. How artists using this in different approaches and if I can build on one or the other for my own work. Contextual research: This exercise is searching for drawing, line markings in a painting. At first the bold…
Exhibition – Jean Dubuffet (1901 – 1985) Metamorphoses of Landscape in Basel, Switzerland
Exhibition ‘Jean Dubuffet – Metamorphoses of Landscape’ in Foundation Beveler, Basel (Switzerland) from 31 Jan – 08 May 2016 (click here – accessed 08 May 2016). Flyer click here. [accessed 08 May 2016]. Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985) is one of the artists who re-defined art of the second half of the 20th century. After years of running a wholesale wine business in…
Exhibition – David Hominal (b. 1976) in Vevey, Switzerland
Retrospective exhibition ‘David Hominal‘ in Musée Jenisch, Vevey (Switzerland) from 03 Mar – 15 May 2016. Click here – accessed 09 May 2016). Flyer click here. David Hominal is a swiss artist from Evian, France, studied art in Lausanne, and currently with residence on Berlin is constantly searching through painting for the ‘tension of the world‘ (Menour, 2013). In his multifaceted work…
Exhibition – Philippe Saxer (1965 – 2013) in Bern, Switzerland
The exhibition took place in the Psychiatry Museum Waldau, Bern (5. Juni 2015 – 1. April 2016). The museum is located on a campus together with the the clinic and some workshops. Available from: https://www.puk.unibe.ch/cu/museum/museumra.html [accessed 16 March 2016] I went to this exhibition out of several reasons: my interest in art therapy (my other work area), my interest in crossing…
Contextual painting: Rothko and stained glass
I got curious about the interplay of light and color, the visual effect color can do, and the ‘accidental’ color that light brings. Mark Rothko used quite opaque layers (to my understanding) and in the context of stained glass. One early example of light and color is the stained glass image of the Prophet Hosea in the Augsburg Cathedral (c. 1130):…
Gallery visit – About Painting Part I & II – Bern, Switzerland
I discovered that two galleries in Bern, Switzerland had this month an exhibition called ‘About Painting‘: Galerie Kornfeld and Galerie Bischoff & Partner (see references). I thought that this would be great opportunity to open up my mind on painting and to see what could be explored as a painting (compared to a drawing). I hoped to discover new perspectives for…