Studio Journal Entry #1

J.M.W Turner: The Slave Ship

Budding Thesis Ideas: I've recently become very intrigued by landscapes.  This interest developed by accident over the summer while I was painting abstract organic forms.  My thoughts and ideas have since developed into a cohesive idea for a series of paintings.  I love nocturnal scenes and BOATS.  My family has owned commercial fishing boats for decades now.  They are responsible for all that my family has.  Recently, in the wake of hurricane Irene, My grandmother's house (which is right on the water) was destroyed.  I find it ironic that the ocean, something that has brought my family all of its income, has destroyed what it created. I want to paint this.  My ideas have not fully developed yet so I want to find a way to make this interesting and relatable to an audience greater than myself and my family.  I want to emphasize destruction on a personal level and on a more worldly level.  I'm having trouble trying to convey this in an art form.  We'll see how my thoughts develop.   

Tom Mcgrath: The Dry Strip

This is an artist I have been researching lately.  He paints mainly landscapes.  Some are more abstracted while others are more literal and recognizable.  Marc Handelman, my current painting professor, asked me the other day if I have a thing for nocturnal landscapes.  I immediately answered no, but this question has stuck with me throughout the weekend.  Maybe I do?  I look at a lot of nocturnal landscapes because they speak to me.  They create a mood that would not be there if painted during the day time.  McGrath's use of brush stroke and accent of color creates a foreboding mood.  This piece feels like it's warning me of something bad that is about to happen.  The overwhelming use of darks can be attributed to this mood.  If I want to convey a certain feel in my paintings, nocturnes may be the way to go.  I find them unsettling and interesting.  This could go hand in hand with my theme or idea concerning "destruction".  

Kristopher Benedict: Meditation

I'm hooked on this piece because of the power of the silhouette.  Silhouettes are mysterious but straight forward at the same time.  I like the unknown about them.  They provide little information about what they are representing and are open for personal perception/interpretation.  It leaves the viewer responsible.  For me, silhouettes read very lonely and sad no matter what the rest of the painting looks like.  I could also utilize this technique in my own paintings to further create a certain mood. 

Mini Landscape Paintings I worked on this summer...  I'm useless when it comes to taking decent pictures so the quality of these is pretty crappy, but I suppose you get the point.

 

First Critque: Gerry suggested I go to the site of my landscape paintings and paint them on location.  This could help further illustrate the emotion I feel when I'm at these places. It is difficult to convey this emotion when I paint them from photographs months after I have visited.  I'm having trouble articulating what I want to say.  Essentially, if I paint my landscapes on site, my feelings will become more evident in the finished product because I am experiencing and painting SIMULTANEOUSLY!  

I also have a thing for drawing old people.  The more wrinkles the better- they tell stories about the person.

READING: "Tom McGrath: Landscape Redux". In Tom McGrath: Paintings 2002-2007. New York: Zach Feuer Gallery, 2007; pp 3-13. Text copy-write Robert Hobbs. 

http://roberthobbs.net/essayandexcerptpdfs/mcgrath.pdf

I found this interview/reading concerning McGrath's landscape paintings.  I found a particularly interesting segment concerning his use of "nocturne" painting.  One part reads, "The over-coded subject of the scenic overlook at night, and its iconic teenage make-out potential, provides a link between the dazzling opticality of vision and the other senses; there is a physical perceptual and sensate dimension to the work for what otherwise might come off as purely retinal"(pg. 10).  I found this particularly interesting because of the underlying narrative night paintings posses.  Since I am trying to convey certain emotional ties with my own paintings, choosing night scenes might be the better choice.  Day light leaves little room for mystery and obstruction of view.  In the dark, visual information is taken away or obscured.  For myself and most, darkness is terrifying.  It deems once familiar places and items unfamiliar.  In utilizing this "nocturnal" technique, paintings can become something more than "purely retinal".    

GOALS FOR THIS WEEK:
PRODUCE, PRODUCE, PRODUCE.  Search for nocturne photos involving boats.  Develop a style that is unique.  My process has a large part to do with the finished product of my paintings.  Try and make this process more evident to my viewers.  Try and use a consistent color palette throughout my paintings.  I need to work on creating a more cohesive group of work.  WRITE CONSTANTLY.  Any ideas that come to mind can be developed into something that can be explored.