13 May 2011

An attempt at Expressionism

I have, when let loose, a tendency to draw and paint with lots of tiny details and small areas of paint. This course has been a real good thing for me as it forces me to paint differently. During five weeks (or somesuch) our assignment is to write about and paint in the Expressionist style. This is rather tricky - it's a very much-encompassing title, but in short it is about expressing feelings. Subjective feelings rather than objectively painting reality, and moving away from exact, naturalistic portrayal of things in favour of emotions and the artist's own expression.
Part of this particular assignment was to paint on a 50x60 (or F12) size canvas. When I saw in reality the size of it, I realised, wide-eyed, that this would really be something else for me. It was, I must admit, a complete and utter joy to paint! I chose, after a long thought, a photograph taken on my journey around Scotland last autumn, north of Oban, by Dunstaffnage Castle, looking out across to Isle of Mull, I think. There was something about how I felt when the photo was taken, and how I feel looking at it, that I tried to get across. I also bought a very large paintbrush - possibly size 24 or somesuch - to help with the really large areas. I looked long and hard at a few Expressionist paintings, such as those of Gabriele Münter, and then set to work.
I used acrylics, and it took at least four hours. I didn't time it. The first picture is the finished painting, the second is what it looked like after I painted the outlines with black paint, and then started colouring some of the larger areas. I tend to go for large areas first, something I picked up while painting miniatures. This time, I really wish I could show the painting to you in real life, because the photo doesn't do it justice - size wise, colour wise and so on.
In conclusion, I am very, very proud of my achievement this time. If it pleases you, feel welcome to comment, and also about the feeling it evokes inside you, if you wish!

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