The Contract & The Coffee
March 27, 2017
The Contract
In the Contract I tried adding more intense colours for juxtaposition and for use as focal points. By adding colours that draw the eye, the viewer will see those aspects first, and then their attention will drift to what you want them to see later.
I thought that the best way to create this effect was to lay down these colours using impasto in order to make them pop out a little more than the other areas. I think that it worked, however, I also think that I used too much, and therefore the painting became unbalanced in a way that I didn’t want it to. Therefore I think that in the future I wont use as much colour that is so jarring to the palette.
What is Impasto?
Impasto is a technique of painting usually used to convey an expressiveness in work, and is done by using paint thickly on a surface to create a very intense feeling.
Van Gogh – Starry Night
This is a good example of Impasto used over an entire painting
The Coffee
The Coffee was a direct improvement on The Contract, everything that I got wrong in the previous painting, I got right in this painting, and everything I got right in the last painting, I got right here too.
I started the painting by covering the space in imprimatura using the light brown colour of the sky. I then got to work on the background, clothing, hair, and finally the skin.
I think that the highlight of the painting would definitely be the way that I painted the clothes, and the weakest part of the painting would be the foliage at the right hand side.
I think that the impasto of the sunglasses worked well with the purple/red hue, that stood out against the rest of the painting and gave it a focal point.
In terms of static interaction, I think that it has a narrative by itself, and when combined with the other paintings I have done it will promote an emotional response.
What is Imprimatura?
Imprimatura is an Italian term and literally means the ‘first paint layer’, and refers to a transparent coating of colour over a painting that provides a toned base for the following layers of colour, and allows the painter to achieve an effect that would be extremely hard to obtain otherwise.
In other words, it is an initial wash of colour that allows the painter to start with an background that reflects their painting better.
Plans for the future
In the next few paintings I am going to try and take what I have learned, and improve upon it. I like this paint palette and I am going to continue using it for a while.
Joe
