Showing posts with label philosophy. Show all posts

Thoughts on Edmund Burke and Sublime

In the last year I have become so very interested in philosophy, and the great philosophers of the past. I would really like it to be a big part of my art and life. I find it so interesting and satisfying. I truly believe that philosophy and art go hand in hand. I am aware, however, that my own journey and knowledge in these things is limited and only just beginning. A great philosopher, Edmund Burke who wrote and partially began the idea of sublime and beauty, caused me to pause and think about why I do art.
"We might expect that the artists themselves would have been our surest guides; but the artists have been too much occupied in the practice: the philosophers have done little; and what they have done, was mostly with a view to their own schemes and systems; and as for those called critics, they have generally sought the rule of the arts in the wrong place; they sought it among poems, pictures, engravings, statues, and buildings. But art can never give the rules that make an art. This is, I believe, the reason why artists in general, and poets, principally, have been confined in so narrow a circle: they have been rather imitators of one another than of nature; and this with so faithful an uniformity, and to so remote an antiquity, that it is hard to say who gave the first model. Critics follow them, and therefore can do little as guides. I can judge but poorly of anything, whilst I measure it by no other standard than itself. The true standard of the arts is in every man's power; and an easy observation of the most common, sometimes of the meanest things in nature, will give the truest lights, where the greatest sagacity and industry, that slights such observation, must leave us in the dark, or, what is worse, amuse and mislead us by false lights." - Edmund Burke, PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OF OUR IDEAS OF THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL
 I agree with what he has proposed. I love learning from nature and creation, it confuses me when I think some people will judge my work and say it isn't good enough because of the techniques I have used. On the other hand I have to constantly be aware of my own thoughts towards other people's works. I cannot judge their works to be good enough or not. I guess I appreciate the thought and depth behind works in general. Good thought out concepts is what I think makes good art. Art is here to help us grow and learn. If we draw or paint for no reason, with no feeling, or thought... then I think there is something missing. 
Definitely a can of worms, or rabbit hole...

 On the other hand, here are some artists who, I think, create some feelings of awe and wonder in their works, and concepts. 

Guido van der Werv and his Nummer acht project. 



Ivan Aivazovsky and his Shipwreck.


Rembrandt and his missing work Christ in the Storm


Claude Monet and his Storm at Belle-lle

Work in Progress: The Dragon

(Disclaimer: I actually couldn't finish this piece, I felt I had rendered it the wrong way. Maybe I will pick it up again and fix it one day...)




My illustration The Dragon, from Peter Jackson’s movie; The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, was created using watercolours and ink pens. The watercolours form basic shapes, which make up the shadows inside the hall and the shadows cast on the dragon. The watercolours were used to make thick blotches of colour, and smaller thinner marks for some details on the hall’s structure and the the dragon. The highlights of the dragon, support beams, and gold, where the light is cast, are not painted. The details of the hall and dragon are made with ink pens, which form vertical and horizontal hatchings. These marks cover and darken the shadows and some mid tones on the dragon and support beams. There has been added watercolour over the ink pens, resulting in darker shapes and details. The covered marks look smooth and blurred while the marks on the dragon, which are untouched by water, are crisp. The colour palette is minimalistic; it contains Paynes Grey, yellow and indigo. The grey is used all over the illustration, while indigo has been released from the ink pens, and yellow where the gold reflects. The paper is very thick and very sturdy. The size of the illustration is 56.5cm (w) x 38cm (h). 
Figure 1, Smaug, Alan Lee, watercolours,
http://tolkiengateway.net/ wiki/File:Alan_Lee_-_Smaug.jpg

The reasons for using these marks and colours are justified in the following points. For example, I have used the watercolours to show an approximate of the shapes in the real image. In contrast to the large spots of watercolour, I have used the hatching marks to bring structure to the hall and dragon. I kept the head of the dragon as a point of focus in the piece. Artists such as Albrecht Durer and Michelangelo Buonarroti used hatching marks in their figure studies (figure 3). Though they used these marks differently, I have applied similar techniques in my own work, The Dragon. I have found the vertical hatching marks to be best for illustrating shadows. As for the dragon, I have studied Alan Lee’s version of Smaug(figure 1), and tried to replicate the way he uses the whites of the paper as the reflecting scales. The colour palette I chose is minimalistic, because I wanted to focus on studying different hatching marks. It was also inspired by Alan Lee’s colour palette in his painting of Smaug. The grey is used all over the illustration to create some cohesion. I used Paynes Grey because I feel confident with the colour’s texture and control. I used the yellow for the gold and the reflection of the gold on the dragons body. I made sure all focus was on the dragon. I liked the indigo that came from the pen’s ink so I made sure there was more of it at the front of the image to create a deeper depth of field. The paper was cut this size, because I thought it would challenge myself and my techniques.

New Work: The Ruins of Dale 2

Katherine Anne, The Ruins of Dale 2, 2014, 38cm (w) x 28cm (h), Watercolours, Ink pens

My illustration Ruins of Dale 1, from Peter Jackson’s movie; The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, was created using watercolours and ink pens. The watercolours form basic shapes, which make up the shadows of the mountains and the shadows cast in the ruins. The watercolours were used to make thick blotches of colour, and smaller thinner marks for some details on the mountain faces and the bridge. The highlights of the mountain, ruins, and bridge, where the light is cast, are not painted. The details of the mountains and ruins are made with ink pens, which form vertical hatchings. These marks cover and darken the shadows and some mid tones on the mountains and ruins. There has been added watercolour over the ink pens, resulting in darker shapes and details. The covered marks look smooth and blurred while the marks in the ruins, which are untouched by water, are crisp. The colour palette is minimalistic; it contains Paynes Grey and indigo. The grey is used all over the illustration, while indigo has been released from the ink pens. The clouds behind and in front of the ruins have been scratched away by a dry brush. The paper is very thick and very sturdy. The size of the illustration is 38cm (w) x 28cm (h).

 The reasons for using these marks and colours are justified in the following points. For example, I have used the watercolours to show an approximate of the shapes in the real image. In contrast to the large spots of watercolour, I have used the hatching marks to bring structure to the mountain range and ruins. I decided to experiment with more water over the hatching marks, resulting in very dark blotches I was unprepared for. I kept the ruins crisp as a point of focus in the piece. I added much more detail in The Ruins of Dale 2 than in The Ruins of Dale 1, because I was creating a library of marks I did not have in The Ruins of Dale 1. Artists such as Albrecht Durer and Michelangelo Buonarroti used hatching marks in their figure studies. Though they used these marks differently, I have applied similar techniques in my own work, The Ruins of Dale 2. In the course of studying hatching marks and the forms of mountains, I have found the vertical hatching marks to be best for illustrating mountains and hills. The colour palette I chose is minimalistic, because I wanted to focus on studying the mountains and ruins. The grey is used all over the illustration, to create some cohesion. In addition, I used Paynes Grey because I feel confident with the colour’s texture and control. I liked the indigo that came from the pen’s ink so I made sure there was more of it at the front of the image to create a deeper depth of field. The paper was cut this size, because I thought it would challenge myself and my techniques.
 

New Work: The Lonely Mountain


Figure 1, Katherine Olive, The Lonely Mountain, 2014, 56.5cm (w) x 38cm (h), watercolours, ink pens
My illustrationThe Lonely Mountain (figure 1), from Peter Jackson’s movie; The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, was created using watercolours and ink pens. The watercolours form basic shapes, which make up the shadows of the mountain, hills, and lake below. The watercolours were used to make thick blotches of colour, and smaller thinner marks for some details on the mountain. The highlights of the mountain, where the sun shines, are not painted, or is very lightly covered with colour. The details of the mountain and hills below are made with ink pens, which form vertical hatchings. These marks cover and darken the shadows and some mid tones on the mountain. The colour palette is minimalistic; it contains Paynes Grey, violet, yellow and some lighter blues. The grey is used all over the illustration, while violet is used in the clouds, and lighter blues in the mountains further away from the Lonely Mountain. There is a pale yellow placed where the sun hits the hills on the right of the illustration. The paper is very thick and very sturdy. The size of the illustration is 56.5cm (w) x 38cm (h).
Figure 2, The Lonely Mountain, Screenshot of The Hobbit: The desolation of Smaug by Peter Jackson, taken from JJR Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
In The Lonely Mountain I wanted to explore the Shan Shui way of exploring nature through art, in regards to the way they see painting mountains and water (figure 3). One way I have done this is, by using the watercolours in an un-calculated way, therefore each water coloured shape is only an approximate of the shapes in the real image. In contrast to the uncertainty of the watercolours, I have used the hatching marks to bring structure to the details of the mountain. 
Figure 3, Xia Gui, Clear View over Mountains & Streams, Southern Song Period, 1127 - 1234, hand scroll, http://www.oberlin.edu/images/Art250b/Art250new.html 
Artists such as Albrecht Durer and Michelangelo Buonarroti used hatching marks in their figure studies. Though they used these marks differently, I have applied similar techniques in my own work, The Lonely Mountain. In the course of studying hatching marks and the forms of mountains, I have found the vertical hatching marks to be best for illustrating mountains and hills. The colour palette I chose is minimalistic, because I wanted to focus on studying the mountain. The grey is used all over the illustration, to create some cohesion. In addition, I used Paynes Grey because I feel confident with the colour’s texture and control. 
I used the violet in the clouds to bring them closer, and lighter blues to send the forms backwards. The use of colours, in this way, forms a deeper depth of field. The depth of field made by the colours in The Lonely Mountain was added with the guidance of Ron McBurnie, an artist who also works with hatching and watercolours. Ron McBurnie also aided me in choosing the right paper to work with. I find it thick enough to make mistakes and have the freedom to take the mistakes off the paper with sufficient scratching. I cut the paper to the appropriate size, because I thought it would be enough to challenge myself and my techniques. ◼︎

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Influences: Julian Ashton and Ivan Aivazovsky

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." - Aristotle


Julian Ashton's Australian landscapes are very honest, yet beautiful. They fill me with a sense of '"home", and a desire to discover more about my country, Australia. However, I feel odd that I should be feeling these things, because I think all I ever do is wish I was traveling again, wish I could move away, and wish it wasn't so hot all the time. Townsville is brownsville. Though, Ashton's art works have inspired me to explore and paint the Townsville scenery, which is something I haven't done before.

In my latest works I explore my utopian place. My utopia concept is combined with an exploration into the sublime in nature and landscapes, books, and movies. My aim is when others look at my work they catch a little of what I am trying to show them.

I believe art is a journey. Art and our souls are inevitably strung together. If there is a relaxing of my heart and mind towards this city of summer, then it will show in my art.

Julian Ashton, Evening, Merri Creek, 1882, oil on canvas, 91.5 x 122.0 cm 
(http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/7211/) 

Ivan Aivazovsky, View of Tiflis, 1868, oil on canvas, 36 x 47 cm,
 (http://www.wikiart.org/en/ivan-aivazovsky)
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