Carla's Art Archive's

Hi! i'm Carla I am a sophomore and a political science major. I enjoy painting as a hobby and joined this class in hopes to improve as an artist. I am looking forward to seeing what else everyone creates. I hope we have fun making and sharing art. I can't wait to see what inspires everyone. I am also looking forward to documenting what I make this semester and looking back on it in the future.

Post Navigation:

MoMA Visit

First Day Group Painting (in depth)

How to Stretch a Canvas

Oil & Acrylic

Unconventional Painting Materials

Tonal Painting Transparently

Oil painting reference- Edward Hopper Research

MoMA High and Low tonal Contrast

Oil Painting Opaquely

Opaque oil paint completed!

Color Swatch Group Activity

Mid Primaries Black Group Activity

Color Wheel & Exercises

Whitney Trip Worksheet

Whitney Trip Worksheet 2

Limited color palette Pear Still Life

Discord Painting

Discord Painting Updated

5 Museum Paintings & Moods

Mood Painting History

The MET internship

Final Collage & Desired Mood Painting Swatches

Color Swatch Matches

Observational Paintings

Final Painting Intentions

Discord Painting - 3rd Attempt!

Final Painting Progress

Here are all of the pictures throughout my painting process. I struggled a bit with the pushing cool colors but after a while I understood it much better. As I painted I went back to lighten the background trees and houses with lighter cooler colors. Focusing on brining detail to the front with warmer details. I worked on making the statue stand out by using oranges and yellows in the highlights. I used this for it to pop and contrast from the background. I had started with a purple but it did not look statue like, so I used warm blue, red and yellow to make a warm gray and it looked much better. I layered continuously also to try to get the warmest brightest colors in the focus areas at the front.

Here she is! All done, I will add my commentary in another posts.

So we have started our final painting. I am quite excited for this one. Today I started by sketching and making notes on my plans for this piece. I wrote down that I would use cool colors for the landscape in the distance and warm colors for the statue.

I also wasn't sure if I wanted to make the statue have some color, originally I wanted to have the fabric match that of my reference color palette. But now I want to keep it stone/statue color.

I started as you can see with a light blue wash made of mostly water. I do this in all of my paintings as I find it is a good way to sketch and map out before putting on thicker paint. I was really worried about the statues proportions so I wanted to get that out of the way. I am really happy I did because it turned out better than expected although there are some proportion issues it is not as bad as I expected. I also got to outline a bit of the distant landscape which is more progress that I expected to make. I am happy overall. I was out of practice with anatomy but I was able to get a good start. I hope to make more progress tomorrow.

That is all for now!

Dividers from: @uzmacchiato

1) Find 2 artworks that are inspiring in how they use colour palette to create mood. What colours do you see? (warm cool, light, dark, bright ot dull, harmonious or contrasting) What specific MOOD do you see? How is the artist using colour and what effect does it create? Note the artist, title and date. Make a quick sketch

Flesh Wall - Female, 1965

Martha Edelheit

This second work was my favorite of everything I saw at the Whitney. The artist is using color to create an interesting effect and a shift in moods. She was really playing with two color palettes in a way. The painting is calm and whimsical with sleeping women on the right and then is darker and strange feeling fictional as your eyes more right. The coolest thing is the whole painting in person envelopes you and you can only notice this when you step away. Or through a picture. In person the effect of the background and people creates a movement and it is had to really see what you're looking at until you step back. I loved it.

The flowers also stood out to me in this one, so I sketched them quickly in sharpie to remember them for this prompt. I also sketched one of the women but it is not good so I do not want to add it.

2) Find a painting that uses colour to create a vibrating / buzzing effect. Note the artists, title and date. How do you think they are achieving that vibrating effect?

Andy Warhol

Ethel Scull 36 Times

1963

I think the “Ethel Scull 36 Times” paintings create a buzzing effect or a vibrating movement because of the saturated contrasting colors. As well as the movement in each picture creates this effect really well. The work stands out from across the room. It has a movement.

3) Look for 2 examples of warm colour coming forward and cool colour receding (sinking back). (note artist, title, date) How is the eye directed around the painting? Does colour temperature help to create an illusion of 3D form or space?

I think in this one the warm colors recede because the last thing your eye sees is the flowers in the foreground. The blue is what stands out first. As well as the fish because they’re cool colored. I saw the rat last because of its warm color. It is also a dull brown not saturated like the background. My eyes where on a trip with this one. It really brings the subject do the cat bride forward. Putting the fish behind her. And the flowers as well. It absolutely created a 3D form.

“Untitled (America)” “Sixties Surreal”

1) Edward Hopper - notice his use of colour in shadows. What colours are used for shadow? (hint: its not black or grey!) Study closely Hopper’s masterful interplay of warm and cool. Is there anything you notice?

Look at how he layers colours atop one another.

I notice all his shadows and "black" are not truly black or gray. Most paintings have an atmosphere like a filter where every color light or dark is mixed with the same hue. constantly in the lights and darks of this artwork there is blues and greens. There is both cool and warm blues some lean towards green. I know for a fact this is on purpose and on theme with the feelings he is trying to portray of the American life, isolation and still moments, loneliness. I see the most colors layered in the background of this piece, the trees and their dark background it leans very blue it is beautiful.

2) Alice Neal, Andy Warhol, 1970 - study the colours Neal has used for the flesh tones. Notice how many! Are they dull/bright, warm or cool? Which colours for shadows and which for light? Think about the mood she has captured, which seems at odds with the gregarious Andy…

I am shocked by this piece the mood as you say the vulnerability of Andy Warhol. I did not know this about him that he was shot or how much it impacted him until his death. His life as you can imagine took a sharp turn after this. This inspired me to read up on it. I think because Warhol is pictured as such a glamorous person because he was, colorful and gregarious as the prompt says people try not to rememberr him. I keep thinking back to this piece because if I had not had this prompt I would have walked past this I mean who knows maybe not. I think I would have assumed it was just an old man's portrait and moved on. It is sad that I would have probably walked past it, is it sad that I only care because it is Warhol? This has been on my mind.

3) Mark Rothko, Four Darks in Red, 1958 “When this nearly ten-foot wide canvas is seen close up (as the artist intended), the viewer is engulfed in an atmosphere of color and intense visual sensationsFind a moment in front of it, close, alone. Notice your experience. Is there an effect for you - in terms of the weight or gravity of the colour fields, is one coming forward and others receding? What mood do you experience in this painting? Notice Rothko’s layering of colours, and the brushstrokes? What is the effect? Read the text beside this painting.

There was no effect for me personally. To me this painting just feels lazy. the layering of brushstrokes does not really have an effect to be besides not covering the canvas. I understand that it is supposed to be city atmosphere but I just don't see it. Maybe this is too modern for me. There are no visual sensations for me. I added images to show me up close to it. I stood for quite some time but I just do not see it. The mood is just dull.

4) Archibald John Motley Jr., Getting Religion, 1948 Notice the colours used in this nightscape. This is called a low key colour range - where colours are in the mid to dark tonal range. Notice the mid-tone colours - are they vibrant and saturated, or dull and muddy? What mood is created?

The mid tone colors are very vibrant I am assuming the mid town is the blue right between the dark and light blue. It is super saturated making the night seem alive. The sky is saturated. Also the midtown reds are saturated and vibrant even if they aren't the brightest reds.

The mood is an alive feeling the vibrance of it makes the night come alive. The saturation while keeping it a lowkey color range is amazing. I actually cannot spot any muddy colors of course I could be wrong but it has wonderful saturation.

From either of the exhibitions:

1) Find 2 artworks that are inspiring in how they use colour palette to create mood. What colours do you see? (warm cool, light, dark, bright ot dull, harmonious or contrasting) What specific MOOD do you see? How is the artist using colour and what effect does it create? Note the artist, title and date. Make a quick sketch

Florine Stettheimer

Sun

1931

This is by far my favorite assignment!! I was a bit worried I would feel limited by choosing a color palette but that was not at all the case, in fact I am so glad I tried this.

A common theme across this class my fear of trying things and then actually loving them! This color palette is far better than anything I could have come up with. Also while writing this I realized the purpose of this is so that our collage components are harmonious in that they share colors. If we didn't the collage would look like a painted collage of different items; instead of a coherent piece.

I have finished my observational still life painting!

Here is my finished observational painting. I am very happy with how it looks. I got a fine brush to do those white highlights. Then I did the transparent dark shadows look so good!!

These are my final color swatches. I can easily say this has been the most difficult activity yet. I didn't even have space to swatch my last attempts.

After much trial and error I got very accurate with all colors except my teal; it is too dark. Still I am happy with how close I got to all of them. After days of work I got these final results and I am too tired to keep going! Still I cannot wait to see everyone else's and how close they were able to get.

I have finished my new discord painting! This time without any of those challenging circles!! I used mainly organic shapes and triangles this time. The colors I picked also are more discordant and actually give the buzz effect. I kept all of our professors tips in mind this time and that really helped me. I am proud of myself for trying again.

Dear classmates,

I am not sure how many of you will read this, but I hope you do. If you didn't know the MET has internships ($24/ an hour) and no GPA requirement. They have supercool programs and they have them spring, summer and fall. The summer application opened a few days ago and closes in January. I am waiting to apply for the fall semester since I will be unable to do summer. I absolutely recommend you apply. They also give a $1500 stipend (if I am not mistaken) for travel.

Yesterday I went to their career insights event in which I got to talk to staff and ask questions about working there as legal counsel. They even have law school internships, and all sorts of placements!! Even for high schoolers if you ave siblings and it also pays. There is many education, conservation of art, and so much more you can do.

It is so cool!! I think it would be silly not to apply it does not get better than being paid to contribute to the MET.

How to make a discord painting?

A discord painting from what I understand is a painting abstract of shapes that is mixed in equal tonal values. Meaning when the saturation and color is removed they blend into each other. The trick is they must be right up next to each other, nothing in-between. The tonal value is the same while still using different colors. You do this through trial and error of mixing colors until they are the same tonal value when overlapping. It is not easy but very cool. It creates a visual buzzing effect.

So far I have really struggled with my discord painting but that is the good thing about experience what you learn from it. Like Bob Ross says they’re are no failures in art only happy mistakes. My happy mistake is that I struggle with my exacto knife. I cut too deep. Also carving out circles was really hard. I kept having to spin the canvas it was uncomfortable my circles have pointy edges where they shouldn’t. My classmates did so well. Therefore I will be redoing mine using organic shapes and trying to be mindful of not cutting too deep.

The Toilette of Venus

François Boucher French

1751

It was quite hard to narrow down the decision of a color palette. I kept that in mind when choosing my five paintings but even then I could not decide on one artwork.

What led to me choosing this painting is I gravitated to its complexity as it meant more colors for me to choose from. It also fit the colors I needed for my homework.

I find there are paintings with color pallets I like more but would not be of use to me because of my collage. The mood I want to portray is a of relaxing landscape, paired with the awe of a beautiful sculpture. I want it to feel pensive and serene.

Coincidentally any art with Venus fascinates me. I have it as my PFP; the famous "Birth of Venus". I have a different painting of Venus as my computer wallpaper. I think any artwork with her is always beautiful. I didn't realize this was Venus until I clicked on it. Yet it had already stood out to me. Also Venus as a subject is always in a romantic color palette which I believe fits the mood of the sculpture in my collage.

So I went to see this painting in person. I was so fortunate to be able to go. This painting is even more wonderful and impressive in person. It is is in the European wing which had been closed for five years due to construction and opened in 2023 again. I remember when it opened; I was fascinated.

The painting is beautiful. The size really makes the scene feel true to life. The colors and objects pop in person really well. I loved it.

Historical context:

The story behind this one is quite interesting. Listening to the transcript on the MET website; this was made for the mistress of king Louis XV. Her name was Madame De Pompadour. What I learned is that kings go through many mistresses so they try to take advantage of their short time as mistress and get as much out of the relationship as possible. So she commissioned her friend François Boucher to paint this for her with the kings money.

This is so interesting because the king and mistresses love is sort of "forbidden" and this depicts Venus who is the goddess of love and desire. Also the extravagant aspect of the pearls, fabrics and everything really is representative of the kind of life she had with the king. Or how the painter saw them. This was painted on wood and hung in the bathroom. I cannot believe someone casually had this in their bathroom!!

But this was likely made to be put in the bathroom as it portrays Venus after bathing herself being dressed by the angel babies (putti). They are putting pins in her hair as well. Also as the name suggest "The Toilette of Venus"

Furthermore it is said the reason that Boucher painted Venus is because madam De Pompadour played Venus in the opera-ballet. He would know this as they were friends. How fascinating!! This painting was made alongside one he already made depicting Venus which I will show below. I can see all of the connecting components.

This painting stayed in Pompadours possession until her death then it was in private collections sold amongst people until 1895 A woman named Alva Belmont Smith bought it who was the wife of a William Vanderbilt. It stayed in the Vanderbilt family until 1920 when it was thankfully sold to the MET.

François Boucher:

Portrait by Gustaf Lundberg (1741)

The Love Letter

Jean Honoré Fragonard

Early 1770s

Moods: Romantic, whimsical, vivacious, witty,

Reason: This is whimsical and witty because the painting combined with her expression imply that something is sort of humorous or fun about writing or receiving the love letter. The doc as well he is cute he is not a guard dog but rather a silly little fluff ball. It all feels very whimsical. It is romantic because of the colors the pinks and the flowers. The love letter and the blush in her cheeks. It is vivacious because it is a women who is in movement and she is animated to be looking at us and in the process of doing something.

The Toilette of Venus

François Boucher French

1751

Moods: Romantic, theatrical, dreamy, glorious, harmonious, lively

Reason: To me this painting is theatrical and glorious in the sense that. those metals and pearls really give it that feeling the fancy fabric. The liveliness of the babies and the birds is what gives it the lively mood. The romantic feeling is because this is depicting Venus a person who is the personification of romance. the harmonious mood is from how well every element flows and works together and moves your eye around. The dreamy aspect comes from the fiction of it all. These are all fictional things yet they look so real.

Picquigny

Frits Thaulow Norwegian

1899

Moods: Mellow, Meditative, nostalgic, pensive, serene

Reason: I would say this brings up the mood of pensive, nostalgic and meditative because of how much the water takes up space in the composition. Because. it is more than half the canvas it really forces you to step into those water reflections. This makes it have the same mood as actually looking into a river like this it makes you think. It is also serene and mellow because there are only two small figures in the painting and the water is relatively still making the view know it is a quiet scene.

The Fishing Boat

Gustave Courbet French

1865

Moods: serene, desolate, tranquility, warm, welcoming

Reason: The pastel muted color palette creates the warm and peaceful feeling. The subject matter of water and an old boat as if no one is or has been there for a long time makes it feel isolated but tranquil. The softness comes from the style of painting as well there are hardly and harsh lines. The serenity mood is from the sky and water, everything I feel as if I was standing there it is very welcoming.

The Hamlet of Optevoz

Charles-François Daubigny French

1852

Moods: nostalgic, serene, pensive, withdrawn, romantic.

Reason: This painting absolutely makes me feel nostalgic, and deja vu as if I in some time in the past have stood in front of these very houses. They remind me of a lake house I visit some times. Something about the stillness of water and sleeping houses really makes you think it is pensive, the houses are withdrawn the painting is not at all loud. Also those sky colors and the water make it feel romantic.

Here are the three stages of my pear. I felt challenged by this study because I felt the pear was so far. I wish it was closer but that is part of observing. I also felt challenged because I was worried I was over working it too much like over working it in some places. I am happy with it however, I wish that I had done the background better. It was good but then I over worked it and lost much of the original color. Although that made it stand out more as you can see it looks more cool in the last image to the right.

It was a challenge getting by the pear bright as it felt every color would get muddy from the background under. I was surprised by how close everyone was able to get to the color of the table cloth. It was satisfying seeing the color on everyone's palettes when I walked around.

Overall this was one of my favorite lessons.

Here are my unfinished color wheel and exercises I will talk about the process even though I am still working on finishing up the final touches of these activities. I will post the final products as well, still let summarize my general experiences.

This assignment has been my biggest challenge yet in this class. Every activity was hard because I feel like my eyes are bad at seeing warm and cool. I also was so worried that the colors would have too much white or black. Also the color wheel is just tedious and frustrated me as perfectionist because I was not as god at it as I had wished.

Also I am a "loose" style painter and usually go for impasto or thin but visible brushstrokes. It was a challenge to try to do no visible brush strokes but it was practice I needed in that area. I really have to work on this. I also need to practice painting smooth lines faster which could have helped.

After getting some much needed feedback from the professor I realized I did the cylinders assignment wrong, instead of making them look like actual cylinders the goal should have been to do a smooth gradient cylinder. Also I was not supposed to use white, my thought process had been the more realistic the better but this is about practicality. So I am working on this right now, as well as smoothing all of my rough edges on the cubes. Also working on getting my mid primaries more in-between the cool and warm. As well as making the middle of my circle more round. These small fixes will sure make the difference!

I did learn a lot which is usually what comes with a good challenge. instead of working on an artwork just focusing on how I can best move my hand to properly apply the paint. Also I have never done a color wheel so this was helpful. The most helpful was the cylinder activity because I will use those shade mixes in my own painting practices.