artist Emi Uchida



Emi Uchida is a well-know Japanese artist, she is good at oil painting and line drawing.

In 2008, she had a solo exhibition named "Trace", it was a new step as her previous paintings and drawings, she found her own way to connected them which was by adding charcoal lines on top of her colourful oil paintings. This action made me think of my watercolour works, also fresh and transparent colours, can I follow her? or can I step further?

As an artist, she considered her lines is a trace of both herself and time, "people always erase the moment which is unsatisfied or mistake, when it can't be erase completely people will cross it out with lines, this is a negative to the past, the negative lines may develop to interesting shapes over time", she said this when the "Trace" showed in Shanghai, China in 2011.

Art can be used as a method to find self, her process of laying lines is a way, which represent both her body and soul, her thought of negation also can connected with the Avant-Garde, my previous essay wrote about this art movement, it challenged the subject and the traditional representation.

                        

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REFERENCES

http://onishigallery.com/exhibitions/emi-uchida-trace

http://www.dazeddigital.com/satellitevoices/zh/shanghai/art-design/1920/emi-uchida

Art and Design, 2011, editor Amy Huang, China

about watercolors

Watercolor is a very effective and easy way to explore art works,but there are many skills should take time to practice.

Elements: rhythm, balance, unity, harmony, eye flow, symmetry&asymmetry.

Recognize contrast: contrast is the distance of a value range, the contrast can be from white to black or anywhere is between.

• add water back into a damp wash, the wettest area tries to reach an equilibrium with a less wet area.
• drop and splatter paint on a damp surface, control depends on the amount of water on the surface.
• wet-into-wet wash: the paper is titled and the the paint runs in the desired direction, the type pf surface and amount of pigment and moisture on the paper influence this technique.
• create a gradated wash: apply a rich stock of color to the top of the wash, use a large round or flat brush, begin to dilute the color by adding clean water to the brush, start to work toward the bottom of the wash, move down and continue adding clean water to the wash.                                                                                                                                               p.s if streaks appear, the surface is too dry.
• special effects: artists use watercolor to play tricks, there are ways of communicating a three dimensional idea and showing mastery of the medium.                                              

             a.  splattering -- tooth brush, brushes
             b.  salt texture -- apply salt to wet / damp surface
             c.  stippling -- brushes
             d.  sponge -- sponges
             e.  masking fluid -- toothpicks
              f.  masking tape -- for heavier weight / good quality papers
             g.  wax -- bewared its hard to remove
             h.  blooms & back runs -- before wash dried add clean water to the edge of the wash      
                                                         and allowed it to run out
              i.  other textures: palette knife, plastic wrap, alcohol, mat board, found objects, paper 
                                           towels.






REFERENCES
the Watercolor Bible, Joe Garcia (2006), published by North Cight Books, Canada.

CombinatioN

I like the idea of "reconciles the irreconcilable" which is from RAOUL DE KEYSER, the nature and the tones of colors,the shapes,the images,the broken lines etc.Keep it simple and beautiful were the rules i have followed,but through the practice,I feel kind of easily lose control of the simpleness lol,how can I find a way to keep calm and won't add too many elements??

Many of my works follow a similar composition.

NO.1

The paper was original white,diluted paints and just washed the whole paper,before it dried use some other papers press it made some marks,I mean any paper,news paper,dirty paper u used etc.the purpose just it's a way to transparent some colors from them.

       "painting"

"real image"

NO.2

some details.

NO.3

cutting out piece

NO.4

"washed pigment fine lines"

first combination (failed)

NO.5

Also I did some research on Watercolor,like how to make different tones of colors,how to reunion them,different atmospheres between levels of wet and dry etc.

small scale

This semester I'm really interested in small scale,tiny images and combinations. Also play with colors and scales.

My idea was tiny painting mixed with shapes,colors etc.draw viewers attention in,painting can be playful and endless,if change a direction or add more elements it become another work in a minute.

The work I made used acrylic paint and watercolor paper,after put paint on paper,press it get those complex marks,choose and draw on them produce the background.

Feedback and conversation: the feedback on my works was quite intense,people was keep themselves a distance with the paintings as usual,but tiny images and details made them zoom in,viewers prefer A5 scale paintings rather then A4 ones,because the scale just very appropriate with simple shapes and thin lines background,A4 works added more gradients of colors and real images,the way to impove and move forward was not completely success,but still can keep going and try multiple combinations,but in another way,my idea of weiredness can be pointed out easily. Seen colors and found materials as visual qualities.

My responds: in the critique,people offered me some artists who are related to my resent works,I did some research on them,JOAN MIRO, DENY WATKINS, RAOUL DE KEYSER etc. abstraction & figuration I interested in both but in different ways, like I'd like to paint in abstract way and collect real imaged which is figurative, sort of,the whole repetition and combination actions still will be the next step of my practice,find a sublime through shapes and colors in a deceptively SIMPLE way....

Deny Watkins and his colors

Deny Watkins

Meet science, 2012, 120*120cm, acrylic on lines

He is a New Zealand artist who had an amazing show last year in Auckland art gallery, there is a description of that show:

" It's no coincidence that the work invokes a swathe of literary and cultural reference; eight of these works are accompanied by small prints of book covers, which punctuate or syncopate an otherwise fairly staid install. With the placing of the prints, Watkins deliberately engages a reading content through the lens of literature. The counter-cultural references are splashed about as liberally as the washes of paint."

                   Trabolite, 2012, 30*30cm, acrylic on canvas

In his works, those beautiful beautiful colors really attracted me, I like  the comparison between steady and varied, black and colorful etc. its a good way to learn form him, also the change of color's tones is very obvious, the drop shadows and two to break up the otherwise flat non-perspective, sharp line against irregular contours etc.

                       

                       Marlin,85*85cm,oil on canvas

Earth house hold,2012,120*120cm,acrylic on lines

      Colletus,2011,150*90cm,acrylic on lines

         Liberty cap,2011,150*90cm,acrylic on lines

Raoul de Keyser and "his watercolor"

Raoul de Keyser

Raoul de Keyser was a Belgian painter who died last year, he created a series of subtle paintings and works on papers which appears very straightforward and simple in same time, his paintings were inspired by American abstract art, later period added his own skills and strategies.

       Ohne Title, 2008, 23x31cm, watercolor on paper

Untitled, 2008, 9.1x12.2inch, watercolor 

Ohne Titel, 2008, 23x31cm, watercolor on paper

untitled, 2005, 10.6x15cm, watercolor on paper

His interests were using traditional ways to paint, oil on canvas or watercolor on papers, after another career life time, he went back to painting and started "revalue everyday reality", figuration and abstraction together, in some ways his paintings have been about finding a sublime through repetition of shapes and colors in a deceptively simple way.