Brief Encounter ..... Film Noir

As I sat and watched Brief Encounter on Sunday afternoon, I felt as if I was being taken back in time. I remember watching black and white films of the 1940 and 50's so often as a child on a Sunday afternoon. I didn't know then that they were Film Noir. The visual elements of the lighting giving the films their dramatic effect.

The film is introduced on the DVD as one of the Greatest British Films ever made. Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson are perfect in their romantic roles. Johnson's facial expressions portraying her masterly skills as an an actor never fail to move the viewer and feel her every emotion.  Howard is perfectly cast opposite her.

On this ocassion I  was watching the film to take note of the techniques of lighting as we are currently working on Rembrandt or Chiaroscuso lighting for our Book Cover project. The light and shadow in the film encompasses every scene. It is used to its full dramatic effect.

I set up a studio at home to practice this lighting technique, but I have not yet mastered it. Using myself as the subject makes it more difficult to place that traingle of light below the eye where it is meant to be. But I can only continue to practice. We have been told that we will be given a workshop on how to set up a studio at home, so I'm hoping that this will help me.

Using a main light with a softbox and reflector.

Traingle not achieved, shadow/light near mouth. 

 



Tom Hunter - Univeristy of Plymouth Lecture Series

Tom Hunter firstly gave us a synopsis of his background. He grew up in a small village in Dorset, worked on farms and building sites, and after this, he was employed by the Forestry Commission as a Tree Surgeon in London.

After eight months hitch hiking across America he decided that he wanted to earn his living as a Photographer. He was accepted by the Royal College of Art to study and has exhibited his work in The Saatchi Gallery, The National Gallery, White Cube and Serpentine Galleries.

During his life as a student in the late 1980's, he squatted in Hackney in the "London Fields" area of London with his friends. He sold his work in jumble sales at Brick Lane on Sundays.  He described the buildings where he squatted, as being derelict since the Blitz\of World War II. There were 100,000 empty houses resembling a ghetto. At this time there was an article in the news paper describing these houses as a "Blot on the Landscape" suggesting perhaps that they should be demolished.

But Tom Hunter saw these houses as a living sculpture and he wanted to protect them. As a student, he created a model of the street where he lived in Hackney, and said that his lecturers where not impressed by his work! He also documented the life around him using a Large 5 x 4 Format Camera. He was passionate about the place where he and his friends lived, and wanted to highlight life in this area. One of his friends had converted a garage into a Buddhist Temple. An article in Time Out helped the cause to save the street. Hunters' plan to preserve the neighbourhood was successful. He said that he is proud of the part he was able to play in this. His street sculpture is now a permanent exhibition piece.

When he finished his course at college, he bought a Double Decker bus and documented the lives of the people he travelled with. The images he showed us were iconic images of travellers. During this time, he saw how images have a direct impact on society. His quiet, meditative photographs calmed the feelings of people towards the travellers, and they began to gain more respect in the community. However, sadly another image later depicting the Travellers in a different vain, created a violent reaction from the public, and life for them was once again threatened, and many attacks on their property ensued.

Hunter then went on to discuss the images that we are perhaps more familiar with. "Woman Reading a Eviction Order" for example, influenced by Jan Vermeer's painting "Woman Reading a Letter."  Hunter commented that what he sees in the viewfinder, and what he searches for, is the quietness of a situation. The serenity and meditative qualities that he sees of a parallel between life and fiction. Others' seeing his images didn't understand his comment on the "Girl Reading an Eviction Order."  He said that the situation was read as one of aggression or protest. He also said that his image had been manipulated by some to extract the background, not understanding that the whole scene was an important factor to the image, visually describing the essence of the emotion and hopelessness of the situation. The image speaks of a sadness and of the worries that affect ordinary people every day but within those situations there is an acceptance that resonates a quiet serenity.

As I listened to Tom Hunter speak, I saw a man with a sense of vision, a sense of purpose, using his photography, his art, to comment on the life and the world around him. I found his to be an endearing character full of passion and purpose. By listening to him, you know that his world is incredibly important to him, and that in his photography he protects that world. He is visibly involved with the people and the places he portrays remaining friends with those he has portrayed; his work gives us a message about life and all its intricacies. He shows us the people we forget, and the situations we perhaps ignore. His images are "silent" but they do speak volumes about the society we live in.

Jan Vermeer "Girl Reading a Letter" courtesy of http://www.webartacademy.com/

Tom Hunter "Girl Reading an Eviction Order" courtesy of

 http://www.saatchi-gallery.org/

The Cove Studio

I headed into The Cove at College this morning with my Digital and Medium Format Cameras fully intending to practice shooting portraits of my "Author," and some experimental shots of my book cover ideas. But there were too many of us there and it was too chaotic for me; I really like to take my time and it made me realise that I do need quiet and solitude when I'm working.

On Sunday I had experimented a little with my Book Cover idea and shot some images of my "Seven Letters," but I wasn't having any great success being creative with this idea, and I'm not sure if it is going to work, (I know its early days yet; I will try again. I thought I would experiment with another idea today.

I walked into town to find an "Eye." In a later chapter of The Invisible Man, the main character and "Brother Jack" are having a heated debate, during this debate "Brother Jack's" glass eye pops out, and he places it in a glass of water. I think this might work better than the Seven Letters.

But it was much later in the afternoon when I finally had the opportunity to take some shots, I practised the Rembrandt Lighting with Sophia as my sitter and brought home the Eye to experiment at home.

I think that I was not in the right frame of mind today, I feel exhausted from having been working on our various assignments every day without much of a break, and must admit that I do feel as though all I'm doing is working.

WBL Presentation

My presentation would have been improved if I had structured it better. I should have started from the beginning of my Blog and run through it chronologically. This would have made more sense. Unfortunately I had the beginnings of a cold and my voice refused to function properly, every time I started to speak, I wanted to cough. This was frustrating.  As a consequence I don't really know how my presentation fared.

I have now completed the work I think I need to do for the Module; I have written quite a long evaluation detailing my thoughts and reflections.

I have found my blog to be a useful resource for all my modules and I will continue to write this on a regular basis.

There is a lecture at the University this evening. The speaker is Tom Hunter. It should be an interesting hour.

FujiFilm...Posponing my Submission

Scanning my  fujifilm images today turned into a marathon task.

First I used the Epsom 750 in The Hub ....that was incredibly tempramental. Kevin from the ERC came to look at it for me and he made it work, but I couldn't. Then I decided to use the Hasslblad Scanner in the Digital Dark Room next to The Cove. I didn't feel too confident about using this because although I had been inducted, I hadn't used it since that day.

Luckily for me Chris was at hand, he was a great help. We still had problems though. Everything had a green caste which made me think that I had done something very wrong when I shot the images, or worse, there was something wrong with my lovely Mamiya Medium Format Camera. Ben joined us and tried to help, then Phil, and finally Luke took a look and went into great detail about the callibration and histograms etc. This was all beyond me.

But finally my images were scanned, and they looked ok. In fact I had double exposed some. It had been the first colour film I had shot with the Mamiya and I had had no Light Meter to measure the light , I had made educated guesses about the aperture and shutter speeds. I am quite happy with some of the double exposed shots, they look "arty" and I think quite effective. I was hoping to submit my entry to the Fujifilm Student Award competition, but today I gave three more films to the ERC to be processed by Specturum, so I want to wait until these are returned before I make my final decision about my submission. The closing date is February 28th 2011.

Second Interview

I did not receive a reply from Jodie Bishop (Art's Birthday) with regard to the email interview, it may have been a little too short a deadline for her to answer the questions I emailed her.

I had wanted one of my interviews to be with a practitioner from the Allotment and fortunately Wendy Miller did reply to my request and has answered some questions for me. I have now included this in my folder for the hand in on Thursday.

Penelope George Email Interview with Wendy Miller,

Practitioner at The Allotment on Peverell Park Road

How long have you been working on your plot at the Allotment?

Its been 9 years.

Did you have any previous knowledge of planting etc?

Yes, from an allotment in London and a garden in Sussex – about 10 years in total

 Have you always had a love of growing your own vegetables/plants?

No, not as a child / teenager, but in early 20s started because was interested in herbs / herbal medicine

 What was your reason for wanting to have an Allotment?

 To grow food I could trust and to spend time outdoors - fresh air and exercise

Do you feel that there is a "community" spirit at the Allotment?

Yes, indeed – sharing tools, wheelbarrows etc. giving excess plants away. Etc.

Is there a social life attached to the Allotment?

Yes, thanks to the allotment association in the last few years – barbecues, seed swaps, veg shows etc.

I find the Allotment a very peaceful and "grounding" place to be. How does the "space" affect you?

Yes, it has helped me get over the breakup of a long-term relationship, and still feels like a sanctuary from a busy life.

When we met, you mentioned that you are working on a project about the Allotment. Could you tell me a little about this please?

I am in the second year of PhD research on local food in urban communities – and the potential of community gardens, allotments, fresh produce markets etc to help individual and community health, and economic benefits.

A Face At the Allotment

 Goodness

Dryfesdale Lodge Visitors' Centre Lockerbie

My Lockerbie Remembrance Exhibition work from last year, has been accepted by the Trustees at Lockerbie, to be displayed in the Dryfesdale Lodge Visitors' Centre for the duration of the Spring. The Exhibition begins on March 26th, and I have been invited to attend. Mrs N Rew sent me an email on February 2nd informing me of the trustees decision. It is a great honour for me to show my work at Lockerbie, it means a great deal to me. I am hoping that I will be able to travel to Lockerbie and deliver my exhibition piece personally.

The Gift of Peace



The Penny Drops.....Reflecting and Evaluating

The deadline for our Work Based Learning Assignment hand in is Thursday (three days away), and finally the "Penny has Dropped." Its a little late I know. I haven't fully understood how to manage my Work Based Learning, what it was I was trying to achieve, what I was looking for in my research, or what ideas I had for this module. I had had positive outcomes with Jane during my tutorials, and had been given plenty of leads and ideas of how to move forward. But somehow, it wasn't registering with me, and I feel that maybe my heart wasn't really in it. But today I have had one of those "eureka" moments, and I've realised there are other areas of work that do appeal to me.

I want to continue with my Fine Art projects, and I do want to exhibit my work out in the community. But I have realised that I would like to work "behind the scenes" at a Museum or Gallery, or in another Art  establishment. I think realistically being employed, and allowing my creative side to continue with "art" is a good plan for the future, and it is more practical for me.

I am now going to search for jobs in The Guardian,in magazines and in other sources to familiarise myself with the job descriptions and job specifications.

This Module has proved to be an important one for me. I may have started down a slightly "sideways" path, but it has enabled me to realise that the skills I learned during my years' of employ in the Business, Retail, Educational and Health sectors, can still be, and are very useful to me.

I can combine the business, the practical and the creative to create goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time based to move forward in a positive manner.

Shadows

When I  was given my feedback for the Still Life Assignment, I nearly fell off my chair. I am very happy that I achieved a much higher grade than I had anticipated. It has given me the confidence to continue working as an Artist as opposed to a Student. If I consider myself an Artist, I think about my work in a different way. I feel less constricted in my thinking and more able to conceptualise my work. I find this very exciting.

I have started looking at the shadows that appear around my home and photographing them as a still life project. Shadows move around creating pictures which I find intriguing. I like the idea that they move with the wind and with time. There is something quite ethereal about them. I also like the fact that they are not always there and I have to "catch" them when they are.

Getty Images

I have just submitted 12 images to Getty Images from my flickr account. It will be a few weeks before I know if they have been accepted for license.

Here are a few of them

Presentation Preparation .... WBL

I've been trying to organise my work for the Work Based Learning Presentation on Thursday. I feel as though a lot of my time is spent searching for forms and searching for information, which leaves me feeling as though I haven't really achieved as much as I would have liked. The deadline isn't until Feb 17th but I would like to get as much finished as possible this week. Then I can give my full concentration to the other assignments. I don't think I can write my WBL evaluation until after the presentation, as that will have to be included.

At the Allotment today I wanted to try and capture detail and use Depth of Field more than I have been doing. These are some of the images I shot today.

Art Birthday Exhibition 5th February 2011

I walked to the Art Birthday Exhibition at Frankfurt Gate this morning. Its such a shame that the venue isn't available for longer than just one day. It is a good gallery space, it's bright, easily accessible, has adequate space for the art, and in a good position in the city. When I spoke to Jodie Bishop (Arts Asst Plymouth City Council, and Coordinator of the Arts Birthday), she was disappointed that the space could only be used for the day, but it had already been leased to a Trader when she made the enquiry.

Our images looked great on the wall.

Its a wonderful feeling to see my art on the wall of a "Gallery" even if it is only for one day. But seeing it there sitting proud on the wall, made me realise that my dreams are not just dreams anymore, they have become a reality. I am beginning to feel, more and more like an Artist. This is also partly due to the 72% Grading I was given for my Still Life Project. I almost fell off my chair when Dave Kinney revealed my grade, I was genuinely shocked. I think it is now time that I began to have some faith and belief  in my own ability. I am my own worst critic, as I'm sure every artist is, but the time has come to shed the lack of confidence I have in myself, and believe that I can do this. I can become the Artist I want to become.

 I had arranged to meet Barbara De Mora at the French Patisserie a few doors down from the Exhibition Venue. As we had our coffee with some of Barbara's other friends, Jodie rushed in to tell us that the Evening Herald photographer had arrived and wanted artists to photograph. Barbara and I willingly obliged. The Exhibition will be featured in the paper sometime next week.

I asked Jodie if she would be willing to take part in an email interview with me. I felt that she would be a good person for me to interview as part of my Work Based Learning Assignment. She kindly agreed. I will email her some questions later today.

Bettina Von Zwehl

http://www.bettinavonzwehl.com/

The lecture at the University this evening was different to any that I had attended previously during this series. Bettina van Zwehl studied at the Royal College of Art in London and spent time in Italy perfecting her craft. She has an interest in Art of the Renaissance period, and in particular she mentioned Piero Della Francesca. When I researched Renaissance Art last year, I found Piero Della Francesco's paintings to be an inspiration to me. The elegance and simplicity of his work and the silence that tells a story never ceases to amaze me.

Piero Della Francesca

Madonna El Porto

She also mentioned Irving Penn as one of her greatest inflences.

Bettina Von Zwehl has recently started a sixth month project at the V & A in London where she is working on miniature portraits. Her inspiration for the new work are the paintings by Holbein. This is a new concept for her as her work up until now has been exhibited on large prints. She works with a 5 x 4 Large Format Camera.

Jane Small

a watercolour painting by

Holbein c1540

                                                 With thanks to the V & A for this image

Von Zwehl showed her earlier portraits of to us of subjects listening to the music of an Estonian Composer Alena, children breathing in and out and babies of one year in profile. She is interested in how a human reacts to external stimuli, of isolating a moment of human experience, and she has a fascination with the "profile." Her intention at the V & A is to take a photograph of one of the employees at the Museum three times per week over the period of five months, and to examine the resulting images.

I enjoyed Von Zwehl's lecture, although I do not have the same fascination with the portrait as she does. I understood the concept behind her early work but the images seemed a little "static" to my eye.  As with many contemporary artists, unless the work is explained, it is very difficult to know what the artist is trying to convey. But the work she is carrying out at the moment was of interest to me. Miniature Portraits are something that you seldom see today and I thought that this was a great idea.

International Artist Barbara De Mora

Barbara De Mora Artist/Painter



Penelope George Interview with Barbara De Mora

Tuesday 25^th January 2011

I’ve read in an article that your a self taught Artist, is this true or have you had any formal training?

I’ve studied art in a lot of different countries. I’ve been to various art schools taking extra curricular courses, probably about 20 different courses, ranging from advanced sculpture to painting. I studied with Roger Langevin at the University of Quebec and at the Vancouver Art School Capilano Heights where I studied with Alan Wood.

I have a Degree in Psychology but never formally studied for an Art Degree. I’ve always done all sorts of art, from Pottery to Chinese painting to figure drawing. I’ve always chosen my teachers carefully and taken what I can get out of the courses.

Your influences have come from living in many different countries, has this influenced the colours you use in your paintings?

Yes, I believe the environment does affect your creativity. Colour is emotion. I think wanting to express emotion on a canvas is a very feminine thing.

 There is a French Series of Books including one about how to use colour which I have explored. Generally I do what feels right for me at the time; I don’t necessarily extract the colour theory any more. I am exploring different colours now;   I’m using a lot of gold, copper, silver and glitter at the moment. I like the way they change in the light as you move around the painting.

Where do your ideas come from?

Well, for example one painting was a flash of inspiration that I saw as a vision of a hole in the sky with spirits looking down.  Another work finished was seen in black and white representing karma as I see it. There is a circulating current of energy, and I saw a dense blackness with a light shooting up in the middle. In another recent work there are three people on each side of the painting and a central core. This to me was like a butterfly pushing energy around.  The flash vision for this painting showed an encasement of energy around each human form, yet they all connected together.

The ‘people’ in your paintings are not defined as male or female, can you explain this to me.

Because I’m dealing with Spirit, I wanted something that would define spirit and not make it male or female. The painting I’ve just started on recently is a bit different to what I have done in the past. I’m using the energy inside the body.  I’m painting the lungs and hearts because I want to show the energy around the physical matter.  I look at it in the morning and I wonder what next. This is a new area of exploration for me.

Why do you think you are bringing in organs now?

Oh, I’m studying Tai Chi and Qi Gong learning about how the energy flows around the body so this is being depicted in my paintings.

Can you tell me a little about where you have exhibited your work?

The first exhibition I had was in a Chateau on The Rhine in Germany. I spent a year there while my husband was on a Sabbatical. I couldn’t speak much German so I spent a year painting. It was a very rewarding time.

We went to New Zealand; I had an exhibition in Portland.  At that time my children were young and I did a lot of paintings of mothers and children. That was the only time that I have focussed on portraiture, painting invented people from my subconscious based on my play centre experiences.

I was given a Grant from the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris, (I am Canadian as well as British), to exhibit in Monaco and I have also exhibited in Kingston Ontario where I had about 50 works to exhibit.

It’s a wonderful feeling when a total stranger shows an interest in my paintings; the reward is then that you know that you have touched them in some way.

It is a little frustrating though when you have moved countries as I have, you start to build a reputation and exhibit your work in one country, and then you have to move and start all over again!

Are you still in touch with people you met abroad?

Yes, I am still in contact with people I’ve met in the various countries I’ve lived, having a Website is very useful and helps me to stay in touch and enables me to show my work.

Have you exhibited your work in the UK?

I have exhibited with various groups but I have not yet had a full exhibition of my own work.

Are you looking for places to Exhibit?

Hopefully I will be able to have a solo or group exhibition in 2012 but that’s not organised yet. The current economic climate makes it harder for an artist to exhibit work.

I believe one of your early influences in Freida Kahlo. Could you tell me what it was about her work that inspired you?

What I like about her work is that there is so much of an expression of her individual personality. Maybe she had demons to exercise as in her medical paintings; but she reached deep inside her sub conscious and pulled out images that have a depth of emotion. The emotional personality and true feelings of your life are more of a vibrant expression of your existence.

I’m interested in going into things in depth. I went through a period in Canada where I did a lot of landscape painting. In Winter’s Altar I created something symmetrical, a woman sleeping in a landscape with a child and a half circle of icebergs arranged symmetrically. The water is transparent, revealing the rocks beneath. I wanted to create a two dimensional work that appeared as if you were looking into three dimensions.

Are there any other influences that you would like to share?

Lawren Harris has also been a great influence on my work compositionally.

How has coming back to England affected your art?

When I first came to Plymouth from Canada, I found everything so different. It usually takes me about two years to perfect what I want to express artistically. You have to take lots of different avenues to find the right expression. Dartmoor inspired me; I painted the Lighthouse and did a lot of experimentation when I arrived here.  Each period in your life has its own expression and I am finding that now my work is becoming more spiritual and abstract.

It is such a tremendous boost when you create that finished product; the true value of art for me is creating something for your own soul. If other people are touched by it then that’s wonderful but in the end you can’t take the work with you and its true value is in the internal magic experienced of its creation.

Thank you Barbara.