Author: saravipond

Still Life Composition

Process Pages:

I realise my first two wildlife ideas won’t work as I don’t have photos of seeing this in the wild, although I’ve seen both with my eyes. But with a photo I will have reference material

I looked at my photos and found a selection that give me some ideas to work with. I am especially drawn to the last image, which was taken in Cumberland and is of an industrial nature:

Photo of industrial artefact located at No 6 Mine Park in Cumberland, BC

I started off with a brown/red underpainting. I applied a grid to the photo and then put a chalk grid on my underpainting.

I started off with the grass and chose a pine cone as a tool to give texture to the grass. I used two different greens in each of the areas- the sunny and the shady ones. I made a grey with one of the browns and painted the fence, trying to texture it with a fork to reveal the underpainting. However, this hue dried very quickly.

I learned a lot along the way- about recognizing if a colour needed more red or green. About how to created dark and light areas. And also the perspective of looking sideways at the wheel and seeing an oval rather than a circle.

The most enjoyable part was painting with a pine cone and painting the curves of the wheels with a paint brush. I was very satisfied with my final painting and enjoyed sharing my image with family and friends.

The following poem was written after hearing an old time fiddler sing a traditional song about coal mining at The Woodstove Festival in Cumberland:

Ballad of The Fly Smackers

.

He sits in the parlour

playing old-time fiddle

singing songs of the mines

with a voice so true

.

Do they hear him?

The tunnels below?

The multitude of miners?

The ones who didn’t come home?

.

He sings of hardship

of tunnel collapse

of injury and blackness

of dying and turning to coal

.

I hear it echo

in the underground shafts

down a misty alley

among crooked shacks

.

He sings of resilience

of carrying on

of camaraderie

and perseverance

.

Do they hear him?

The tunnels below?

The multitude of miners?

The ones who didn’t come home?

.

He sings of suffering for all

of mothers and children

thrown out on the street

soon as Pa was no more

.

I hear it echo

in the underground shafts

down a misty alley

among crooked shacks

.

An age old story

of mining black gold

of extracting riches

for another to hold

.

He sits in the parlour

playing old-time fiddle

singing songs of the mines

with a voice so true

.

Do they hear him? 

The tunnels below?

The multitude of miners? 

The ones who didn’t come home?

.

By Carys Owen Woodstove 2024

Colour Wheel

I built my colour wheel gradually over the duration of the course. It was really interesting to follow the recipes provided and to try to be accurate with my colour mixing. It really helped me to sit next to a window and have lots of natural light to mix and compare the colours with the swatches provided.

Once I thought I was finished, it was pojnted out to me that my yellow-green needed more yellow, as did my red. My blue violet needed more blue. Also my blue and orange sections were streaky. I did my best to rectify these issues and feel that I now have a colour wheel that I can use as a tool in my future painting endeavours.

Unit 1 Assignment A

Abstract Collaged Composition & Cropped Details.

My three papers (light, medium and dark) were created with brushes, fingers and paint pot lids as the tools. I enjoyed selecting areas for the cropped details. However the way I cut them out meant I couldn’t make many strips from that piece for my collage.

I had the idea to do some weaving with the three values and started with some wide strips. Once I laid out the warp (vertical pieces) I took a photo. Then I proceed with the weft (horizontal pieces) and took more photos.

I decided that I liked the composition of the vertical pieces so reverted to that design and glued them in place. I placed them to overhang at the top for interest. My thought was that they reminded me of tree trunks.

With the remaining strips, I ripped them to be more narrow and made a loose weaving that left negative space between the the strips. I was thinking a bit of tartan when I was doing this project and how the lines are not always equally spaced.

I really enjoyed the freedom of this project and the opportunity to experiment with ideas of design and presentation.