Title: 168 Hour Work-Week
Size: (38 cm x 46 cm) x2 Medium: Gauche Paint Completion March 2022 - Exhibition Text-'168 Hour Work-Week' is a 2 part illustration piece made with gauche paint on a 38 by 46 cm board. The pieces represents the academic exhaustion I feel as a student and how days seem to repeat themselves, constantly playing catch-up. It is inspired by French painters Louise Dubreau and Jean-Baptiste Greuze.
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- Inspiration -
Artist in Focus: Louise Dubreau
'The Old Lodger' was painted in 1877 by Louise Dubreau in France. Dubreau is best known for his portraits during the French naturalism art movement. In his works he used a lot of dark, neutral, and unsaturated hues to create a realistic, almost sad and dull feeling piece meant to convey the feelings of reality and life as an average person. I chose this piece for my inspiration mostly because I loved the pose that he was in and wanted to replicate it in my own style. My idea was to imitate the tired, worn look of the old man in a self portrait, as a student pouring an energy drink into the glass. One of the challenges in replicating this work is going to be the differences in media. Because I am using gauche for my illustration, the quality won't be nearly as smooth as the oils used by Debreau.
'The Old Lodger' was painted in 1877 by Louise Dubreau in France. Dubreau is best known for his portraits during the French naturalism art movement. In his works he used a lot of dark, neutral, and unsaturated hues to create a realistic, almost sad and dull feeling piece meant to convey the feelings of reality and life as an average person. I chose this piece for my inspiration mostly because I loved the pose that he was in and wanted to replicate it in my own style. My idea was to imitate the tired, worn look of the old man in a self portrait, as a student pouring an energy drink into the glass. One of the challenges in replicating this work is going to be the differences in media. Because I am using gauche for my illustration, the quality won't be nearly as smooth as the oils used by Debreau.
Artist in Focus: Jean-Baptiste Greuze
Similarly to Louise Debreau, Jean-Baptiste Greuze was a French painter who worked primarily in oil pants- however, their works date more than a century apart. Greuze is best known for his realistic portraits and historical paintings. He used a combination of Rococo and Dutch Realist styles in his work. This realistic style can be seen in the depth of the highlights and shadows of things like the boys hair and his clothing- which has intricate folds and gives an incredibly real fabric texture. I wanted to replicate several things in this piece- first and foremost the composition and pose of the child with my own body, and other elements like the warmer color palette and the theme of exhaustion.
Similarly to Louise Debreau, Jean-Baptiste Greuze was a French painter who worked primarily in oil pants- however, their works date more than a century apart. Greuze is best known for his realistic portraits and historical paintings. He used a combination of Rococo and Dutch Realist styles in his work. This realistic style can be seen in the depth of the highlights and shadows of things like the boys hair and his clothing- which has intricate folds and gives an incredibly real fabric texture. I wanted to replicate several things in this piece- first and foremost the composition and pose of the child with my own body, and other elements like the warmer color palette and the theme of exhaustion.
- Process -
After the skin I focused on the clothing. On my board, I sketched out the highlights and shadows of my sweater. I started off with the darkest parts, or the shadows of the sweater first, and built off with slightly lighters greys until I got to the highlights. This image was taken before I blended any of it out. Wanting my piece to resemble the Old Lodger and its realism, I tried to make the folds look as close to real life as possible. I also painted the energy drink can and the liquid pouring out of it. The light source came from the top left so the highlights were in the middle of the can.
The hair was one of the difficult things for me to paint in this process. For my first illustration (of me pouring the energy drink), the hair felt choppy and unrealistic, and the gauche made it difficult to add in highlights. As I'm gaining experience with this medium, fine details and highlights are becoming easier to paint. In my image, the hair almost seemed to blend in with the background, because of the high contrast and dark setting of the photograph. I painted it in larger chunks that made a gradient into the background, without highlights. After this, I realized that I wanted it to have the same realism as my chosen inspiration pieces, seen in the highlights of the hair in The Lazy Boy. I used that technique of bright, obvious highlights to give my piece more depth and the result was a much more realistic feel, one that I was much happier with compared to my first illustration.
- Critique -
- Reflection -
This was my first piece using gauche paint, and so a lot of it for me was experimentation. The first painting in this collection especially felt much less realistic because I was only just getting used to it. The second painting had much clearer detail, and had much more depth. That piece has more similarities to my inspiration- intentionally in terms of composition and theme but also with its use of realism. I like this piece much more because I think its a better representation of my abilities in varying painting mediums. Gauche is a more difficult medium to work with than oil paints, and if I had to re-do this piece to improve its quality I likely would have done it with oil paint on canvas.
- ACT Connections -
1) Clearly explain how you were able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your art?
My inspiration very directly connects to my piece even at first glace, just by the pose that the characters are in. My inspiration lead me to pursuit a more realistic style as well as choices like my color palette and the direction of lighting.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
French art at the time was very centered on portraying average people. The painters of these portraits were like supportive of working class struggles, or wanted to explore a new avenue of art.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While doing my research I learned a lot about the timeline of French art movements and their techniques and meanings. I learned about the shift from royal or religious paintings being favored to more simple depictions of people.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
For the Old Lodger, I happened to stumble across it online randomly and I loved the pose he was in and immediately got the idea to replace the alcohol with an energy drink. When looking for a second painting to use as inspiration for my second painting, I looked for any paintings with a theme of exhaustion first, and then narrowed it down to paintings of students.
5.) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I came to the conclusion that representation in art matters- especially for working class people who, before these art movements, were very rarely depicted as people worth respecting.
My inspiration very directly connects to my piece even at first glace, just by the pose that the characters are in. My inspiration lead me to pursuit a more realistic style as well as choices like my color palette and the direction of lighting.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
French art at the time was very centered on portraying average people. The painters of these portraits were like supportive of working class struggles, or wanted to explore a new avenue of art.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While doing my research I learned a lot about the timeline of French art movements and their techniques and meanings. I learned about the shift from royal or religious paintings being favored to more simple depictions of people.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
For the Old Lodger, I happened to stumble across it online randomly and I loved the pose he was in and immediately got the idea to replace the alcohol with an energy drink. When looking for a second painting to use as inspiration for my second painting, I looked for any paintings with a theme of exhaustion first, and then narrowed it down to paintings of students.
5.) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I came to the conclusion that representation in art matters- especially for working class people who, before these art movements, were very rarely depicted as people worth respecting.
- Bibliography -
Dubreau, Louise. The Old Lodger, 1877
Jean-Baptiste Greuze. The Lazy Boy, 1755
Jean-Baptiste Greuze. The Lazy Boy, 1755