Artist's Statement.
My work is about attaining refinement in the stroke, my life is devoted to attempting to reach higher degrees of competence in the application of painting: some other subjects too. Painting is the most pleasing thing to me; it is like Yoga as concerns the enjoyment of ones own space, every painting I produce is like a window to another place. Nature teaches my every move on a subject. Objectively; to paint a tree one must firstly observe the very object that is called, 'tree'. Doesn't matter what tree it is; what matters is that the object is 'studied' sometimes longitudinally. Only then may I express it in paint.
I adopt my own methods, always have done and always will do; but, I admire the works of the Masters. I admire the fact that they reached levels of refinement in their work that I may only dream of for now. Two in particular for their techniques in their work. Firstly John Constable (1776-1837) with his great landscapes, his rich and bold textures manifested in them. His clever use of composition, constable snow, and clever placing of the colour red etc. And secondly in my opinion, the greatest nineteenth century painter Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896). Millais' work is but the finest to my sight. Such realism. I recommend his work.....if your studying realism, indeed. But; such diverse styles of these two Masters. The Pre-Rafaelite's, lead by Millais must have had such excellent times in painting, I can only imagine. If I attain such level in my work by the time I'm exhausted shall we say, well then I'll be happy that I have reached my goal in painting.
Now, can one imagine the limitless array of techniques involved in trying to attain this feat. Rhetorical question really but in fact it is a lifetimes study. Things have to be evaluated, analyzed and learnt. The medium has to be correct depending on what particular style you are approaching to do, will it be poppy oil, linseed oil, oil of spike lavender, egg tempera, what brush.....hog hair, nylon, horse hair or sable..do I need that palette trowel. Canvas, wood panel, or other ground. All this assuming a technique is known in the first instance. To be honest with you folks, all this amounts to much time. Painters sometimes get frustrated (I have observed it in others) when things interrupt their process; albeit thinking or application.
My work is varied in subject matter. Because in life, that's how much subject matter there is; if that makes any sense to the reader. And if I choose to go surreal, well now that 'tree' subject may be distorted in some way. An endless amount of time it seems just choosing something to paint. One fantastic thing about art, is that art trains the mind. A definition of how? is not to be had here; (you can read my book The Metaphysics of Mind for that) but these are such factors that play a big part in any artists existence, for want of better terms.
Anyway, enough waffle. Enjoy reading through my application: it is by no means concise however.
M.Chaldecott. student of nature only.
P.S. and student of other students of nature.
Example of practice.
The process that goes toward producing an oil painting isn't as straight forward as it might seem to some people. Here's a brief insight into some of the elements that constitute the make up of an oil painting assuming time an patience is taken note of.
Have a browse at the Drawing before the painting: 'Arundel' was drawn out on a grounded (undercoated) wood panel. Using slightly watered down white emulsion with a touch of 'flour' thrown in. The flour just thickens the substance slightly, then add a dash of pva glue in the mixture: then I coat ALL faces in a horizontal stroke. I let that dry for a day or two. Then I complete the process and apply the second coat (on all sides) in a vertical stroke. In effect; on a wood panel, this simulates the 'fine' toothing such as you get on a canvas. 'Toothing' is the fine cross-hatch pattern in a canvas.
ARUNDEL. the drawing, 2006, size:20" X 16"
ARUNDEL CASTLE. complete oil painting, fine brush glaze.
See the Gallery for the type of subjects I paint. Landscapes, marine, animals (pets), equine, estates and their grounds, I'll paint almost any subject except PORTRAITS for the moment. I have to be honest with myself as well as to my clients; I am still in early study stages when it comes to portrait in Oils.
Process defined.
Once that's done you can now proceed to the drawing up stage. That's not an easy process, the drawing has to be correct and put into composition enough to generate the illusion of 'space' within a 2 dimensional plane. Note the diagonal scale up lines. If I take from sketch, or digital photo of the scene I witness with my eye; I always use this Triangulation method rather than squares. In it, I have my 'horizontal' line, my 'vertical' plane, and I have my diagonal angles which I use for measuring the angles of roof edges for instance. I don't need protractors when I know that the 'diagonal' angles in the 2D plane are 45 degree, Anyway, This method tells me 'the golden mean' as well. You have to have a knowledge of 'root rectangle' too. I usually work to root 2, root 3, or root 4 rectangle in my paintings. Now! I start the drawing.
The painter has to take into account every item of thing within the scene he or she wishes to represent in oils. Final corrections away from and after the drawing are done in paintwork. For example, if you study the round tower in the drawing you'll notice that it is a wee bit too wide, it's shape and form is slightly out from how it is supposed to be in reality. The painter should adjust ones thought at this precise stage and decide 'beforehand' if the correction can be made in the painting stage. This method of thought has to be consistent with ALL things within the scene; you have to be aware of every object.
A traditional painter (one who uses his/her medium with the old ways in mind but with ones OWN techniques) follows the above concept of thought meticulously and with every object the gaze falls upon. There are factors that make up a 'thing' or 'object'.
a) LINE and CURVE. These two factors are first and foremost in all 'things'. To prove the concept: think of an object; any object, does it consist of line and curve? At least one of these factors existing will do. If it does we may start the analysis of the object.
b) SHAPE and FORM. We can establish shape and form now that we have observed line and curve. We can mentally split the object up 'geometrically' you can add mathematics to the thing.
c) LIGHT and SHADE. How these two factors play on an object is seriously important if any life is to be seen in the 'object'. This is not easy to accomplish; especially in oil painting. The painter needs to way up the direction of the source of light, it's 'potency', the stronger the lights 'potency' on an object the more defined the shadow is. Along with this you have to observe the very 'substance' of the 'object' you are looking at. If a strong light falls on a netted curtain, how hard or soft will the shadow be? for instance. Light gives birth to shade ( I think, in that order) without light there would be no shade. Indeed it is true that without light line and curve would not be observed. But when one wants to express an item with Art, line and curve is the best starting point.
d) TONE and HUE. Lets colour the thing in! There are so many ranges of tones and hues that it becomes almost incomprehensible to think of them all. But the painter is only concerned with tones and hues of a particular object he or she is witnessing. A ray of light is not always white is it. Actually glazed down Lemon yellow hue is excellent when mixed with titanium white for representing sunlit clouds on an overcast sunny day. I have about seven pigments on my palette: Tit White, Phthalo blue, Burnt umber, Terre Verte, Chrome Green, Yellow Ochre, and Lemon Yellow. I have GUEST colours too; these are the ones that are introduced to my palette when the scene dictates and these are: Burnt Sienna, Viridian hue but very rarely, and Raw Sienna. I don't use BLACK hue, I consider the colour false in nature and I make black up from a selection of my other hues by mixing them up to the top end of their tone ranges. Imagine the tone ranges I can get with that little lot! this is why Painters sometimes become 'colour mixers'. To study the tone and hue of an object and then simply pluck it from the hues of your palette requires a lengthy study of the medium. I have been painting for twenty years now and I'm still learning it. I think it was master Cezanne or was it Claude Monet that said, ' If you see blue, then put blue.'
PERSPECTIVE
I want to discuss with myself the nature of perspective. This, most marvelous thing in reality. Actually Leonardo DA Vince said something along those lines when he observed the nature of perspective. In fact he was the one that first analysed the concept in-depth. Well that's if my Art History is correct, I think it's pretty sound.
Anyway, as a painter what runs through my mind is this. Perspective needs to be adhered to in painting but not as fully as you would think. Another master (I forget his name but it was a post impressionist era; I think) said that, 'In painting, just the mere notion of perspective is important.' I like this saying because I go with three factors when I consider perspective in my work. Putting aside for the moment first point, second point and third point perspective. I think in terms of Linear, Detail and Colour perspective.
Linear. That which we all know; that to distinguish the vanishing point(s) usually from a horizontal plane and project the line(s) from the VP toward the foreground to form an idea of perspective. Or something like that in any case. If a person stood upright in the foreground of the picture plane and you mark the top of his/her head point (a) and the bottom of the feet point (b) now you can determine a VP which we will call point (c). Draw the line from point (c) to point (a) and now a line from VP to point (b). Now you have the general Linear perspective to work with. Now any subject matter between the person and the VP may be held in perspective according to the linear factor.
Detail. There is a point along Linear perspective where detail disappears. If you observe a brick wall that runs off into vanishing point of perspective you'll notice that the 'detail' of the brickwork appears to vanish, or become blurred or less defined. There is a point in the picture plane where this happens. Detail perspective is a happening no matter what the subject matter and is always (i have noticed) there. If you draw your ground surface up in a particular geometric fashion, IE you split and dissect the 2D surface up you can begin to determine the exact point where detail perspective begins to 'happen'.
Colour. Colour fades as it travels into the picture plane. The darker tones (depending on the light of course) tend to get richer and deeper, perhaps even duller in nature. All tones can go one of two ways, towards 'lighter' or towards 'darker'. To determine this in your colour perspective is important. A mid tone Yellow may go considerably darker the farther away it gets. So these are the three factors of perspective I consider when I am oil painting. I observe them everywhere; to put them to application, and to hope to perfect the application in paint may take the rest of my born days. Let no one tell you that painting is a quick process.
