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Guitar and Saxiphone

Details: Written by: Ray Oltion; Category: Painting; Published: 03 December 2023; Hits: 13

GuitarSax2

I have never experienced color as music as Wassily Kandinsky did. I suspect it would take intense focus on both painting and music to achieve such synaesthesia. For me, I have to rely on symbolism and imagery to make that leap.

I wanted to somehow represent music, and also to experiment with color relationships. I wanted a non-representational painting to suggest the abstract nature of music and its ephemeral quality. I also wanted to portray rhythm and repetition of a theme.

Kandinsky's use of color and abstract shape intrigues me, but his paintings intimidate me to some degree. Perhaps with time I will be able to approach that vision, but for now I will settle for something more accessible: cubism. Of course that leads me to Pablo Picasso. I used his painting Guitar and Violin for inspiration and guidance, shown on the next slide.

GuitarViolin

While angled planes appeal to me, it seemed my first effort in cubism might be facilitated with a cubic grid. Other artists have used this method of partitioning the canvas, including Piet Mondrian. That can open up possibilities for color and value contrast that representational forms might not provide. It will also allow repetition and juxtaposition of design fragments.

For this piece I used two photographs of my D'Angelico baritone guitar and two views of my Yanagisawa tenor saxophone. I positioned them on the canvas and then overlaid a square grid. I then chopped up the photos and rearranged the pieces. This was simple since the squares were identical in size.

First I did a basic color study using red, green, and blue to determine continuity of shapes and dynamics of form. I did this freehand with my graphics tablet and stylus. Although this was rather crude, it provided a quick way to check the design without investing a lot of time on the drawing. The sketch is shown in the slide after Picasso's painting.

GuitarSaxSketch

I used clues from the background of the brick wall behind the guitar and geometric shapes from Picasso's painting, which suggested some of the atonal and dissonant motifs in modern music, perhaps a la Arnold Shoenberg or Igor Stravinsky.

I then drew the forms I wanted with paths in GIMP and labeled them with the row and column numbers of the grid. From these paths I could then create the values, chroma, and hues in the LCH layer format.

The background colors vary with each square grid block, sometimes to set the form off via complementary colors, and sometimes to bind adjacent blocks together. They also act as superblocks that give the painting another level of design. They also present different color relationships for some of the repeated forms.

The symbols in blue represent ledger lines and perhaps clefs, sharps and flats, without being too literal. Some of these shapes were shamelessly borrowed from Picasso's painting. In fact, Picasso's painting exists as a ghost overlay, providing texture and shading in some forms and in the background.

One thing I learned from this attempt is that cubism and abstract art created by masters like Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, and Piet Mondrian is hard to do. I think it would take a lot of practice and study to depart from representational form to the degree that these masters achieved, while still retaining profound meaning and pleasing visual (and perhaps auditory) experiences.

Bone Knife Still Life

Details: Written by: Ray Oltion; Category: Painting; Published: 12 October 2023; Hits: 85

BoneKnifeStillLife

I composed this still life with part of the backbone to one of my goats, along with various boxes, cutting tools, mouse pad, ceramic tile, pencil, and even a dental floss container. The setup was on a countertop, but I elected to leave that and the background relatively blank. I know the still life floats as a result, but in a way I want to challenge the illusion with the raw canvas in the foreground. The background does possess some solidity, as evidenced from the shadow of the box on the right, between the two boxes.

This picture uses a split compliment color scheme, with orange and violet opposite red and green. This could easily get out of control, so the color saturation is relatively low.

My goal was to gain more control over value and color saturation to provide the right amount of emphasis on the main subject elements. I also wanted to show colors in shadows and reflections. In some cases I had to increase the color saturation in those areas to allow the reflected colors to show.

The exception is in the greenish-black box on the right. It has a shiny surface, so reflects light readily, but it is so black that it knocks out all color intensity. That is why the reflections in the box are greenish-grey tones only and possess no local color.

It was fun guessing where reflected colors would appear on the objects. My photo of the setup wasn't very good, and I didn't have the original objects available, so I had to invent everything from my imagination.

I tried to be subtle with the reflected light, so you might have to magnify the image and inspect the edges of the forms to see the individual colors. Maybe the overall effect comes through and the picture looks somewhat natural.

This departs from my previous work, which didn't attempt realism. Now I understand why this appeals to some artists. You feel like some sort of creator, making worlds out of the void.

In response to a question about my process, I can offer the following. I will try to answer them in non-technical language, since you might want to use PhotoShop and it might differ from GIMP:

I used to use layers for outlines that I drew from the objects in the photograph, but that was error-prone and messy. There were always overlaps and holes between shapes, and the thickness of the lines sometimes interfered with the flow from one shape to another.

My technique evolved to using paths, which are mathematical descriptions of a closed loop consisting of points and curves. These exist not in a layer but in their own list. You can name them and edit them if you like.

The paths can intersect and overlap, such as the knife blade being behind the vertibra and reappearing in the hole for the spinal column. You can use the paths as selection tools, and logically add, subtract, or intersect them. This eliminates problems with trying to draw lines and color within them.

Once I select the area I want, I can fill it with either grey tones for the value, colors for the hue, or different intensities of one color for the saturation. These elements each have their own layer, for Luminance, Chroma, and Hue, or LCH as this scheme is named. This gives me control over each element independently.

If I want to emphasize the edge, I can stroke the path with a colored or patterned line of any width I desire. I actually did that on the vetribra. If you zoom in on that image you may see numerous small green dots on the edge surrounding the shape. This might create a subtle vibration with the surrounding areas.

Porch Sitting with Steve

Details: Written by: Ray Oltion; Category: Painting; Published: 04 October 2023; Hits: 117

StevePorchNight Muted

This picture shows my neighbor Steve on his porch during an early fall evening, and is actually Version 2. My first attempt, Version 1, is below for you to compare. Please spend some time contemplating the above picture first before comparing it to the picture below.

The extreme wide angle of view accentuates a sense of depth and space on an otherwise narrow and shallow room by providing a strong sense of perspective. Some of the shapes are distorted, especially in the table and bench that abut the left and right borders, but the verticals are pretty straight, as the line of sight is essentially level.

The light in the sky is a deep blue and the tree shows some color from the light from street lamps. Most of the light in the picture comes from the porch light above the entry door, which is towards the left center. The porch steps are on the right behind the chairs and are not visible. The other source of light comes from the windows behind Steve, and through the octagonal window in the entryway.

The shadows of the chair legs and the entryway wall on the floor provide evidence of the dominant light source, as well as the shadow on the ceiling from the entryway wall and the column shadow on the porch overhang. This shadow has a green hue due to reflected light from the lawn, and perhaps some blue light from the evening sky mixing with the yellow paint on the overhang. Since Steve was mostly in shadow, his body doesn't cast a shadow, although in reality their may have been a slightly deeper part of shadow from his body on the wall behind him. His legs change the line of shadow on the floor.

The colors attempt to represent artificial light with a warm tone, possibly from the quality of the light source, but also from the yellow color of the porch paint, although in reality the floor had a grey paint that picked up some of the direct and reflected light from the walls and ceiling. This gave it a yellow cast even though the surface was more neutral.

The color scheme may be split complementary, as the green from the upper window, Steve's shirt, the tree, and a sliver of light on the entryway behind the porch light contrasts with the red of the chairs and the wicker bench. The magenta in the shadows on the floor compliment the yellow walls, floor, and columns. The blue in the windows, sky, and Steve's trousers may be analogous to the yellow and green, but there doesn't appear to be a corresponding orange in the picture, except maybe the side of the wicker bench.

The forms overlapped and required me to draw through the top ones to convincingly depict the underlying shapes. The table goes though the chairs on the right, and the columns pass through the chairs and table. Steve's body outline passes through the chair he sits upon. Likewise, the window passes through his body, and the wall and floor line passes through the wicker bench on the left.

I played with a woven texture on the chair backs and wicker bench. The chair backs show some transparency, allowing the background columns, chair cushions, and table legs to peep through. This intrigues me and I might search for more subjects that allow this dimension to the design. The canvas texture on the sky, ceiling, and floor breaks up these large featureless areas, although it may be overdone and unbalanced, weighting the picture towards the right. The strong pattern on the wicker bench on the left might offset that effect somewhat, though.

This strong texture might compete with the focal point, which logically should be Steve. Then again, maybe Steve is just one of the forms on his porch, and the overall environment is the subject of the picture. After all, it was the feeling of sitting on the porch with an agreeable companion during a pleasant evening that remains in my memory, and recreating this was my objective.

StevePorchNight

This is my first attempt, where the colors are possibly too intense, except for Steve's shirt and trousers, which are possibly too neutral. I experimented with reducing the overall intensity but liked this version better. In retrospect, per Mark Carder's advice, the colors may be over-saturated and the values too high.

This may be due to mental bias from starting with a high key value study in the lightness layer and fully saturated colors in the hue layer and then trying to reduce the intensity in the chroma layer.

Maybe I should change my approach and start with low saturation and low key first, and carefully increase the intensity and value only when it seems absolutely necessary, such as for dominant forms and highlights. Starting with highly saturated colors and high key values may poison my sense of balance and make more realistic renditions seem bland and moody.

Switch between my second version and this one to see the difference. After looking at this more intense version, does the second version above look drab? When you first looked at the second version, before looking at this one, did it seem about right?

Mark Carder maintains that once you see the intense and over-exposed version, the more reserved version loses its appeal. That's the trap, and most people fall into it without noticing. This says you have to be very careful with saturation and exposure / key values. It is easy to overdo it, and you won't even realize you have done so until it is too late.

Field Artillery

Details: Written by: Ray Oltion; Category: Painting; Published: 24 September 2023; Hits: 120

As the title suggests, this is an antique cannon from the National Guard compound. The various cylinders and wheels fascinated me, and that became the focus of my composition. You might call this semi-abstract, since some of the forms don't exactly follow rules of overlapping shapes. For instance, the doughnut shape in the center of the image should have been partially obscured by the gun chassis, but it was so strong with the connecting diagonal struts that it had to remain in full view.

As you can see, the image makes extensive use of bilateral gradients, which creates a highlight line on a cylindrical object. The torus forms also use a cylindrical type of shading to give them the illusion of a convex cross-section. The forms suggest a polished surface in diffused light, although they depart from reality somewhat, since the ones underneath the gun barrel should be in shadow.

Since this exercise examined transparency in hues, my choices were to either deliberately merge background and foreground with overlaps, or to preserve the solidity of the shapes and apply surface effects to suggest painted shapes on the cannon. Since this image leaned more towards the representative mode, and since the original cannon has camouflage paint, the latter choice made more sense.

Of course the colors reflect my aesthetic choices and were not intrinsic to the object. The object has a violet to green gradient, and the background a yellow to blue gradient. The object also has jagged linear boundaries in hue that simulate cut pieces of colored paper randomly distributed, or even pasted upon the form, sort of like decoupage. The background is relatively simple, but employs a canvas like texture, which reinforces the message that this is a two dimensional representation in a picture frame.

If you look closely you may notice some background colors splattered on the object. This might suggest the mud and grime associated with battle and the violence of exploding shells. No, there are no red splotches, as that might be a little melodramatic.

The colors may be too intense, but this image packed more visual energy than several other candidates with lower chromatic range. While the other less intense versions soothed the eye, that seemed incongruous with the inherent power and violence in a weapon. Perhaps the dominant violet hue represents the use of war by royalty and governments to protect their interests and expand their empires. Maybe you could say there is a sort of sinister beauty in such objects.

South Piney Cliffs 2019-07-11

Details: Written by: Ray Oltion; Category: Painting; Published: 03 July 2023; Hits: 274

This digital painting is pretty old, as the date in the title suggests. I included it here so you could compare it to my more current work. Ha-ha. Maybe it hasn't changed all that much.

This has lots of spiked tree shapes which contrast with the massive blocks of the limestone cliffs, exposed by the erosive power of South Piney Creek which is now fed by several reservoirs in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. Imagine back in time how spring runoff might have been huge to have eroded away hundreds of feet of solid rock.

The use of texture, admittedly overdone, suggests the brick-like solidity of the rock, and the more patterned textures in the trees mimic the more random directions of the pine needles in the Ponderosa pine forest. Changing textures also help differentiate the shapes, even though they have the same color.

The color groups create planes in the picture from foreground to background, and reinforce the geometrical nature of the composition. This might be appropriate for a semi-abstract painting, which exists in a two-dimensional format. Imagine living in Flat Land, where the third dimension doesn't exist, except for overlays of two-dimensional planes.

The linear outlines of constant thickness provide uniformity throughout the composition, and offer value contrast with their associated group color. They also help define the shapes within the group, without destroying the unity of the overall groupings of shapes. These outlines disappear at the sky line, which perhaps suggests the intimate contact of the atmosphere with all living and non-living objects on the Earth's surface.