Assignment 5

At the beginning of this part I already had some ideas running around my head as to a theme. Living close to London I was thinking of basing a set of paintings on either contemporary London architecture or London bridges.

The assignment instructions direct toward a series of three to five paintings. I usually plant, arrange flowers or ornaments on display in odd numbers for a more interesting and visual harmony but, for this assignment I have decided to paint a series of four or a quadriptych. My reasoning is that I want to display or mount the paintings together and as they will be mounted on A1 board I will need to work on A3 paper. One limitation to this is that each painting will need to be in the same orientation; landscape or portrait and so my compositional decisions will be very important.

There is no doubt in my mind that I will be using oils paints for this series. It is the medium I am most comfortable with and the one that, even though I am on the drawing pathway, I will want to develop further.

It is currently February and we have just ‘weathered’ storms Ciara and Dennis. I have had to change my proposed plans for visiting London to do some sketching and this weekend the weather is very windy with Saturday being the driest day. Unfortunately I need to get on with this assignment so I am going to brave the elements with a windy and grey trip to London for inspiration.

Due to the weather and time constraints I have narrowed down the field of structures that I am going to concentrate on. These are Lloyds of London, 20 Fenchurch Street (The Walkie Talkie/Sky Garden,) The Millennium Bridge and the London Eye.

I will discuss my personal reasons for choosing to focus on these structures as I work through each painting but, as a collective they are all iconic London landmarks, all very recognisable and all interesting structures. Each is made up of metal and/or glass and my instinct is that together they will create a harmonious quadriptych.

My aim is to create abstract compositions, but keeping to my representational and realistic style. I want to explore the makeup of parts of these structures zooming in on smaller parts rather than focusing on the whole. By the very nature of the constructions the paintings will be fairly monotone and I was toying with the idea of going completely black and white but, at the end of Part 4, one of my tutors note was for me to do ‘more thinking around colour – sensitivity and subtlety’ and so I will be introducing colour but will make these decisions once I have visited the structure, done some sketching and taken reference photographs.

In the meantime I have done some research on how other artists approach these iconic structures which can be found on my blog here:-

https://jansocapop.home.blog/2020/02/23/assignment-5-research/

Trip to London 22nd February 2020

The train journey to London was very grey and getting greyer and more drizzly as we approached Liverpool Street. I had a planned route laid out. I would begin with the Lloyd of London building. At this point the rain was getting heavier and storm Ellen was making her presence felt. The skyscraper buildings were creating a wind tunnel and at one point the heavens opened and it was blowing a gale.

I took shelter under the canopy of the building opposite (the photo does not do justice to how bad the conditions were at this point) and started to do some sketching. My first problem was the difficulty in controlling the pages of my sketchbook as it was so windy, a problem I continued to have throughout the day. I had brought a range of medium with me but, due to the cold, I found it easier to stick with pencil and I mainly concentrated on quick outline sketches just to get a feel for the structure.

I was definitely getting some funny looks from passers-by who quite clearly thought I was mad to be attempting to draw in the weather conditions. I became clear that I would be using reference photos in the main for this painting as I was unable to settle on a part of the building I wanted to paint at this point. Whilst the wind persisted all day, the rain went away pretty quickly and the skies lightened a little making the task of standing and sketching a little easier. It was around the back by Leadenhall Market that I finally decided the view I will probably base my painting on.

The Walkie Talkie is a stone’s throw away and it was here I made my way to next. I began by roughly sketching the front of the building from Fenchurch Street side (upside down in my sketchbook) but was pretty uninspired.

I then walked round to the back where, as the building is concave, slats have been put up in front of the windows to stop the reflected sunlight focusing on one point. These, from the side, concentrate into quite a black tone. It was this angle that I thought I would concentrate on but, once home and looking at my photographs there is an earlier angle that I think is a little more interesting and I will explore both options before making a final decision.

From there I walked along Cannon Street towards St Paul’s Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge. Still very windy, I made a couple of sketches from this side of the river. There was a seating area under the bridge and I made a sketch of the underside. It is however the supporting wings that I am particularly attracted to with this structure and definitely something that I want to focus on.

Crossing the bridge the sky lightened and the sun started to appear. Whilst most tourists were taking photographs on the London skyline and river I spent my time taking close ups of the supports.

On the South Bank, in front of the wonderful Tate Modern, I finally found my view. I have a couple of choices, with the supporting wings directly overhead or slightly to the right to show the curve. Again I will explore both options before making a final decision.

I then walked along the South Bank which was lively and bustling and I found myself thinking how lucky I am to have such a vibrant City on my doorstep. Outside the festival hall were street artists and food stalls.

By the Eye I found a bench and started sketching the pods and supports whilst being serenaded by a wonderful busker.

I walked around the wheel and the sun came out at the perfect point giving a perfect contrast of light and dark. I am set with the composition of this fourth painting.

On the train on the way home, from memory as my phone battery was almost gone, I reviewed my sketches noticing that almost all of them were in portrait orientation. That decision unconsciously already made I then did a couple of sketches to see if I could work out the order I would display them.

I decided that this is something I will need to work out once all four paintings are finally complete.

Preparatory Paintings

Whilst my final paintings will be worked in oils, these preparatory experiments will be done with acrylic paint. Even though this is not my favourite medium these paintings are rough sketches to make final decisions on colour and composition.

I chose to start with a very limited pallet of black, white, burnt umber, ultramarine and cadmium red. I don’t want to get too bogged down with colour mixing and I should be able to produce enough variations of grey with these colours.

I started on small sheets of acrylic paper laying down a pale ground of burnt sienna, cadmium red and white. I want a bit of warmth in the paintings even though it was such a grey day. Using ultramarine, I sketched out the outline of both planned views of the Lloyds building. It was immediate that the drawing on the left was the stronger and more interesting composition and so I proceeded with this side only. Wanting to get a feel for the tones, I next put in the darkest areas with black.

At this point I was using a size 8 round brush trying to keep my mark making as loose as possible. Mixing shades of grey with burnt sienna, ultramarine and white I started to build up form and swapped to a smaller dagger brush to put in the finer lines and smaller areas although I tried to steer away from the small details. Stepping back I realised that I would be changing my approach. I really liked the blue of the sketched lines and the salmon background showing through so, rather than just lightening and lightening the greys, I put some of the lighter areas in the pinky colour finishing with white at the brightest points.

I am really pleased with this. I feel you get a sense of the curve of the structure and the colours have worked well together. Rather than creating a cold painting I feel the colours add interest and keep the painting a little warmer. On my larger piece I know I will be putting in a little more detail, blending more; oils will allow me to do that, and paying more attention to things like the pipework which here is a little messy, but I now have a strong idea as to my approach to this building.

After a lunch break, I returned to this painting and thought that doing all the paintings in the same colourway could become a little boring. I need something that links them and I think my under-painted sketches in ultramarine will be a constant. I had already prepared another four grounds in the same pink colour but decided to change the next background for the Walkie-Talkie to pale blue. The idea in my head is to use the same blue/grey pallet for the structures but have different hues for the background; light blue, light green, light orange/yellow and use these for the lighter tones in each painting. I guess I am thinking of Andy Warhol’s work in this regard. The following photograph was taken by me at the Picasso museum in Malaga, Spain.

Warhol often worked on a repeated theme but explored it with different colours.

Adopting the same approach as before I outlined the building roughly. I found myself surprised that although I preferred the photograph of the painting on the right, I think the left hand painting will make the best composition so I will focus on this.

Reflecting on the final result I think this is probably going to be the hardest of all the paintings I will do. Large plains of similar colours and tones with lots of straight lines, it is going to be difficult getting the proportions of the curves and the character of the building correct. I am however fairly satisfied with the colour although I need to work on the tones.

On a light green ground the compositional choice for the Millennium bridge is much harder. I was expecting to prefer the angel of the bridge from one side and indeed I do like the curve of the supports but I like the drama and slightly more unusual angle with the supports coming directly overhead. I will continue to work on both of these until a more obvious choice emerges.

Studying these two paintings together I think I am drawn a little more to the one on the right but may move it down slightly to fill more of the paper. I will make my final decision once I have completed the final practice painting of the London Eye.

 

I was pretty set on my composition for the London Eye and so roughly worked on a background of yellow orange sketching in the struts and pods. In the sketch the pods are out of proportion, particularly the top one. I then used a mix of greys and white putting in the structure of the wheel itself finishing with some black to give definition.

Putting the four paintings together on my board, I swapped them around a few times. I initially settled on this layout using the side view of the millennium bridge.

This was the order my son thought worked best too. The more I looked at it the more I felt it was too neat; a bit too predictable with your eye being drawn to the blank spaces in the middle. I introduced the other painting of the bridge and swapped them all around a few times until I settled on this layout.

Whist, as a single painting I feel the side view of the bridge is more interesting, when viewed as part of this series, I think the overhead cables are stronger and work well as a quadriptych: I feel there is a push/pull element to the composition with the eye not being encouraged to settle on one area. The bridge and Lloyds have an up/down feel where the Walkie-Talkie and London Eye have opposing curves. Juxtaposed to this, the bridge is coming toward you with the Eye moving away. I like the complexity of  this; of course it could change with the finished larger paintings. I do feel that the orange and green are too bright and too plain. I need to put texture into the backgrounds on the larger pieces.

The Quadriptych

I have decided to work on these paintings as a whole. I want them to feel like a unit, to be linked in colour and tone. I always have a fear that I may spend more time concentrating on the earlier paintings then rush the final one and so this way I will give each painting the same amount of time and attention. I fixed my four A3 sheets of oil paper, in vertical orientation on my easel. Using alkyd oils, for their faster drying properties, I mixed the background colours and applied them to the board in the layout that I am going to display them at the moment although this can change. The colours are lighter than on the practice paintings as I felt that a couple of the trials were a little too strong. I can however darken them at a later date if necessary. I have also added subtle brushstrokes of the adjoining colours to each to tie them together.

Once dried, I used pencil to draw the outline of the structures. This part is much more technical than the approach I used for my practice painting where I simply painted the buildings by eye. I want to make sure that I get the proportions correct and found using a ruler helped although this is something I usually fight against preferring to draw lines by eye, however these lines will simply be guidance.

Following my approach in the practice paintings I used diluted ultramarine to mark out the darkest areas upon which I can then build upon the structure of the paintings with tone.

The underpainting now dry, I added some white and black just to set the areas of the darkest lightest tones. Light is now fading; I am going to have to leave this now for a week or so as I will be away.

Interlude

It’s been a bit of a funny week. A lovely long weekend in Budapest with my husband was swiftly followed by disaster when I went down with severe food poisoning on the plane home and the consequences of the subsequent dehydration meant that I passed out banging my face. So whilst I have an extra unexpected week off work, the first couple of days have been spent in bed feeling very spaced out with an eye swollen shut. Today is the first day I feel a little better and my eye has started to open so I thought I would use the extra couple of days to get back to working on my assignment.

The Quadriptych Cont’d….

I decided to concentrate on just one painting today to see how I felt. I had lived and looked at the under-paintings for the last week and had begun to have doubts about the backgrounds; were they too pale, too twee, would they work with the natural greys of the structures? Consequently I was already concerned if my vision and intention would work. I want the structures to be an exploration in tone, have a realistic and recognisable feel but the mark making to be more ‘painterly’ than I usually do.

Millennium Bridge

I chose this bridge to draw as it is quite simply my favourite bridge over the Thames. Walking over it one way you approach Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on the left with the wonderful Tate Modern on the right. The other you are looking straight at the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral. On either side you have fabulous views of the Thames and City. Opened in 2000 it was nicknamed ‘The wobbly bridge’ after pedestrians experienced a swaying motion. It was subsequently closed for two years while measures were implemented to stabilise it. There is something fluid and aesthetically pleasing about the structure of the bridge with its two piers and supporting wings and cables. I love the scene in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince where the bridge collapses after an attack by the Death Eaters.

Working from dark to light, I mixed my darkest tone with ultramarine and burnt umber and varying grades of tone lightening firstly with yellow to create a complementary grey/green to complement the background and finally white.

For my brushes I was able to use larger flat brushes at the top because of the size I was working on but, for the distant part of the bridge, because the detail is quite small I did have to use some quite small brushes to paint this. I also used an old credit card to add some highlights along the pipes and supports and finally a rigger brush to add in the wire in the railings.

I have allowed a little of the blue to show through but, now it has been toned down with the greens and greys I am pretty satisfied with this so far. I will return to it once I have finished all four paintings and make any tonal adjustments or additions I think are necessary at the end but for the moment I will now leave this to dry.

Lloyds of London

I started working in London the same year that this iconic building was opened in 1986. All its services; staircases, lifts, pipes, electric cables, are positioned on the outside of the building. It, even now, is a fascinating structure to walk around and has stood the test of time. I worked next to the Royal Courts of Justice but travelled into London by bus and so passed this building daily. It was inevitable that the eye would be drawn to the building when passing and it is even more spectacular at night when lit up. I feel that this building underpins my time working in London as a teenager and even though I have never set foot in it, I know many people who have worked there. It is now dwarfed by a number of skyscrapers around it but up close it still holds its own.

My approach to this painting stayed the same as before, working from dark to light, but this time in sections. I also used cadmium red and white to lighten the darkest areas that I had painted with my mix of ultramarine and burnt umber. I was initially a little unsure if this colour mix was working as I felt it looked a little dull and muddy but, as the painting progressed and the highlights and details were added it feels like it has come together and, tonally, it sits well next to the painting of the bridge at the moment.

The Walkie Talkie

I first went into this building a few years ago with friends to visit the sky garden at the top which has wonderful views over London (and a very nice bar!) A couple of months later my husband’s company announced they were moving their St Pancras office into the 14th floor of this building and so, subsequently I have had the opportunity of going a couple more times particularly as staff have access to a service lift which takes you to the top avoiding booking and the inevitable queue.

Opened in 2015, when standing near the building looking up there is a pleasing curve and from a distance the building looks like it is growing out of the ground like a plant, wider at the top than the bottom.

As I am right handed and this is on the bottom left of my board it is naturally the next painting to start but I have to confess that I nearly bottled out as I am feeling a little daunted by the large areas of what will essentially be similar tones and am still a little confused as to how I will approach this. I decided to bite the bullet as I know I would be tempted to rush it if I left it until last and I found myself struggling with it so it is better I begin tackling it now head on!

I began by painting out the large area of blue which represents the slatted area protecting the glass from the sun. I used my mixed dark hue but was pleased to see that some of the blue shone through underneath the dark paint. I want to utilise this glow further down the line. Using some white to mix up some grey, I added the edge of the building and the supports near the roof and finally for today a mix of white and ultramarine to give the windows a glassy feel. I will now let this dry as my instinct is that this painting will be made up of layers.

Paying close attention to the side supports and the way the light reflecting off the building changes with the curve of the building I used various mixes of greys to emphasise this colour change and used a rigger brush to indicate the darker edges of the window frames and building. For the darker slatted part of the building, I had initially intended to paint over the dark tone but my eye fell on a small ‘dotting’ tool I had and used it to try scraping some of the nearly dry oil paint off to reveal the surface underneath. Pleased with this effect, I used it to add some form to this part of the structure. Darkening the glass near the bottom of the painting I added a couple of dots of white to indicate lighting from within the building and for the moment I will leave this here.

As I expected, this has been by far the hardest painting to date but also the quickest to complete although I again may go back and make further adjustments once all are complete.

The London Eye

Opened in 2000, I have only been on the wheel once but it is an iconic and instantly recognisable feature of the London landscape providing wonderful views. My reason for choosing this was less personal and more that I wanted to study the complex structure. In the painting I have however simplified some elements of the supports as I was concerned that the painting would look too busy.

I adopted the same approach to this painting as the three previous using yellow and a little orange as the light contrasting colour. Within the painting I found myself looking for shapes and tones, particularly within the pods themselves. I think this is the painting where I have used the loosest brushstrokes.

I am now going to leave these paintings for a few days, firstly to live with them, enabling me to look at them with fresh eyes to see if further adjustments need to be made and secondly to allow them to dry. I intend to mount them on some black board ready for assessment.

The final Quadriptych: Contemporary London Structures

Whilst still taped to my drawing board, I worried about the backgrounds of these paintings and if they were too light. I decided to mount them on the black board and was really pleased that this changed the overall feel with the darker edges complimenting the darker tones of the buildings. I added a little more white for extra highlights and will now leave these paintings here.

Reflection on Assignment

Use of Colour and Medium

Viewed individually these paintings are fairly monochromatic but when viewed together the overall appearance becomes more colourful. This idea developed during the practice paintings as originally they were going to have the same background. The background colours are light making the structures themselves the total focus of the viewer and allowing the dark tones to stand out. I find acrylic paints useful for practice and experimental painting but oils to be by far my favourite medium and the medium \i propose to continue to explore after this course.

Composition and Context

I questioned whether my intention has come across in these paintings. I feel I can confidently say yes. All these structures had personal reasons for their choice and they each complimented the other. I wanted to examine them as shapes and tones, not necessarily painting a complete picture, but focussing in on smaller areas, examining the make-up and finding unusual perspectives to explore. I feel this has been successful, particularly with the bridge and wheel.

Mark making and contrast of Line and Tone

This was particularly important in this painting. Wanting a realistic representation of the structures, the mark making, by necessity was quite ‘tight’ and the lines needed to be carefully considered. Tone was the biggest aspect of these paintings as light and shade plays a big part in such monochromatic pictures to give them form. The hardest and possibly clumsiest painting is the ‘Walkie Talkie.’ Large areas of similar shapes and tones needed to be made more interesting. I do feel that I have managed to capture the light reflecting off the side of the building darkening towards the top. Scratching the paint off was also a technique I explored in this painting. Whilst probably my least favourite, I am not completely unhappy with it and feel it sits well with the other three.

Depiction of form and experimentation

As I indicated above, the tone of the structures plays a big part of showing the form and I feel my visit to London was extremely useful in allowing me to develop the paintings once at home. I could use my memory of them to inform my final choices of view.

I hope I have managed to portray my experimentation with the idea. I had a pretty good idea of my intention and it was only due to the weather conditions that meant I had to curtail my exploration. If the weather had been better I would have investigated other buildings. I am however very pleased with my narrow choices. The composition of each was aided by the fact that I could completely walk around them, using my camera and sketchbook to help my decision making. I am particularly intrigued by the Millennium bridge and could have made a number of paintings of the bridge itself from different angles. This may well be a theme I explore further along the line in this degree.

Reflection on my Progress

Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills

I have thoroughly enjoyed Part 5 of this course. In a way I felt it freed me up, allowed me to let go of my hang-up about making everything look ‘right’. The abstract element of this part was great fun and enabled me to try things I had never even thought of doing before. Whilst I can’t get away from my desire to produce a ‘realistic’ painting as evidenced in my Assignment, I enjoyed embracing the abstract. I feel I am technically competent. I have a pretty good grasp of proportion, perspective and tone. My weakness lies in thinking outside the box; changing perspective, altering the expected tones.

I feel fairly confident with a paint brush, particularly when using oils. Acrylics are not a strong point and I think watercolours work best for me when combined as washes with ink pen, something I intend to continue utilising throughout the degree.

Quality of Outcome

I am somebody who desires a ‘finished’ painting and so I find myself dissatisfied with many of my experimental exercise paintings. Reviewing all the assignments for POP1, I am pleased with them all although I can see how my paint application has changed from the very first assignment ‘The Lamp and Egg’ to now. In the early part of the course I was applying the paint thinly with very smooth strokes of the brush. In my latter work I have begun to apply thicker layers, sometimes using impasto techniques with a knife or some other tool, and the brush marks are generally shorter and more ‘painterly.’

Demonstration of Creativity

I think my creativity lies within the idea of composition for me. I like playing with foreshortened angles, unusual perspective, reflections and I think this has come across in my paintings. If the objects are everyday or mundane I add a dead fly, If a building I want to look at a part of it or explore the realism behind it. I like gritty urban vistas and I feel that this is an area I didn’t really get to explore in the confines of these exercises bearing in mind the time of year and reduced light available. Many of my landscape exercises were rather traditional soft landscapes of trees and water which I was not completely happy with. My assignment for Part 4 also falls a little into this category although I was pleased with the portrait orientation and reflections off the water.

Context reflection

Throughout this course, research has been of vital importance and even more so when coming to plan my assignments. Whilst I feel my research is still a little light, I am beginning  to attempt to apply some personal critical thinking to the work I view rather than just simply documenting who and what the work is. Now my working hours have changed, moving forward onto the next course I hope I can continue to improve in this area.

And finally….

At the beginning of POP1 I was undecided whether I would remain on the drawing pathway or switch to painting. For this reason I decided to do this course second to give me flexibility moving forward. Whilst I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring paint and think that I will definitely be able to utilise some of the techniques I have learnt, my first love is drawing and for that reason my next course will be Exploring Drawing Media.