Thursday, May 4, 2017

Final Blog Post: Visual Analysis / Reflection

My Final project replicates the art of Pierre Bonnard.  I first made a sketching, like Bonnard would do, and then painted the scene.  For the Visual Analysis, I will only be examining the painting.  The medium I chose was the Bristol painting paper.  To produce the colors, I used the chalky paint that came in our supply kit and used one thin paint brush.  The painting technique was pressing the paintbrush straight down on the paper.  This created dots, lines, and white space.   It is tough to develop a Rule of Thirds for this artwork, but multiple triangles can be seen in the image.  This connects the objects and gives a path for the eye to follow.  The first thing that catches my eye is the person on the Quad wearing a red shirt.  This draws my eye because red is not found anywhere else and the bright color catches the eye.  My eye then moves up because there are more colors on the top compared to the bottom.  The colors are all bright except for the stone path which has a darker grey because I was trying to recreate shadows.  The color scheme is very hard to determine.  I would say it is either triad or a square color scheme.  Only four colors were predominantly used: green, blue, brown, black.  White was used to alter the shades of these colors.  Although the colors are brighter, they are cooler rather than warmer.  I enjoy the texture of this 2D painting.  The way it was painted and the white space creates the sense of edges in the object.  It gives it depth and the sense of being 3D, especially for the grass.  Light can be seen on the stone path and the blue sky.  For the stone walkway, it starts off darker on the left side and then gradually becomes lighter.  As for the sky, it is brighter on top and then becomes a little darker.  In general, the left side gives the sense of having a shadow.  Overall, I am very pleased with this painting and how it represents Pierre Bonnard

I enjoyed Two-Dimensional Design very much.  Going into it I was not sure what to expect because I am not very good at art, but I learned a lot.  I am a much better artist in terms of creating art, examining art, and having knowledge about the subject.  One thing I will use from this class is properly examining a piece of art.  Before this class, I would look at a painting for a minute and then move on.  Now I can stare at a painting for 30 minutes and get a meaning from the art.  I can recognize techniques used and the message the artist was trying to send.  I think I first realized this when we went to Loyola’s art gallery and we examined a photograph.  The photograph was of a stream and rocks near a shore.   I could put myself into the scene and my five senses were activated.  I imagined what standing in that scene sounded or smelt like.  This is a skill I can use for the rest of my life.  For how the class could be improved, I think my least favorite project was the one where we listened to a song a depicting an image.  It’s not that it was bad, but I was not too sure what to create.  I guess this is the point because I painted however I felt during the song.  I just felt like I did not do a good job because I was not sure if I was doing it right.