Tone
As mentioned in my tutor report my use of tone needs perfecting. I am very aware that although I see colour very well my assessment of tone is in need of refinement and I have often used B&W photos to help show me the tones (I have a similar problem with notes on the piano –which is higher and which lower—TONE DEAFNESS –perhaps also TONE BLINDNESS?).
Looking at Seurat’s drawings in tone:
Seurat (PAris 1859-1891) was a neo-Impressionist and the discoverer of pointillism. His drawings are worked in conte crayon on a hand-made paper, known as Michallet (no longer available?) http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2007/seurat/seurat.html reference describes Seurat as sketching quickly as he moved about the city, compelling him to describe shape and form with a minimum of means. His early sketches use diagonal or vertical strokes with darker tonal backgrounds in a watercolour medium.
Michallet has a very textured grid and Seurat used layering, stumping and rubbing out to produce his drawings using the paper’s grid to effect in the images. ref:http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2007/seurat/seurat.html
(stumping :soft paper that is tightly wound into a stick and sanded to a point at both ends. It is used by artists to smudge or blend marks made with charcoal, Conté crayon, pencil or other drawing media ref:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stump_%28drawing%29)
Gillott paper was also used by Seurat, this was a thick paper coated in white pigment printed with vertical black lines and embossed with horizontal lines, to raise the surface.
The photomicrographic image: ref:http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2007/seurat/seurat.html demonstrates how the background to the darker image appears to be made of fine dark(crayon) and white (paper ) vertical lines. It also shows how the centre of the shaded image, where little of the underlying paper can be seen, fades slowly to the periphery, where the white lines become more dominant.
Of interest, he used ungessoed wood panels for their inherent textures in his paintings, scoring the wood perpendicularly to the grain. ref:http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2007/seurat/seurat.html
Seurat’s sketch book from 1977 to 1881:
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2007/seurat/seurat.html
His drawings used conte, layered, stumped and erased and then finally scratched ,this scratching of gillott paper revealed through the conte, the embossing and finally the underlying white pigment.
In the drawing: Woman singing in a cafe (Chantant) sourced on line (Sept 2014) from: http://pictify.com/490960/georges-seurat-woman-singing-in-a-caf-chantant
Seurat has scratched out the white areas from the conte, in a cross hatched manner on the face, and extensively on the dress where the scratching has been taken down to the black and white of the embossed lines, and even more so in the lights where the paper has been scratched to the white pigment, not only producing a lighter tone but also a rugged texture which catches the light. In other drawings he has used white gouache to produce this more intense light.
One of Seurat’s most famous pointillistic paintings is “La Grande Jette” painted in 1884 after innumerable studies by Seurat.
sourced on line from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jatte
| Artist | Georges-Pierre Seurat |
|---|---|
| Year | 1884–1886 |
| Type | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 207.6 cm × 308 cm (81.7 in × 121.25 in) |
| Location | Art Institute of Chicago[1] |
drawing of the lady with parasol (who is seated centre right in the final drawing:
seated woman with a parasol (Sourced on Line Sept. 2014 from:http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/150773)
The dark torso of this woman is surrounded by white so provoking the feel of a bright summer’s day.Her face and skirt fade into the light, giving an impression of light glare. In the painting she is more distinct and the skirt in the shade.
Embroidery; The Artist’s Mother
Georges Seurat
(French, Paris 1859–1891 Paris)
Date: 1882–83
Medium: Conté crayon on Michallet paper sourced on line (September 2014 from:http://www.metmuseum.org/search-results?ft=Seurat&x=0&y=0 )
One main patch of light below the figure’s chin, three areas of mid tone, the top of the head, face and fingers, darker tone in the right background,hair and hands, and deep black in the garment which surrounds te patch of light and hands and the left side of the head and in the right background. The soft shading gives the figure an emotional softness, and the positioning of the light concentrates the viewer on her industry.
sourced on line (September 2014 from:http://www.metmuseum.org/search-results?y=0&x=0&ft=Seurat&rpp=10&pg=2)
Georges Seurat
(French, Paris 1859–1891 Paris)
Date: 1881–82
Medium: Conté crayon
A blackened lower half of the picture, light midtone houses rising from the dark,whose black roofs and softly fading trees run in a diagonal centrally across the picture against a light sky, bright on the horizon becoming more densely toned higher and crossed with fine lines. A tree trunk cuts the picture on the right, dark against the sky and lighter against the black foreground.There are hints of light lines of water in the near foreground. It lacks the subtle quiet of Seurat’s figure drawings.
Seated Boy With Straw Hat sourced on line (Sept 2014) from:http://www.georgesseurat.org/
This young man seems very posed for the purpose of studying the effects of light over his back ,arms and legs. A dark back abuts quite drastically against a light background whilst his light shins are surrounded in dark. A patch of light appears in the triangle between arms folded over his knees and his dark pants on the upper legs, a patch which seems to be out of sync with the lighting elsewhere. His face is dark under the straw hat. He is a study for the young man on the middle left in his painting: Bathers at Ansiere, where the white patch has become part of the edge of the embankment and much of the shading, due to light from the front has been lost as the shadows change to reflect the overhead sun.
sourced on line (Sept. 2104 from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathers_at_Asni%C3%A8res)
| Artist | Georges Seurat |
|---|---|
| Year | 1884 |
| Type | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 201 cm × 300 cm (79 in × 118 in) |
| Location | National Gallery, London |
Seurat
On a meadow sitting boy
Georges Seurat sourced on line from:http://www.georgesseurat.org/On-a-meadow-sitting-boy.html
Picked because of the lack of folds depicted in the fabric, the image based on colour, light and shade.
playing with creativity 