Adding Pigment

Adding Pigment

by Kristy Giacoman & Sofia Reyes

Adding Pigment

Us

Abstract

"A London Full of Colour" is a project that aims to portray a different reality of the daily life of London citizens. By picturing different scenarios in their reality comparing them to the reality that I choose for each one of them, the audience will be able to admire the beauty and uniqueness of the city from a different perspective. I have gone to international poetry competitions and taken painting and photography courses before arriving to college. This project will combine my favorite forms of expression through art and hopefully brighten the days of the viewers. The main message I wish to convey is that every single one of us chooses the reality they want to live in, meaning that the same place could be seen as a prison for our souls or a wonderland for our imagination. The goal of this Milestone, however, is to paint five acrylic surrealistic paintings of the most emblematic sites in London exaggerating the use of bright colors instead of the usual gray palette that is seen due to the weather.

Introduction

The title of this Milestone was chosen to be "Adding Pigment" as for every person that goes through London is not only influenced by it and its weather as seen in Colourless London, but at the same time, they leave a piece of them that adds to the beauty of this city. In the same way as they take inspiration from the amazing stories London has to tell, the create a new chapter, and if they do it well, a really good one. Each artist presented in the background of this Milestone was chosen because of their irrefutable relevance to the history of London in the artistic side. In the background we present the way in which different situations they lived through their lives conducted them to become some of the most influential and inspiring individuals the streets of London have seen. Likewise, each artist is known to have revolutionized in some way their field "adding pigment" to the existing base of knowledge and techniques. From the field of Painting, Literature and Architecture, we chose a set of six artists decided in "Artists from the Past" and "Artists from the Present" to, in some way, categorize them by periods and let the readers draw conclusions about the similar traits in their work. Inspired by these great minds, we leave in the deliverable our own works of art painting the same sites where pictures were taken for Colourless London, choosing a specific picture for each one and "replicating it" in some way with acrylic paintings, just the way David Hockey used to do with his photography. The difference, however, is that we aim to emphasize the contrast between the gray color palette seen in the pictures that characterizes London and the use of color in our paintings that represents our perspective of the city. In this way we seek to add pigment to the scenery in a literal and metaphorical way.

Section 1: Background

Artistic Component

"Despite the widespread social anxiety caused by the fog, many artists found in it a source of inspiration from a wide broad of perspectives. For some, fog represented a looming presence, alive and malignant." This quote from "The London Fog" by Corton perfectly exemplifies the way in which some people used too feel about the fog, however, for some other many artists, the fog could be seen as magical or even romantic. the same thing could be seen from very different perspectives and used for many different purposes. The fog could be used by robbers to easily disappear after their theft and the same fog could also be used by artists like Monet to show the world the beauty of a city like London. Likewise the fog could be the source of sickness and depression or could also be the source of motivation and inspiration, giving a person's mind the push needed to boost their creativity. Just like that, the city of London has been the source of inspiration and spectator of some of the greatest minds the world has seen. From painters to writers to architects, London has evoked many shades of feelings that have driven locals and foreigners to accomplish great things.

Artists From the Past

Being a city immersed in its own history, London has seen a lot happening through its streets, and digging in the past, it is easy to find a more gloomy, mysterious and heavy perspective of the fog, enraptured in all kinds of art. The following representatives were chosen because of their imminent and irrefutable success in their disciplines.

Monet

Claude Monet

by Nadar
date	1 January 1899

Claude Monet was a French artist of the Impressionist movement. He was actually so influential to it that this movement was named after one of his paintings called Impression, Sunrise. The painting was named like that because "you can only see an impression of the sunrise and the person in it because he changed a lot his subjects and how he depicted them". The the viewer has to analyze, assume and connect the dots to figure out the purpose of the painting. This is not exactly abstract art but it is definitely different from any sort of traditional art at that time. Monet was a revolutionary and the complexity of his works continue to amaze the most demanding art critics and attract collectors. Unlike many other famous artists, when Monet started, he had no prior knowledge of art techniques, which may have been the cause of him developing his own. However, he was surely inspired by any other artists before him. Today Monet is one of the best-known artists in the world. In the creation of his own style, his purpose was to overcome tradition and use intense brushstrokes to create an impression of a painting. He started painting in Paris many scenes of the Seine river. He painted impressions of landscapes of the place he lived in at different times of the day. This specific trait defines his work, because this technique was not only very useful for practice, but also allowed the viewer to perceive the scene from different perspectives of the same place and by the same artist. We can clearly see this technique in one of his biggest collections of paintings; Water Lilies, that he painted when he was living in Givenchy. Monet moved a lot during his life mainly within France, however, during the Franco-Prussian War, he moved to London for two years.

During his time in London, he couldn't help but immerse himself in the captivating inspiration that emerged from the city's mesmerizing views. Using his technique, he painted many of its landscapes and buildings at different times of the day, as he was known for. He painted many views from the Thames including Parliament and Westminster and even though it was only for a short period of time, his time in London marked his artistic career. "His short stay in London resulted in the largest series of paintings that he had yet produced." Monet, as many other artists, admired the London fog an the presence of it in his paintings was not only evident, but often even highlighted. The fog gave his paintings some sort of uniqueness and contributed to his Impressionism. As Christine Corton said in her book London Fog Monet commented " Without the fog, London wouldn't be a beautiful city... It's the fog that gives it it's magnificent breadth". This was a very outlandish way of viewing one of the nation's greatest struggle, but once again, he was a revolutionary. He was most likely intrigued by the fog as it went alongside this style and it was in such an abundance he had never seen before. There was probably not another city in the world that united the large amounts of fog and the impotent man-made landscapes that were also full of meaning and history. In his paintings, he portrays the fog as part of the landscape or the impression of the landscape, which gave him great popularity due to his creativity and the originality of his works. In that time, there was certainly no other painter like Monet.

Yet he did not painted with huge detail, he created his works in such a way in which any Londoner would recognize the setting of his paintings. In addition to this, as he painted the same scene in different times of the day, he changed the colors to illustrate the different light patterns. The "special touch" or as we call it in this milestone "pigment" Monet added to his field was his originality and how even though he painted the same thing many times, each painting was unique. "Distance and perspective are abolished; a limitless expanse of water occupies our entire field of vision." His paintings enraptured the idea of constant change and the beauty of it. He worried a lot about the ever-changing environment and the effects of light in his paintings. Even though it was the same landscape, this technique allowed the viewer imagine that it was a completely different environment. He focused a lot on the effects of light of the painting and used a distinct color palette for each painting. This different use of light and color provided him the irrefutable fame he keeps until today, when his biography is now studied at schools and his techniques are implemented buy artists all around the world.

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  The Thames below Westminster
  

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  Irises
  

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  Water Lilies at Tate Modern

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  The Water-Lily Pond
  

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  Water-Lilies, Setting Sun
  

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  Snow Scene at Argenteuil
  

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was part of a huge family, being born the second of eight children on 1812, in Portsmouth, England. His parents named him Charles John Huffam Dickens and even though many people have heard about him and some even know his work, not everyone knows about his middle names because he decided never to use them and e simply known as Charles Dickens. However, even though he was raised with high aspirations of himself, it is almost impossible for him to have imagined the reach of his literary work in later years and how much his early life would influence him in the future. He was in London for the first time at the age of three because of his father's work and although most people are unaware at such an early age, it is believed that he "absorbed the sights, smells and sounds of the City" As in any big family, money issues started to arise, however, that did not stop them from being happy in the early days. Nevertheless, it became a real problem for Charles when he was only twelve, as his father was imprisoned for debt. To help with the family needs, Charles was forced to leave school and work. We can easily infer that he did not make much money as a twelve year old, and that having his childhood taken away from him because of his parents mistakes left him very unhappy. For it was not his fault at all that his father as imprisoned, but yet he had to pay for his mistakes. This caused him great suffering but still he sacrificed himself to help his family. "He felt abandoned and betrayed by the adults who were supposed to take care of him."

Even though he had no clue back then, that same situation gave him the freedom to explore the streets and corners of London and get to know every secret the city had to keep, paying close attention to his surroundings, he was able to get to know it "like the back of his hand". However, Dickens is credited with a passion for London and according to Michael and Mollie Hardwick in their book Dickens's England, "he entertained no such thing". For he grew up in the streets of London and this was not by choice, which allowed him to "greedily observe and absorb the city" getting to know it with "extensive and peculiar knowledge" as said by Michael and Mollie Hardwick, but not "loving it". Despite this, it was not all bad for young Charles, because living as an adult while being a child also must have formed his character from a very early age and force him to mature and above all... think. Then according to a biography posted by BBC, for a short period of time he was able to go back to school when his father received and inheritance and was let free. I say for a short period of time, as by the age of fifteen the biography tells that he got a job as an office boy to help out his family again. Though this was not what he would have wanted for himself, that job propelled his writing career for, as many other authors, he began writing as a journalist for a local news paper. This job also allowed him to get to know a lot of people and start building a network of contacts that would allow him to keep escalating up in his career. Even back then he could infer the importance of "knowing people" so he did and soon he started getting better and better jobs still as a journalist, collaborating also with other artists to create material for the press. He started publishing monthly parts of what he called "The Pickwick Papers" in the newspaper and it was a massive success. By this time, Charles's personal life was also going very well, as in 1836 he married Catherine Hogarth, who would give him the great gift of parenthood about a year after. Charles gave his name to his first son with Catherine Howard, who would give him another nine children. It seems peculiar how after being born in such a huge family and knowing what it was like, he still made a huge family of his own when it was his turn to choose. Maybe after all, his childhood and his family was not as bad, or maybe he did not think it through when he was having children. In any way, because of his powerful career, his family was never positioned in the situation he had to grow up in.

After his first great success he started to write nonstop and still with great quality, style and attention to detail. Very few people know London as he did, which allowed him to be the voice of the city itself. He had a very special way of writing about London granted by the events he went through in his childhood to what he also added his own touch. His increasing popularity allowed him to travel the world with his wife and even live in different places with her. However, he never took traveling as a vacation, for he continued to write and publish during these periods of time as if his travels only inspired him more and more instead off exhausting him. He was also in general a very nice person as he helped to found "The Guild of Literature and Arts" which was an organization that helped young artists struggling to make it through by presenting plays to the public. As he has once struggled in his life he probably founded this to help other fellow artists struggle a little bit less as they started to build their career just like he did. In addition to this, he also often performed as a character in the plays presented by that organization. Close to the end of his life, Dickens separated from his wife and started to see his children less. In the biography of Charles Dickens posted in the official website of the Dickens London Tours, Charles's daughter Kate recalled, ‘My father was like a madman… He did not care a damn what happened to any of us. Nothing could surpass the misery and unhappiness of our house.’ Also according to that same biography, rumors spread about Charles Dickens's marriage ending because he was having an affair with his sister-in-law Georgina Hogarth. Dickens died at the age of 58 in England and was buried in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey. The most amazing thing about his besides his unique perspective of London, is the way despite all the struggles his life brought to him, he never stopped writing. And this is proven y the fact that by the time of his death he left his final novel "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" unfinished. Charles Dickens is taught in schools all around the world as one of the main characters of English Literature, and he became himself a source of inspiration immediately linked to London.

Sir Christopher Wren

Sir Christopher Wren

"Christopher Wren (1632-1723) was the greatest architect Britain has ever known" London and its skyline wouldn't be as we know them nowadays if it wasn't for Cristopher Wren. After the Great Fire of London, he was appointed to reconstruct many churches. St Paul was his biggest work with his design of the dome.

As incredible as it may sound the architect that designed the dome in St. Paul's Cathedral was also a scientist. As Lisa Jardine said in her book about Wren called On a grander scale: The outstanding life of Sir Christopher Wren, Wren was a versatile genius who could have pursued a number of brilliant careers with equal virtuosity. A mathematical prodigy, an accomplished astronomer, a skillful anatomist, and a founder of the Royal Society" , Wren was a genius. He started his career as a scientist graduated from Oxford University. He was very knowledgeable and his most intimate friends were scientists. His connection to the Royal Society brought him into personal touch the King.

It is amazing how he succeeded in architecture without any previous knowledge about it. He was just inspired by a couple of architects in that time. Wren worked at Hampton Court Palace rebuilding the south view. After becoming an architect he never forgot the sciences. Many of this buildings had scientificpurposes, for example "The Monument to the Great Fire was built with a subterranean laboratory and the south west tower of St Paul's was used as a vertical telescope during construction both were designed to function simultaneously as public monuments and as oversize scientific instruments."

St Paul's Cathedral

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  North View

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  East View

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  London'sSkyline with St Pauls

Other Works and Churches

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  Monument of the Great Fire of London

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  View from the top of the monument

Artists from the present

In more contemporary times, leaving behind the dense, yellow and deadly fog as an everyday scene, London is a setting that enraptures less mystery and more and more magic. More color and a wider variety of emotions are displayed in all forms of art.

J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter series

1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (26 June 1997)
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2 July 1998)
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (8 July 1999)
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (8 July 2000)
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (21 June 2003)
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (16 July 2005)
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (21 July 2007)

Related works

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (1 March 2001)
• Quidditch Through the Ages (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (1 March 2001)
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (4 December 2008)
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (story concept) (31 July 2016)
• Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists(6 September 2016)
• Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies (6 September 2016)
• Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide (6 September 2016)
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film)|Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film script) (19 November 2016)

Adults

• The Casual Vacancy (27 September 2012)
• The Cuckoo's Calling (as Robert Galbraith) (18 April 2013)
• The Silkworm (as Robert Galbraith) (19 June 2014)
• Career of Evil (as Robert Galbraith) (20 October 2015)

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  Harry Potter Series

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  Harry Potter Series

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  First book for Adults

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  From other series

David Hockney

David Hockney

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  David Hockney Photographed by Paul Joyce, 1984

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  "David Hockney and Peter Schlesinger. Image © David Hockney, used courtesy of Film Movement."

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  Nick Wilder, 1966. Taken by Mark Lancaster

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  Portrait of Nick Wilder, 1966. Acrylic on canvas, 72x 72 by David Hockney

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  Gregory Swimming, Los Angeles, March 1st 1982 Composite Polaroid 70.5 x 130

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  Le Nid Du Duc, April 1972. Color photographs from 35 mm negatives

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  Peter, Kensington Gardens, April 1972

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  Portrait of an Artist (Pool with two figures), 1972. Acrylic on canvas, 84 x 120. Private Collection, United Kingdom.

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  My Mother, Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire, Nov. 1982, Photographic Collage 121 x 70

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  The Scrabble Game, Jan 1, 1983 Photographic Collage 99 x 147.5

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  Perspective Should Be Reversed 2014, Photographic drawing printed on paper mounted on Dibond 108 x 177"

Ken Shuttleworth

Ken Shuttleworth

Ken the Pen

Section 2: Deliverable

Using David Hockney's technique of "Painting with Pictures", we chose one picture of each site described in the Milestone Colourless London and we made them into paintings, emphasizing the use of bright colors inspired by Monet's impressionism and making an imminent contrast with the pictures' monochromatic feel. Each set represents our own way of "adding pigment" to the city's most emblematic sites and to the way people usually perceive London.

Conclusion

In this Milestone, artists from the past and from the present are compared and contrasted. There is one artist chosen for each of the fields involved in the project "A London Full of Colour"; Painting, Literature, Photography and Architecture. The intention was to outline the main differences in their styles and how they each one of them portrayed London from their very own perspectives and translated it into their works of art. In the same way, biographical facts are provided to give the reader a reference of how life circumstances and setting might have also been influential in the artists' work. This Milestone is the linking point between Courless London and Colourful Reality, giving meaning to the rest of the project "A London Full of Colour".

Finally, for the deliverable, our own work is presented and with is we intend to show our own perspective of London, which, though it contrasts with the pictures taken in Colourless London in an extreme way. We tried to add some pigment of our own to create a much more Colourful Reality for ourselves. The paintings emphasize the use of colors in a symbolic way, what they represent are our different emotions and life experiences that stoke our lives, sometimes in unexpected ways, but always resulting in a breath taking outcome. Life is our very own masterpiece, it is what we make it and it is not in the very least monochromatic. In the contrary, all the aspects of our lives merge to create a unique work of art, that certainly might not be of everyone's liking, but then again, the only opinion that truly matters is that of the artist that made the masterpiece. In some occasions, such as with Mr. Shuttleworth, the artist regrets the path he or she took and if given a second chance, would have done things differently. However, the work is done, the masterpiece is complete, and we can either live in regret or move forward in such ways where each stoke is more precise and better thought than the previous one. Mr. Shuttleworth continues to be an excellent architect and though many people disagree with the way he feels about St. Mary Axe, he learned from that experience and moved forward to his next masterpiece. Some other artists die without the proper acknowledgment that their work deserves, however, what people think of their work can never influence the magnitude of its quality. A masterpiece, is a masterpiece even when there is no one to admire it and most things done with effort and passion are worth a standing ovation.

Attribution of Work

Kristy Giacoman:
Artistic Component, Charles Dickens, J.K. Rowling, David Hockney & Conclusion
Sofia Reyes:
Introduction, Monet, Sir Christopher Wren, Ken Shuttleworth

Image Gallery

If appropriate, add an image gallery