Part One: Project 1 - Stage 3

Wednesday 1st September - Using marks to create surface textures

Cleared my work area and grabbed my computer for research into van Gogh, Klee and Picasso, artists who use mark making within their work.

I remember seeing a drawing by van Gogh a few years ago in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, having never seen his drawings before I was amazed by the pen marks and rhythms he created within the picture. I was inspired at the time to buy some reed pens to use in my own work - will have to dig them out to use in this section!

I used google images, the downside was having to access not only the picture, but also the article in order to check if the work was really by the artist, or whether the artist was just mentioned in the article accompanying the picture. A good source though with thousands of images in one place.

Paul Klee's quote 'taking a line for a walk' really did sum up his drawings, it was as if the pen hit the paper and wasn't lifted until an image was produced. A good sentence to accompany this module.

Whilst looking into Klee's drawings I came across this beautiful image by Gertrude Goldschmidt

Again google images, from a site http://www.johnkannenberg.com/

I love the simplicity, the clean lines and the unexpected patterns created when one line crosses another.

I liked Paul Klee's paintings also, I looked at Fish Magic - almost a wax resist technique, like a batik.
The painting Parnassum could almost have been created by sticking squares of paper down and paint applied over the top of them.

From the taking a line for a walk approach, I went on to look at more of van Goghs work, both his drawing and his painting.

Starry night: I liked the pen drawing more than the painting - movement and rhythm were created by using directional lines; brush strokes in the case of the painting. Perspective was very simply created by altering the thickness of the lines he drew - thicker and darker lines in the foreground, lighter thinner lines in the background.

From all the movement in van Gogh's work to the simplicity of Picasso.

The Horse by Pablo Picasso http://www.art.com/

No movement, no busy lines, no colour - but a very beautiful image of a horse, sometimes simple and uncomplicated can produce powerful results.

Mark making, it seems, has been going on for a long time. Marks can evoke emotions, provide movement and create rhythm in a picture.
I created textures and marks over the past few exercises, but looking at these great works of art, has inspired me to continue to work in this way.

Conclusion, I feel that the time spent researching the artists work has been well spent.
Looking at how they have used mark-making in their work helps to make sense of all the mark making exercises I have worked through, and will hopefully prepare me for the next few exercises in this stage.