Painting From Film Stills

I have produced this painting after a series of permutations concerning composition. I firstly explored the layout and selected the frames which worked best together. My original intent was to produce a piece giving a representation of the entire film, this would mean selecting a diverse range of frames. However I soon realised this would appear irregular and unbalanced. For this reason I kept the colour of the frames although changed some of the individual compositions so they all have vertical lines to form continuity in the painting.

When watching the film I specifically liked the hazier edges between the light of the projector and the dark room. This was something I wanted to translate into painting, therefore made the edges between colour and the frame bleak.

In selecting a landscape format I wanted this to resemble the film strip. I feel this format works effectively in providing a panoramic view, but the backgrounds need blending together more to make the painting more refined. In particular I like the final dark frame based on this still-

 

 I preferred reducing the image to a basic form as all the images should maintain a basic form for them all to be considered collectively, not individually. I feel this is a good image to take further to produce more work from. There are various tones to exploit, compositions and textures to explore.

Replicating Film Stills

As I had created paintings based on the still film images, I then wanted to look at creating the same visual effect of the stills, however using a different medium. Under/over exposed photographs leave interesting shapes of light and dark, and briefly resemble the tonalities of sections of the film, it was for this reason that they were a suitable medium to replicate the scrratches on the film. I chose to use the same etching tool and to scratch the surface of the photo, this way I was able to best recreate the surface qualities. Although there is a large scale difference between the scratch on a film frame to these photographs, I have found I prefer the scratches on the photos as the rough surface can be more closely observed. Whilst exploring surface quality, I chose to burn one of the photos to explore how this affected the surface. Although this was unsuccessful in making texture, I found the colours burning left effective and the way it makes the images appear aged and worn. I feel this was overall a successful experimentaion in recreating the process and appearance of a scratch film in a different format.     

Working with these photographs reminded me of the V&A exhibition Kim mentioned to me in the pitch so I went back to explore more of the artist's works. Floris Neusüss often works in black and white, therefore here I feel there is a similarity of tones between my work and his. I particularly find this piece interesting as it was created by placing photographic paper in a garden on a stormy night, and allowing lightening expose the paper.

Antoni Tàpies & Cy Twombly

Als mestres de Catalunya, 1974, Antoni Tàpies.

Whilst watching the Film back with Kim(Tutor) mentioned the artist Antoni Tàpies in relation to my painting ideas. I can see a relationship between my work and Tàpies regarding tone. I particularly thoroughly enjoy his use of texture and the way he creates surfaces to work on. When using diluted printing inks I have come to enjoy the brooding atmosphere they create, this being something I can relate to in the work of Tàpies. He would often use sand and other materials mixed into paint to generate further texture to his work which is something I feel I need to exlplore further.

http://www.fundaciotapies.org/site/spip.php?rubrique73

When researching Tapies, I found another artist, Cy Twombly, of the same generation who I feel I can engage with. His paintings emit a lively aurora of frustration and vigour I find captivating. The rapid flow of line movement almost remind me of the work of Len Lye and his scratch film, thinking of the frames layered, this is how they could be considered in a painterly format. Comparing his work to Tàpies, Twombly's is more active and there is more to extract from the work, however I am currently concerned with the texture of surfaces making the work of Tàpies more suitable.  Exploring the work of Twombly gives a pathway of observation into the freedom of mark-making and has developed my observation of line and mark-making.

'Every line is thus the actual experience with its unique story. It does not illustrate it; it is the perception of its own realisation.' [p.285]

Gualdoni.F (2008). ART The Twentieth Century. Skira. ISBN: 978-88-6130-801-5

Reading this inspired me to think further about the history of a painting and how it can be tracked through the observation of layers and depth of line. This taught me to look further into a paint beyond they key focal points to appreciate the method and process of the work. Through Twombly's work particularly, it demonstrates how painting can be a documentation of time and emotion, as each line has an momentary experience attached to its production.



Untitled, 1972



Tiznit, 1953





After using the roller with acrylic paint I then decided to experiment using it with the printing inks. As the texture of the medium is very different, the effect therefore changed. It required a great amount of turpentine to aid the movement of paint, and required more pressure than when rolling acrylic paint. I based these studies on my images of rocks, and reduced them to simple layers of colour in order to loose detail. Using the roller with printing inks produces the appearance of a softer surface which I find effective, although can make clotted areas if not enough turpentine is applied, for this reason the use of a roller may be better to only use with acrylic paint, this way there is a gradual fade of tones.

Film studies

I began working from the still images. This particular still reminded me of paint drips therefore when re-creating this I wanted to make a range of drips. The photograph is only a starting guideline towards the image I create. For this reason my interpretations do not look exactly like the photographs. I am looking to exaggerate and heighten aspects of the image, this is why I have made numerous lines of drips visible instead of only showing four such as in the photo. By working from the still images I have come to enjoy the use of a frame in the composition as it encloses you into the image. I ensured a heavily diluted application of paint to create a haze of layers and to make a diffusion of tone, establishing an aged surface appearance. I feel the lighter orange study worked best as the white of the lines do not stand out greatly, as they do against the blue, and I achieved the diffusion of tones I wanted.

Film Footage

Original Footage

 

When watching the film for the first time I felt rather bombarded and overwhelmed by the speed, however when looking back at the original before edits, I have learnt to appreciated the natural speed to which it is intended. From this speed I enjoy the spontaneity of each frame and how you begin to recognize new sections of the film each time. When scratching on the film I hadn't thought about sounds, only the image, but when watching the footage I feel the sound of the reel creates quite an atmosphere to watch the footage. It reminds me that this is a process not often used anymore when there is now the option of producing something digitally. I particularly enjoyed the manual process of producing a piece of work such as this. I also respect how the work doesn't require a raionalization as many paintings I have made in the past do, and this can be considered simply as an exploration of space and movement.  

Black & White edit

Orange Tint

This edit is perhaps the most effective for me. Where I replaced the black with orange it has made the view more panoramic rather than being enclosed in a space of darkness. I feel by using brighter tones, it has made the image more inviting and  through slowing the speed, I can observe the variations in strength of line, but also view the effectiveness of using a mix of technique on the film strip. The orange tint also gives an antique appearance to the image which relates to my painting work as I am looking at aged surface qualities.

Film

I saw the film projected today and began work editing the sequence of frames, but also started to understand the techniques that worked to exploit in the future.Whilst working on the film strip I now realize how I soon forgot the scale to which it would be projected, therefore I was pleasantly surprised by the enlarged markings and fingerprints. The speed of the film was also a surprise to me, the rapid movement of line reminded me of the movement of a paintbrush. As I watched the film numerous times I began to notice different qualities, for instance the way there would be an active area which would then die down; this is something I am considering using in the next piece of film work.  

Whilst editing I adjusted the speed and although I wasn't expecting to like it, I found that by reducing the speed to 5% I enjoyed the slow movement as it allowed the opportunity to watch the evolution of a line. It also allowed a careful observation of  the smaller details such as the fingerprints. 

Whilst editing I also looked at varying tones to explore the compositional elements. I found taking still images very useful as I can document the various changes I explored, but they are also great to consider as pieces of photography and as a basis for a painting.   

This was before any edit and I selected this still image as it heavily reminded me of paint drips, also this simple composition could be effective when making a painting from this.  

By exploring various effects on the computer I burred this so the subtle colour  changes can be observed , although I feel a frame that was more active may have worked better. 

I specifically like this image because some areas are in focus whilst other areas remain unfocused which is very effective as we can observe a contrast. It also reminds me that the simplicity of black and white can sometimes be most effective, and that vibrant colours are not always needed as mark making can say more about an image.

By altering the colour I feel it opens up the viewpoint making it more panoramic, rather than the image being enclosed and blocked off  with blackness. In selecting tones that are fairly close I feel it is more striking than using complementary colours. The compositional balance makes this an intriguing image to be considered as a piece of photography.  

As the colour outside the frame is usually darker than the inside colour, I decided to invert colours  to make the  markings more identifiable. I feel this works well as the exterior doesn't feel overwhelming however I feel using similar tones with white lines is more visually pleasing as it appears brighter and more atmospheric.

These last two tinted edits I feel show particular resemblance to the work of Rothko and the hazy edges of the frames remind me of his rough marks of transition of colour. 

Apple Studies

I continued working from the Gerhard Richter 'Apples' painting, although on a n A1 sheet instead of A3 to make a larger space for the apples, to make them appear more isolated. Although I was working from a Richter painting, I didn't want to make it too similar and felt it important to challenge myself to develop the picture according to my own technique and style. From working with the small version of this piece I felt the apples were appearing to dull, therefore decided to add yellow here which has made a large improvement as they now appear more tangible.

I then moved onto making my own composition and painting from observation. I purposely selected a blue background, understanding that orange and blue are complementary colours, therefore forming a balance in the composition, although I am considering cropping the composition as the expansive space of the drips of blue can guide the eye away from the focal point too much. From these studies I have learnt I prefer the subject to sit in an expanse rather than to appear on a surface. Through the isolation of a subject colour can therefore be considered rather than the context of the subject.