Santa Cruz Port
Size: 51 cm x 40 cm
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Artist and Inspiration
Soleil Levant By Claude Monet
Monet, Claude. Soleil Levant. Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, France, 1872. View of the Saint Martin Canal By Alfred Sisley
Sisley, Alfred. View of the Saint Martin Canal. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France, 1870. |
My main inspiration was the impressionist art movement. I mainly looked at the Monet's 'Soleil Levant' and Alfred Sisley's 'View of the Saint Martin Canal.' The goal was to capture a time and place rather than clarifying what was was in the image. In other words, they avoided distinguishing different elements of the paintings. For instance, in Monet's painting the people on the boats aren't as detailed or defined as other painting giving it a look that seems unfinished. I Incorporated this this aspect in the same way were the people in the port are painted in a bright color but aren't as detailed. The same can be said with the reflections of the lights on the water. The reason why I chose to look at Sisley's View of the Saint Martin Canal, was mainly because the shading was more defined compared to Monet's painting. While Monet's painting is muddier, I used Sisley's painting for the light contrast and port itself. In this project, found it really important to be able to accurately re create the place in order to really capture not only it's beauty overall, but the intense light and color the camera captured while I was in this trip. In both paintings, the intense colors use help extenuate where the light is hitting such as the orange on the water in Monet's painting and the white in the water near the tree reflections in Sisley's painting. Hence the reason why I decided to paint this image. The bright oranges and blues really stand out to the black background, giving both a warm and cool feeling or atmosphere. Impressionism was not only to capture a time and place but to capture everyday life. In the port in Santa Cruz, almost everyday, tourist visit it to look at the sharks and the seals near the shore. The image I took was one of those days and I decided to transfer it to painting form.
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Planning
In the summer, I visited the Galapagos islands and decided to take pictures of times of day in different places. I chose my favorite which was one on the port of Santa Cruz and chose to recreate it like and impressionist piece. I couldn't do the scene at the time and place due the restrictions in resources we were allowed to bring on this trip. I knew I wanted to do impressionism because I wanted to get as close to the the exact time and place because of the vibrant colors it already has in contrast to the black background. I researched and took notes of Alfred Sisley's and Claude Monet's art in order to see the amount of detail they would put into their paintings such as people, reflections and the water in each of their paintings. I realized the amount of black needed in the painting was a lot compared to the other colors so I planned to do the painting vertically instead of horizontally.
Process
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Having had a canvas that was already pre made, I began by painting the entire canvas black with several coats. To make sure it was completely covered, I used a flashlight to identify any areas with canvas showing. I then printed out the cropped image and used it as reference to free hand it onto the canvas. After getting a general sense of where everything should go, I started painting the darker colors in the dock, ocean and shore. I started with this because from past experiences I learned that having a base for each element in the piece will make it easier to add onto and correct if need be. I would then choose areas that weren't as large and repeat the process. The brightest colors were last because they were covering surrounding areas, had the most saturation and were the most most important details to really help show contrast of the dock from the dark background. I refined small details in the people and watered down white paint and flicked small dots on the canvas with a rough paint brush to add the stars that were present at night. Lastly, I painted the sides of the painting with white paint to make the canvas look cleaner when looked on sideways.
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Experimentation
Since I've never painted light or flares in the night I had to experiment and decided what was the best way to approach it when I got to painting. I tried to look for tutorials but there were none that showed how to paint them. I ended up cutting to small strips of watercolor paper and painted them black to imitate the canvas. The first method I tried was without the use of any water. the second was when I watered done the white paint to give a more blurred look from afar. I started by creating a white dot with a streak going through it. Since the streak moved around the paint in the center of the dot I added more paint to make it look solid. I waited for the paint to dry and added the stars manually, dot by dot. Since I thought it was too tedious and didn't look as natural as I wanted it to be, I decided to water down the white paint for the second attempt. By doing this I was able to create smaller dots, in random areas that made it look natural and the lights looked more blurred to match the image I took.
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Reflection
I didn't run to many issue while making this piece because I did a lot more experimenting before doing a certain aspect of the piece. For instance, I don't have much experience in painting light flares because they tend to be more for photography. Since there were really no tutorials I could go off of, I experimented which was good for me because I didn't have to paint over many mistakes I may have done if I didn't experiment. The only trouble I had for this painting was transferring the image onto the canvas because I didn't have a projector and I couldn't find my ruler at the time to make a grid. Meaning the entire outline had to be done free hand but I didn't really mind since doing a scenery free hand is much easier for me to do than a self portrait.
Impressionism mainly has to do with capturing a time, place and tends to be some sort of social place. A common place people go to. When comparing Sisley's and Monet's painting to my own, there are similar in this aspect. In my painting, I wanted to recreate the port how I saw it, at that time. Although the people aren't as defined, it was my goal to apply their styles in some way in my painting. Especially when having to used very contrasting colors to emphasize objects such as the wood, lights and reflections. Take the sun in Monet's painting for instance, the sun contrasts with the blue hues. I used Sisley's painting as a reference in order to create the rocks near the shore at the bottom of the painting because although a large portion of the painting is black, being able to have small details near the shore will show the position or where I was standing. Overall, my main goal was to capture the beauty of the port I experience over the summer the same way Monet and Sisley painted 'Soleil Levant' and 'View of the Saint Martin Canal' and I know I achieved it.
Impressionism mainly has to do with capturing a time, place and tends to be some sort of social place. A common place people go to. When comparing Sisley's and Monet's painting to my own, there are similar in this aspect. In my painting, I wanted to recreate the port how I saw it, at that time. Although the people aren't as defined, it was my goal to apply their styles in some way in my painting. Especially when having to used very contrasting colors to emphasize objects such as the wood, lights and reflections. Take the sun in Monet's painting for instance, the sun contrasts with the blue hues. I used Sisley's painting as a reference in order to create the rocks near the shore at the bottom of the painting because although a large portion of the painting is black, being able to have small details near the shore will show the position or where I was standing. Overall, my main goal was to capture the beauty of the port I experience over the summer the same way Monet and Sisley painted 'Soleil Levant' and 'View of the Saint Martin Canal' and I know I achieved it.
ACT Questions
1) How are you able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork?
In impressionism, it's important to have an accurate depiction of different light and colors in the lights. In my piece, one of the goals was to accurately recreate a flare and the light reflections in the water.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
It was mainly very factual giving me a clear idea of what impressionism is and how artist painted during this art movement.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
A generalization was that a lot of the artist in the impressionism art movement used light brush stokes and giving the painting an unfinished look. I felt like the paintings did look finished but after comparing them to other art movements I was able to understand why.
4) What was the central idea for theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea was to recreate a place I visited and really enjoyed while capturing what it was like at night with all the lights and shadows.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
That many of the paintings were an accurate depiction of the place and time and were quickly made because the light and shadows change throughout the day.
In impressionism, it's important to have an accurate depiction of different light and colors in the lights. In my piece, one of the goals was to accurately recreate a flare and the light reflections in the water.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
It was mainly very factual giving me a clear idea of what impressionism is and how artist painted during this art movement.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
A generalization was that a lot of the artist in the impressionism art movement used light brush stokes and giving the painting an unfinished look. I felt like the paintings did look finished but after comparing them to other art movements I was able to understand why.
4) What was the central idea for theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea was to recreate a place I visited and really enjoyed while capturing what it was like at night with all the lights and shadows.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
That many of the paintings were an accurate depiction of the place and time and were quickly made because the light and shadows change throughout the day.
Bibliography
“Impressionism Movement, Artists and Major Works.” The Art Story, The Art Story: Modern Art Insight,
www.theartstory.org/movement-impressionism.htm. Accessed 28 Aug. 2017.
Monet, Claude. Soleil Levant. Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, France, 1872.
Sisley, Alfred. View of the Saint Martin Canal. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France, 1870.
www.theartstory.org/movement-impressionism.htm. Accessed 28 Aug. 2017.
Monet, Claude. Soleil Levant. Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, France, 1872.
Sisley, Alfred. View of the Saint Martin Canal. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France, 1870.