Sunrise

One of my four titles in my art project was the sunset.  The sunset is often associated with death as Turner and many other artists imply.  Just because I saw a beautiful sunset, I was going to use it as one of the themes, but I decided to try the sunrise instead as it implies the beginning of new life.  One of the art students suggested I use the ocean since I crossed it to come to the States.  I have seen both the sunrise and the sunset from the plane many times, but since my topic is "Big Sky" in the States seen from the ground, I decided to search an image of the sunrise at the Mississippi; I have crossed it many times.  This weekend I am working on this sunrise, and hopefully it will turn out as I hope.

The Sublime

The Introduction

"The essential claim of the sublime is that man can, in feeling and speech, transcend the human.  What, if anything, likes beyond the human - God or the gods, the daemon or nature - is matter for treat disagreement. (Thomas Weiskel. The Romantic Sublime: Studies in the Structure and Psychology of Transcendence. 1976.)

Sublime in 18th century: "The concept of the sublime . . . was applied in relation to the art to describe aspects of nature that instill awe and wonder, such as mountains, avalanches, waterfalls, story seas or the infinity vault of the starry sky."(12)

Today:"The incredible power of technology is more likely to supply the raw material for what can be terms a characteristically contemporary sublime." (12)

Rosenblum, Robert. "The Abstract Sublime" 1961

Among all the articles under "Nature," I was most interested in Rosenblum's "The Abstract Sublime" as it deals with Turner's work.  He quotes Kant's definition by saying the Sublime is to be found in a formless and boundless object.  Then Rosenblum discusses James Ward and Clyfford Still's art.  Both of them portrayed nature in large canvases; the one described in his article is 131x166 cm by Ward and 113x159 by Still.  These are representative of sublime landscape which portrayed awe, terror, boundlessness and divinity during 18th and early 19th centrury; as a result the viewers were often awed by the void in such boundless and vast nature.

Turner, however, expresses Sublime by filling the void with cosmic energy such as steam, wind, water, snow and fire.  The author continues to discull Turner's contemporary, John Martin (1789-1854).  Then the author brings Jackson Pollock (1912 - 1956) as the third master of the Abstract Sublime. "That brink is again reached when we stand before a perpetuum mobile of Jackson Pollock, whose gyrating labyrinths re-create in the metaphorical language of abstraction the superhuman turbulence depicted more literary, in Turner and Martin." (111)

AS the fourth master of the Abstract Sublime, the works of Barnett Newman (1905-1970) are introduced.  He explored "a realm of sublimity so perilous that it defies comparison with even the most adventurous Romantic exploration into sublime natioe."  Newman drew "Vir Hericus Sublimis," which is 114.5 inches. 

Honestly speaking, I have not seen the real works by Martin or Newman; it is impossible to capture the impression of paintings which are just several colors of red and a line.  But I try to picture a huge painting with only a few colors in front of me, I will just feel lost in its simplicity.


Marley Simon. Ed. The Sublime: Documents of Contemporary Art. London: Whitechapel Gallery. 2010.

Turner: The Fighting Temeraire

J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) named his painting as "The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up."  But when it was displayed at a museum, the title was shortened.  Turner painted this oil painting in 1838.  The ship was made in 1798 and was dismantled in 1838.  The art was complimented as "the most wonderful of all the works of the greatest master of the age," "a nobly-composed poem, very poetical conception."
Turner didn't witness this 2,110-ton ship being tugged to be dismantled.  He painted the ship from imagination; however, he did paint four other works based on the Temeraire.  The motif of picture came from a steam boat tugged on the Seine. The paint is 90.7x112.6cm, rather a large painting, but smaller compared to other landscapes during 18th century.

The Temeraire was in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, which brought the glorious victory to the Britain. When the ship was tugged, some of the equipment on the ship had been already taken out; only three bare masts without sail remain.  Absolutely vacant space on the ship symbolizes the fact that the ship has completed its role.  The ship looks almost ghostly.  The original colours used for the ship were yellow and black, but there are no such colors left on the ship in the painting.  The glorious looking sunset also symbolizes the destiny of the Temeraire; at the same time it relates to a death of human.

By the way, Turner is the first person to use "tug" as a verb according to the OED.  "Towed" was used before Turner.

My comment: left side of the painting depicts the Temeraire tugged by a dark tug boat.  The tug boat looks like a fate because of its dark color.  Behind the tug boat are two ships with sails, which symbolized they are still active, but eventually they are going to follow the step of the Temeraire.  Ont he right side of the painting is this beautiful sunset.  It it stands alone, I don't associate it with a death of the ship/human. But, with two images together, however the beautiful the sky (ship) is, it has a straightforward message that the glory is going to end.

Egerton, Judy. "Making and Meaning: Turner-The Fighting Temerarire. London: National Gallery Publications. 1995.

Georgia O'Keeffe

I had a glimpse of Georgia O'keeffe's "Sky above Clouds" this morning.  It is clouds below sky, but it would be beautiful if I can capture the essence of this sky in watercolor.  I'd like to challenge  transforming this kind of picture into a painting because the complementary colors exit in this picture.

Group Critique by Dan Hernandez

I was very nervous about what Dan Hernandez was going to say about my watercolor in his critique, but rather I felt his critique gave me a direction to complete my watercolor project.  It was my plan to include a water tower with the stormy sky.  I practiced how to paint the stomy sky many times, but I was not sure how big the water tower should be.  When I was introducing my watercolor to him in the group critique last week, I commented on my first impression of the water tower when I came to the States; it was an out of ordinary shape and it looked like a space ship.  I have seen many water towers since then, some look like a tin man from the Wizard of Oz, some just a ball (not scary), but the type I see in Beebe exit to highway 64 really looks like a spaceship.  I think that is the type I saw when I came to the States (Iowa) first time.  I was glad to hear when Dan suggested I should paint the watertower large.  I was stuck with the idea of painting something very small and flat on the bottom of the paper, so with his comment I could finally free myself from the tedious drawings on the bottom of the paper.

Try, error, try, discover

They sounds so cliche, but this is what I have been going through while trying to learn how to use watercolor.  After many trials, I finally realized how to erase lines when I paint the paper with the same color.  I just picked up the paper, and hang it from my hand from one side to another side.  The dark color on the light color created an interesting effect.

I was using paper towel, tissue paper, towels, and different kinds of brushes so that I can draw puffy clouds, round clouds, stormy clouds; I had to remove a piece of hair from the brush with paper towel, and accidentally found an interesting effect on the paper.

I was not satisfied any dark watercolors; I was using sumi for something else, I decided to try it, and it worked a lot better to portray evening view of the background.

After try and error, I finally mastered to use the masking fluid; however, I don't really care for its effect; I don't like its smell, either.

Hake is really useful; I use it not only to wet the paper but also to paint.  It holds a lot of watercolor at a time, so I don't have to go to the pallet to fill the brush. 

Japanese sumi-e brushes are a lot more resilience; the ones I am using are made of rabbit hair.  I use the ones with horse hair for writing, but I might try horse hair for watercolor.

As I challenge watercolor, I find more interesting ways to maneuver it.  I finally feel I enjoy painting with watercolor; I do not hesitate as much as I used to.

Home studio

Earlier this semester we read "Inside the Painter's Studio."  This semester I have been using my dining table at home as a studio.  I have pros and cons about using home as a studio as these artists have discussed in their articles

I like to work at home since I can work on watercolor any time I want to till late into the night; however, I have to look at my work constantly asking myself what can be done to improve it.  There is no break from my painting; I am always reminded of the work I need to do.  (I tend to forget things, so this constant reminder might be useful, but I would like to have some time out once in a while.)

I would appreciate the feedback from my classmates if I were working in the Alphin studio; on the other hand, I would like to think through by myself to solve certain problems without being influenced by others.

More pros and cons, but right now I'd like to get back to my painting; the stormy wind outside tells me to get back to my work!

Arches Watercolor Block

I have been practicing painting clouds almost every evening on 9x12 watercolor paper.  I learned some techniques from Karen Jensen, sumi-e artist, so I tried some of them.  Alum works on washi as resist, but I am not sure if it is working on watercolor paper. I will try other techniques when appropriate.

I finally received Arches watercolor block last Wednesday, but I didn't get a chance to try it.  I was just so afraid to ruin expensive paper.  Today I challenged painting on Arches watercolor.  I really like it; the paper does not buckle! The color is absorbed by the paper evenly.  The brush moves very smoothly on the paper; when two colors touch, they blend nicely.  However, the pen I used to draw rough sketch on the paper does not disappear, so I cannot use it anymore.  Oh, well.  Hopefully I will have a few pictures ready by next November 10.

Dustyn, you implied I should use better paper; I agree with you.  I like Arches!