Sealacanth Studios: "Wild Beasts"

Before break, my Figure Drawing class took a little field-trip to Utrecht for an extravagent shopping spree (this was the first time I've been allowed to use my lab fee for an art class on my own supplies... better late than never). We had $45 to spend, and the only requirement was to leave the store with five large sheets of paper for our final projects. After that we got ta go crazy! With my spare cash, I purchased a new set of micron pens, some pencils, a color ink wash set, and a huge piece of watercolor paper (which is more expensive than I would ever feel comfortable paying for out of my own pocket). Even though this money did technically come out of my pocket at one point, it still felt like I had won the Utrecht lotto, and I spent without guilt.

We also had free reign over what kind of paper we bought, so aside from my watercolor paper, I got cream, bright red, olive green, orangy-cream, and blueish-gray paper. I love this class!!! From here on out, we are working on 2-3 day long poses, and for our first pose I decided to use the cream color paper and color pencils (which we finished this week). I took a bunch of very poor quality pictures on my phone along the way, so here is a blurry progression of my first full figure color study:

progression of Project1 - color pencil on cream paper (Day1-2)

Final Project1 - color pencil on cream paper (Day2)

Our teacher set up a very colorful stage with purple drapes and red and yellow lights, which made it a lot easier (and more interesting) to apply color this time. By the way, if any of you want to get into color pencils, or if you despise color pencils, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND trying out the brand "Koh-i-noor" woodless pencils. I bought their 24pk for this class, and I have officially fallen in love with them.

Of course, I can't talk about color in this post without talking about the Fauves. Fauvism was an avant-garde movement that developed in Paris during the early twentieth century lead by Henri Matisse. The Fauves (meaning "Wild Beasts" in French) earned their name by the untamed use of color and form in their artwork. Critics saw their work as child-like, brutal, and even "violent" towards the traditional idea of high art. While their work was not favored by many, Matisse believed he was creating a new realm for artists to explore. To him, the main purpose behind art was the physical act of creating something, and traditional realism prevented artists from understanding the true nature of color and form. To others though, the deformation of form in the Fauves' work was ugly, and even insulting in the cases of Matisse's portraits of his wife (below). How could you paint your own wife like that? But Matisse didn't see himself as painting his wife, or a person, or a thing. He said, "Above all I do not create a woman, I make a picture." I really love this quote, because it addresses the quality of art that is and always will be difficult to explain to people - the fact that art can be made just because. There was no hidden symbolism, or historical meaning, or religious motive behind Matisse's art. He painted a green stripe down his wife's face because he wanted to make something new, and the possibility of creating something that doesn't exist is what gives life to art.

Sorry for the long, gushy novel on Fauvism. But out of all the historical art movements I've learned about, Fauvism is the first one that I felt really captured the essence of painting, or drawing, or whatever. Too bad you can't just say you made something "because you liked it" when you explain your art to people, and get paid for it.