I first of all mapped out where the vanishing point and the parallel lines were and then I worked around these by lining the beams, door, skirting and walls up. I decided to draw the same view from the other exercise but at a slightly closer range this time.

I then added a light wash of ochre, brown and dark brown to the pencil outline, going back over to define shadow and to create darker tones where needed. I am reasonably happy with the proportions of things, however I just need to take more care with keeping a straight line when drawing things like doors or walls.

I sat drawing from within the living room for this study using a 4b pencil I started off with the first view towards the fireplace. I think I was concentrating on getting the outline of objects more than the tone in this drawing, but for a quick sketch it isn’t too bad. The second drawing was done facing towards the patio doors so you could see the outline of the building outside. I tried to keep in mind that the further things are away the fainter in tone it needs to be. I’m quite happy with how the shadow and light of this drawing has turned out. It’s a good idea just to keep in mind where the light source is coming from, and then you can keep checking that the different tones are matching this.

My third drawing is facing towards the door leading towards the corridor. On this particular side there are wooden beams going through the walls. So this made for quite an interesting observational point. I found drawing the door quite hard to get the angle right and not all of the parallel lines matched up. Perhaps another attempt from a closer perspective and an idea of where a vanishing point is, would make this successful. My last drawing is looking into the kitchen from the living room, with the door to the left. I shaded in the part where the kitchen is, as this was an area in darkness. Hopefully this sets it back so it looks as if it’s in a little alcove. The items on the table haven’t been perfectly drawn, although you do get a sense of where items are in relation to other things.

I think the drawings that have worked the best out of the four are probably the second and third drawings. The second because of the tone work and the third because it was quite an interesting view and could definitely be worked with to be more effective.

I decided to try and copy the ‘pointillism’ technique used by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, using varied sized brush marks and unmixed paint. I have used both cool colours and warm colours as I wanted this version of my ‘still life’ to pop with colour. I think the colour combinations seem to both balance and contrast with each other?

I was sat painting at the table with the sun shining through and so I really wanted to evoke a feeling of contentment and happiness. I’m hoping it doesn’t look too busy and hectic because of the brushstrokes? I think it does work a lot better from a view further away.

I think the last study seems to have worked best and funnily enough it was the one I had the most fun with and was most relaxed about, as I didn’t have to worry too much about form and line. It’s interesting to see how the same ‘still life’ can be so varied just by using different techniques and colours.

I went with using violet and lemon yellow for this exercise, making some colour observations in my sketchbook. I added white to each of the colours to see the different tones I could get with them. I then mixed the two colours together, adding more or less of each. I decided I could perhaps use the tertiary colours for the apple.

This time I went with a more birds eye view of my ‘still life’ and I didn’t want to fuss too much over the detail of things. I wanted to concentrate more on the impact of the two colours and create perhaps a more abstract painting of the items. I think the challenges with this study are that sometimes you can mix the colours together too much as they can cancel each other out. They become quite a dull colour in comparison to the unmixed colours.

First of all I set a still life up of a fruit bowl on the table near a window for the light source. I then did a rough tonal sketch of the fruit bowl to get an idea of where the darkest to lightest tones were, squinting my eyes every so often and stepping away to view it. 
I then started on my acrylic painting taking note of the areas of light and shade from my sketch. I tried to keep the detail and line of things fairly simple, focusing more on matching the right colours and tones of things. The pine table was slightly similar in colour to the bananas so I was worried how I could make the yellows more distinguishable. In the end I mixed a navy, medium yellow and white to get the colour of the bananas, adding brown spots and shade. For the table I did an ochre, white and medium yellow mix with brown lines to create a wood effect. I then moved on to the dish, it did prove to be quite hard to do, with getting the right colour to create shade. I used a mix of navy, brown and white in the end, highlighting with more white paint. I would say the bit I am least of all happy with, would be the apple. I tried to dull the red down a bit but I think this has had the effect of making it slightly flat and ball-like?

After my painting dried and I took the time to observe it a bit more, I came to the conclusion that the colours are not quite as bright as they should be. I think with future paintings I need to be careful to not mix things as much? adding too much white or dark colours like navy or brown can have the effect of dulling things down too much.

Optical art uses abstract patterns and contrasting colours to create the illusion of movement, warping or hidden images. The term became popular in the 1960s but was thought to have been started by the artist Victor Vasarely. The painting below titled ‘Zebra’ uses the colour contrast and the intertwined position of its subject to its advantage. The background merges with the borderless form of the zebra to create the optical effect of movement.
Bridget Riley is another advocate of ‘Op art’ and is well known for her black and white artworks. She started out with a semi-impressionist style, moving on to pointillism and then eventually started to explore the potential of optical Illusions. Using geometric precision and clever colour contrasting, she creates captivating abstract paintings that test and work the eye. The painting (left) ‘Movement in Squares’ has the effect of making you feel like you are being drawn into it, with the squares getting smaller in size towards the middle, almost like a corridor. The clever placement of diagonal shapes of colour in the painting ‘Nataraja’ helps to create a perfect rhythm of colours. Each complimenting and contrasting to produce something that is intensely satisfying to look at.

Georges Seurat was a post-impressionist artist that devised the painting techniques ‘Chromoluminarism’ and ‘Pointillism’ also known as ‘Divisionism’. He studied Chevreuls colour theories and experimented with the different effects of the primary colours and their compliments. He would use tiny brushstrokes of meticulously placed colours to produce huge paintings, that when looked at from a distance would be blended by the viewers eye. This technique would help to create bolder colours and luminosity within paintings. The painting below (A Sunday on la Grande Jatte) is of a busy park scene and what is thought to be Parisians at leisure. Although on further inspection there are some odd characters, take the lady standing fishing by the river for instance. It was thought of at the time to be a place where prostitutes would also mix alongside the middle class. There is a strong contrast of light and shade, all enhanced by the solid dots of colour placed. Perhaps this contrast is also relatable to the characters within the painting.

Paul Signac was another artist who helped to develop the ‘Pointillist’ style. Experimenting with different media including oils, watercolours, etchings, lithographs and pen and ink sketches. The painting below (Grande Canal Venice) shows how you can create depth and perspective with the application of colour. Warm and dark colours advance and cool and light colours recede.

Both Signac and Seurat used optical mixing for their paintings and this is where two or more colours are positioned next to each other, to then give the viewer the perception of different colours.

Websites
Wikipedia
Britannica
Tate

Articles

Books

I went with using Navy for the centre square using Cobalt Blue, Violet, Light Blue and Ultramarine Blue for the outside frames. First of all I notice that all the colours work well together, but I also notice that they perhaps don’t have a real impact when placed next to each other, they seem to blend and merge as one.

With the complementary colours below I noticed that they created a strong contrast with each other. But also the Cobalt Blue frame made the orange centre look as if it’s receding from the forefront. Maybe this is because it was mixed with White?

Last of all was the complimentary coloured frames and white frame with the neutral Grey square centres. I noticed that the white frame looked as if it was merging with the neutral grey square, but the complimentary colours had the opposite effect. The Orange frame made the Grey square recede, while the Dark Green frame made the square appear as if it was in front of it. These effects would be useful when you are trying to create perspective in paintings.
I did a few colour attempts in my sketch book below using oil pastels before starting this exercise. Just to get an idea of which colour combinations I wanted to use. It looks as though the warmer colours seemed to make the grey squares recede, while cooler colours bring it forward.

I went with using bright pieces of fruit and some dark cherries set against a light marble effect chopping board for contrast. I tried out a viewpoint from above and a viewpoint from the side in my sketchbook using an ink pen, deciding that the one from above worked best. I then went on to do an oil pastel version of the one from above but a slightly more zoomed in version. I think I got a good idea of tonal values from this quick study and an idea of where to highlight and shade to reflect where the light source is coming from.

I then went on to do my final study using acrylic paint on mixed media paper taking careful consideration to analyse the colours of the shaded and highlighted areas. I found that with the highlighted areas I first blended white with the colour of the fruit and then went back over and dabbed white in the most lightest areas. The parts in which the fruit/background were hidden by the light source, were mixed with darker colours like grey, brown and black for the cherries. The apricot proved to be quite hard as it did’nt have a reflective surface and so there were no light spots to add, I just had to make a lighter shade towards the front. I’m not entirely sure whether this makes it appear slightly flat? With the marble chopping board I mixed a blue, green and white paint background and then added more white where the light source was coming from. I then dabbed and mixed a darker shade for the marble effects, going back over it again with a paint brush to create a stronger line of colour.

Overall I am pretty happy with how this turned out, with the bold contrast of colours and the strong concentration on tone, I believe it has helped to create quite an effective and realistic painting. I think that with still life painting you have to know your limits and capabilities. I don’t think the still life with flowers was particularly good, it was quite hard to do, and that could be down to choosing such an elaborate floral display. I also think that concentrating on tone rather than detail can create simple but successful paintings.