Diptych Painting
Overview:
Title: Light to Dark Size: 60.96 cm x 60.96 cm Medium: Acrylic paint Date of Completion: October 2023 Exhibition Text: Light to Dark is a dipych created to show the progression of how we view life as we get older. Inspired by pieces by Thomas Cole, this piece explores how when we are young we think life is perfect, but s we get older we realize life is not all "sunshine and rainbows." The obvious contrast between the two sides shows the two outlooks on life and how the are very much different. |
Inspiration: Thomas Cole
The first piece from Thomas Cole that I am inspired by is the piece entitled "Catskill Creek". I am inspired by the many techniques that Cole used in the creation of it. Firstly, the blending of the colors for the sky is something that I want to include in my painting with a slight change to the colors. Instead of just doing the blue and yellow, I would like to also include some pink under the yellow. Also, I have an appreciation for the clouds that Cole created. I am guessing that a scumbling method may have been used and/or a round brush. When I include the clouds in my painting, I plan use both a fan brush for the scumbling and then going in with a medium round brush for the added dimention. I like how Cole is able to portray a natural scenery that just feels very warm and welcoming. When I first saw this painting, it just felt very familiar. Since for my diptych I would like to have contradictory natural scenery, I think this piece is a great inspiration for the first side, the positive, happy side. But instead of doing this full scenery, I will mainly only focus on the sky.
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The second piece from Thomas Cole that I am inspired by is the piece, "The Course of Empire: The Savage State". This painting is the inspiration piece for the second side of the painting, which is the negative, gloomy side. This is how the diptych becomes a contradictory piece. Again I was inspired by the blending of the sky, the main connection between the two sides to make them cohesive. I know that I have to make sure the blending on each side is perfect to achieve the goal of cohesion. In order to make this scene gloomy, Cole create dark clouds instead of the light ones we see in the first piece. That is how I plan to make the clouds in my piece, except I will make the clouds more like the clouds I will create for the first piece. I think I might include a body of water at the bottom of each painting. For the positive side, I plan to have blue water with white accents. For the negative side, I plan to have blue water, except this side will have acccents of both white and gray so the water appears to be choppy like it would in a storm.
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Planning
I knew for this diptych I wanted to have contradictory sides, meaning they would be opposites. I wanted to have a scenery painting to complement but also stand out from the rest of my artworks that I have done. My first ide was to have an ombre background with a light blue, a light yellow, and then a light pink. I would then use a simple cut circle in the upper left hand corner and a rainbow over the top. Then I would fill the rest of the void with puffy clouds. I wanted to create this with the metaphor that life sometimes can seem like "sunshine and rainbows." This is a phrase that I heard a lot to describe life as we get older. But as a kid, I did see life in that way because nothing bad ever really happened. I really liked how I envisioned this but I knew there may be some issues executing this idea.
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Since I thought there may be some issues with the execution of the first idea, I created a second one. Some of the issues with the first one was the blending of the sky interfering with the blending of the rainbow. I thought they would get lost within each other. So I created my next sketch. I wanted to have the same meaning while just changing some of the imagery. Instead of having a rainbow, I wanted to add a body of water because the way I paint the water could help translate the meaning of how we view life. I also changed the sun placement to make each side more cohesive. The meaning behind this piece did not change. It is still a positive scenery that helps to represent how we view life when we are younger.
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For the second side, I wanted it to contradict the first side aesthetically and symbolically. The meaning of the second one is that as we grow older life isn't just sunshines and rainbows. There are ups and downs that we all have to deal with. The way I did this was by using dark clouds as symbolism of the challenges we face. I also used dark and choppy water as representation of the struggles. To make both sides cohesive I am using the same background as the first side and mirroring the sun into this side as well. The background blending, I will have to try to make the same on both sides so that it is even. When I hang up these pieces, I want them to be perfectly even in the colors and shapes, so they look like one. I know that the meaning behind this piece is something that most people can relate to and I want the meaning to translate the creation of this piece.
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Process
The first step of the process was to do the ombre background. I started by mixing together a light blue color, as well as a light yellow and a light pink. In order to make each canvas even I measured where each color would start and end. I layed down a layer of the blue color from the top of the canvas to 20 cm down. While that was still wet, I layed down the yellow color from the edge of the blue color to another 10 cm down. From there I blended together the blue and the yellow by doing back and forth motions. I continued these motions until the blue and the yellow were evenly blended. I then layed down the pink color from the base of the yellow to another 10 cm down. I did the same motions as previously used to blend out these two colors. I then want back with the blue and yellow to blend out the sides of the canvas and did the same with the yellow and the pink. Once all the colors were blended, I let this side dry and moved onto the second canvas. I repeated these exact same steps with the same measurements to make both sides even. I layed both canvases out next to each other to see if they were even, and with the measuring they were almost perfect. I only had to make slight tweeks to the yellow and the pink blending on the second canvas because it was slightly lower.
As stated previously, I wanted to include the body of water as a piece of consistency while showing the contrast. The first step in that process is just to lay down the base layer of blue. I took the leftover blue I had from the sky and added more white to it. I used a large flat brush to put down a base layer of this color. Using precise motions I created a sharp line against the pink from the sky. Once I had finished one side, I repeated this on the second side. I then went back with a second layer of the blue once each side dried so that the canvas was completely covered. I also went back in with the pink on the edge where the blue may have went too far, just so the edge is clean/sharp.
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When I first started doing this project, the thing I was looking forward to most was creating the clouds. I had an idea of how I was going to do this part, so that is what I went with. I started out by using a large fan brush and the stippling method. I took the dry brush and dipped it gently into the white paint and tapped it to make the outline of the cloud and then filled it in. Next I used the small fan brush and went over the outer edge of the cloud again using the scumbling method. Then, using a medium round brush, I repeatedly tapped it into the canvas, allowing for each layer to dry in between. I repeated this process until I could no longer see the blue peeking through. I also repeated this step for each cloud that is seen on this canvas. I then mixed together a very light gray color. Using that same small fan brush a added the gray color to the bottom of each cloud to add a shadow, similar to how Thomas Cole did with some of his clouds.
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For the second side of the canvas, I mixed together a dark gray color that is going to be the predominant color of these clouds. For these clouds, I want them to be more rough around the edges and messy so that they appear to be storm clouds. Therefore, I relied mostly on the fan brushes instead of using the round brush like I used for the clouds on the first side. I started out by using the large fan brush to map out where the large set of clouds would be on the top of the canvas as well as the individual clouds further down. Once I had them mapped out, I went in with the same gray shade but with the smaller fan brush to fill them in. I let this dry and then continued to fill in the clouds. Once the were filled in I blended out the outer slightly so that it blends in more with the background. Similarly to what I did with adding the gray to the white clouds, I added some white to the center of these gray clouds. I used the scumbling method once again and I used a small round brush to blend parts of the white in with the gray. I left other parts with a noticible contrast between the two colors. I felt this made them look more like storm clouds.
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I started working on the water for the second side of the diptych while the first side was still drying. I used the leftover gray from the clouds and mixed it with a little bit of blue and white. This created a blue-gray color. I first started out with a round brush and did some light strokes. These specific strokes can be seen in the top left corner of this picture. I did not care for how dark and thick they were, so I tried it again but with a lot lighter pressure. I quickly realized that it wasn't the pressure that made it so thick, it was the brush I was using. This is when I switched to my large fan brush. I lightly dipped the brush in the paint and tapped it against the plate I was using for mixing colors so that I had only a little flat layer of paint on the tip of the brush. I then did quick horizontal strokes with the brush. I knew right away that this is the way I need to do the water. I repeated this process for the rest of the dark color. I let this dry for a few minutes and then repeated this process for the little bit of white that I added on top of the dark color. On top of this I aalso did a few vertical strokes. Once the paint on these layers was almost dry i used the clean, dry fan brush to smear the strokes some more, so that they were more slightly blended. Then I moved on to the other canvas.
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The last step was to do the water for the first canvas. Once the base was dry, I mixed together a light blue color using the leftover blue shade I had and some white. Since I wanted this water to appear more calm, contrary to the other side, I decided to try and use the round brush again. I lightly dipped the brush in the light blue and did some simple horizontal strokes. I blended these strokes into the base more than I did for the other canvas. I then used the technique with the fan brush again for differeing stroke patterns. I let this layer dry for abaout 10 minutes and then went back in with another layer. This layer was strokes of the base blue as well as more strokes of the white. This layering made it look more like water and not just lines.
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Experimentation
One of the things for the experimentation was with the water. I didn't quite know how I wanted to create the water at first. I didn't know if I wanted to do a gradation for the water or a solid base with strokes of a darker color. I decided to go with the second option. The way I experimented with this was with the brushes I was going to use. I first started out with a round brush, but the strokes were too thick. These are the ones we can see at the top of the canvas. Then I switched to a fan brush, which are the rest of the strokes. Then I experimented with the directions of the stokes. I did some strokes horizontally and some vertically to give the illusion of choppy water to match with the dark clouds.
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There were a few ways that experimentation can be seen with the blending of the background. The first is with trying to blend the colors perfectly. For example if I thought the blue was overpowering the yellow where they were blended, I added more yellow. I did the same with the blending of the yellow and pink. The second aspect of experimentation for this part was making the blending on the two canvases even. In order to be matching, I measured how big each color section would be. This helped with matching the colors, however there weres still some changes that I had to make. The pink on the second canvas was slightly higher that the first, so I had to add more yellow to it to make them even.
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The last part of experimentation is with the clouds. These clouds were the first ones I did so the experimentation took place here. I decided that instead of practicing the technique before, I would just go straight on the canvas. The scumbing method is something I have done before so it wasn't new. The way I experimented here was again with the brushes I was going to use. I needed to see which brush would work best and I decided that I would just use all three because they all were important for certain aspects of the clouds.
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Critique
Similarities:
Both pieces by Thomas Cole are paintings that are created of a natural landscape. My piece is also a painging of a natural landscape, in regards to a sunset over a body of water. There are very similar techniques that were used for the creation of all three pieces. The main one is the blending in the sky. Although I am not sure the actual techniques that Cole used, the results are very similar. The clouds in my piece are very similar to shape to the ones that Cole create in the Catskill Creek painting. Once again, I am not sure of the actual technique that Cole used. The shading in the clouds is also something that I tried to carry over from my inspiration. |
Differences:
the most notable difference is that both of Cole's piece are single pieces, whereas mine is a diptych. I did this to show the contradiction better. Cole's piece are all part of a collection but they are each their own individual piece. They can stand on their own but mine can not. The messages behind the pieces are also very different. Cole paints scenery of places that are very familiar to him while there are not many "significant meanings" within them. Mine had the strong meaning of our perceptions of life and how they change over time. As far as shape placement, I added new elements to mine and also changed the overall orientation of them so it differs from the inspiration pieces. |
Reflection
I had so much fun with the creation of this diptych and the research behind it. I loved being able to look through all of the works of Thomas Cole and see the progression of them over time, seeing the same landscape in a different light. I was able to develop and refine a lot of skill through this project, such as blending, scumbling, and shading. All of these are techniques that I have developed with previous projects but continued to develop with this one. This was the first diptych that I have ever created so this process was new to me. Since I wanted to make both sides even, I had to go through a lot of extra steps. It took a lot of time to get both sides to be even and to make the sun in the center even. But while it was a difficult process, it was still very fun to me. Creating the clouds was a very tedious process because it was very repetitive, especially with having to do it to both sides and with two different colors. Overall, this process was very fun and if I were to do it again I wouldn't do anything different. I think that this painting did a really good job at portraying the overall message and meaning.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
- I am able to identify a cause and effect relationhip from the inspiration pieces to mine through the techniques that were used and how they were carried over. I took inspieration from color choices and the overall techniques.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
- The topic of my research is our perceptions of life but that is not the message behind Cole's art. His goal is painting natural scenery of a place he became really familiar with.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
-One of the main conclusions is that art is often inspired by places that are familiar to us which is exactly what I saw with Thomas Cole's art. This is a common denominator with a lot of artists.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
- The central theme around my research is our own personal perceptions of life and how that develops over time.
What kind of inferences did you make reading your research?
- As stated previously, the inference I made is that most art is developed through things that are familiar to us.
MLA Citations
“Thomas Cole’s Refrain.” Hudson River Museum, www.hrm.org/exhibitions/thomas-coles-refrain/.
Metmuseum.org, 2021, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/692360.
“Thomas Cole | American Painter.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Cole.
Metmuseum.org, 2021, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/692360.
“Thomas Cole | American Painter.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Cole.