Source 1
Amy Hamilton
‘Bear’
2015
Mixed media
Source 2
Amy Hamilton
‘Wolf’
2015
Mixed media
Amy Hamilton is an artist that
focuses on the portraiture of wildlife and nature. This is something that she
is extremely familiar with as she lives in Kingston, Ontario which is a city
that contains large amounts of greenery, historic landmarks and a waterfront;
she is able to receive a lot of inspiration from her surroundings so that she
can produce some unique and striking compositions. The majority of her pieces
are quite stylised and fairly illustrative which comes from the fact that when
she was young, she decided that she would like to become an illustrator for
children's books. As a young girl, her passion was to create short stories
about the lives of certain animals, which is something that she wanted to
convey in her paintings. After looking at an interview between her and
junique.com, I found out that she was deeply inspired by documentaries that she
watched throughout her life depicting what happens in the wild ; she said that
they helped her gain her own perspective on nature and wildlife, which is
something that she wanted to portray through her body of work. Her main
objective that she wanted to successfully get across through her work is that
nature is a beauty that we need to conserve and protect.
Despite the fact that both source 1 and source 2 have
been created on a 2-d, flat background, Hamilton has been able to use different
techniques in order to create a more 3-d format. For instance, the movement of
the lines in source 2 are creating the impression of the fur moving outwards,
creating the impression that the painting has been raised from the background.
The fact that the direction of the fur is coming out from the main facial
features (that being eyes, nose and mouth), could suggest that Hamilton wants
us to pay attention to here as this will show the animals intentions and mood;
the wolf in this composition is content, despite its usual predatory actions.
Additionally, in source 1 as well as source 2, there is a slight colour wash
around the edges of the animal, slowly dispersing; this gives depth to the
piece and therefore makes the bear and wolf stand out from the background. The
scale of these compositions are around an A5 and A4 piece of paper; this is why
she uses more fluid brushstrokes and creates a smooth, rounded texture. The fact
that she has used a small scale means that she can get more accurate movement
in the marks, which as a result creates a 3-D impression.
Meanwhile, Hamilton uses layering as a method of
building up form and depth so that the contrast in tone is high. In some areas
of source 2, it appears as if she has used a runnier medium (i.e. inks or
watercolour) so that she can get a lighter tone, when compared to the darker
tones, which have been made by using thicker mediums such as acrylic paint. The
result of this is that she can get a much more distinct differentiation in the
darker and lighter areas. Moreover, in source 1, the different tones have been
achieved by using different shades of the same or a similar colour as in the
darker areas of the bear, where there are more shadows, a dark purple has been
used, whilst in the lighter areas, a faint red and maroon colour has been used.
I believe that she has used certain colours to reflect
the environment around the animal or its lifestyle. For example, the wolf in
source 2 has been painted in blues, greys and blacks which represents night
time which is the most typical tie to see wolves outside. In a similar way, the
bear has been painted in purples, reds and light browns due to the fact that
they live in forests (a place where you would most likely expect to see bears).
The colours when combined with the types of marks create a mythical-esque mood
and feeling. Hamilton uses a variety of types of marks in each piece that all
lead to a slightly stylised composition; she uses flicking, detailing, washing,
layering and in some cases using a palette knife. The contrast in marks leads
to a more interesting piece as she has managed to capture the different areas
of the body accurately.
Furthermore, she uses two different compositions with
her work; she either centres the animals in the piece or she moves the animals
to a corner of the background. This helps her show different sides to animals
rather than always front view, like source 2. Another compositional technique
that she uses is that she leaves a lot of negative space around the animal so
that it stands out from the background itself. By doing this, she also creates
a dream like scene as it aids in resembling a dream scape. From this, I am able
to figure out that nature is one of her peaceful places and that she thinks of
it as surreal and trancelike.
After having looked at her work in depth, I have come
to the conclusion that I like her use of marks and how she has created high
contrast by varying them throughout her compositions. Also, I like how she has
managed to show the beauty of animals by using colour and smooth marks as this
is something that I want to try and achieve myself. When I start my
experimentations, I think that I am going to start off by getting used to the
feeling of working with similar mediums. After this, I am going to experiment
with colour and see what colours relate to different animals the best and
figure out how to combine them. As soon as I am comfortable and confident with
this, I will then go on to try drawing facial features with these mediums, as
long as I haven’t changed any ideas by then due to other research and how I
feel with these materials.
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