Cecile is an artist who takes
styles from both figurative work and expressive work, which links into my
fascination with Figurative Expressionist work. Her emotive compositions are
created through the layering of watercolour and expresses how she feels on topics
such as culture and relationships. Although she only took part in a few art
classes, Cecile is mostly self-taught, meaning her extensive research and
experimentation resulted in very successful compositions, which present her own
unique watercolour style. She focuses more on technique than meaning when
creating her work, as despite the fact that she presents her feelings and
opinions through the compositions, like a visual diary, her desire was that her
audience would read it as something else that is personal to them.
Her unique style of layering allows
the colours to become more prominent, when compared to the areas with one layer
of colour. This watercolour and acrylic painting has been produced as a 2D
format, however the layering of the marks gives the piece depth and therefore
creates a very slight 3D form. These layers are built up as this results in
more dominant colours and darker tones when compared to the areas that have
only been made with one layer; these will be the lighter colours and tones. Her
technique when creating contrast in tone is by either adding more water, to
create lighter colours or adding more paint to create the darker colours and
tones.
In order to create an
accurate, yet unique style, she uses watercolours, which are known for their
smooth properties; her marks show a similar texture to silky hair and even in
the expressive areas, she is able to create a smooth smoke effect, which is
something that I am fascinated by in her work. This is why the expressive marks
are shown to be free and flowing. As a result of using a viscous medium, Cecile
has managed to achieve contrast in marks by using the viscosity to aid her (for
example; the drips and the cloudy areas).
One other
aspect that really captures my attention, is the use of colour to create a
slight surreal atmosphere. Cecile’s use of contrasting areas of colour (blues
and orange) could give off the implication of juxtaposing ideas that the piece
is trying to discuss. Meanwhile, in each area of colour, harmonious colours are
used (for example, in the area that is mostly blue, other colours such as
purple, pinks and dark and light blues have been used). In order to create the
impression of the subject blending into the smoke, Cecile has used a similar
colour to the expressive marks on the top right of the piece; this creates a
subtle harmony throughout the composition.
Furthermore, I really like her use
of composition within this piece, as the subject has been centralised in the
middle of the page, leaving negative space around the face and expressive
marks. This creates a much bigger impact on the viewer, similar to a piece of
art in the centre of an empty room in a gallery. As there is no body connected
to the face, I receive the impression that she has been highly influenced by
the genre surrealism as it appears like the head is floating in a dream like
vision. Surrealists were attempting to recreate visions of the subconscious, in
a distorted, unrealistic way, mirroring a dream in their artwork. I can see
that Cecile has also tried to do this, like many figurative expressionists and
their work. She has also taken inspiration from an artist called, Carne
Griffiths, who creates similar work to her, yet creates more raw compositions
that are quite busy and involve natural, earthy colours.
Overall, I am mostly influenced by
the genre of artwork that she uses; figurative expressionism. However, in
particular, I really like her use of expressive free marks that contrast with
each other, in a similar way to the juxtaposed colours. I have been interested
lately in how one certain mark can evoke a certain mood or feeling. When it
comes to practical experimentation, I am going to start by creating a variety
of marks that I believe represent mood, feeling and location (I will look at
location due to the fact I am still looking at animals). Cecile’s marks are
fairly similar to that of Amy Hamilton’s as there is a lot of contrast in marks
and the use of colour is fairly surreal. I will refer to both artist’s when
starting practical’s. Additionally, another good way to experiment using
inspiration from Cecile’s work is by maybe placing ink into water, to create
this cloudy effect, whilst also placing a portrait of someone behind the ink.
This will allow me to experiment with her style, without actually copying her
work.
