Advanced Life Painting-4

Final 2015 Advanced Life Painting Workshop with Artist David Chen

Painting a Live Model in Warm Spotlight Alla Prima

The goal of this art workshop was to paint the model in a strong spotlit light. The light source was to the right of the model as I saw it and cast a shadow under the body. Our aim was to paint the body under strong lighting conditions.

Under these conditions, colours may be washed out so mixing on the palette to avoid a chalky look to the paint is very important.

Why Study Art?

Why TAFEs are so Great at encouraging the Creative in You.

No matter what stage of life you are in, going back to school is never a bad idea. Having been in full time work for over thirty years, I can speak from experience in this regard.

In 2009 I was made redundant from my job as a graphic artist and application specialist. I was burnt out and wondered what in the world I could be good for. My husband, who had been encouraging me to return to painting part time as a time out from the pressures of work, strongly suggested that I try going back to my first passion – art.

Advanced Tonal Studies – 4

Fifth and final in the Series of Monthly Workshops with David Chen

Landscapes or Still Life Using Tonal Methods

For these workshops with David I will be talking about how I am learning to apply tonal methods when painting landscapes.

For this workshop we were challenged to complete two separate paintings. The first was to be a warm tonal painting, and the second, of possibly the same subject was to be a cool tone painting. I had a lot of reference photos from various trips and workshops we held at TAFE art camps over the past few years with me, so it was just a matter of selecting one that had a good composition and would suit both versions. I selected a scene from the Stony Point Art camp that I took last year. It has a nice trail running into the distance that I could include or delete as I wished, and a good clump of gum trees and bushland to manipulate.

Turner and Delacroix – Romantic Artists: a Comparison

The Romantic period occurred between circa 1750-1850 and was described by the German philosopher, poet, and literary critic Friedrich Schlegel (1772-1829) as imaginative and emotional depictions in art and poetry that fuse inspiration and criticism. An alternate theory describing the Romantic was posited by philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), who thought that the duality of the opposing good and darker side of human nature and the notion of the nature of beauty initiated by the Enlightenment could also be attributed to concepts of Romantic art (Vaughan 1978, 29). Also in 1757, Edmund Burke (1927-1979) wrote in his description of the nature of the sublime that it implied terror, pain, or obscurity and vastness, which may be closer to describing the paintings of Romantic artists. These emotional contrivances were used by Romantic artists to communicate their thoughts and feelings rather than the prioritising of duty, sacrifice and classical myth typical of Neoclassical art. Romantic artists like Joseph Mallord William Turner RA (1775-1851) and Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) were also seeking creative freedom and autarchy from traditional patronage from the aristocracy and churches as their primary sources of income. In England, Turner became a dominant force in Romantic art combining aspects of the Industrial Revolution and contemporary issues with dominant dramatic atmospheric effects. In contrast, his French contemporary Eugene Delacroix used colour and action to create allegorical scenes moved by poetry and a humanist interpretation of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire. This article will examine and compare Turner and Delacroix’s interpretations of the Burke’s notions of the sublime and the terrifying in Romantic painting, and the impact of contemporary issues on their paintings during the years circa 1824-1850. By comparing what each artist chose as their main focus of interest, and how it was composed, it will elucidate how each artist responded to social and historic events.