Tricia’s Art Blog

Joseph Mallord William Turner: Fishermen at Sea: (1796)

Media: Oil on Canvas:

Support: 914 x 1222mm:

Frame: 1120 x 1425mm x 105mm

Location: Tate Collection

Image available at:

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime

I like the dark brooding sky in this painting. It is an element I would like to try and create in my own painting.

Joseph Mallord William Turner: Snow Storm: (1842)

Media: Oil on Canvas:

Support: 1099 x 1600:

Frame: 1562 x 2052 x 175mm

Location: Tate Collection

Image available at:

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime

Turner uses paint to hint at the terrifying and awesome using techniques of dark, light and scale. His brushstrokes are applied in such a way that they create the atmosphere of a turbulent sea and sky.

Other artists I researched for my painting of The Abyss were, Phillip James Loutherbourg, James Ward, John Martin, and Joseph Wright of Derby.

Phillip James De Loutherbourg:

An Avalanche in the Alps (1803)

Media:Oil on Canvas:

Support: 1099 x 1600mm

Frame: 1562 x 2052mm

Location: Tate Collection

Image available at:

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime

Phillip James De Loutherbourg:

Belle Isle, Windermere in a Storm: (1785)

Media: Oil on Canvas:

Dimensions: 1360 x 2020mm

Location: Lakelands Art Trust Collection

Image available at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/belle-isle-windermere-in-a-storm

James Ward: Gordale Scar: (1812-14)

Media: Oil on Canvas:

Support: 3327 x 4216mm

Location:Property of Lord Ribblesdale

Image available at:

http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/mind-fields

Joseph Wright of Derby: Vesuvius in Eruption (1776-80)

Media: Oil on Canvas:

Support: 1220 x 1764mm:

Frame: 1461 x 1941 x 95mm

Tate Collection

Image available at:

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime

John Martin:  The Great Day of his Wrath: (1851-3)

Media: Oil on Canvas:

Support: 1965 x 3032mm:

Frame: 2400 x 3470 x 175mm

Tate Collection

Image available at:

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/martin-the-great-day-of-his-wrath-n05613

Joseph Wright of Derby: Matlock Tor: (circa 1778-1780)

Media: Oil on Canvas:

Dimensions: 731 x 1000mm

Location: The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Image available at:

http://www.fitzwilliamprints.com/image/703014/wright-joseph-wright-of-derby-matlock-tor-by-joseph-wright-of-derby

Joseph Wright of Derby: Dovedale by Moonlight:(1785)

Media: Oil on Canvas:

Dimensions: 685 x 900mm

Location: Derby Museum and Art Gallery

Image available at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/dovedale-by-derbyshire-moonlight-61217

All the different elements that I want to include within my own painting are captured in these paintings; the vastness of the landscape, dark and stormy skies and the insignificance in size of the figure.

One of the Artists I looked at was Joseph Mallord William Turner. Turner’s works are recognised as being the most successful at capturing the effect of boundlessness.

Joseph Mallord William Turner:  The Devils Bridge, St Gotthard: (1803-4)

Media: Oil on Canvas:

Support: 768 x 628mm

Private Collection: UK Photo:

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond

Image Available at:

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-the-devils-bridge-st-gothard-tw1813

Joseph Mallord William Turner:  The Falls of Terni: (1817)

Media: Water Colour on Paper

Dimensions: 14×22.2 cms

Location: Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery: Lancashire

Image available at:

http://www.bridgemanimages.com/fr/asset/100499/turner-joseph-mallord-william-1775-1851/the-falls-of-terni-1817-w-c-on-paper

I was inspired by this painting to include a waterfall in my own painting.

My work this year is based around sexual child abuse and its’ repercussions.
There have been many media reports on this subject in recent times and several public figures have been shown to have been abusers of children. Jimmy Saville and Rolf Harris, are probably, the most notable of late. There has been widespread child abuse within the Catholic Church, much of it either ignored or covered up. It has also come to light that files have gone missing, regarding paedophile allegations within the corridors of political power. Being a survivor of this heinous crime myself, this is a subject that is particularly close to my heart.

My first piece of work is a painting. It was inspired by a poem written by myself, from a place of deep despair.

The darkness beckons,
I am standing on the edge.
My senses numb, I face the deep abyss.
It caresses me with its’ gentle whisperings.
Come to me, I will ease your pain.
I will take away your betrayals,
your disappointments.
I will take away your sense of hopelessness.
Bring me your tears,
Bring me your deepest sorrows.
And in return, I offer you…Oblivion.

I realised that this piece of work would be within the context of the Sublime and so I started with that.

Edmund Burke’s sublime, was associated with pain and danger. For him; the main causes of the sublime were darkness, magnificence, adversity or vastness. He related these qualities with terror rather than elation.

More information is available at:
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/display/art-and-sublime

Immanuel Kant’s interpretation focussed more on the concept as a mental condition, or as an aesthetic experience emerging from the strain of perceiving something infinite or boundless.

More information is available at:
http://www.wisdomportal.com/Cinema-Machine/Kant-Beautiful&Sublime.html

My own feeling of the sublime, for this piece of work, comes from a place of pain and emotional darkness and will be represented by a stormy sky (a maelstrom of emotions) and a tiny figure standing literally ‘on the edge’ both physically and emotionally, quite alone, in the vastness of the landscape and in her suffering.

I then looked at artists of the sublime to see how they realised their ideas in order to expand my own. This is usually the way I work, Idea – Artist Research – Start work. Sometimes I will make sketches at other times I will access images from the internet, it depends very much on what the project is that I am embarking on.