Higher Expressive

Culzean Bounty

Poster Paint on Paper

Remember this? I spent ages on it! For those who don't know , this was my final Higher Expressive painting from 5th Year.

Three Windmills

"Three Windmills"

Acyrilic on Canvas

approx. 30 x 22cm

This one was done quite quickly. It didn't take very much observation, and there's not much attention to detail. I simply slapped on paint in a haphazard way to create the impression of a stormy sky. On its own it looks pretty rubbish, but add in a horizontal ground and some silouettes of vertical, angular windmills for contrast, and everything fits into place nicely. This wasn't supossed to have any meaning, but when I look at it now, it does kinda have the same theme as my other storm painting, although this time its more about mans dependancy on nature, rather than the threat from it. Both times there has been big visual contrasts between the man-made objects and nature, so it's perfect to use as symbols.

Final Swan Pond

"Swan Pond"

Oil on Canvas

approx. 40 x 60cm

Well, this is my final swan pond piece, and if you ask me, its a wee bit of a let down. Now don't get me wrong, its ok as a stand-alone piece, but I did so many study paintings and sketches for this final painting I would have hoped it would be better. I've already posted some of my swan pond studies on the blog and I think some of them are better than the final painting! To be fair I had to rush it a bit because my deadline was coming straight round the corner at me. It just goes to show though, sometimes you are better just being spontaneous and diving straight into the final piece, rather than doing all the developments like the teachers want. By the way, I've finaly posted my review of my storm painting below.

The Storm

"The Storm"

Oil on Canvas

76 x 61cm

Painted with pallet knife

in my eyes this is probably my best painting so far - along with "Tosca". Technique wise, I made the right choice and it paid off. I used painting knifes of different shapes and sizes to slap on the thick, undiluted oil paint and create the apprropriate textures. This painting is probably the first one I've done that has any kind of meaning to it. It's supposed to remind us of power and domination of nature as a whole next to the small helpless human race, which often gets too big for its boots. By putting the horizon line low in the picture I allowed the violent sky to dominate. I ended up just painting the sky from my imagination - because all else had failed - and I tried to make it look like it was going to swallow up the tiny boat. This also directs your eye to the focal point, which is the boat. My next challange is to try and get this painting back - from Mrs Haig...

Swan Pond Study

"Swan Pond Study"
A2 Size

Chalk Pastel on Paper

I did this in preparation for my final swan pond painting which I'll post later (it's sitting drying now). It didn't take a second to do this one. Thats what I love about chalk - you don't have to keep going back to you're pallet or anything. Its quick and easy.

Sunset Study

"View from Bed Room Window"

Acyrilc

42 x 30cm

This is the view I got from my bedroon window one night when the sun was setting. That purple thing you can see in the distance is Arran by the way. This is just one of the many studies I've been doing through-out the year to prepare for my final kick-tosca's-ass painting. Nae pressure, eh?!

A Work in Progress...

Ok. This is it so far. I painted it with oil paint and pallet knifes. I could just leave it like this, but I want to see what you guys think first. I was originaly intending to put a tiny wee silouette of a ship on the horizon. The idea was that it would demonstrate how helpless and small we are next to nature as a whole. Now that I've done all this , i'm not so sure about the boat. What do you think? Also, what do you think of the painting being entirely blue? And how do you find the waves in the foreground.