Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Scottish National Gallery

I went up to Edinburgh to visit a friend but thought it would be worth my time to go to the National Gallery of Scotland whilst I was there. They were paintings but they still use elements which Illustration. 

 These are paintings by the Scottish John Knox (1778-1845) called 'South Western view and North Western View from Ben Lomond. I thought that these were images of note because they have an interesting use of frame using and arch to focus your attention onto the middle ground which is in the centre of the image and it shows that the artist wants the audience to appreciate the view. It also has a great use of for-ground middle-ground and background, portrayed well through the use of depth of colour (darker in the front and softer and lighter in the background).

 This is 'The interior of St.Bavo's Church, Harlem' in 1648 by Pieter Jansz Saenredam. I think that this is a great example of perspective. It is an extremely difficult thing to paint/draw as the structures are so complicated and need to be perfect to look right. He has really managed to capture scale!

 I really liked this piece of art. It was on a board framed in the centre of one of the rooms with a little plaque saying 'Sir Edward Boncle, Provost of the trinity college kirk'. I thought this was interesting composition with the looseness of the flowing clothing in comparasson to the gold strong angled line. Also the direction of the eyes all looking to the same place, off the painting makes the onlooker feel a bit uncomfortable because they are looking at something which has been cropped out of the image.

 I thought this was nice because it wasn't on a typical canvas and was framed in an unusual way. It is also communicating a narrative through the body language in the image. Everyone is looking in different directions, waving their arms around. Looking at it, you could definitely get a sense of atmosphere and characters.

 I liked that direction of the rope that join everything up through a zig-zag drape which turns the image into something more interesting. I find that the focus of the image isn't so much the people but that this draws my eye from the gold robe of the man, across this zig-zag to the pink dress.

 I saw this painting and fell in love! It is called St Bride and created in 1913 by scottish John Duncan. It is a creation of the celtic revival movement. I think the colours are amazing. Such beautiful strength of colours, varying from the dark sea to the light birds in the sky. I also love the use of pattern and the detail on the clothing and the wings. I love the gold and the way it is used in this image, especially in the hair and how it fits well with the frame and the curves of the border. It is also interesting how the angels go over the border, making full use of the space available. I feel that this is a quite illustrative painting.

 I also really love this image. This is by the Scottish David Gauld of 'St Agnes 1898-90. He is predominantly a stain glass window artist and I think the use of colour and outline here is prevalent. For example his use of block colours with a  different colour to build up tone (would transfer well into vectors). He has included the rowan tree of life and used colours to represent the saints purity. I really love the use of colours and how it is a limited palette. I think it is quite quirky how the painter has used un realistic colours to portray the houses.  The use of lines break up the image horizontally with the contrasting lady in the centre balanced out by the trees.

 These are paintings by Edgar Degas (1834-1917) and one of my favourite painters. His use of blurred, smudgy paint without detail and outline gives the impression of movement and un-focus. It means that when he does use line they illustrate strength and the fact that there arent very many and they are very bold also gives the illusion of movement. It seems like you are watching the performers getting ready from a distance, intruding on their personal space and preparation time as you are looking from a distance and they is a lot of floor. The direction of the arms in the one about makes you follow the colourful dancers arm through the use of their body language. Then the paler one bellow portrays a more sombre mood (perhaps through the use of green) and much sadder body language is portrayed through the dancers looking down.

 This is Vincent Van Goghs 'Olive Trees' 1889. This is a very expressive way of painting, building up lots of colours and depth through layers. I found this image particularly compelling because I was trying to capture the strength and windyness of trees in my last project (my book on trees). I maybe should have studied painting as a method of communicating this further as he has really captured what I wanted to portray.

Around Edinburgh

I saw these outside the Accomodation for ex-Scottish Veterans. I saw this as thought it linked well to my the sticker project we are doing at the moment. They communicate something powerful and important through just outline in such a simple way. I also really liked the use of space in these framings that they are not just images within a circle but they the circle is part of the image. 

Whilst walking up Arthurs Seat I noticed that these landscape had such an unusual horizon. It was built up of really unusual building shapes poking out.

On the train I decided that I wanted to draw this. Picking out the for-ground middle-ground and background but wanted the outline to be strong as it was what I found intreguing.

This was the illustration on a coffee on the long journey home.  I think this is quite amusing because it is drawing the horizons of the Edinburgh landscape...there is someone else who found them very interesting. Conversely they drew it loosely as a line drawing and built lots of layers up but I really like it.

I also felt that I needed to portray my experience to get it out of my system. It was a rather cultural experiment visiting my friend and interesting to see what a different university experience Edinburgh Univeristy is to here...

These are quote from a house party I went to...

I also noticed and was pointed out the stereotypical Edinburgh uni student who were EVERYWHERE! I thought that it needed to be recorded and drawing on my character design skills I have developed for the first time drew some characters without photographic reference, purely memory.