Final Painting Workshop

For this workshop we were asked to prepare an A1 canvas and to bring in paints, oil or acrylic colours but NO black or white.
We were given a bag of foam shapes and asked to prepare either a 3D composition using wire or to make a flat composition on a white sheet of paper, i chose the flat piece and i don't really like working from 3D objects.
Here is my composition...

I have layered the shapes to create depth and tried to cover the whole white paper so i wouldn't have to deal with 'white' background showing through, where there is slight amounts showing, i drew the shapes on larger to eliminate this.
Unfortunately (being the wally i am) i forgot to document the on-going process while i was building the layers up, however, i started by making a yellow wash and drawing on the shapes lightly with the paint. Then basically using the colours i had with me, added washes to the shapes using the corresponding colours. I didn't really get that much done during the day and come the end of the lesson wasn't really taken with my effort so far.
Yesterday at home however, i built up the painting, having previously bought better colours and paints from Studio Arts in town.
I kept referring to Howard Hodgkin and the style he paints in to try and make something decent of my painting. This is not what i would normally choose to paint at all and i kept feeling disappointed in myself at the direction the painting was going in, i knew it needed 'something' to bring it to life.
I experiment with brush strokes and building similar colours up over each other, instead of just painting in block colour, in a sense it added tone and depth to the piece.

Here in these images you can see the colours layered over each other and the quite 'brushy' lines still evident.


While i was completing this painting i was looking at artists such as Howard Hodgkin and Mark Rothko who both use copious amounts of colour in their work, they are renowned for their use of colour in their painting styles. In particular i studied Hodgkin's brush movements and his layerings of colours and replicated this on the shapes so they didnt just sit flat on the canvas. I varied the brush sizes as well to give a greater definition to some of the marks. Hodgkin's has a very unique painting style though, so it wasn't a case of trying to copy him, more of taking his style and adapting in in my own work to a lesser extent. Here are some examples of their work....

Howard Hodgkin


Howard Hodgkin

Howard Hodgkin


Mark Rothko

Mark Rothko

Mark Rothko