I'm a self-taught painter and have been trying to break out of the representational style of art.. and learning from art history was the perfect way to do that. I gravitated towards the common 'rebellions' around colour that cropped up during Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Fauvism:

painting the world as you see and feel it
paint shadows using complementary colours
don’t colour mix, keep brushstrokes visible

Some background on my project first:

I loved the lessons in your other class on turning your ideas into art, and have been noticing the things that I'm obsessed with.. I grew up on the beaches of Australia, and so the more I dig into my passions I find I'm drawn to:

anything and everything to do with water; the ripples, reflections, colours, and shapes it makes, clouds, ice etc
the natural ochres of Australia; rich orange and red pigments
curious sea creatures; most of the ocean depths are still unexplored, who knows what alien creatures are living down there!

(side note: If you're not already a fan of the weird and wonderful animals that live in our oceans, then you will be after you watch this- Deep Ocean: Lights in the Abyss . Bioluminescent jellyfish!)

Using more expressive colour - image 1 - student project

So I'm mulling on this idea at the moment of 'alien earth'- there are so many strange, bizarre and fascinating plants and creatures on this planet that are often overlooked. We have little aliens living amongst us!

With that in mind, I painted a quick mini painting that reminded me of watching a summer storm roll in, and some close ups of rocks in my local river. I used a palette that is Australian but could also feel like a Mars landscape. It's still very representational, but I'm planning on continuing this theme/palette and applying it to animals and plants, and seeing where this leads.

Using more expressive colour - image 2 - student project

Using more expressive colour - image 3 - student project

Using more expressive colour - image 4 - student project

I visited a butterfly sanctuary recently, and was inspired by the incredible chrysalis and metamorphosis stages I saw. Looking forward to painting them in this palette.

Using more expressive colour - image 5 - student project

Ref pics: (come visit Australia, add Mossman gorge to your bucket list!)

Using more expressive colour - image 6 - student project

Ru Biini

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