Michael Craig-Martin

Michael Craig-Martin was born in Ireland in 1941. He grew up and was educated in the United State. he came to Britain on completion of his studies in1966 and has lived and worked here ever since.

His best known works include his large-scale black and white wall drawings, and his intensely coloured paintings, installations and public commissions.

he is well known to have been an influential teacher at Goldsmith College London, and is considered a key figure in the emergence of young British artists in the early 90's.

Here are some of his beautiful works. There are too many, I don't know which one I should choose. Here is the link to his website:http://www.michaelcraigmartin.co.uk/

 

 

They are so beautiful. They are taking your breath away. I copied two of his work. It looks just some simple lines and simple colours. But when I actually do it I start to know how hard it is. Especially with large scales. His colour is so smooth, the lines between each colour are so clear, each of his work is so vivid, they seem all alive. Who ask what art exist for? What can it do? Yes, as a human, you need bread first. And then, what about and "and then". The more I see the artists' work , the more I can feel how appreciated we should be. 

 

Come back to Michael Craig-Martin. I don't know what I suppose to say. His achievements, his techniques, his ideas are so far from I can reach. At this moment, the only thing I am happy with myself is that I can say they are beautiful.

 

Here are my two attempt:

 

I felt ok with these two paintings. But now, put them under Craig-Martin's work......Well, a lot more practise needed!

 

 



Picasso

I recently copied a few Picasso's drawings. Because I need to the PowerPoint, I had to study a bit more about Picasso. Then I found, the more I look into his work, the more I see, the more I like it. At the very beginning when I was introduced to Cubism. I was so confused. I could understand nothings. I don't understand why he wanted draw and paint like that, I couldn't see the beauty, I couldn't understand why now his work worth millions of pounds. I couldn't even tell what can be called art and what can not.

I took the advise and listened a few of Grayson Perry's lecture. There are quite long and some of the words he used were quite hard for me. But yes, I managed to understand what he wants to say and that was really helpful to all my questions.

This is the good thing to be in college. You are not just learning some knowledge, you are also getting those valuable information which allow you to explore more.

Here are the my drawings. To draw them really helped me to understand more about Cubism. There is no way I can know how the ideas came to Picasso's head. But at least I can see they are beautiful. And for such a great artist, it is not just a few months in college can make you understand him and his work. Let's start here!

 



Kate Downie

Siobhan told me about Kate Downie and said that she stayed in China for 3 years.  It is interesting to me because there is something related to China. So I went on her website and looked at her work. It is shame that by the time when Siobhan talked about her, her exhibition in Edinburgh had just finished. Otherwise I can see China from her eyes,  from an artist's eye, also from a foreigner's eye. Anyway, I tried to copy two of her work. And I feel it was so hard.

I think this one is about China's cities and environment. I chose this one to copy because others all look so complicated.  This one has simpler lines. But it was so hard to get the right color. I used water color only, I think Kate Downie used ink as well. I did this one a few weeks ago, when I looked at it today, I found I missed a lot of detailed fine lines. There are buildings and mountains. My building just does not look like building. It feels cold in Downie's painting, my one feels rather warm. I could not get the right color for the sky and the river. But anyway this was the first time I use water color, I am not pleased, but at least, I managed to do the whole painting. And I can see mountains, river and the little boat. 

It is very interesting that she paint half of the painting a city and another half is mountains and river. Using the same color and tone. I am concerned about China's environment too.

After copying this, when I looked at Downie's work again. I can feel how good her work is.

The Asphalt Sea

I did this one today. And again, it was so hard. It looks so simple, but when you actually paint it, it was so difficult. First it took me ages to mix the color and I still did not get the similar color. But by copying this I think understand a little now about abstract. Because you need to copy it , you need to study it  a lot more carefully than just looking at it. I see waves, I see swirls, I see where the flow goes although I could  not make them on my work. From the title I know this is sea, but first time when I saw this work. I thought why this is sea! Now I think I understand it a bit more and I can feel it is a beautiful work. 

But I don''t understand what the black lines for. I used pastel, but my lines comes thick and a bit mess too. although I don's understand the lines, I can feel they make the whole picture a lot better and more interesting, even for my work. 

Drawings

I  did a few drawings recently. overall, I quite like them. But I know there are problems.

My hand

I did this on a piece of film first. Just follow the lines you see and enlarge it on the machine. I find it a lot easier than drawing on a piece of large paper. Because I always cannot make the proportion right . By this way, you can almost make the proportion right. I never learned how to do shading and tones. I did it by feeling. The finish is quite light compare with other peoples. But I quite like it. And I can see that is my hand. I need more practice about shading and tones. 

Sharlene

I drew Sharlene by using the same method as drawing my hand. This is more difficult than drawing the hand. When I copying, the film kept moving, although I closed one eye, I still can not make every line exactly at its right position. And this added the difficulties after I enlarge it. I managed to put all lines together and make the whole picture. But I could not make the face look like Sharlene. First, it was too old, I think it was 20 years older than Sharlene. I found some videos which shows you how to draw a baby face, teenager face and middle age people's face. It helps a little. I managed to change the face looks younger. But it is still not look like Sharlene. I find it is rather difficult to draw somebody's face. Never mention the expression in eyes. I could not even make the age right. I guess this needs a lot of practice.

Copying David Hockney's work

I actually quite like this one I copied. Drawing still life is a little bit easier than drawing figures I feel. The bottle was the most difficult bit to draw. I can see I still did not make two side the same. It is even worse when you take a photo. By copying it I see a lot details which I may not see when I just look at it. For example, the bottle changed shape a little bit when seeing through the glass. This is also the change for me since I am doing this course. I found I can see more detailed things when I look at things, even just a sense. In everyday life, I see more shapes and colors than before. I like this change. 

I want to draw a female figure, but most of David Hockney's figures drawing are male. I found this one which I did not think I like. In my opinion, a beautiful lady is thin, well shaped. this one is a bit fat. But after trying to copy her. I found she is beautiful. I think my one is younger, I tried but could not make her any older. The lady in David Hockney's drawing, has a kind of feeling which I don't know how to describe, which makes her beautiful. But in my drawing, I can't find this kind of feeling. Not exactly her expression, maybe it is her mood or even her life. I can't quite tell yet.

Overall, I am quite happy with my progress. It is such a nice thing that you can draw!

 

Oil Paint

Tried oil painting two weeks ago. First feeling was I made a mess! I spent almost a whole day in college just try to do a little part from Two Sisters. It turned out the girl I painted was a lot older than the one on the original painting and less prettier, no smile. The second day when I looked at it again, I was actually quite happy. It was my first attempt on oil painting. And it does look like a young girl even if I know it was not a good work. I think I like oil paint.

Tried to do another oil painting yesterday. I was happy with my work. I felt more confident after the first attempt. It is a abstract work. I never can understand abstract. I do not know what the artist want to say or want to express. After copying the work, I still can not understand. But it was a good experience of mixing colors.

At the time of drawing or painting, you can put everything out of your mind. I cherish this opportunity.

Print Making

Today, we did print making. It is very interesting. Apart from drawing and painting. There are a lot of other ways to make a nice work. Here are some works I did today. Also some work of our experiment for making textures. 

Lino Print

Mono Print

I think print making is amazing. Only thing is when I see the artist's work, I feel I do not even know how to get there. I remember when I was at school age, when I learn things, I just learn, For example, when I learn adding, I never thought how I can do some maths that mathematicians do. And this make things easy.But now I am kind of impatient. Even if I know the only way is do it step by step and practice and more practice. 

A new world

I started this Art and Design course on Sep. It was a surprise to everybody, including myself.  I never thought I would do an art course or rather say I would have the ability to do it. Before I started this course, art to me was very far, very deep, far out of my reach. I envy people who can draw, can paint. I admire all the beautiful designs. But I always thought you need to have the talent, and this is the only element. I am here for more than a month, and now I think even if you do not have the talent you can still draw and paint. You do not just use your hand, you use your eyes and your heart.

I do hope here in Galashiels is my art journey starts. I don't know how far I can go. But I am sure this will add beautiful colours to my life and will be worth all my effort to do.

Now the door to this beautiful world is open, so much to see, so much to learn........