Samantha Saunders

Today I am highlighting the work of Painting 1 student Samantha Saunders assignment 2. I’m inserting Samantha’s own comments about this section of the course and her painting below.

Part two – Close to home: Project Drawing and painting interiors/Linear perspective.
“In this painting I have set up this still life on my dresser and included the wedding bowl and mask, I wanted to expand on this and as I have to give a surrounding context to my still life, I thought this would be a good idea. Also as I am thinking about the research I have done on the Dutch genre and Van Gogh , the inspiration is coming from these periods.
I have integrated he Dutch genre influence in the theme of my objects. This painting (above) is about celebration; my wedding bowl, the Venetian mask, the Venice paintings, the scent bottles (one of which belonged to my late nan), and the jeweller box, have all been been picked with a purpose. 
My interest in Van Gogh has influenced the paintings of the bedroom, I love the vibrancy of this work and although its just a bedroom there is so much to look at. I have chosen my favourite piece of furniture that has a high shine, the paintings and the stool to sit my still life objects in. My walls are a french grey, really its green and I have very large warehouse style windows so all the light was streaming in through the shutters, although my windows at the top have a frosting so it’s a muted light, but this gave me lots of shadows and difference in colours on the wall which I found tricky to blend. I wanted to use a limited palette and mix my own greens and browns with the colour wheel I wanted to use very little black and tried to make sure that if I was looking at the dresser the wall colour would be reflected into this”.
Looking closely at Samantha’s work.
Here below (images 2-6) are details of some of the moments in Samantha’s painting that she has mentioned. I am particularly drawn to these passages since they offer us a glimpse into a picture within a picture, or if you like, a world within a world. In image 2 she is showing us that there is more than meets the eye. Her use of the mirror is beautiful (a term I use sparingly), we are treated here to a view back in to and through the window, and to a mixture of pattern, light, and reflection. Images 3 and 4 are renditions of paintings hanging on her wall, and image 5 is a detailed portrayal of some of the items she describes. I also wanted to point out that there are moments of pure abstraction as illustrated in detail 6. (an artist who comes to mind here is Arthur Dove).

 

 

 

When I view image 7 (below), the work of Edward Hopper comes to mind, largely because of her dynamic use of space. I look forward to seeing how these works develop in terms of their scale, support, surfaces, and types of paint. In the meantime, Watch this space!

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