My final painting ended up being a combination of, in my opinion, the best parts of my two practice paintings. Unintentionally one of my practice paintings was very linear and geometric while the other was more natural and flowing. I liked the zips and intersections from one but I liked the acrylic pour and matte medium layer from the other. My color palette was pretty easy to figure out. For the first layer of the final painting I used the same red housepaint as I did in my first practice painting and applied black paint directly using a large bristly brush while the red was still wet. I liked how it began to establish the diagonal divide of the painting and how the brushstrokes were still visible. When this dries I added the white and gray rectangles with tape. Using a fan brush I first applied the gray layer of housepaint, purposely leaving some chunky texture. Then, I went over parts of it with white paint on a fan brush. The result was an almost scalloped pattern and I liked how the breaks between the rectangles were somewhat natural and rough. I didn’t like how the fan brush splattered little flecks of white and gray everywhere though. When this dried I set the tape boundaries on the painting in preparation for the acrylic pour. I mixed a couple of cups each of the white and dark red color. The acrylic was much harder to control because I was working on such a large canvas and on the ground. It ended up spreading farther than I ended when it dried but I did like how it added to the rough diagonal through the painting. When the acrylic was fully dry and hardened, after about three days, I took the painters tape again and continued the rectangles from the white into the acrylic. I mixed black with matte medium and applied it with the palette knife like i did in my second practice painting. I chose to do this to continue the geometric forms of the painting underneath and to provide a contrast between the glossy acrylic and matte medium. I didn’t know where to end the matte medium though and experimented with just letting it flow, but it left drips that looked bad combined with the acrylic, so I just ended it where the acrylic did. I’m glad the matte medium dried how I intended it to and how it left the texture of the palette knife with it. From here I didn’t really know what to add because the bottom left felt empty so I brought back the dots from the first practice painting. Then, to break up the swirls in the acrylic I gouged out two curves and filled them with the matte medium. They’re not extremely visible when looking at the picture but they’re noticeable in real life. I think I’m satisfied with the outcome of the painting and how the fluid forms interact with the geometric. The edges I painted with a rough coat of the red housepaint and I don’t think I’ll do more. I don’t know what to title it.
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Mary Joan "Jay" DeFeo Her Art, Abstract Expressionism and EarlierOverview
http://rehistoricizing.org/jay-defeo/ https://hyperallergic.com/63065/the-rose-is-not-a-rose/ https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/05/14/romance-of-the-rose-on-jay-defeo/ Resources to Review and Consider for QuestionsAn Article on DeFeo's Progression as an Artist www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/05/14/romance-of-the-rose-on-jay-defeo/ The Whitney Museum of American Art's Online Catalog whitney.org/Exhibitions/JayDeFeo Scroll to down for images of DeFeo's work in their exhibition The Beat Movement in San Francisco www.britannica.com/art/Beat-movement A Video About the Installation of The Rose Questions1. Read the article on the Beat movement in San Francisco. What influences can you see of this movement in Jay DeFeo's content in her work? What influences can you see of Abstract Expressionism?
2. Jay DeFeo had an extremely diverse body of work. Pick a piece from the Whitney Museum's catalog and compare it to The Rose. 3. DeFeo described her masterpiece, The Rose, as a "marriage between painting and sculpture." In what ways is this true? How does her method establish this connection? |