Still Life - Choice Piece
Title: Orchid in the Dining Room
Size: 40 cm by 60 cm
Material: Canvas and Acrylic Paint
Date of Completion: February 2023
Exhibition Text:
This acrylic painting titled "Orchid in the Dining Room" is a piece that felt very natural to create. I see and exist in this space every day and after school I always sit with my family and work on homework or art at the table. I wanted to display a level of irony in how we as humans attempt to manipulate and tame nature. I felt there was juxtaposition between a seemingly dead and barren tree compared to a delicate orchid in full bloom. Acrylic is my favorite type of paint and I am very familiar with this medium so I felt it was fitting for this piece. All the materials used in this piece were previously purchased.
Title: Orchid in the Dining Room
Size: 40 cm by 60 cm
Material: Canvas and Acrylic Paint
Date of Completion: February 2023
Exhibition Text:
This acrylic painting titled "Orchid in the Dining Room" is a piece that felt very natural to create. I see and exist in this space every day and after school I always sit with my family and work on homework or art at the table. I wanted to display a level of irony in how we as humans attempt to manipulate and tame nature. I felt there was juxtaposition between a seemingly dead and barren tree compared to a delicate orchid in full bloom. Acrylic is my favorite type of paint and I am very familiar with this medium so I felt it was fitting for this piece. All the materials used in this piece were previously purchased.
Inspiration
I am very fond of this painting and it is exactly what I wanted to embody in my own piece. I appreciate the style and the simplicity of the piece, The artist really focused on the fruit and flowers and was able to truly capture their essence in my opinion. When I found this piece I liked how dynamic it seemed despite it being a still life. I think this is partially due to the intentional positioning of the items. The Hyacinths stand tall and both bend slightly away from one another. The yellow rounded fruit in the dish leans to the left while the grapes drape over the side to the right. I love the dark shapeless background which contrast with the stark white countertop and brightly colored flowers and fruit. I wanted to replicate this contrast in my piece by having bright colors in the orchid stand out against the dark wood. I also wanted to utilize Henri's use of light and shadow. He depicts dark thick shadows combined with highlights which I attempted in my painting using dark browns for shadows and yellowish highlights.
Still Life Hyacinths and Fruit by Henri Fantin-Latour
This painting by Camille Pissarro depicts a style that relies heavily on thick sporadic brush strokes. While each elements form is well represented there is definitely a sort of unrefined feeling to this piece. Light is implied through thicker lines of white like in the glass pitcher of wine. I get the sense that colors were built off of one another in a less literal fashion. I really appreciate this style because each object still feels very well represented and heavy brush stroke does not make the piece feel careless but rather adds to the style and tone. Especially for a still life I think it creates more depth for the piece more so then it would if it were unembellished and extremely details. I directly took inspiration from this for my piece. While my painting doenst have quite the same thick brushstroke lines I wanted it to display blocks of color that still have layers, light, and shadow.
"Still Life" by Camille Pissarro
Planning
Thumbnail Sketch
In my first planning page I started by making a small sketch in the top left corner of the entire layout. I did this sketch right after I took the photos in my living room. This was very useful for me in combining the many photos into one cohesive layout because I pulled different elements from each like the positioning of the orchid, angle, and lighting. While making this quick sketch I decided that I wanted to include all three windows in my final piece. I also began contemplating the tone and theme for the piece and started thinking more on the significance of the orchid looking out onto the street at the tree.
In my first planning page I started by making a small sketch in the top left corner of the entire layout. I did this sketch right after I took the photos in my living room. This was very useful for me in combining the many photos into one cohesive layout because I pulled different elements from each like the positioning of the orchid, angle, and lighting. While making this quick sketch I decided that I wanted to include all three windows in my final piece. I also began contemplating the tone and theme for the piece and started thinking more on the significance of the orchid looking out onto the street at the tree.
Planning Page 1
In my first planning page I started by making a small sketch in the top left corner of the entire layout. I did this sketch right after I took the photos in my living room. This was very useful for me in combining the many photos into one cohesive layout because I pulled different elements from each like the positioning of the orchid, angle, and lighting. The orchid was a very intimidating flower to draw and I thought it would be even more difficult to paint so I decided to sketch a large one based on the photos to understand and get comfortable with the form. Since this would be the vocal point of my piece I spent a lot of time on this sketch and actually ended up sketching the orchid in person in my living room because it was difficult to see all the details from the photos I took. The third element of this planning page that I drew was the chair. I wanted to experiment with color by using orange and yellow which is what I wanted the undertone of my painting to me. Even thought the final chair would primarily be brown I thought it would be interesting to be able to visualize. It also helped me understand the anatomy of the chair being that its a pretty complex design with curves and details like the brown cattail plant and the small wooden bars.
Planning Page 2
In this 2nd planning page I focused much more on conceptual features and composition of the piece. I did not want this painting to simply be a still life with not theme attached so during this stage of my planning I wanted to insure that I was bringing my theme to fruition. I wanted to display a level of irony in how we as humans attempt to manipulate and tame nature. I enjoyed the juxtaposition between a seemingly dead and barren tree compared to a delicate orchid in full bloom. While the plants are less than 50 feet away there seems to still be such distance between the two. I also found significance in how this flower is able to thrive despite it being the dead of winter which presents the extent of human impact on nature,
Process
Photo taken in the evening
Photo taken in the morning
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Deciding on Subject The very first step in my process was to take photos of what I wanted to paint. I knew that I wanted to do some sort of still life so I went around my home looking for inspiration. I was excited at the idea of painting some sort of plant but I began by looking for a setting first. I landed on my dinning room table because I loved the natural light, wood, and the way that I would be able to paint the view out the windows. Next I had to choose which plant I wanted to paint. I own many plants and so does my father but I decided I wanted something relatively tall because I felt it would look better in the space and really act as a vocal point for the piece. In the end I decided on a white orchid that I have owned for almost two years now. I really liked how it looked in front of the window and to me it provides movement to the setting. Taking Photos When I first started trying to take pictures it was the evening and I had a very hard time with lighting. Since it was later in the day the sun was setting on the other side of our house so it was pretty dark in this room. I decided to try and turn on the overhead lamp to see if that would help and it did somewhat. However the lighting outdoors was still very dark so I thought this might make it hard to paint what was out of the window. I still was curious how the space would look in more natural light so I waited until the morning and took more photos which I ended up preferning. After comparing all the photos I decided to use a combination of them as a reference because the angles were slightly different and so was the lighting. |
Painting Process Based on my different reference photos I developed a sketch that was a combination of them all. I ended up decided to cut a few elements out that I felt would complicate the painting. I started my painting by mixing some water in yellow paint so that I could create a wash of yellow over the whole canvas. I did this because I decided I wanted a yellow undertone to the whole piece and this was I would also be able to build off of this color and the other colors would apply easier to the canvas. I was able to still see the sketch through the wash which was very helpful in beginning to block colors. I started with the darkest colors and began to build up towards the lights. I knew I would have to layer lots of brown to get the desired wood effect I was looking for so I started with the wood pieces right away. Next I thought about what elements I needed to paint first based on perspective and what would go in front of them. So based on this, I decided I would need to paint the windows and their view outdoors next because this would be in the background with other elements like the orchid overlapping. Painting the background was the most difficult parts of the painting process because it required a decent amount of detail and all details had to be very small. I had a hard time deciding how detailed I wanted to get and since it was slightly hazy in my pictures I thought it would made sense to use primarily diluted paint. I wanted to make sure I incorporated the tree in our front yard but it wasn't very visible in the photos so I had to actually imply many of the branches and fill in some sections based on intuition. For the chairs, and table I did many layers of paint to get the opaqueness and level of detail I wanted. The chairs were difficult because I was changing their color dramatically compared to what they actually look like in the photos. I did this because I wanted them to pop and I also wanted to continue with my bright and yellowish color scheme. I also decided I did not want to use any black paint in the entire painting as part of the effect I wanted to achieve. |
Canvas with wash of yellow paint
Beginning to block in colors
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Experimentation
The main area that I had to utilize experimentation was with the orchid. This flower was generally pretty organic and didn't have a solid form which made it pretty hard to paint. I ended up trying out a wide range of colors for the leaves because at first I also felt as though they were too vibrant against the background and looked out of place. I finally landed on a green that I mixed with lots of yellow and some brown. Even though it was not the exact same as the actual orchid in my photo it had the same color tone and the form of the leaves was the same. For the flowers I knew I would have to create shading somehow to make them appear more realistic and dimensional so I thought I should start with a yellow-white base. After using this color to lay-out the shapes of the petals. I lightened the areas that were sun-lit with highlights with a plain bright white. Finally it was time for the small yellow orchid lips but for this portion I also had to experiment on a different paper how small and how bright. I decided in order to pop and stand out they would need to be bright and bold and then I went in with a very fine brush to outline them in dark brown for shading. I did the same thing to the leaves to give them shading and dimension as well.
Critique
Similarities:
The key similarities in these three pieces are subject matter, use of brush stroke and color. The subjects of the three pieces are comprised of a table and ordinary objects which provides consistently among them. I think the bright colors of Henri Fantin-Latour in particular are similar to the colors in my piece. While his paint seems to be applied slightly thicker the vibrancy is similar. I also feel that the dark backgrounds of each piece are similar to the wood background of my own. This provides contrast for all three because the subject matter is able to stand out and appear brighter as a vocal point. Emphasis is used in my piece similar to my inspiration pieces as well using light and shadow. By creating little light in the background the highlights on the objects are able to pop and look even brighter. I think light source is also a significant feature of the pieces because in maintaining a consistent light source it brings the realism aspect further and makes the objects look 3D. I tried to utilize the brush stroke of both artists in my piece. Using a realistic more refined approach for the orchid and a more painterly blotchy stroke for the background.
Differences:
The differences between my piece and my inspiration pieces is style. While I attempted to use a combination of the two artists styles in color, subject matter, and brush stroke, I still feel there are some prominent differences in the three. Camille Pissarro's piece displays a much darker tone and I think that's partially due to the fact that I used no black paint in my entire piece while he used lots of it. The thick strokes of separated light and dark paint on the edge of the table stand out a lot compared to the table in my piece which is entirely brown with no white or black. I think Henri was able to achieve a much higher level of detail than I was which creates differences as well. The flowers in his piece look much more realistic then the orchid in mine because of the intricacy of each flower.
The key similarities in these three pieces are subject matter, use of brush stroke and color. The subjects of the three pieces are comprised of a table and ordinary objects which provides consistently among them. I think the bright colors of Henri Fantin-Latour in particular are similar to the colors in my piece. While his paint seems to be applied slightly thicker the vibrancy is similar. I also feel that the dark backgrounds of each piece are similar to the wood background of my own. This provides contrast for all three because the subject matter is able to stand out and appear brighter as a vocal point. Emphasis is used in my piece similar to my inspiration pieces as well using light and shadow. By creating little light in the background the highlights on the objects are able to pop and look even brighter. I think light source is also a significant feature of the pieces because in maintaining a consistent light source it brings the realism aspect further and makes the objects look 3D. I tried to utilize the brush stroke of both artists in my piece. Using a realistic more refined approach for the orchid and a more painterly blotchy stroke for the background.
Differences:
The differences between my piece and my inspiration pieces is style. While I attempted to use a combination of the two artists styles in color, subject matter, and brush stroke, I still feel there are some prominent differences in the three. Camille Pissarro's piece displays a much darker tone and I think that's partially due to the fact that I used no black paint in my entire piece while he used lots of it. The thick strokes of separated light and dark paint on the edge of the table stand out a lot compared to the table in my piece which is entirely brown with no white or black. I think Henri was able to achieve a much higher level of detail than I was which creates differences as well. The flowers in his piece look much more realistic then the orchid in mine because of the intricacy of each flower.
Reflection
The entire process of creating this piece felt very natural and familiar to me and did not require much experimentation. I enjoyed being able to depict a setting that felt so familiar to me and I think I was able to meet my goal of portraying it as realistically as I could. However I made multiple decisions before and during the process to adjust certain features so that I could stick to my desired aesthetic. For example the table runner and the overall color scheme of the piece are not accurate to the photos I had taken. I made a decision early on that I did not want to use any black paint in my piece which ended up greatly impacting the final result. I am so used to using black for every shadow that I think it was actually a pretty positive experience for me to go outside my comfort zone and push myself to try something new. I ended up also brightening all the colors in the piece in general because I wanted it to look more vibrant then the photos. I was displeased with how my camera was not able to really pick up the atmosphere of this space in my home so I felt the need to adjust some things to try and achieve my own understanding of the room. I was very pleased in the end with my decision to do this because I feel that it in a way made the piece more personal and evoked more of a sense of familiarity for me. I think my piece has a really warm and inviting tone which is exactly what I wanted to achieve. Overall this painting process was very positive for me and I think I have now developed a new perspective of still lifes and am inspired to do more in the future.
Connection to ACT
1) Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
My research gave me a perspective on the different processes artists utilize in the creation of still lifes and I was able to utilize this information and apply these techniques to create my piece.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The approach the author has is that the process of creating a still life should be done in person, not through photos. I also feel that their approach for still life was centered in the importance of light.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I can conclude that painting style is subjective however minute decisions to alter style can dramatically shift the tone of a piece.
4) What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea around my inspirational research is that the art of creating a still life is centered around your conception of light and form and this will determine the level of detail you can achieve.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I was able to infer based on my research that painting your subject in person as opposed to from a reference photo will greatly improve your ability to accurately depict the subject
My research gave me a perspective on the different processes artists utilize in the creation of still lifes and I was able to utilize this information and apply these techniques to create my piece.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The approach the author has is that the process of creating a still life should be done in person, not through photos. I also feel that their approach for still life was centered in the importance of light.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I can conclude that painting style is subjective however minute decisions to alter style can dramatically shift the tone of a piece.
4) What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea around my inspirational research is that the art of creating a still life is centered around your conception of light and form and this will determine the level of detail you can achieve.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I was able to infer based on my research that painting your subject in person as opposed to from a reference photo will greatly improve your ability to accurately depict the subject
MLA Citations
Richman-Abdou, Kelly. “How Artists Have Kept Still Life Painting Alive over Thousands of Years.” My Modern Met, 17 Aug. 2022, https://mymodernmet.com/what-is-still-life-painting-definition/.
South, Helen. “7 Steps to Setting up for a Still Life Drawing.” LiveAbout, LiveAbout, 13 Jan. 2018, https://www.liveabout.com/setting-up-still-life-for-drawing-1122562.
South, Helen. “7 Steps to Setting up for a Still Life Drawing.” LiveAbout, LiveAbout, 13 Jan. 2018, https://www.liveabout.com/setting-up-still-life-for-drawing-1122562.