Reflections : Final student project

Connecting with nature are our sensory skills with nature dissappearing? This next qoute reminds us of sight, sound, smell, touch, feel, emotions,…

“I have always loved the beach. The smell of the salty water, the wind in my face, the gentle roar of the waves all combine to create a sense of peace and calm.”

–Anonymous

http://www.beach-therapy.com/beach-quotes.html

Need to add images worked on yesterday also explore Sublime within work find artists who deal with the sublime as I intend to create larger scale works

Today I was also considering ideas that have been emerging from my work relating to the aspects of close up natural elements along the shoreline which would evoke memories on varying levels and a re-conecting with nature (see image of hands)

I will consider possibilities for a ten hand installation… which would involve my own “taking time to stand and stare,” in a personal way that is my tangeble physical response to found natural objects that I am drawn to along the shore line, these I would photo-document, date, time, duration and the order of the findings such as shells, pebbles, sand, drift wood..and incorporate them into the hand sculpture installation.( it may even be that I return these gifts of nature back… having borrowed them for a time )

“One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach; one can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few”

–Anne Morrow Lindbergh

One other idea is to create a mini video documentation of the shoreline and horizon with accompyaining sound of sea to install into a white space surround to give a sensory experience of being part of and submerged into sight and sound of the sea, to create a subliminal effect of being “transported” many people have their own childhood memories of times at the seaside and this continues through each generation.

Its a fact we spend more than 90% of our lives indoors.http//www.ecopsych.com/insight..

Also the idea to create a portrayal of nature via Media technology fits in with how accustomed we have become as humans to experience nature via T.V. In my dissertation I discussed how writer Guy Debourd and artist Nam June Paik both recognised how Media portrayals led the viewer into passivity, rather than engagement and activity.

I may consider creating within a space an installation depicting how experiencing nature artificially via T.V. is similar to J. Bourriauds ideas of Simularca.Via Media we are still disconnected from nature it is a hyperrealality, this creates a false sense of nature as something other something we are not.Its not a tangeble experience.

Researching on the essentialness of our connecting with nature I came across these ideas and qoutes…

“We are suffering from a kind of collective hypnosis, a cultural trance that prevents us from seeing things the way they really are.” William Irwin Thompson.

A good example here in the past our connection with nature we could sense rain…now we watch the weatherman on tv !!

“let the earth teach us the renewing powers of nature.” Richard Long

54…we have 54 senses we excessivley suffer our disorders because we dont connect with our natural senses with natures grace,balance, and restorative powers that ordinarily help us to remedy our troubles..http//www.ecopsych.com/insight..

“Technology progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.” Albert Einstien.

“What is the use of a house if you havn’t got a tolerable planet to put it on.” Henry David Thoreau.

“Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.”

–Robert Henri

“Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone.”

–Anonymous.

Today I have been researching colour theory by Edith Anderson Feisner… with the intention of exploring on a deeper level colours that evoke luminosity, I will also start to investigate a deeper exploration of how colour creates a certain mood this is somthing I have looked at in relation to ideas about creating works that communicate ambience, calm, and tranquility in order to create moments of reflection …..”To stand and stare” as William Davis encourages in his poem…

To explore in order to emphasis the roles certain colours play in drawing attention.

Focal points to consider and explore.. based on Edith Anderson Feisners writings on colour and composition.

Sun setting… size of sun in comparison to composition as a whole eg Monets, le Soleil dans le Brouillard 1904. the sun is tiny in comparison to the whole, yet its intensity draws our eyes to it as a focal point along with the sun’s reflection in the water-see image.Also Monet creates and captures Luminosity within the work.Becoming aware of size within the composition has alerted me to consider my own work in which the sun dominates in size …i need to evaluate….now realising that colour can determine compositions focal point need to re-evaluate this.

horizon intensity of colour conveys action so calmness of colour conveys rest/reflection

space adds to the awe and also enables an immersion into the work(such as eg Monets Waterlillies)

contrast of colours that draw attention …colour is seen before form is encountered.

Hues the more intensity heightens the impact.

Light and darkness of colours also create impact the wider the contrast the greater the impact ….Edith Anderson Feisner, 2006,UK. London.Laurence King Publishing Limted

Also researching artists whose works evoke certain atmospheres enables me to consider what effects I am trying to convey in my work for example Picasso’s The Old Guitarist 1903 is somber due to the hues and shades of green

I am particularly drawn to Odilon Redons work Golden Cell (Blue Profile) 1892 the blues hint of greens and golds used here capture a serenity calm and peace.

Today working in the studio I have continued to explore and develop ideas for work based on aspects of the horizon looking out from a shoreline position into the distance…. having as a child grown up by the sea there has always been a fascination with its power nothing can stop or control the sea…. As my eyes scanned the breadth of the horizon it seemed to curve… the meeting of sky and sea created the horizon..growing up on the coast looking out onto the Irish sea one was always aware of the amazing of sunsets depending on the weather either billowing black grey thunderous storms- wild or the contrasting colours of reds, golds, oranges, purples’ pinks, and an aura of translucencey the memories are vivid… there was always sense of magnificence of the horizon what ever the weather it has left an indelable mark … a memorie of childlike awe and wonder.That I hope to capture in my work. The reason behind this recent development has been noted on previous blogs… the main intention in this new work is to create works that allow us moments to reflect on the aspects of nature so easily forgotten in the extremes, demands,urgencies, and rush of life, and to re-connect again with nature allowing us moments of renewal and sanctuary.

Poem

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

William Henry Davies.

http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/poetry/william-henry-davies.html

At the moment I intend to follow a more heart lead intuitive route and use art in a more cathartic way using it as a place to “stop and stare” allowing a time to syncronise aspects of colour, light, space, horizon.

HORIZON, LAYERING OF COLOURS… EXPORING COMBINATIONS

In these sketch works I have been concentrating on exploring colours layering acrylic washes on top of each other, first laying down ultra marine blues and yellow hue when dry, adding red hue over the tops of yellows which then develops hints of orange glow especialy when the final thicker wash of ultramarine blue was added to image 2. With the first image the main colours were yellow hue and blue with hints of red wash over the yellow which created orange glows from these experiments, I am hoping to further expore layering of washes with the intention of learning to develop skills toward expressing luminosity within the works, in an attempt to create a sense of aura that is trancendental …

I have recently researched Mark Rothkos works whom I intend to further research and reference within the project.

Transitions continuing..

Images, ideas and aspects of art I am currently working on towards a more reflective approach to looking at art… Philosopher Alain de Botton describes Art as therapy…he describes how “Art can save your soul.” Botton says in the 19th C we were no longer able to bring our fears and anxieties into the Modern Cathedral(of Culture).Going on he says…”Art I believe is ultimatley a theraputic medium-just like music.” see his talk below… on ted talks.

I have also been researching artist Claude Monet whose large scale works Waterlillies 1919. (Some) were donated to the French Nation after the 1st World War and were considered as works to heal the nation after the traumas of the war,( this aspect would fit in with my own personal journey from dealing with conflict in my previous work to exploring a more replenishing/cathartic subject matter that focuses on ones response to nature as a sanctuary for restoration and recovery ) though I have never seen these … works in the Gallery one hears that their scale creates a sense of immersion, and a sense of calm and peace is evoked, taking the viewer out of the stresses and demands of modern day life.

www.ted.com/…/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler…‎SimilarAlain de Botton examines our ideas of success and failure — and questions the assumptions underlying these