Art school log

[Fredrick]

Two weeks ago I started my second year at my 'kunstfagskole', in painting class. I have not painted a lot before, but I like the possibilities that lie within a painting, and am determined to learn. I thought I would make this thread a sort of log to follow my process. Maybe others will find it interesting as well.

Obviously there'll be a lot of technical exercises in the beginning, but I'll get started on projects of my own soon.

First, some sketches of still lifes









Will comment later, have to run.

[Gorosaurus]

Excellent angle and artistry on the final skull attempt. Needs absolutely no more- finished work.

I was never a fan of still life vegetables/fruit. So boring. But your lemons manage some fine expression and look very much like the jazz covers I'm sure you've been influenced by

[Evil Ash]

Left = progress, right = final?

Except for the last pair.

I really like the closeup of the skull, after the touch-ups.

[Omnirom]

These are really nice. Nice brush strokes. Really impressive stuff. I would hang it on my wall.

[Tuna Hematoma]

...as an immature idiot, it looks like you go to "cunts fag school" and it made me giggle.

As an online friend for 10+ years. These look really neat. I like the top right one the best.

[Gorosaurus]

No, Ash is correct. You lose.

[Qaz]

The final skull looks really good. The fruits look....well, keep trying.

[Evil Ash]

I like the eggplant.

[Fredrick]

Originally Posted by Gorosaurus

I was never a fan of still life vegetables/fruit. So boring. But your lemons manage some fine expression and look very much like the jazz covers I'm sure you've been influenced by

I find still life interesting because, as a genre, it's allowed artists to be a lot more experimental with form, color, pretty much anything that make up a painting (compare 18th century Chardin to Matisse or Braque, the last two both from the beginning of the 20th century) than in any other genre. Though I don't know why that is. Fewer elements to think about, easier to prepare, you basically just paint what's in front of you, and that does give you a lot of freedom and possibilities to just mess around and try out new things. Also interesting from a historical point of view (why did they paint the things they did in that certain place and at that certain time, i.e. Flemish still life in the 17th century as a celebration of their own prosperity). I don't know. I'm just rambling.

And it's good practice. Tedious work at times, but still good practice. Not sure what jazz covers you're thinking of (I certainly wasn't thinking of any), but thanks!

Originally Posted by Evil Ash

Left = progress, right = final?

Final as in how far I was able to go before I realized I was making it worse. They're just sketches, and sometimes they would have worked much better if I had just left them at an earlier stage (like in the first one).

Originally Posted by Qaz

The final skull looks really good. The fruits look....well, keep trying.

Personally I think the fruit pictures are more succesful in terms of understanding shape and the effect of cool/warm light. Well, the lemons anyway. But thanks.

[Fredrick]

Another attempt at painting lemons/black drapery:

[Fredrick]

Fun fact: in France they call still life 'nature morte'.



Teacher was not so pleased with this one. I still do this middle thing between painting and drawing and that is not good. And colors are too strong.

[Fredrick]

Then I decided to work much faster. Made these in less than an hour.

[Gorosaurus]

I enjoyed this latest batch, and the bottom-right pair of lemons is the best of the bunch.

You are right in that you still paint like you are drawing because, as I can tell from your outlines, you are learning to draw with your eyes. That is one of the biggest problems I have, in that I would draw a lemon exactly what I KNOW a lemon looks like. The lemon you have there is not a perfect shape, and you shaped it accordingly. Good job there! When it came to painting the apples and lemon, though, I assume you painted what you knew they looked like, not what you could actually see. Many of my attempts at color suffer from that- just because I believed a color to be red doesn't mean that it should actually have been red. Learning to identify shapes, colors, and textures that are actually there and not previously understood to be there is a tough, probably life-long lesson.

But I could be way-off, maybe you're not painting like that at all; I have no idea what the still-life actually looked like.

The bottom-left of the apples with lemon scene is fairly impressive because your technique in that one actually makes the apples look like they have the appropriate level of sheen. The earlier attempts more resemble peppers or something, but your work with the light spot in that one certainly registers as apple. Not to say that your goal should be photo-realism, but it's commendable if you were trying to render a perfect light glare. The dramatic darkness of the apples is lost in the last rendering.

[Breed]

I really enjoy your work Fredrick!

[Fredrick]

Originally Posted by Gorosaurus

[...] Many of my attempts at color suffer from that- just because I believed a color to be red doesn't mean that it should actually have been red. Learning to identify shapes, colors, and textures that are actually there and not previously understood to be there is a tough, probably life-long lesson.

Ahh yes, that's probably the most difficult thing there is. And even when you do identify the colors, you also have to mix it. And all the colors affect each other. My teacher said one could paint those green apples without actually using any greens at all. It's getting there though, slowly.

Originally Posted by Tom Breed

I really enjoy your work Fredrick!

Thank you, that's very nice to hear

Work in progress:



And another quick one:



Probably one of the more successful ones yet, but the photo fucks up the colors a bit.

[Fredrick]

Last day of still life. Did a few quick ones (10-30 minutes):




And a more successful one:



Phew.

[Yamles]

I love this, I am also doing an art course and we are currently working on doing really short paintings, like going from 40 mins to 5 mins to 40 seconds, so see how abstract you can get.

I find the less time you spend on something the more energy and feeling it has. I love the last lots you've been working on they look amazing.

[Fredrick]

Thanks Jamie You should post yours!

We're doing life painting and it's the most difficult thing and I absolutely suck, but I'm posting these anyways to keep track of progress.

A quick sketch just to get started:



Drawings:



And a few attempts at painting:



Need to study more of Uglow, Matisse and Munch:

[Blue Cardboard]

nice

[Fredrick]

I have no idea what you're talking about.

[Blue Cardboard]

nevermind then it was dumb anyway
but looking good!

[Fredrick]

Every Wednesday evening it's possible to draw croquis at our school. This time I wanted to try painting, using only 3 colors, lots of water and focusing on warm light/cool light. Here are a few of them (model changed position after 1-3 minutes):





Atleast they're not as bad as the other ones, but then again they're pretty simple. Pretty sure I nailed the warm/cool contrast in a few of them though.

[Fredrick]

Portrait week. Here are a few attempts at self-portraits:

[Breed]

These are great. I especially love the self portraits!

[Blue Cardboard]

this is my favourite one