Project 4: Gouache
Running on the Trail
Size: 15 in x 20 in Medium: gouache on illustration board Completion: December 2020 Exhibition Text: Running on the Trail is a representation of a runner during their fall/winter training. This piece was inspired by Edgar Degas's Three Dancers and Dancers at the Barre. Degas showed his love for dancers and ballet, in which inspired me to dedicate my art to something I love, running. The central focus is the runner, and her form, but also giving emphasis on the background to show how beautiful off-season training can be. |
Inspiration
For this project, I've had the idea of doing an Edgar Degas inspired piece that would resemble his love for ballet and dancers, but this piece would be my love for running. I originally wanted to do this piece back in April where I would represent his paintings where he focused on a dance class, but I would paint my track team. I was hoping to mimic this piece in September with cross country, but that didn't happen. Luckily, I chose to have one of my friends model for this piece. I have always been fascinated by the impressionist style and how "in the moment" it is. I fell in love with Claude Monet's work at a young age and more recently, I have admired Edgar Degas's pieces, specifically his dancers. In Dancers at the Barre, Edgar Degas started the painting back in 1884, but over time, he had cut down the canvas, and repositioned arms and legs. A lot of Degas's work focuses on the endless repetition of step, choreography, agility, and expression of the dancer. Many of his paintings of dancers direct the attention of the anatomy, posture, and movement of the dancer. In his piece, Three Dancers, he uses both color and line to show off movement in the dancers. I want to use his painting style to depict the movement of a runner.
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Planning Sketches
For my first planning sketch, I originally wanted to do a polyptych, and do a series of 4 paintings. However, I chose not to. The first panel was intended to be the starting position before a track race. I am most popular with cross country, simply because I have never officially been on a track team. However, the starting position before a cross country race, in my opinion, is very awkward and not as impactful. I didn't choose this sketch for my final because I wasn't pleased with this outcome, and didn't think I could make it better.
The second sketch, I intended to have it as a "part 2" to my digital manipulation, Running Forward. Instead of showing movement through changing the opacity, I would've used different brush strokes to show movement. I had to show a bigger idea of this in the sketch to show the detail of the shoes. The running shoes were my favorite, I bought them to give me some more motivation to run since I wasn't able to compete. I also loved the way they looked, and I would've loved to show them off more. However, I chose to not use this sketch just because it would've made more sense if it was part of the polyptych, but as itself, it isn't my favorite. For my third sketch, I placed my model to run in front of me. I took a burst of pictures and this was a clear picture to see. I initially wanted this to be part of the polyptych, but then chose to use this for the final product. After I decided that this was one of the photos I wanted to take, I added more ideas, in which were turned down. I wanted a back face picture of my friend running, because it makes you feel like you are running with the runner, not watching them if you are facing them or watching their side view while they are running. I also like the perspective of the trail, and it will be very interesting to see how it turns out. |
Experimentation
Edgar Degas typically paints with oil paints, however, I wanted to do gouache paint, which I have previously used, but I did a different technique, pointillism. I chose to use gouache paints because I was pretty sure that the first time I used them, I forgot to use water, which made the paint not spread far enough, and I wanted to try again. One thing is that I've seen a lot of hit or miss with gouache, and I needed a challenge, which was to paint how Edgar Degas painted in Three Dancers and Dancers at the Barre, where its a series of lines blended together. Before I started painting, I tested the technique (shown in the second picture), to see how I wanted to go about this. This is a representation of what I didn't do in my final piece, but give the idea I was going for.
While painting, I used the blue and the white in the shirt. I only had a little white, and I didn't get to the sky, or the trail. I was running out and was wondering why my paint wasn't spreading, and it was because I wasn't using any water. The third picture shows what it looked like without water, and the fourth picture shows what it looks like after using water. Except, the final product of the arm didn't look like that because I accidentally painted the background after I painted the shirt and pants, that are placed in front of everything. Which was another part of the experimentation, and made me a bit slower and doubtful during the process. The final picture shows the trees, in which I just started to paint because I wasn't sure what exactly I wanted to do with it. On the other hand, I knew what I wanted to do with it, by added the green in sort of like leaves, but it turned out to be lines.
While painting, I used the blue and the white in the shirt. I only had a little white, and I didn't get to the sky, or the trail. I was running out and was wondering why my paint wasn't spreading, and it was because I wasn't using any water. The third picture shows what it looked like without water, and the fourth picture shows what it looks like after using water. Except, the final product of the arm didn't look like that because I accidentally painted the background after I painted the shirt and pants, that are placed in front of everything. Which was another part of the experimentation, and made me a bit slower and doubtful during the process. The final picture shows the trees, in which I just started to paint because I wasn't sure what exactly I wanted to do with it. On the other hand, I knew what I wanted to do with it, by added the green in sort of like leaves, but it turned out to be lines.
Process
- The first step to this project was taking reference pictures. I went down to the hank aaron trail, one that I am very familiar on and would do the majority of my training during the summer and winter on. Pictures 1, 2, and 5 are the reference pictures I took.
- Next I worked on the planning sketches. Shown in pictures 3 and 4, I positioned the shoe for my second planning sketch, to get a more focused sketch. The planning sketches helped me visualize the form, even though I wanted the painting to look a bit blurry and have undefined lines.
- I then drew my sketch onto the illustration board, picture 6 and 7. This was a bit challenging since I haven't done a painting or drawing of a human without graphite transferring.
- In picture 9, it is visible to see that I painted the body first before I painted the background, which was a mistake. I should've done it in reverse because of the brushstrokes I was doing.
- Picture 8 shows a closer look at the lines that I was using to make the trees. I would first create my line with my brush slightly damp, and then continue the line after I dipped my paintbrush in water again and repeated this process over until I was satisfied with the trees.
- I made more final changes to the piece, and touched up the shirt and pants and gave it a cleaner look. I used different colors and rotated them how I felt would be best and painted the hair and the head.
- Picture 10 shows the finished product.
Reflection
Overall, I was very satisfied with my final piece. In all honesty, it reached my expectations. In the middle of painting, I started to doubt myself and think that it looked horrible and there was nothing I could do to fix it besides continue painting. There was so much open area, that I couldn't picture what it would look like when I finished. I first painted my subject's clothing and moved onto the ground of the trail. I didn't like how the trail looked and it wasn't my favorite, but probably because the painting was so bland and only at the beginning. I then started to paint the sky, and I used a different blue, cyan, and I wasn't so pleased about how bright it was. However, I had to remind myself that I had to give the painting time and thought for it to turn out better than what I was seeing. Before I painted the right side of the trees and both sides of the trees, there was a part of me that I wanted to start over, one, because of the sloppy overlapping of the ground and trees over my subject that was already painted. One thing I wish I didn't do was start painting the body and what was towards the front first. I realized that I am one to work harder rather than smarter, and wasted a lot of time in the beginning due to poor decisions. These decisions included not using water while working with the gouache paint and then painting the background before the foreground. If I could go back, those would be the two things I would do differently when I started the process. Despite the challenges I faced, and the doubts I created, I was very impressed with how I painted this and I think that I have improved with gouache.
Compare and Contrast
Similarities:
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ACT responses
1) Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork. My piece and both of Edgar Degas's focus on something that we are passionate about. For Degas, he painted dancers and was passionate about ballet. I am passionate about running, so my main intention for this piece was to have a runner "training".
2)What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Being "in the moment" and seeing everything from your perspective.
3)What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Our art is based on what our interests are and revolve from that.
4)What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
Life's journey's is my central theme, I want to show the little to big things in life. This piece shows something that impacts me everyday which is running, and how its create a new passion for me.
5)What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research? Degas was inspired by dancers and would watch them and focus on their posture and their form. An inference I made would be that he would be capable of drawing/painting for any sport.
2)What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Being "in the moment" and seeing everything from your perspective.
3)What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Our art is based on what our interests are and revolve from that.
4)What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
Life's journey's is my central theme, I want to show the little to big things in life. This piece shows something that impacts me everyday which is running, and how its create a new passion for me.
5)What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research? Degas was inspired by dancers and would watch them and focus on their posture and their form. An inference I made would be that he would be capable of drawing/painting for any sport.
Bibliography
"Degas's Dancers at the Barre." The Phillips Collection. Web. 03 Dec. 2020.
"Three Dancers by Edgar Degas: History, Analysis & Facts." Web. 03 Dec. 2020.
"Three Dancers by Edgar Degas: History, Analysis & Facts." Web. 03 Dec. 2020.