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I chose three different pictures of mine to begin with as I wanted to see how the charcoal would be with each image. I practiced with the charcoal in my sketchbook alongside my pictures. I had a few different varieties of charcoal to use so that was good.

The first image of the bamboo, I used 3B, H and HB charcoal pencils with the use of a stump also to shade or characterise the drawing. I found that these pencils were very easy to control. I had to keep reminding myself though that Franz’s work of abstract was not all about sleek lines. The 3B pencil helped with filling in the bamboo and the H pencil done the line work.

The second image of a bridge in London was done with both charcoal pencils and sticks. I drew the wires with the pencils and filled in the drawings with the sticks. When I look at the drawing, I see that it could be much more than just wires on a bridge. It could be ray of sunshine or power lines. It leads your mind to many objects which in a way is what Franz’s abstracts does also.

In the third image of two trees in a woodland, I used charcoal sticks. The trunks of the tree were used with the widest of charcoal sticks and the branches with the thinnest sticks. I applied a little smoothness to the drawing also with the stump tool. It reminds me a little of a scarecrow.

For the next experiment I decided to choose an image I took back in 2018 when I went to London. The image was of a building at Canary Wharf. I believe that this would be a good image to paint from as it has strong lines from the buildings and a few different angles.

I thought I would do a little try out first so I could get used to the paint and it’s consistency when water was added to it. I chose acrylic paint for this exercise. With the first painting I chose a dark grey to go along with the white. I thought this would be a good starting point as Franz initially used black for his abstracts. I thought the outcome of this piece came out really good. It has an abstract feel to it and the cross of the grey and white formed different shades to the formal lines of the buildings.

As the grey mixed in with the white, it became a gloomy colour of maybe a weathering storm. I felt like that gave a good contrast to the painting.

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After my try out with a smaller piece of cardboard and colour, I then went onto doing another piece of work but on a larger scale. I tried a couple of colours out for this one. A light blue and then turquoise. I chose the turquoise colour as I remembered that Franz began using colour in his later years rather than the traditional black and white. I knew that this colour would also contrast very well with the white and blend well too.

I made sure that I added water to the acrylic paint to thin it out and make it easier to blend with the two colours. I was quite happy with the outcome of the painting. Maybe the lines could’ve been a bit thicker just like Franz’s work, but you can see the different shades between the bold colour lines of the building.

The paint reacted well when it was crossed over. The white and turquoise paint mixed and a light blue colour was formed. I think if I was to let the paint flow a bit more by adding a bigger amount of water I could’ve put a bigger stroke through to the effect of Franz’s paintings.

On reflection of the marks which I made, I maybe could’ve chosen an image with more a harsher affect. Possibly a lightening strike or piled up chairs. I could’ve used more of a powerful mark on the cardboard to make the painting stand out more. I think if I was to make it more subtle it would loose it’s meaning of a powerful abstract and Franz’s paintings were much more expansive and dominant than subtle.

Out of the two paintings I think I may prefer the first one. It feels a little more messy and the colours of grey and white makes it a good abstract painting. I believe the paintings are of an abstract expression but I possibly could’ve made them a little more powerful.

When I first searched for Franz Kline on google and looked on images, I was instantly pulled in. The giant strokes of black paint contrasted with a white background made the images so bold and impressive. I was hooked by his abstract work.

In the early 1940’s Franz’s was most different to what he ended up painting in the later 40’s and 50’s. A lot of colour was used in his early paintings rather than just his monochrome pieces. One of his famous works of that time was Hot Jazz.

The rich colours and full flowing shades, bring this painting to life. You can picture yourself there amongst the music and joy. A full cascade of movement, an eventful night. These paintings were on a smaller scale as to what Kranz ended up doing. Even though his later work is much different to this, they are still similar in the way of the paint strokes and flow.

There are a couple videos on YouTube which shows you his work and how Franz’s worked and how those combination of work became his most well known pieces of art.

Franz Kline | AB EX NY
Uploaded by the Museum of Modern Art
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyTxrbsfLpg – as of 2nd April 2020

How to paint like Franz Kline – With Corey D’Augustine | IN THE STUDIO
Uploaded by the Museum of Modern Art
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xQTlp0hscs – as of 2nd April 2020

Watching these videos enabled me to see Franz doing his own work but also what he used to paint with. Franz mainly liked using house paint rather than your typical art paints. The paint was very fluid and Franz liked that, especially by what it looked like also once it was dry. Later on he did use oil and other mediums also.

Franz Kline and William de Kooning were great friends. William shew Franz his new projector which he had bought that could enlarge any small image or drawing. The image became abstracted and this is where Franz became inspired to start doing these painting on such a big scale. He had to use a wall sometimes, as the projection of the drawing was that substantial. This is when his work became more well known. Now in the late 40’s and 50’s, Franz was creating these projected pieces onto enormous sized canvas’.

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Franz would paint with mainly different shades of black and white. Looking at the paintings above, you would think that it was a painted white background and then black paint strokes on top. What Franz actually done was he put multiple layers on top. So once he had painted on one layer of black paint, he would then go over with a shade of white and then back over with black and so forth. This also helped with the different shades of white and black.

The paint strokes were large and Franz had to use his whole arm to stretch from one side the next. He always took his time with the artwork and drew sketches before painting of such a large scale.

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In the late 50s and early 60’s just before Franz’s death, he began to use colour in his abstract work. The work above shows how he has incorporated these bright colours into his work and the expression is much more variant than his earlier work of black and white. You can see that these later pieces still relate to his black and white paintings. The long strokes of colour mixing into together creating as cascade of motion and feeling. A few paintings of his colour work were not on the grand scale as those with his black and white ones, but it didn’t take long until he was soon back with his grand paintings.

Franz was a highly skilled artist, but definitely well known for his monochrome abstract work. His talent was shown extensively through his work and I believe he will be well known for many years to come and will inspire many young artists, including myself.

For this exercise I chose this picture above which I took back in 2018. When looking at the picture I could see there were different tones both from the reflection on the sea and on the sea breakers. The sun was setting too, so there was an orange tinge on the wood and on the sea, tiny waves created multiple dark patches. The sky had a multitude of blues, pinks and yellow. With this image, I get a sense of calm and quietness. A place where you can unwind.

I started off with painting in my sketch book and trying a couple of different colours to see how they would feel. Watercolour was my choice. I chose a bright and dark colour as I wanted to see how those two would contrast. A light blue which brought out the colour of the sky and sea and has that sense of a bright, sunny day. half closing my eyes, it did make the painting a little messy, but I think it turned out well. Below I used a grey to create a more of a dark scenario. Maybe a stormy night with dark crashing waves and a smokey dark sky. Using a counterpoint on top of the painting, it did make it hard to actually see what was there.

I experimented with pastel and pencil to build a counterpoint. With the pencil I was able to make it more defining than the pastel. The pastel though can create these bold textured lines and adds movement to the image.

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After trying out the two colours in my sketchbook, I chose to go with the blue as I wanted the painting to be as similar to the picture, with the sea etc. The picture I took was of more blue than grey, so that’s what I chose. I made sure that I taped the paper to my desk so it wouldn’t shrivel or curl up when I went to apply the paint.

My water based paint was watercolour as I like how you can change the shade of the paint by just adding a tiny more amount of water and I thought that would be perfect for this. Applying the paint onto the paper, I used this also to create the block images from the picture onto the piece of paper. Focusing on the shapes of the sea breakers, I added a little more watercolour to add depth.

The top right image, I used pastel as the counterpoint. I wasn’t too happy with how it came out, as I felt like it looked a little clunky and rushed. You can kind of see the texture of the sea though, and the shades on the wooden beams.

Without an underpainting I used colouring pencils to re-create my picture. Still using blue as the main colour, I established the shades fo the sky and the shadows of the sea. The colouring pencils I used did not apply to the paper as well as I had hoped. When I came to using a brown colour for the sea breakers, I just couldn’t get the shading I wanted out of the pencil. Maybe it was me not using them correctly.

When it came to reflect on my work, I felt a little disappointed. I knew that I could’ve spent more time of perfecting the pieces, but then, this type of exercise wasn’t about making the most detailed piece of work. I need to make more time executing whatever piece I am doing as I know I can do much better and create some great pieces of art. It was a lot of fun though having to squint and losing detail of the picture. Something I had never done before. You can definitely see the difference between each painting and drawing, underpainting and no underpainting.

A lot to learn out of this exercise.

http://geraldineswayne.org/photo_10060031.html#photos_id=10060036

Looking at Geraldine’s painting archive, there are many contrasting varieties of work which she has produced. Geraldine has used several mediums on paper and canvas. I had a look at her artwork and there were certain ones which stood our to me. It seems some of her artwork depicts maybe suffering and pain. Could it be the possible past of Geraldine’s life or someone she knows.

In the above images of Geraldine’s artwork, paper has been used as the base. In both of these artworks, ink has been used as the primary medium. It creates a scrappy but detailed look of what it happening within these pieces. The artwork on the right has also pastel incorporated into the image. An added layer to her work which as you can see, adds a bit of a sombre mood when looking at this piece of work. As before, with some of Geraldine’s work, there are signs that there is a victim who is full of sadness and suffering.

Much of her artwork in her painting archive dated from 2006 – 2012 are off a blurred image. The paintings are mainly of women who are trying to show signs of some expression but it is almost too hard to see what kind of expression it is. The images below enable you to get a sense of possible recurring trauma.

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These paintings by Geraldine stood out to me as I feel that the expression on all three of these people’s faces are the same but in a different moment of their time. The use of oil can create such depth and meaning and the contrast of these colours can make you feel happy but also sad. There are definite strong feelings in her work.

In the first panting, they way Geraldine has used the tones of colour and the detail makes us feel for the woman. It’s the look of sadness and the plea for possible help. Dark colours have been used to support that, with the grey tones used for the face and maybe some sort of cloth to cover her body. Maybe she is mourning a death of a loved one.

When you first look at the second painting, this time there is a young girl which given her expression of her face, she could be happy and enjoying something which happened just in front of her. The shades of orange and pink creates an almost life like figure that you could imagine what it would like if it were a picture. When I look at the background I imagine that the walls are melting like hot wax. The combination of colours and layers collide together and create this blur.

Looking at the third painting which is also an oil painting, there is a lone man who seems to be maybe in a rush for something. The use of making this painting blurry certainly makes you think that.

If you were to look through Geraldine’s painting archive from the start of around 2006 – 2012, you can see that the there has been a mixture of mediums and the colours which she has used to allow her paintings to speak and act. Most of her paintings dating between those times, there is a figure, whether it is a man, woman or some young and Geraldine has used her extraordinary talent to symbolise a whole array of feelings in great detail and even with the use of colours to express the context of her work.

It is a great set of work and really shows Geraldine’s thoughts and how she works.

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After researching Louise Bourgeois, watching the two videos with Tracy Emin and focusing on the work of 10 am is when you come to see me, it was now time to experiment with my own work. Fluid media was going to be the main focus point with this exercise. I decided I would use watercolour paint, firstly because I haven’t had much background with watercolour and second I thought it would create more of an effect on the paper.

I started off by thinking how could I apply this paint to the paper. I used my sketchbook as a point to practice and decided to use sponges as they are very versatile and come in all different textures. I haven’t used sponges in art before so I thought it could be fun to try. I chose two different colours of paint for this exercise.

When applying the paint to the sketchbook I made sure it was standing upright due to when I would be painting on the sheets of paper they also were pinned to the wall and upright. I want to get an idea of what it would look like once applied to the sheet. I also tried a pastel as a counterpoint in the sketchbook to see what the contrast of them two looked together.

The results were interesting as shown below:

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I pinned the 20 sheets of paper onto my board and began to use the sponges to create my fluid media. I wasn’t sure how the media would react to the paper so it would be a new learning process. There was potential to flick the sponge which created splatters across the page and also squeezing the paint out of the sponge to create drips. Having no control on where the paint would go, it was interesting to see the end result. I used a variant of sponges to create the different tones and textures.

In the exercise you are allowed, if you wanted to, to use a counterpoint of dry media. I decided to take this oppertunity and use pastel. I wanted to use pastel because I thought it could be a fun, messy type of media that can be used stand out these pieces. I chose the colour black because it is bold, dark, and could have many meanings. I find that the colour can be very powerful.

I let the watercolour dry before applying the pastel. I wanted to be able draw over the paint without distorting it. I only applied the pastel to only some of the sheets as I wanted to keep the rest to just watercolour. I felt that some of them were rather simplistic but I felt that it was how that sheet of paper was meant to be.

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After a day it was time to go back to my work and reflect what I had done. It is very interesting how feelings and interest change over a short period of time. Looking over the work, I see a variant of shades, drips, splatters and splodges. Each of them has their own form of life as such. Some of the sheets are dramatic where as others are subtle and only contain a few drips.

I found that the pace and direction of my fluid line changed throughout the exercise. I wanted to try the sponges in many ways as shown in the pictures above. I was happy with outcome and how the watercolour reacted to the paper. I did stop a few times just to think about how I can use the sponges differently.

The sponges which soaked up the liquid created a collection of artist sheets. It created varied effects when splattered across the paper. A contrast of maybe heavy rain to splashes in a puddle. When the watercolour slowly dripped down the sheets it was interesting to see if the paint would divert it’s course when coming in contact with a piece already painted.

I feel that I could have been less cautious with the paint and not to think too much into it. Maybe also trying a few more colours to add more depth or using the counterpoint to more effect.

Part 1 of 2 Tracy Emin on Louise Bourgeois: Woman Without Secrets
Uploaded by Art Documentaries (Nov 28, 2013)
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiGjzV7Nk48 (30^th January 2020)

Bourgeois has opened up many ideas of art. She is one of few who has experimented with many different medias and have turned those practices into amazing pieces of art and they become well known all over the world. One of Bourgeois most famous pieces of work are the series of spider sculptures representing a power, protective mother. 

From watching the video on Bourgeois, you become aware that Bourgeois’ work is very much a representative of her life.

Part 2 of 2 Tacy Emin on Louise Bourgeois: Woman Without Secrets 
Uploaded by Art Documentaries (Nov 28, 2013)
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbhxr6ud8b4 (30^th January 2020)

As the continuation of the video goes into part two you learn more about Bourgeois’ personality and how her artworks show this. Bourgeois was insomniac, so ended up drawing much of her work during this period of not being able to sleep.

Bourgeois is not afraid to express her feelings, past trauma and possible depression through her artwork. The power of all those create such meaningful work where others can relate. 

After watching both of the videos I became very inspired as with the use of different media Bourgeois has used. You can see the emotion put into everyone one of her artworks and for me it feels very powerful. It makes you wonder if Bourgeois had ever fully emptied the pain and trauma she had experienced with life. 

With her final creations of art though, it seems she was still in a whirlwind as you have one piece with the sentence of I am packing my bags, which is almost a sign that Bourgeois feels she has completed her journey and that it is time to move onto the next chapter of her life as it was drawn to a close. But another piece with the words, something atrocious must have happened that I don’t understand, almost appears that there will always be horrors in her life that will never disappear. 

A truly diverse wonder of life. 

10 am is when you come to me (2006) 

Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bourgeois-10-am-is-when-you-come-to-me-al00345 (31st January 2020)

When looking at this work of Bourgeois my eyes are first drawn to the different bold shades of colour. The way Bourgeois has used these colours, has created such a personality with the arms and hands. 

In a way I feel like they are reaching out to me and wanting me to join with my own hand, but I feel that if I did there may be a consequence. Maybe it’s the feeling that these paintings are showing guilt for something that may have happened in the past and the are reaching out for forgiveness. 

Only when you read about Bourgeois you become aware that in fact these paintings are depicting the hands of the Bourgeois and her long time assistant Jerry Gorovoy. She has used watercolour greatly to create a bond of these hands and shows how close they have become over the years. A sense of companionship, loyalty and friendship.