I'm back with some art-related updates!
So far, there as only been one summer "art night." My friend Amanda got a job in California for the summer, so she hasn't been around too much. But Jessica and I got together to try some Jackson Pollock-style painting. Jackson Pollock was an abstract expressionist painter and famous for his unique style of "drip-painting" where he drizzled, flicked, and whipped paint on ginormous canvases.
Jackson Pollock's painting "Number 31"
Anyway, Jessica and I were feeding some ducks and having a chat when she said "I really felt like throwing some paint at something last night" and I replied "Why don't we? I've always wanted to try." So we gathered all the bottles of craft paint and the canvases lying around our houses, set up on the front lawn and started throwing. It was really very fun and a great way to let off steam. (We giggled a lot.) Thankfully we were barefooted because we got paint EVERYWHERE; all over the grass and ourselves. I enjoyed the physical process of painting much more than the end result, which is a concept that my high school art teacher, Theresa Barry, tried to teach me almost 10 years ago.
If you cover up half of the painting down below with your hand, you will notice that the left side is much more dynamic than the right. At one point in the process, I felt that the whole painting was quite boring because the orange and green patterns blanketed the entire canvas. The shapes and patterns were all the same size, and I wanted to break them up to make the painting more interesting. I added more colors (blue and pink) in localized areas to break up the pattern in an attempt to direct my eyes around the canvas when I looked at it. This conscious effort only happened in the last 10% of the process because I had too much fun throwing paint in the first 90% to care how it looked. But I was pleased with the end result and will keep it to remember how much fun Jessica and I had painting together. Next time I try painting in this style, I plan to limit myself to 3 or 4 colors, leave a little more white space, and again cluster the colors in their own areas (like with the blue and pink below).
My painting. While Jackson Pollock's paintings were the size of walls, mine was a more modest 8"x10"
I also started a drawing in July of a very picturesque window that I saw while in Italy. In Italy, there are colorful window boxes on every house, and this particular one had a simple white t-shirt drying in the sun as it hung from a shutter. There was also a very charming, fresco on the exterior wall that was just barely visible where it hadn't yet flaked off. As of August, I'm about done the drawing stage and eager to start coloring!
This summer, Jessica and I also visited the Fruitlands Musem in Harvard, MA on a beautiful summer day. The weather was perfectly suited for walking around the grounds and enjoying the landscape from within the dining tent. We went early on a Sunday to have brunch, and between surges of animated conversation we fell into contented, peaceful silence. As we ate our fresh toast and enjoyed our view from the hillside, I noticed that the gentle breeze coming through the dining tent was neither warm nor cool. It matched me so perfectly that I felt no temperature at all. It was extremely comfortable sitting there in good company with a yummy breakfast and a beautiful view.
After breakfast, we explored the collections of art and artifacts around the grounds. There was also an Arist-in-Residence named Richard Kattman who we saw painting on the hillside. Kattman is an abstract landscape painter, and we saw many of his paintings on display in the Fruitlands' art gallery. (His paintings shared a building with a collection by the Hudson River School artists during the Transcendentalist Movement, which I greatly admire.) In the gallery, Jessica and I pondered the style of abstract landscape and wondered how painters decide what to paint and where, when their work doesn't portray any recognizable shapes. Despite our confusion, we both appreciated the balance of colors, shape, and texture that were evident in the work.
On our hike back up the hill (after visiting the Alcott Farmhouse, the Native American Museum, and Shaker Office), we passed Kattman at his work again and he stopped to talk to us. He was very friendly and eager to chat and answer our questions. He explained his thoughts on the painting in front of him. It represented a body of water with a long bridge across (the long vertical line down the middle of the canvas) that he drove across every day to get to the Museum. He also said there were lights across the bridge that were reflected in the water. After hearing his explanation, I could understand the shapes and colors in the painting better, and Jessica and I felt very enlightened.
We continued to watch Kattman as he went back to work. We loved watching him as he grabbed paintbrushes, brushed gently and then vigorously, and went over his canvas with water, which made the paint blend smoothly. Most of the images that we saw on display at Fruitlands are not updated on Kattman's website, but these will give you an idea of his style. See if you can find the painting called "Map," which is one of my favorites that I saw. Click here to visit his website.
Well, I think those are all of the art-related updates for now. Let's hope I finish my Italy drawing soon, then I'll have something else to share!
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