Contemporary Landscape Painting

Essential Question

What elements of painting can I use to convey, or enhance the messages in my paintings?  

Statement of Purpose

For my Senior Project, I will be researching well known landscape painters, as well as their strategies, content, and context around their paintings. I will apply this information to my own contemporary paintings, incorporating modern themes, and context, to enhance the messages throughout.

Overview

My Senior Project will primarily focus on artistic research, and painting. Upstate New York, or more specifically the Hudson Valley area, holds a vast history of landscape painting. Painting alone is one reason why I created this project, but alongside that I am incorporating a place I have known for my whole life. While painting from reference, incorporating modern themes, and painting from life, I will not only be creating the contemporary version of a classical painting style, encompassing lots of history, but I will simultaneously be expressing the themes and nuances of the area that I have a personal connection with. While exploring these many themes I will also be exploring the messages behind my paintings, but also how I can play with the many elements to shape a specific message I want to convey. I have already worked on many paintings in school, with a focus mostly on the execution of the paintings (Not to say that there were not themes involved, but they simply were not the focus of these paintings), keeping this in mind, this project seems like a logical progression in my study of painting, and the context behind them.  

Measuring Success

My success in this project will be based on the quality, and content of a series of paintings I create, alongside the documentation of my journey throughout. The reason why my success is based on a product is because if the series of paintings turns out how I want it, that will signify that I have obtained new strategies, methods, and overall grown as an artist. Besides the actual art, the artist statements and documentation will aid in showing my thoughts throughout the entire project. 

Goals to Work Towards:

1- A fluent understanding of the composition of a painting: This will simply come with time. Although I already have an idea on how this operates, there is still much to learn. Over the course of this project painting often will allow me to solidify my strategy, thought process, and schedule, when it comes to composing a piece.

2- An Understanding of the Mindset Behind Many Famous Painters: Alongside my painting, I will also be analyzing and observing the work of a multitude of famous painters. This will include understanding the history, context, creation, content, and nuances behind the many paintings, and painters, that brought the hudson valley to life through art. I also will be reading a book, documenting the works of Thomas Cole, who is a large inspiration for this project. This will also help me to learn, and break down researching different artists.

3- Applying a New Lense on My Contemporary Work: While I will be analyzing and observing artists, and work from the past, my goal is to create something new, with a modern lense. I want to accurately depict the land, but at the same time play with color, context, composition, shape, perspective, content, and much more, in order to express a message about the modern day twist on this work. While art can be subjective, and abstract, I want to make it clear to most people what kind of message I am trying to convey.

Resource List

• Thomas Cole (Book documenting works)
• The Hudson River School: Artistic Pioneers (Documentary)
• Journal for Artistic Research https://www.jar-online.net/

Daily Plan & Schedule

Week 1: Painting from reference	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9:30-11:00	Online Artistic Research/ Cohort Group – Reference artist list – Record elements I would like to incorporate/think about	Continue Online Research – Remind myself about artistic elements at play  Assemble Materials/ Continue Painting	Photograph/ Document Work – Edit artist statements – Format blog post	Online Artistic Research/ Cohort Group – Reference artist list – Record elements I would like to incorporate/ think about	Continue Online Research – Remind myself about artistic elements at play  Assemble Materials/ Continue Painting
11:00-11:30	Break	Break	Break	Break	Break
11:30-1:00	Gather Materials/Small Study – Experiment with elements from research	Continue Painting – From reference photos	Watch: The Hudson River School: Artistic Pioneers – Take notes	Gather Materials/ Small Study – Experiment with elements from research	Continue Painting – From reference photos
1:00-2:00	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break
2:00-4:00	Scout Location/Take Photos – Return home and begin painting – 9’’x12’’ canvas/board	Finish Painting/ Construct Artist Statement – What did I learn? – What can I improve? – How did I incorporate elements from the artist I researched?	Reflect on Film Record What I Learned – How can I apply this info?	Scout Location/Take Photos – Return home and begin painting – 9’’x12’’ canvas/ board	Finish Painting/ Construct Artist Statement – What did I learn? – What can I improve? – How did I incorporate elements from the artist I researched?

 

Week 2: Painting from life	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9:30-11:00	Online Artistic Research/ Cohort Group – Reference artist list – Record elements I would like to incorporate/think about	Continue Online Research – Remind myself about artistic elements at play  Assemble Materials	Photograph/ Document Work – Edit artist statements – Format blog post	Online Artistic Research/ Cohort Group – Reference artist list – Record elements I would like to incorporate/ think about	Continue Online Research – Remind myself about artistic elements at play  Assemble Materials
11:00-11:30	Break	Break	Break	Break	Break
11:30-1:00	Gather Materials/Small Study – Experiment with elements from research	Return to Location/ Continue Painting – Focus on incorporating elements from research	(Open Slot for Documentary / Informative videos)	Gather Materials/ Small Study – Experiment with elements from research	Return to Location/ Continue Painting – Focus on incorporating elements from research
1:00-2:00	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break
2:00-4:00	Scout Location/Start Painting – 9’’x12’’ canvas/board	Finish Painting/ Head Home/ Artist Statement – Compare reference painting to painting from life – How did I incorporate elements?	Meet with James (Over Zoom) – Discuss work – Plan moving forward	Scout Location/ Start Painting – 9’’x12’’ canvas/ board	Finish Painting/ Head Home/ Artist Statement – Compare reference painting to painting from life – How did I incorporate elements?

Documentation Plan

I will be documenting all of my work through blog posts on the Senior Project page. This will include photos of the work I am creating, as well as reflections, and artist statements about the work. There will be one post representing two weeks of work, and will be updated twice a week with the work I’ve done. The actual content of this work will be physical paintings, which will be photographed and documented, alongside artist statements, and my general thoughts on the process of the project.

Material Needs

Painting Materials (Brushes, paint, canvases)

Reason for Item: My project is based around painting so it’s essential that I have these items. 

Notes: I already possess all of these materials, but paint, and canvases may run out at some point, however I simply can buy more of these materials as they are not overly expensive. Along with this I can use my personal collection of these items, which should last a significant amount of time.

Resolution: These Items are accessible to me.

Transportation (Accessing areas around the Hudson Valley)

Reason for Item: My project will encompass finding areas to paint that are accessible to me.

Notes: My family has a car, and I will be taking my drivers license test during the third trimester. Should I not have my license, my father is able to drive me to a location to take photos for reference, or to set up and paint. In addition, many areas are accessible by walking from my home, which already presents a multitude of opportunities. 

Resolution: This is not required for the completion of my project, but is accessible should I need it. 

Backup Plan

Should my project be unable to be completed, I can transition it towards more of a research project instead. I would focus on researching the artists I already have listed, and exploring how they created messages in their works. This could encompass an essay, and would involve similar resources as I already plan to research these artists anyway.

Backup Essential Question

How did early american landscape artists convey messages throughout their works?