This week has been very educational and enjoyable. I appreciated that the work load was a little lighter this week and I was able to just relax and enjoy looking at some paintings, reading a little bit, watching a few videos, and checking out a couple of websites. I have been having kind of a lazy three-day weekend and I hope everybody else is enjoying it as much as I am.
Paintings seem very soothing to me. I mean a painting can evoke a variety of emotions, convey many different messages, and contain a whole world of meaning, but when it comes to viewing the paintings, I think I approach them all in much the same way. I just have this overwhelming peacful feeling and I marvel at the beauty and complexity of the work. I just want to sit back and ponder its meaning. It is very easy to create assumptions about the artist and their life Sometimes we are fortunate to know a lot about the artist's life and relate that to their work and sometimes the connection is a complete mystery. I like the mysterious one's better. It lets my imagination run wild and nobody can tell me my assumptions are false because nobody really knows.
Specifically, this week I really enjoyed watching Hung Liu videos. I must admit that I couldn't get the 30 min. video to work. I was even very patient and waited for it to begin and I tried a couple of different days this week, but my efforts were futile. So, I just googled Hung Liu and I found a couple of videos. The videos I saw were amazing. I love Hung Liu's attitude and approach concerning her art. Her voice, technique, and pace were all very soothing and I was able to just sit in awe at what she was bringing to life before my eyes. She took photographs of people and she said that she would look at them very carefully to see if she could feel the soul of that person's face come out. If she could feel something special about the person in the picture, maybe something that needed to be said in the person's eyes or emotions, then she would paint the person and tell their story. She incorporated symbols, colors, and different techniques to convey different messages and make the viewer connect with the subject in the painting and understand how they felt.
I loved her painting that had three women on a scarlet background and there were flowers and other things in the foreground. She told us that during a time of war that these women and hundreds of others were taken prisoner and taken to a place and buried alive in a giant hole/tomb. The pain, suffering, and brutality of the scene really touched me and the expressions and body language of the three images were serene and haunting at the same time. The scarlet background spoke of blood, pain, and death. Despite the tragedy of the story behind the painting I got the feeling that that wasn't what the painting was all about. I got the feeling that these women somehow overcame their fate and were alive in some sense of the word.
I really enjoyed looking at all of the different techniques this week. I knew that there had to be a wide variety and that there are really unlimited combinations of techniques that can be incorporated into a work of art, but it was interesting to see a few and I was amazed at how involved and time consuming some were and on the flip side how simple and elegant others can be. I really enjoyed browsing through the websites (John Lovett's Watercolor Techniques, Sistine Chapel Ceiling, and the Buon Fresco website). I learned a lot and gained a new appreciation for the detail and work that goes into each and every painting. It can be, but usually isn't as simple as setting up your eisle, getting out your paints and canvas, looking out the window, and just painting what you see.
I love what Michelle said about the rich history of painting and I have chosen to close my blog entry by quoting that here:
"There's certainly no shortage of content to discuss when it comes to the topic of painting! It has the richest history of all media in western art. Painting has been used by prehistoric "cave people" to render likenesses of animals, by the romans to decorate the lush villas of the wealthy, by monks, nuns and renaissance artists to illustrate the Bible, by modern artists to express their angst, by postmodern artists to critique tradition, by children to have fun and by you to paint your walls!"
I love it because it is "everybody's medium" from cavemen to little children. It's fun for everyone! : )
Paintings seem very soothing to me. I mean a painting can evoke a variety of emotions, convey many different messages, and contain a whole world of meaning, but when it comes to viewing the paintings, I think I approach them all in much the same way. I just have this overwhelming peacful feeling and I marvel at the beauty and complexity of the work. I just want to sit back and ponder its meaning. It is very easy to create assumptions about the artist and their life Sometimes we are fortunate to know a lot about the artist's life and relate that to their work and sometimes the connection is a complete mystery. I like the mysterious one's better. It lets my imagination run wild and nobody can tell me my assumptions are false because nobody really knows.
Specifically, this week I really enjoyed watching Hung Liu videos. I must admit that I couldn't get the 30 min. video to work. I was even very patient and waited for it to begin and I tried a couple of different days this week, but my efforts were futile. So, I just googled Hung Liu and I found a couple of videos. The videos I saw were amazing. I love Hung Liu's attitude and approach concerning her art. Her voice, technique, and pace were all very soothing and I was able to just sit in awe at what she was bringing to life before my eyes. She took photographs of people and she said that she would look at them very carefully to see if she could feel the soul of that person's face come out. If she could feel something special about the person in the picture, maybe something that needed to be said in the person's eyes or emotions, then she would paint the person and tell their story. She incorporated symbols, colors, and different techniques to convey different messages and make the viewer connect with the subject in the painting and understand how they felt.
I loved her painting that had three women on a scarlet background and there were flowers and other things in the foreground. She told us that during a time of war that these women and hundreds of others were taken prisoner and taken to a place and buried alive in a giant hole/tomb. The pain, suffering, and brutality of the scene really touched me and the expressions and body language of the three images were serene and haunting at the same time. The scarlet background spoke of blood, pain, and death. Despite the tragedy of the story behind the painting I got the feeling that that wasn't what the painting was all about. I got the feeling that these women somehow overcame their fate and were alive in some sense of the word.
I really enjoyed looking at all of the different techniques this week. I knew that there had to be a wide variety and that there are really unlimited combinations of techniques that can be incorporated into a work of art, but it was interesting to see a few and I was amazed at how involved and time consuming some were and on the flip side how simple and elegant others can be. I really enjoyed browsing through the websites (John Lovett's Watercolor Techniques, Sistine Chapel Ceiling, and the Buon Fresco website). I learned a lot and gained a new appreciation for the detail and work that goes into each and every painting. It can be, but usually isn't as simple as setting up your eisle, getting out your paints and canvas, looking out the window, and just painting what you see.
I love what Michelle said about the rich history of painting and I have chosen to close my blog entry by quoting that here:
"There's certainly no shortage of content to discuss when it comes to the topic of painting! It has the richest history of all media in western art. Painting has been used by prehistoric "cave people" to render likenesses of animals, by the romans to decorate the lush villas of the wealthy, by monks, nuns and renaissance artists to illustrate the Bible, by modern artists to express their angst, by postmodern artists to critique tradition, by children to have fun and by you to paint your walls!"
I love it because it is "everybody's medium" from cavemen to little children. It's fun for everyone! : )
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