I'm currently working on a thesis that looks at philosopher Immanuel Kant's outline of aesthetics. It covers questions and possibilities about how we can make a universal judgment that something is beautiful, with which we believe everyone ought to agree when this judgment is grounded entirely on subjective feeling. Namely, a subjective feeling of pleasure. How can something so subjective in nature be the basis of an objective judgment?
What interests me specifically is the distinction Kant makes between sensation and sense. Sensation is anything that is sensory-derived, like seeing a burning light, hearing a tone struck by the strings of a bass guitar, or gazing at the vivid greenness of a field. Sense, on the other hand, comes in only two forms for Kant: a sense of pleasure or displeasure. Indeed, Kant refers to sense as feeling. With this in mind, I'm setting out to discover how one can distinguish sensation from feeling. How can an experience of light or colour be separated from a feeling of pleasure, for example? What is the process at play when I witness a series of colours and feel pleasure? What is the nature of this pleasure? Is it visual, aesthetic, visceral, intellectual? I'll be teasing out these questions over the next few days (sigh - maybe even years), and will post my findings here.I have a sneaking suspicion, however, that these possible 'answers' will only trigger more questions...
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6/5/2012 0 Comments Still Life Progress & TipsAfter dumping 10,000 words into Uni last Friday (!), I'm free for now to resume a still-life painting that I'm about 3 days into - see a pic of my progress under 'artworks' in the main tab. And I thought I'd write about the progress, regress, highs and lows here. This gives me an outlet to express feelings of elation and frustration, while maybe helping those out there who are keen for tips and to learn from my own trials and errors.
Day 1: After perfecting, dismantling, rearranging, culling props, reintroducing props, and basically being an OCD still-life composer in full throttle, I finally decided on a composition for my painting... 5 hours later. But this is necessary - take as long as you like and stop only when you feel settled and satisfied with your set-up. Take time setting up a good foundation for your painting. This applies to your materials, your props, your 'story' and the overall design of the composition. Here are quick pointers: - Materials: Decide on what ground you're going to paint on- masonite board, pre-mounted canvas, loose canvas sheet. What quality of material do you want? There's a big difference (financially and texturally) between student's grade canvas and Belgian linen! Are you planning on framing this work?; if so, then leave room for the frame (at least a centimetre from the edges). - Ground Tone: The base tone of your ground is key. I suggest painting your ground in a tone that is the best representative of your still-life overall. For example, if your still-life is bathed in light, your painting is going to be high-key (generally bright). So opt for a light to mid-tone ground wash. Likewise, if it's a darker still-life, then your ground tone will darken accordingly. Applying the right toned ground will save you A LOT of time when you start painting! You'll also be aided, as opposed to confused, by a ground tone that sums up the overall tone of your still-life. - Ground Colour: There's no set rule with this one (as there's no set rule with colour in general I firmly believe). I usually choose raw umber scrubbed on roughly to allow some of the canvas to show through. This keeps the raw umber 'warm'. I like painting with cools and warms over a warm ground. Grey is also a popular ground colour. (I'm also going to experiment soon with chromatic ground colours, like cadmium red, so I'll keep you posted on the results when the time comes.) - Props: Choose props that you find interesting and ideally, have some meaning for you. They could be visually unusual and attract you that way. Or they cold be sentimental objects. If you're interested and passionate about something, so much more will be implicitly transfused into the work. - Story: Still-life paintings are all about story-telling. The objects should relate in some way, either visually or conceptually. This can vary from something as simple as matching together a tea cup and saucer; or as complex as visually depicting an intimate 'portrait' featuring only objects. - Composition: Observe the composition that you have set up from all angles to choose the most interesting vantage point. Consider the composition from multiple perspectives: tonally, geometrically, layers of depth (foreground, mid-ground, background), heights (try to avoid having objects at more or less the same height; seek to vary heights), and design. Design pertains to the flow or movement of the shapes, silhouettes and line work - at an abstract level. The most powerful realist paintings are often those that have a strong and well-thought out abstract design base. (It's ironic to think that realist paintings are in a sense also abstract paintings beneath their polished finish.) Try to avoid diagonal lines spilling into corners because this leads the eye out of the pictorial frame. Like with all stories, the trick is to keep the viewer as engaged as possible. Do you want a circular, angular, or even (horizontal to vertical ration more or less equal) 'feel' to your still-life? (I'll soon be posting invaluable composition tips from a number of different sources... Watch this space.) - Draw, draw, draw: Draw your still-life a number of times, from different angles, both portrait & landscape orientations, blocking in tones, etc, before committing to the composition. Trust me, the moment you start drawing, you'll reveal new treasures and downfalls which are best addressed now rather than later. - Colour scheme: Think in advance of what colour scheme you want to use for your still-life. You could keep it fairly muted, restricting your palette to raw umber, ivory black ,and white. This is an invaluable exercise to try, because it helps you perfect your eye's sensitivity to tone, and it forces you to be a lot more measured and controlled. Alternatively, you can opt for a broader gamut. Do be mindful, however, of what harmonies you may want to bring out in the work. For example, at the moment I'm using a blue-grey drape and some objects have hints of orange in them, so drawing out a subtle and nuanced blue-orange contrast could look really effective in this case. - Applying the drawing to your base: I often draw up the composition to a point where I'm satisfied that all objects and relations, sizes and outlines are correct. I then photocopy the drawing. On the back of the photocopy, I rub charcoal all over. Then I flip the photocopy over, press it against the canvas, so that the charcoal side is facing the canvas. Using a biro pen, I draw over the line drawing. This presses the charcoal onto the canvas in parts where the biro has traced over the line work of the photocopy. This method will save you a lot of time and will give you more stability than if you draw directly onto the canvas. (Correcting mistakes is a lot easier using an eraser than turps!) Enough tips for now. Hope they come in handy... |