Assignment two: interior/still life

For this I chose to do something in between a still life and an interior using my bedside table lamp, bedside table and part of my bed. I chose this as the lamp is a small Tiffany style and I love the light it emanates through the coloured glass at night. I also got really inspired by Jennifer O’Connell’s work using oil and usage of colour and light with lampshades in her interiors.

I took some photos of the lamp and bedside table and tried zooming in and out, taking different perspectives also so I could really get a nice capture of light and part of an interior that had a nice line and perspective: I tried this with full darkness and different light throughout the day on a bright day.

I then went to my notebook and did some planning and sketching to think not only of tone but colours – which was particularly useful in this exercise given the focus of that. Actually really studying and planning colours and media before and noting it down was quite useful to get me observing the colours better.

I also realised that using the phone is great to get an idea of viewpoints but that drawing it is quite different so I actually drew the scene using a bit of both and then lent more on the photo for the colours and light I captured at the time I wanted since of course the light was changing as the day passed.

METHOD:

• I wanted to create a sense of the cosiness and pleasure I get out of this lamp in the evenings. It’s also quite an intimate moment in terms of a bedroom, sleep, night time.
• At the same time I also wanted the colour contrast of the light through the glass to be the main focus and then see how it emanates out over the other parts of the composition that would be duller, more matt, less ‘bright’.
• I wanted the blueish light to also contrast with the warmer wooden tones
• I really want to loosen my style and really try to get a textured look like O’Connell’s above though I realise the texture comes more from the mark making and flat parts of colours put together and overlapping.
• For the composition I wanted to make sure the lamp was the main subject and played around with it in the middle, in the third third, or first third but still trying to ensure there was enough space for the light reflected on the wall
• All of these then led me to go to the art store and by brown and grey paper to consider putting different pieces together into a collage so really get the contrast I wanted. The question then was if I use oil, oil pastel, or other media and how best to use it. Though then I made a conscious decision not to use paint and stick to ‘drawing’ tools more given the course which is distinct from O’Connell’s use of oil
• For the lamp and light on the wall contrast I want to try pastels and oil pastels and maybe black paper for the lamp stand and then let the light on the wall be much softer and less sharp and contrasting.

I also took some more photos during the day to get a softer light and so there wasn’t as much shadow as I didnt want to have it so dark:

I played around a bit with pastels, coloured papers and oil pastels and decided on a combination of brown paper, pastel for the light and using oil pastel for the brighter and more powerful colours, contract and form of the lamp. Final piece below:

REFLECTIONS:

• Going less dark I think gave more cosy softness that I was trying for while still allowing for shadow
• Im happy with the drawing and perspective and tried to get an interesting composition using the three thirds rule. Though I still see some small errors in exactness of my drawings round the base of the lamp itself
• It differs from my inspiration painting above with more texture inside the colour plains due to using pastel and less rugged around the ‘lines and edges’ way the artist has done using what I imagine are large brushes and thick oil paint as I have defined the form more which I still get caught up in and still struggle to be loose with!
• I emphasised the coloured light on the walls more for more effect which I like but wonder if it cards too much with the rest of the more realistic approach
• I like the contrast of thicker texture and colour of the lamp with the rest of the painting as it really stands out which is what I was going for but then I question the unity though I hope it ties in from the fact that tis clear the light is coming from there but look forward to tutor remarks on that.
• Linked to the above, tutor feedback sent me back to correct the outlines from being too clearly a line so I worked to soften these and therefore have the final version below. Looking at both photos I also realise that the photo above was more likely taken in warmer artificial light and the below was taking in cooler winter daylight also which also gives a nice difference to consider about showing my artwork and thinking about how light affects it.