For the past few lessons we have been learning about a New Zealand painter called John Walsh. We had to complete a bunch of tasks based on him and one of his paintings, we analysed it and wrote down what we could see and more.
“At a Water Hui With Manet”, 2012
Oil on board, 115 x 120 cm
This was the picture we had to analyse, here’s my work:
List what you can see in the painting here: Blue water, 3-4 people, branches, leaves, rocky/grassy hills, dark clouds, white clouds, blue sky, 2 women standing, 2 people laying on blanket, basket with something on top, water meeting the sky, sand, face in the rocks, different kinds of trees/bushes, attention drawn to water/blue sky first, mountains blending with the clouds.
Next we had to chose which works from the list fitted with the picture.
| •Opaquely (heavy, non-see-through paint)
Luminously (inner glowing light) • Statistically (diagram-like/technical) • Seamlessly (figures blending into land) • Photographically (hyper-realist detail) • Atmospherically (building mist/fog) • Expressively (fluid, emotive brushwork) • Monotonously (flat, boring single tone) |
Luminously (inner glowing light)
Seamlessly (figures blending into land) Atmospherically (building mist/fog) Expressively (fluid, emotive brushwork) |
Next we had to write a paragraph on how his work can be described as dreamlike using the words from above:
Walsh’s landscapes can be described as “dreamlike” for many reasons, starting with how he seamlessly blends the figures into the land while still making them stand out. It also has an Atmospherical feeling because he builds mist and fog into the painting. He draws the attention to the centre of the painting luminously using the water using it to make glowing light. He expressively paints the hills using smooth brush strokes and fluid, emotive brushwork. This is why they can be described as dreamlike.
After that we had to say how wiping back paint to reveal light connects with peeling back foil on tetra packs which we did last term:
Wiping back the paint to reveal light underneath connects to peeling foil in tetra packs in multiple ways. When peeling back the foil on tetra packs, you’re making a mark on the surface which when ink is applied, makes it dark, whereas when wiping paint back, it reveals light instead of dark, so they are similar and different at the same time. This is how they connect.
Next we had to define these words:
Luminous: glowing light
Glaze: A thin transparent coat/layer over a painting
Wiping back: using something like a cloth to wipe some of the paint off to make it lighter/more textured
Atmospheric transition: When things appear blurred together or like one depending on your distance
Pigment: How much paint you add
Ancestral Narrative: Creating something based off of your ancestors/past/culture
Once we had done that, we had to say how applying a thin glaze compares to applying a thick layer of paint:
Applying a thin glaze creates a different visual sense of depth by giving it more dimension because you can see the colours blending on top of each other because they are partly see through, whereas if you were to use a thick paint it would just sit on top of each other opaquely and you wouldn’t be able to see the under layers of paint.
Lastly, we had to say where in his painting we saw soft-edged gradients blending land and figures into surrounding space:
In John Walsh’s paintings, I can see the things in the background have soft-edged gradients that blend land and figures into surrounding space. Especially the background characters and the sky and water like lakes and rivers, I find that he blends the lakes and sky together with a gradient into surrounding space.