What is a portrait?

A portrait is a piece of artwork that portrays the persona of ones self.

In this portrait by sally man we see a very depressing image. The black and white eeriness of the photograph creates a death-like aura. Everything around the girl is very blurry which conveys that the life of this girl is getting very confusing and complicated. The girl is also naked, and at first i thought that meant she was promiscuous but then i saw the solemn look on her face and realized the naked body represents innocence.

Chuck Close

In this portrait by Chuck Close, we can see many shapes creating this one bigger picture. This is representing that there are many things in this man's life that come together to create one person. Weirdly, all of the squares are odd shapes which means this man has odd quirks about him that come together to make a normal looking man.

Marcel Duchamp

Oddly, this piece of artwork is called a portrait. Obviously, due to the confusing wrinkles throughout the artwork the artist is trying to portray the hardships of the persons life. All of these hardships is what make the person, just like all of the wrinkles create the human heads almost impossible to recognize.

Observation On The History of Oil Painting

Oil painting has been a lifestyle for people for centuries. Artists such as Jan Van Eyck, Antonello De Messina, Leonardo Da Vinci, Giorgione, Titian, and Tintoretto were all extremely influential on creating the actually oil paint. The modern technique of oil painting was created circa 1410 by Jan Van Eyck. Though van Eyck was not the first artist to use oil paint, he was the first who is known to have produced a stable oil mixture which could be used to bind mineral pigments. Van Eyck’s mixture probably consisted of piled glass, calcined bones, and mineral pigments boiled in linseed oil until reaching a viscous state. Antonello De Messina later introduced another improvement to oil paint: he added lead oxide to the mixture. The new mixture had a honey-like consistency and increased siccative properties. This medium was known as oglio cotto—"cooked oil." Leonardo Da Vinci improved the technique even further by cooking the mixture at a low temperature and adding 5 to 10% beeswax, which prevented dramatic darkening of the finished paint. Giorgione, Titian, and Tintoretto each slightly altered this recipe for their own purposes. Obviously, when oil painting first became popular men seemed to take over. Every artists previously stated were all male. Females were not influential in the beginnings of the oil painting culture. Oil painting mainly took place in early modern Europe. Over time, subject matter has changed dramatically. At first all paintings were of bored looking people or fruit. More modern art consists of more abstract current ways of thinking.

Why Oil paint?

Oil paint dates back to Roman times in. Researchers believe oil paint has a big likelihood to have started in west and south east Asia.Surfaces like shields — both those used in tournaments and those hung as decorations — were more durable when painted in oil-based media than when painted in the traditional tempera paints. Most renaissance sources, in particular Vasari, credited northern European painters of the 15th century and Jan Van Eyck in particular, with the "invention" of painting with oil media on wood panel.

Ingredients:

The linseed oil itself comes from flax seed, and this flax was a common fiber crop. Recent advances in chemistry have produced modern water miscible oil paints that can be used with and clean up with water. Small alterations in the molecular structure of the oil created this water miscible property.The oldest known oil paint dates from 650 AD found in caves in Afghanistan.

And finally the real question.. WHY OIL PAINT?

Oil paint is a great tool to create art. It leaves thick, bold, vibrant colors on the canvas which never fades. While using oil paint, shadows and mixing colors comes very easily, and contrast between objects and colors is extremely obvious. Oil paint is also very easy to get accustomed too. Oil painting lets ones imagination come to life. Once a persons hand starts moving, oil paint keeps it going. The magically feeling of watching a painting come to life is irreplaceable. Oil paint also dries very slowly on your pallet, making it much easier to create accurate colors days after already painting.

A Sense Of Place

In the Andrew Wyeth painting above, the mood seems very negative and sad. the colors include cool yellows, browns, and whites which give the painting its eery vibe. The light source coming through the window does not seem like a fun and happy sun but an unwanted one. Wierdly, the plate, knife and cup and saucer sit alone at the table. Nothing seems to be in the cup or on the plate, and there is not even a fork or a spoon with the knife. Outside of the window, shadows give a scary creepy scene, the trees in the backround do not have leaves on them which helps the negativity.

In Edward Hoppers painting below, happiness is a word i could use as the mood of this painting. Every color is warm, especially the light coming in from the open door. The house seems clean and "homey" which adds to the positive feelings of this painting. The ocean is also always a great thing to think about for happy thoughts and that is exactly what we get! The ocean directly in our backyard.

Where are you at?

Besides keeping up with my blog the hardest part of this class so far is mixing the exact right color for the exact right thing. If the color is even a little off it it very obvious. I think my overall painting technique has been much better including my brush stroke. Past paintings help us understand light, color and value in a painting. As an artist, you learn through older paintings how you would like your setup to look like, almost like learning by design

Some Famous Paintings

Edward Hopper is a realist painter that uses ordinary elements or subjects and makes them more interesting then they already are. For Example, in Nighthawks he takes a simple cafe scene conveys a eerie and myserious "mood". He does this by exagerating light sources and using a very smooth and cartoon like brushstroke. He highlights certain important features by using more vibrant colors further expressing his motives in the painting.  

Using Compisition As A Tool

I think that this painting includes an incredible amount of composition. i think this because the placement of the puppies and the cups really compliment each other due to number and placement. also the size of everything is about the same which makes it very interesting. are these puppies newborns? are the cups and pears extra extra large? why are the puppies drinking out of a cup on a table? how did they get on the table? all of these questions make the painting even more interesting and beautiful.