Back to Basics

So after a failed experiment with pointillism using pen and watercolour, I just decided to abandon the technique for the moment and decided to just go back to the basics of colour pencils, using lines to create the portrait, but sadly had to use a reference.

Then again, it's Shu Pei, a pretty good Chinese model anyways.

 Portrait of a Woman, Jubilee Tai, Colour Pencils 2012

Artwork 07: Handmade Birthday Present! :)

So basically, this artwork was actually a handmade birthday present for my friend! :) And haha it was one of the times where I touched a paintbrush for the first time in a long time. So basically the concept behind my design for this bottle was simply having a geometric pattern in bright colours. It was not planned as a composition, but rather an improvised one, with a more carefree attitude to it. I was planning to recycle a tin can, and then proceed to design a wrap like paper for being like the covering for the tin can, and then my friend could then store whatever she wished in the decorated tin can. I didn't want to restrict what she would be using the can for.

 Above hows the early stages in the painting of the outside paper. I actually chose to use watercolour paper instead of regular drawing block as it seemed more sturdy and possibly would look better with a more dynamic texture due to the grain in the paper, as compared to a normal flat drawing block, which I felt would cheapen the look of it.

 This shows a later stage, where I added in more colours as well as bold outlines into the design, which would complete the look of the design, as well as cover up any marks where the colours overlapped in an aesthetically unappealing way. Certainly in our syllabus, our thought about art is a lot more open and abstraction and the unconforming type of "ugly art" is accepted. However, I could not practice that on my friend's birthday present or else it would probably just look silly and half-hearted instead.

 My nickname for my friend is Mignomephant as her name is Mignon and I basically combined it with an elephant after a funny conversation we had via SMS XD

Above is the abstracted elephant draft sketch of how the design would look like for the cap of the tin can. I would later paint on the design with acrylic paint :)

 Above is the complete paper with the sections painted in. I wanted to glitter the gold and silver(though not very visible here) parts but I later decided not to as the glitter fell off too easily and would just be messy, so I decided to keep it somewhat simple instead.

Above is the picture of the complete tin can where I have pasted on some gold ribbon onto the base of the can so as to cover up the bottom which didn't particularly look very nice :( I also did the same for the reverse side but I used an extra part of the excess graphic design to cut a circle to place in the middle of the cap. 

 I then started on the card, but I decided to make good use of what I had and I decided to photocopy the painted design and use it for the external design of the card. 

Using my one liner drawing skills, I decided to write Mignon's name in a special way which I had developed in the course of my coursework as shown below. 

Above: My signature one-liner drawing inspired font!

 As you can see in the three pictures above, I decorated the external features of the card such that each letter of her name was in one space of the angular shapes in my geometric design. The reason why I decided to make the card square was because I wanted to give it a slightly more atypical feel from the usual A5 sized card, as well as to ensure that only the design would occupy the space on the outside of the card, and referring back to the earlier picture of the photocopied version of the design, there were white spaces surrounding the design and I felt that it made the card look rather incomplete and more bare than I hoped for it to be. However, I felt that also the nature of the angular shapes on the outer surface of the card were too jarring and to add an element of softness and femininity, I decided to add a cluster of cloth flowers on the corner of the card, and although it contrasted in style with the modern, loud and bright graphic design, the two elements complemented each other and were juxtaposed against one another in an aesthetically refreshing manner. 

 On the inside of the card, I played with the acrylic paints even more, also because I was keen to use the more special colours of my acrylic paint collection. It was fully improvised and actually it was there to take up space due to my rather small handwriting XD but then again, I felt that it made the card more complete. Although it also did not fully tie in with the graphic design from earlier, but the bright colours still gave the elements a link. 

Below are some pictures of the final products!! :)

And of course the complete cap!

Hope you enjoyed this post! :)

Writing 06: Piet Mondrian (The Journey from Reality to Abstraction)

Piet Mondrian developed his own unique painting style over the years, which is truly a journey from reality to abstraction. Let's take a look at a few of his paintings chronologically.

Avond (Evening): The Red Tree, 1908, Mondrian

This picture depicts a red tree against a predominantly light blue background. It mainly uses primary colours, which also offers a great contrast between the colours due to the polar differences in warmth of the colour. The tree is also painted in arbitrary colours, however, it is still distinguishable as a tree and it is still in some ways realistic. The brushwork is also rather obvious and appear almost like they were dotted on the canvas rather spontaneously. The lines created are then also affected by the syncopation of the brushwork; the lines are rather fuzzy and not clear cut. Some of the lines which are branches are more faded than the others, so as to create the effect of the branches being progressively further away from the viewer, implying a 3-dimensionality to the painting, rather than just a flat depiction of the tree as assumed from a glance of this work.

Grey Tree, 1911, Mondrian

In this picture, the tree is has been abstracted and simplified into curved lines. Rather than being a 100 percent realistic depiction of a tree, it is implied through the simple usage of lines, created by the overlapping and branching pattern. This painting is a very monochrome one and employs only different shades of grey, black and white. The brushstrokes are rather carelessly painted on, and it is apparent that in conjunction with the Cubist elements of this painting, Mondrian has also taken care to further this chase of Cubism in this painting by using a square flat-tip brush. Similar to Avond (Evening): The Red Tree, some of the lines are progressively faded to create a slight 3-dimensional effect, but for this painting, it is to a lesser extent. It is less obvious also due to the lower contrast between the tree as the main subject matter and its background. The subject matter has been flattened severely, almost as if to blend in with the background as one instead of a distinctive main subject matter as usual. 

Composition no. ii (Composition in Line and Colour), 1913, Mondrian

This artwork is predominantly done in pastel colours, but bold black lines are painted on clearly to create rectangular shapes, as well as some semicircles in the sea of rigid right angles. Similar to the previous two artworks there is a fade off effect, but this time round it lies not in tree branches but rather it is done as an edge blur in a vignette format. The lines eventually get weaker and lighter as they approach the ends of the canvas. There are visible patches of colour, indicating the slight carefree-ness of Mondrian despite the boundaries set through the boxes in the painting. 

Composition with Large Blue Plane , Red, Black, Yellow and Grey, 1921, Mondrian

 This painting consists and is formed by flat planes of colours encased and bounded by simple black lines which form boxes as they cross each other systematically. The colours used are also not very varied, but rather of simply primary colours, black and white, as well as a very faint grey. They are also placed in such a way that the bright colours are adjacent to the monochromatic hues of white, grey and black. 

One of the most obvious progressions would be that certainly, the subject matter of his paintings became increasingly abstract and simplified down to a more purely 2-dimensional state. Also, the variation of colour eventually became more limited, and he often re-used the same hues for different paintings. Another change would certainly be in the style he painted in. At the start in Avond (Evening): The Red Tree, it had inklings of being Post-Impressionist, taking after Van Gogh's style of using short brushstrokes, predominant in his works like Starry Night. However, in both Grey Tree and Composition no. ii (Composition in Line and Colour), they are most obviously following in the footsteps of Cubism, being flat and having colours of low contrast. 

The role of the colours in his paintings has also changed. Rather than just being accessories to the painting by bringing life into the otherwise dead and colourless compositions, or just constituting the painting, they seem to dominate the painting as individual entities. Gradually, the focus is changed from the subject matter as objects to having the colours themselves as the main point of the painting. The paintings can no longer possibly truly live without colour as they slowly grow more dependent on the hues to make the artwork the artwork. Certainly, the subject matter has changed.

Looking at the wider De Stijl movement e.g. Gerrit Rietveldt's chair...

I personally think that the De Stijl movement did have a certain lasting impact on the design and art. It has in some ways given rise to the popularity of minimalism. This is apparent through the simplicity translating from the De Stijl artists to the equally simple angular forms of minimalist architecture. 

Below are two examples of minimalist architecture:

As one can see, the forms are very straightforward - angular rectangles and geometric elements, devoid of decorative essence. There is little complication to the design.

Also looking at minimalist fashion, 

the designs do not incorporate printed pattern or add ons, but rather it leaves only what is essential and of worth to the design. It is also often single coloured, echoing the flat planes of colour Mondrian used instead of blending colours to form secondary ones. Detail is no longer the focus, but rather the big picture is highlighted.

Ending off with a quote...

"The emotion of beauty is always obscured by the appearance of the object. Therefore the object must be eliminated from the picture."   - Piet Mondrian

Certainly, this statement really sums up my newfound discovery of Mondrian, that the focus no longer lies on what we deem to usually be (an object, a living thing, a person etc.) but rather on what had been making up that subject matter - colours, lines, planes, everything but what had been given the spotlight for centuries.