Etudes Et Essais #3
(note: This work is 99% done I think. I just need to add some detail to the symbols).
Inspiration:
Detail of ‘Etudes Et Essais #3, Fausse Peinture’.
While I was working on this painting of a lady standing in the sunlight, I found myself being more drawn to the painting in this painting.
I liked the idea of doing a series of works of art that would be about the flowers, the table the flowers are on, and a painting on the wall.
Shot from a Kiefer/Van Gogh installation
I have always liked this nondescript photo of the Van Gogh painting here. The landscape as 3 blurry bands of color.
I liked the idea of maybe starting with the most simple composition I could find. I like this piece because for me, there is so much to think about here.
Flowers in a vase
I like this vase and thought it would be fun to paint in front of the painting.
Getting Started:
My long term goal is to have a series of paintings depicting flowers partially obscuring other works of art.
End of Session 2
This is essentially what I wanted in the composition. I was thinking that this could be a mantle instead of a table to start.
End of Session 20
I had problems with the glass vase. I was stuck for a month on how the water would reflect the picture in the background. I couldn’t get anything to work.
You would not believe how much time I spent thinking about the physics involved with that imaginary vase.
The whole picture was feeling stuck.
This shift made a big difference.
End of Session 27
I was starting to feel pretty good about the work… but it still wasn’t fully working.
After some thought I decided to:
Change the flowers
Add stripe wall paper
Add a shadow
Test
Before making such a huge change, I tested out what the updates might look like in Figma (an image editing tool).
End of Session 35
I feel like this came together.
The psychological implications of the last edits made are what make the picture for me.
Initial Judgement:
Picture Making Craft:
I’m feeling pretty good about my handling the egg tempera. There are always new roads one can go down, so the future is limitless. For right now though I’m happy. I’m wanting to experiment with wetter washes and let chance slooshes of color affect future works.Design Composition:
I like this. I reacted to a part of a different picture I had completed. In my eye, this was pretty good. I have 2 other works I started in response to this one that are zooming out a little… so we’ll see where that goes.Concept/Brand:
I like the directness of ELGIN. As with many commercial products today, the brand often becomes more important than the object itself. I’m willing to die on this ELGIN brand hill. I think its pretty cool.Concept/Indexing:
I wrote in detail about the meta data text here, ‘Objets Et Etranges #1’.Concept/Commodity:
This is tricky. I want to create objects people covet. That is a primary reason for my doing this work. I am communicating through my artwork and I want people to care about what I am saying. I want my work to be sought after like connoisseurs cherish a Munch painting vs how speculators gamble on a work by Hirst. I guess I’m bringing this up because I feel the brand, this webpage, and conceptual database aspect is adding a layer that will foster a dialog (hopefully while I’m alive).Concept/Psychology:
The psychological impact that unfolded with the introduction of the final compositional elements was initially unintended, but became the most successful aspect of this picture in my mind. I feel like I crossed a threshold with this painting and that in the future, I want to strive towards more obvious yet obscure symbolism. Munch did this. I want my work to eventually have the brutal impact of a good Munch painting.
For the images below: I recommend clicking on one of the images, then using the (forward/backward) buttons to scroll through them.
