Q4 Artist Statement

While I was studying Claude Monet, I hypothesized how I would be able to put his imagery and his perspective on his life and implement it into my own project. From the different time periods, it was incredibly difficult to understand his perspective in painting. However, I found a painting from Claude Monet that resembled a dock and a flag in the background.  I decided to use the same scenery and implement it into my own project. I took note of Claude Monet’s method of painting the sky. I found the sky to be very interesting because it was incredibly bright and lush in colors. I also noticed that Claude Monet liked to use high contrasts when painting in order to make objects stand out even more in the painting. After learning all of these core concepts that Claude Monet used in his paintings, I understood that he was focusing more on smaller details which eventually added up to the bigger image, the painting.

During this project, I used an assortment of colors. However, I tended to use an ultramarine blue-like color. I continued to use the technique of providing “x” strokes on the canvas for the sky, however, made the “x” strokes stretch to provide more depth in the sky and ocean. Originally, I wanted to make the painting somewhat a night scenery but found it difficult to implement as the contrast would be virtually nonexistent and ruin the objects in the painting. I improvised the sky and ocean by mixing green, blue, and red, consistently. I can not remember the colors because I had used a wide variety in order to accomplish the lush sky and ocean. Overall, I found the sky and ocean to be the most enjoyable experience when producing the painting. I was able to implement some of Claude Monet’s concept and theory in painting which made the painting a lot different in comparison to other painting projects.

In the painting, there is a flag, umbrella, boardwalk, ocean, and sky. I made the flag stand out from the sky and the ocean which gave the painting contrast in general. I made the flagpole black with some white marks to provide the reflection off of the sun. Along with this, I made the physical flag green to contrast from the blue ocean and sky. The boardwalk was coated with umber paint and I eventually mixed the umber brown with white in order to provide a creamy peanut-like color which symbolizes the reflection off of the sun. I used the same concept on the fences on the boardwalk, however, I feel as if I used too much of the white color. I also did not paint the umbrella properly because I had a hard time implementing the reflection off of it. Instead, I tried using an ample of colors in order to make the umbrella look lush in colors. This turned out fairly moderate to my expectations. I intended to make the umbrella a red-pink color in order to contrast itself from the brown boardwalk and blue sky and ocean.

Overall I found the project to be very enjoyable. I was able to mimic Claude Monet’s concepts of painting which I believe, gave me a stronger understanding of shadows and lighting. I found the concepts to be very educational and I motivating even after if objects or key features in the painting do not go correctly in the right way. At first, I was having a hard time trying to implement the ocean and sky without making it too dark (which happened) and I was able to fix the issue by providing brighter and vibrant colors in the mix which overall fixed the problem. Using acrylic paint made me understand the concepts of lighting and contrast, which overall, made me feel as if I improved as an artist.