It is helpful to make the review of your paintings over the course so your choice for the final assignment is well thought and supported. For the Painting 1 course I did landscapes and seascapes following the requirements in each exercise. In my 1, 2, and 3 assignments of the Painting 1 course I had lot of oil paintings and didn’t do the aquarelle at all, so in my exercises for the Assignment 4, Painting 1, I decided to develop my aquarelle technique. I also did a good progress with soft pastels as well. Naturally I have avoided pencils because they are not the best medium for landscapes. Among all the paintings I did for this Assignment I think I managed well with the following below:
Landscape painting has been very challenging for me since I tended to work on still life and still life was my favourite subject. At the beginning of the course I didn’t have any experience as a landscape painter and hardly new where and how to start. I found very helpful to use my camera to pick up interesting views which I could develop as a landscape on paper. Landscape painting requires you to connect with the nature and even if you are very dumb in this sense it definitely helps to establish and develop this connection. I have been always noticing trees, their stems and greens hat is very reflected in my works for this course. I am also very much attracted to the sky – the clouds, shapes, changes of colours in different hours of the day.
Over the course I looked up many landscape artists and below are some works and artists who have a special appeal to me with their approach and style.
Lucy Davies.
Lucy Davies is a contemporary British artist who paints inspirational, wild costal sceneries of Cornwall, UK. She had been trained at St. Martins and Briaghton and holds a BA degree in graphic design specialising in illustration; Her work of a Cornish stone wall got her short listed in the series of Sky`s Landscape Artist of the Year 2015, she is well represented in various art galleries in the UK. Below are some of my favourite works:
A) Polzeath Beach, 2020; B) Pendower Beach, 2020;
C) Untitled, 2020;
All images are from @lucydaviesart in Instagram.
Igor Dubovoi (1972-);
Igor Dubovoi is a contemporary artist from Russia, Moscow. He hasn’t received any formal art education being self-taught since his childhood. He is a master of aquarelle. He is quite popular among private art collectors. Below are some of his works:
A) The Beauty of Simple Things, aquarelle, 2020; B) Winter River, aquarelle, 2020;
C) Miracle, aquarelle, 2020; D) Monténégro, aquarelle, 2020;
All images are from @Dubovoi_artist in Instagram;
For the final assignment of my Painting 1 course I have decided to do a seascape I could oversee very often during the sunrise. I took the photos below at different time this year and found the scenery as very inspiring to paint. The best medium for these landscapes would be oils or soft pastels. I opted to go for soft pastels because I mastered some technique already and I liked the outcome of my previous works when I did the skies. I used my large soft pastels set by Senellier and a paper for pastels. I didn’t use the fixation spray because it significantly changes the colours darkening them. Also I didn’t go for aquarelle because my technique is not good enough yet. I decided to use the stronger skills I have developed so far for this assignment.
Below is my work in progress.
First, I parted the paper for the sea and sky using the sticky tape. Then I sketched a line of clouds which are right above the horizon line. The most challenging part was to bring the volume to the clouds. The dark clouds I worked with dark grey and grey colour. The volume was created by adding and dabbing a white pigment so they became fluffy. The clouds which appeared pink and white had been flat until I added some bright yellow what totally changed them, transforming the whole picture. In this preliminary work I didn’t do a lot with a sea because my main focus was on the clouds.
The Sunrise ( soft pastels on paper)
Below is my final work for this assignment in my Painting 1 course.
In this work the skies are more complex and contain more colours. I had to work on recreating the sunrise light using different shades of yellow, orange and pink pigments, smoothing the borders between the areas of different colours. For the grey and white clouds I used the same technique as I have described above. On the left hand side I placed the land mass as it was in the dark shade. For the sea I used different shades of grey colour adding some blue. I have created the reflection of the clues in the sea using some white, yellow and pink.
I think I managed well with this painting and I am happy with the final result, the whole course was a wonderful journey, and I had no idea about ending up as a pastelist who would paint landscapes, they just have not been my favourite genre. I found the medium of soft pastels as very appealing to my personal artistic style and I definitely upgraded my skills as an artist and pushed my style beyond the limits I had, I am sure I will continue painting the landscapes.
JeanArt 