sketchbook studies in the style of Chagall and Braque

sketchbook studies, miscellaneous movement

sketchbook work, flying birds studies

As a fan of the works of Braque, I wanted to try and understand how he viewed his subjects and how he managed to compose the various viewpoints of them so well.
The cubist technique consists of breaking up objects into planes seen from different angles. This technique often gives the impression of the front of the picture moving behind and the back moving forward.
Braque achieved this by painting some of the edges of the planes clearly whilst leaving others blurred, this creates a sense of form which shifts from a moving viewpoint.
The earliest Cubist paintings were an experiment on space and light which would omit the need for colour as Braque was only interested in capturing the light and shadow.

in the style of Chagall paintings

I have toned the colours down from the original colour study and have added some flowers and birds. This is to add to the romantic and decorative images that Chagall used. Chagall uses line a lot to surround his figures, which I have replicated.

This exercise really forced me to look really hard at Chagall's style and technique. It has made me realise that his paint handling is expertly applied and is not as simple as it may first appear. It is not too disimilar to the Cubist/Futurist techniques in many of his paintings. I deliberately tried to choose two different styles of artist to work from, as it is a good exercise to really look at a wide range of subjects. I am reasonably happy with the finished painting, especially now that the colours are not quite so bright.

I have just started to go through my paintings again and with the help of my tutors comments I can now look at them with fresh eyes. Firstly I can see straight away now that there is too much going on in the painting, it is too busy and because of this it loses a lot of impact . To remedy this I am going to lose a couple of the birds. Another thing my tutor commented on was how the original working drawing has more life and vitality to it, and again I agree with this, I think I have fallen into my usual habit of overworking an image. Chagalls works are full of life and movement and my painting is lacking this. I think I may be able to remedy this with some overpainting in some areas and losing the careful black outline in places also.
Some of Chagalls paintings are quite impressionistic and he appears to have built up the layers of colour with the colours underneath showing through, giving a beautiful luminescence and depth to the painting. I am going to work into the painting more, using layers of paint and breaking up the larger planes of colour. Some of the areas need to have a looser brushstroke and I am going to use a scumbling technique to break up the single flat colour. My tutor suggested that the colour study had a lovely chalky feel to it and this is something that would benefit my painting . I have experimented with matt gels in my sketchbook and this has been a useful exercise. as I have used the gel in my painting to break up the flatter planes. It does appear to give a chalky appearance has helped my painting.

experiments usings gels and pastes

This is my first experiment using clear tar gel, and texture paste. Quite a fantasy element to the painting and quite decorative. The clear tar gel was dripped on to the board to form the stems. It was a lovely loose way of working. Then once it was dry I could embellish it further with acrylic inks and paint.

colour study in the style of Chagall

This is the basic idea for my painting in the style of Chagall, using oil pastels.
At the moment I have mixed feelings with the colours as they are a little too bright. Chagalls paintings although full of colour and vibrancy are actually quite controlled tonally and this colour study may be too much. I will readjust as I paint.

life study

I belong to a local art group which I attend most weeks. Its a good chance to actually go somewhere to meet other people and just paint with no distractions like housework, children and washing etc. Anyway this week someone managed to persuade their son to pose for us (as long as he could remain clothed). This was such a good chance for me to practice, as life study is very difficult. We only had an hour to paint or draw, so I decided to go straight in with the paint and see how far I got, as I am quite a slow worker it was a challenge to get the information down quickly.

I was actually pleased with the result, its not perfect but its probably one of my better efforts. I hope he agrees to sit for us again as this was such good practice and its really difficult to get life study classes round here.

art in action

Over the weekend I went to Art in Action in Oxfordshire. This was the first time I had ever been and I am definately going again next year. There was every art and craft you could ever imagine being displayed and demonstrated and I defy anyone to come away from there uninspired.
It was particularly helpful for me to chat to a lovely lady artist who was selling some of her paintings. She gave me some reassurance that all artists she knows of create unsuccessful works, that creativity is not an exact science and things are not always going to work, but by staying with what you know is going to make your work stale. I agree I don't think that as an artist you ever stop learning and growing. In order for me to hone my style and skills I need to experiment and be prepared to make mistakes( which I often do )and this will be an ongoing process. I need to have more confidence ( thats the hard bit for me) in my work.
Its reassuring to hear that most artists have the similar struggle still.

So many things to learn and such a short time. If money was no object i would have come away from there with encaustic art equipment, kiln , clays (Ceramics was another love of mine when I was at college; sadly I have nowhere to pursue this now) Well most things really. I was very restrained and just bought some little pots of various texture pastes and gels to try out, which should be interesting.

Extending a reproduction

This is the first drawing I have added some more circus figures, and a rider on horseback, he often uses decorative flowers so I have incorporated them into the image. I want the final painting to have a light and happy atmosphere. I seem to be interested in narrative type paintings at the moment. I am interested in how different artists manage to portray the mood in a painting from Paula Rego's sinister imagery to Chagall's happy and lively paintings.

art from art project 2 extending a reproduction

Blue Circus, 1950 oil on canvas Tate collection.
For my second project I decided to reproduce a painting by Chagall and extend the painting from my imagination, using subjects that I think he would have used.
I admire his work, his paintings are lively often quite humorous and he has his own unique style often depicting folklore , fantasy and biblical stories.

The painting I chose is Blue Circus . Chagall drew inspiration from the circus throughout his life . As a child in Russsia he was fascinated by the travelling acrobats, and he loved to capture the colourful and chaotic atmosphere. The outlandish figures were ideal characters for his dream like surreal compositions.

These are a couple of couple of paintings that I have completed in my sketchbook to work out the basic composition, before I start my main painting.

art from art in the style of Braque

This is the first charcoal sketch for my painting . I have decided to use very similar subject matter and colour as Braque. This drawing is a cubist still life consisting of guitar, bottles, glasses and spoons.
Braque also used texture within his work, often mixing sand or grit into his paint. I have taken some textural rubbings to get an idea in oil pastel, but for my painting I think I will probably use texture paste in places.

Art from art

This next project is about producing a painting in the style of another artist, it can be painted using similar subjects as the artist being studied.
I have decided to paint in the style of Braque. I have been to see his paintings at the Tate Modern and they have always interested me. I think I actually prefer his cubist paintings to Picasso, they are more subtle, but that is just my personal opinion.
The main thing that strikes me is his brushwork which is almost impressionistic and the way he gradually builds up his tonal shading, providing a series of vague shapes and broken lines. Within the painting there is the occasional recognisable form.

Happy Shopper Road to Hell and Autumn Girl by Dan Baldwin
emulsion,acrylic,spray paint,mixed media on MDF.
Taken from Art of England Magazine, issue 72 August 2010.

It has been difficult these past few weeks trying to keep up with my coursework, I seem to have so many appointments and things to do. When I do get the chance to do something I am faced with a blank sketchbook and I just can't seem to get inspired. In an attempt to remedy this i have been reading up on some contemporary artists, and I have found some wonderful pieces out there.
I bought a copy of Art of England, and the artist, Dan Baldwin really caught my eye. His work is very much in the style of Fiona Rae RA. It is both decorative but also challenging. The imagery is dark and thought provoking, with his use of symbolism he challenges the themes of life and death innocence and loss.
I am really interested in his style and would like to investigate further, as I think his style and techniques would be helpful in my extended project.