Maurice Sapiro study of poured paintings

Ok, looking at Maurice Sapiro's work.

In brief, he produces lots of oils, woodland sketches, poured paintings and it's those I am looking at.

I feel ;

He loves the paint

He loves the contrasts ( he is a tonalist )

He loves warm ochres, warm browns, romantic landscape colours

This is his pouring easel.He works in oils and pours and mixes different viscosities of paint.the results therefore are unpredictable, some beautiful . For me though, when I have tried this before, it goes towards marbling and then I think , 'where is the skill in that,'

I don't know if it will work using acrylics, you can buy pouring medium but as yet it's not doing it for me, so I won't invest anymore money.

 Right, so I mixed lots of paints to different consistances. I mixed some with water, some with glaze medium.i put pva and varnish in others and the white I used was water based satin household paint. The acrylic inks I tried didn't work at all - they were way too thin. Here was the first layer - I was trying to look at a sunset and had decided to use a smaller board. You can have too much of a good thing and I see Maurice Sapiro's are around the 12 inch square mark.

Second layer - loads of  time, loads of paint. Certain areas were interesting though but overall hated it.hated the lack of control.hated the mess and the waste of paint . ughhhh

Third layer - like it better at the second stage - he ho. Looked again at Maurice Sapiro's - he uses bigger areas of poured paint. Try again ( do I have too )

Next poured painting

Well, it felt better.I could control the paint a little better BUT there is a massive tendency to fiddle and try and correct or control .It doesn't work - it makes the paintings worse.Try again.

So , with this one I used landscape colours. I liked the sky being painted in the satin household paint but as it's drying  it's changing.

This was 12 inches by 12 inches a similar size to what Maurice Sapiro uses. I didn't mind this one either.I liked the foliage feel areas that arise from when the paints mix up. So, for me, at the end of these poured paintings , it's not for me. Why ? because, in truth these paintings could be done by anybody , not just me. So, I will see what they dry like before deciding where to go in paint.

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Well, what do you know ? As these are drying I am LOVING them. I can see that they could be displayed on the 52 cm squared boards , to mirror the feel of a mounted work ( I always play around with mounts ) 

It might look good on a dark background too. The  messy shadow frame around it is actually the 

reverse side of my poured painting easel ( easel - she says )

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The poured paint makes the boards warp as they dry. So, I have spent my studio time making framed boards that I hope can withstand the pouring process. I want to make a series of 8 poured paintings on the 52 cm square boards. But still want to paint a large piece but will have to just make space in the studio. Getting too cluttered with all the boards and the paintings and the Upcycling stuff.

I make a simple frame on the back of the board and use bulldog clips instead of clamps. Patience is required. Have a word with myself.

What is Art ?

What is Art ?

For me, Art ( the noun ) is anything that is given that name, by anyone ! That's it really.

That includes anything conceptual, anything that is in the galleries, anything  that anyone creates and calls Art.

Quite a few people have difficulty with conceptual pieces, They feel that , for example, Tracy Emin's work should not be called, ' Art. ' But , for me, I really appreciate a lot of her work and even if I didn't , or didn't like it, she is still an artist who produces Art.

Contemporary Art presses people's buttons. Does contemporary music press the same buttons - possibly.

Last of the Turner's , I think

These two were the last of the Turner's now.They were the ones I used for the Turner demo with the Art group.I finished them off instinctively and thought that it would be nice for me to do a contemporary , more conceptual piece about Turner' s influence on my work. Put it on the list. I would still also like to do a big piece.

Ok then , what's next. Well , for sure going to look at Maurice Saparo's work.Poured paintings , woodland sketches. georgeousness.

do a big,big one.

Turner- working on 3 together

Really needed some discipline to do this , this morning.I am doing this in the name of research .It is exactly the opposite of how I work.Anyway first layer;

Mix of brown and black, block in the tree shapes
Add ochre to the sky and water area
Add a bit of green over areas of the brown
Add pink/ red but wiped that off with a cloth, the colour was too heavy
Stumble white over part of the sky

CONCLUSIONS
Glazing - because you put down thin layers of thinned paint, this traps the light so the painting seems more luminous.works best in oils though.
Because I didn't want 3 paintings that were the same, I was varying each, pushing it as well to try new stuff.That definitely feels like Turner.
You loosen up and keep that element of play - there's no pressure on each brushstroke, it almost feels part of a whole.

Nothing to do now until it all dries.

SECOND  SESSION

I glazed over parts of the sky with turquoise

I glazed over the cool brown/ black with warm burnt umber

I added a bit of light olive green around the tree and in the water

I didn't like it so added in lots more white, put on with card

Have to let it dry again

CONCLUSIONS

I quite liked the process now

I can see how your painting might benefit from working on a few together

I just need to adjust my mind set so I don't feel like I am waiting and watching paint dry.

Used loads of brushes !

The three major stages

The finished ( or is it ? ) Last layer - I glazed most of the painting with ochre, glazed tree area and underneath with light olive green.

CONCLUSIONS

Yep, enjoyed my day. Got over the frustrations of having to wait until each layer of paint dried.

Turner achieves a very complex surface through layering thick and thin paint, opaque and transparent   Paint layers. Lovely. apologies to Turner of my effort. Will see what the Art Group do with this tomorrow.

A Turner sky

Turner skies are wondrous.But it feels as if he went off on one in the paint, not that he was neccessarily painting a real sky.Tried that with raw sienna, turquoise, cerulean blue and white.Ughhh at this stage.
More Turner info/ anecdotes
Some dispute over whether or not he scumbled and worked quickly or he very carefully orchestrated his brush strokes.It feels to me he did both, he could do either.He did have a mastery over his paint.
He kept one fingernail long to scratch into the paint
He kept a painting cloth in his pocket at all times

So, the second one this morning was a half hour one because I am having to be so disciplined about waiting for the layers to dry.it's killing me ha ha.This was a complete reaction to Turner's way of working.

Although I did't mind it , I might put a few glazes over it in order to warm the composition.

So, finally managed to complete the display for one lounge wall.It was much harder to paint pictures that would look good on the olive wall. In the end, I couldn't paint them with that in mind.i just had to paint them and select them after.I had wanted them to have more of a recognisable figurative content because my husband prefers those and these were for our family lounge wall.

It felt right that the first of the group, on the left hand side opened the display with a tree on the left and then the last on the right closed the display with a group of trees on the right.how anal is that ?

Turner - finished Daily Painting 23/11/14

So, quite a few layers on, I have abandoned the glazing medium in favour of water, but recognised that sometimes I can go back in when the under layer is dry but actually it's not hardened and I actually then take off that underneath layer. It's taken hours to do this painting but only in drying and frustration time. Will have to alter my attitude to majorly try to complete a few next week. What is interesting though is if I were glazing with oils then if I put a layer on that I don't like , I can wipe it off. Not so with the acrylics - they stick like glue almost immediately.

Second layer for Daily painting 23/11/14

Second layer. Glazed sky with purple, glazed greens on background. Didn't look at the photo because I don't to be constrained by trying to achieve that view. camera's pick up every tiny detail and flatten perspective, this we know.i worked the trees and my natural inclination would be to splatter to render the bare trees, but Turner didn't really splatter did he. I know that I have read somewhere that he sometimes put a branch in a pot and painted that in his paintings for a tree. You can see that sometimes in his work.

Turner from a photo

So, this morning , I am attempting to paint from this photograph.These can't quite be half hour paintings because of the drying time, so I need to work on a few together but haven't yet organised the studio to do that.

Unlike Turner, I paint flat and have used a decorating brush rather than a paint brush.I need to let this first layer dry - it requires such patience.I have missed out a stage in so much as I am working directly from the photo rather than doing a sketch.We will see.

Daily painting 21/11/14

Well this was the finished piece. I glazed the sky again with turquoise and a tiny bit in the water. Generally got lost in the paint , played about a bit, drew in the trees with liquid acrylic burnt umber and mars black. Added more white in impasto in the sky. Ok it does not in any way resemble the sketch, but that 's ok. I feel that Turner did the same there - he didn't neccessarily keep to the sketch. Overall though it does look like one of my paintings, not Turners, which is important to me.

This was the final piece of today 's Daily painting. If I compare the two paintings , I can see that working in glazes and allowing the painting to dry I between coats makes the painting clearer, less muddy. So try it again. Maybe try four together over 4 days, instead of one Daily painting a day.Also try in oils / brown ground.

What would Turner have done with phlourescent colours?

This was the first layer of the Daily painting 22/11/14 . Trying to think how Turner would have done it. started off with a mackerel sky and a dark foreground. He would have left it then and glazed and touched up to create a finished piece. I have to almost blend it into submission and finish it in one sitting. It made me think of Innes and Eaton. Research. Anyway put fluorescent orange and yellow on to make it brighter. I am sure Turner would have loved them. Apparently he did like to experiment with new and sometimes untested pigments or mediums .he would have loved acrylics too. They would have allowed him to be even more prolific !

Turner - second layer

Turner-seconds layer.glazed purple over the ochre sky and a little on the water.it has moved away from the sketch already, but that's fine.put some more gesso on top of the purple glazes. I used the gGolden glazing medium but then ended up using water.that was fine. I tried to keep using a brush, although I think he Turner actually would have used clothes to spread some of his pain.Again another waiting game now. Can do no more until it's dry.

Turner -working up a sketch

We know Turner filled many sketchbooks. I have seen loads of them and don't really remember the paper being special.so, this morning I painted a 2 minute sketch of the woods but edited the background.I am told that Turner tuned out stuff that didn't interest him artistically. And he removed detail - well I can see you would automatically take out the detail if you worked up a small sketch into a big painting.

This was my small 2 minute painting. Roughly about 5 x 6 ins.

This was the first layer , done quickly with watered down paint and the lots of gesso in the sky to give the 3 d texture that Turner achieved. Of course he was using oils and he would have worked on a few paintings at the same time, of course , just the opposite of my half hour Daily paintings. He layered his paint with thick impasto passages and then thin glazes. Lovely. Artists, they say, are usually more interested in either colour or tone. For me, mine is colour. But Turner seems to have a mastery of both.Anyway, this painting has to dry, I can do no more until it does.make some boards.

Still working on the display for the olive wall. Green paintings, ie the first 4, seem very serious on the olive wall. I don't mind that though. And I have deliberately made them a little more representational.not that I ever think that you should paint for anyone else but yourself, but because this is our family lounge, they slightly prefer my more representational images. I do feel constrained by the size of the paintings at the moment so need to perhaps make a big one this weekend or alter the  52 cm sq ones somehow.

More Turner

Right, so researched around Turner this morning and am listing the info I found interesting;
He often used a palette knife for his skies
He used thick impasto paint to highlight eg waves and clouds
For his oils he did't use an under drawing but blocked areas out with thin washes, quickly, he glazed over them when dry, using increasingly thin glazes as he grew older
Sometimes used a brown ground, sometimes a white one
He was frugal, he bought cheap paintings to paint over and he patched some canvases
His work included- 550 oil paintings, 2000 watercolours, 30,000 works on paper .i have got some way to go then.

This was my this mornings effort. Apologies to Turner again. I did try, I swirled a first layer of darkish paint over a white ground, then imposed a calm sky over it.I think Turner must have known what he was going to paint before he started, unlike myself, he perhaps worked up his watercolour sketches - try that tomorrow.he clearly got lost in the paint when he painted and for me, that is easy to do, especially if I am painting intuitively . I love it.At the end my painting looked quite lightweight, but for me, if  I am looking at Turner ,there may be a spiritual content to the work and these are reminding me of the Easter Daily paintings.

Turner week

So, the Art Group this morning was lovely and it was suggested that we look at Turner's work next week, so that, for me means a week researching and looking at Turners work. Lovely. When I research an artist, for me, it's almost better not to read any of the words written about Turner but to look , look and look again at his images. Wonderful. What do I feel I front of a Turner;

A sense of scale
A sense of epic ness
An absolute knowledge that he was a master with the paint
That his work was about , as much as anything, the paint.
It feels that he got lost in the work
He loved colour, tone, atmosphere.
I am sure to revisit this list.
He feels romantic . . . . . in paint anyway ........
Humble.......

I loved the contemporary take on Turners work by the artist.Olifor Eliason, who uses the colours in a Turner image to create a colour circle.

Well, this was the first Daily painting inspired by Turner. Apologies to him but it needs to be my half hour work doesn't it.

It's almost too dark to take the photograph but have achieved it. 

Working up a sketch

These are 4 blue and green paintings propped up on the charcoal wall.They seem to have more of a feel of figurative landscapes. Maybe explore that.

This is a very old watercolour sketch that I thought I would work up.It took most of the day to prepare the board, 3 coats of primer and 2 coats of white acrylic later and I am ready to go.Of course the white acrylic gives a shiny surface so it won't be like painting on paper.give it a go.

Mm mm unsure- maybe it might get painted over and it took longer than the half hour that I allocated. I will live with it for a few days. 

4dusky blue and dusky green dailies

Seascape ? What next ? Just a puzzle. These last 4 were very reflective and thoughtful.maybe it's the colours. They did seem cool compositions though .x

These were the ones that were supposed to be white paintings. Strange how they come out really.

Still on dusky blue and dusky green

The light was so bad yesterday that I couldn't take the photographs all day - well I did take them but they weren't worth publishing. The dusky green I mixed seemed unnatural and unpleasant today so I glazed over it with th GOldan glazing medium. Love that stuff.

I mixed this grey beige colour yesterday. I often try to get the colour of newspaper by mixing white, burnt umber, black and ochre.

Reaction to the poured painting

Painted over an old painting on paper. Daily painting 13/11/14 . Ithis was definitely a reaction to the poured painting, which in feel sure I will paint over.Maybe next year I will be doing a project, ' re painting the Daily paintings !' Ha !Anyway, I mixed a couple of colours, the dusky green and dusky wedge wood blue. Loved them.

So this one, again over an old painting, used the paint as it comes and then added a bit of poured white paint. Liked that.Paintings get damaged over time, unless you take really good care of them.I have used newspaper to repair the damage.I like newspaper, I often use it in my art. I like the visuals of it .I love the colour. The associations for me are my Saturday institution of a Guardian, lots of cups of tea , lots of reading. Then using it in my art during the week.Love it.

Poured painting

I am way behind with the Daily paintings. It's hard to get the time when other stuff, like displays going on,have to done.Anyway this morning I tried pouring the paint. I mixed up watered down acrylic and tipped it. I had an overturned frame underneath to catch the paint. I didn't like it, I couldn't control it and I didn't like the finished one. Where was the skill? It felt like marbling ie anyone could do it.When I look at the poured paintings of Maurice Sapiro , I can see his skill.But he is using oild and I think they wouldn't run as quick. Try again.

Emmaus display

Put up the display of small images made into cards at Emmaus Mossley.There were 50 of mine and lots more made by the Art Group and the Upcycling group.I used the Venetian blind slats panel pinned onto a baton to make a lip, so I could bulldog clip the cards on. I did wonder if it was too big a space to have small cards on but it looked good.

The Upcycling display At Emmaus Mossley. On Friday morning  We have an upcycling group, a group of volunteers who come along to upcycle furniture and bric a brac to sell in the showrooms. Popular items are painted chairs, decoupaged chairs and tables.