Learning from the Masters

One of the fun things that my art class taught me was that masterpieces are not as hard as they look to reproduce. It is the process of creation, coming up with the idea, the composition, the colours, the textures, the sum of the parts to achieve the iconic piece, the thinking and meaning behind it, that is the genius of the artist. And this we learned by each choosing a masterpiece to paint. At the time, the most obvious choice to me was Starry Starry Night. I thought it would be very difficult. To my surprise, it was one of the most relaxed pieces to do because all the artistic decisions had already been made by no less than Van Gogh, haha..

Much as I am anti-copying, I learned that it is a very useful practice to emulate works of masters, if only to open my eyes to possibilities that I have never thought of before and to gain an insight into the thinking process behind the works.

The works of Cezanne have always fascinated me and the best part was I could not fathom why they were so intriguing until I started painting and reading up on art literature. He is not called the Father of Modern Art for nothing obviously, having shown the way, post-Impressionism, to artists like Picasso. I love his impossibly-genuis compositions and use of greens. Plus, he paints the most luscious-looking apples ever period ;p

So here are some of these masters "copies" or influenced works..
Title: Learning from Van Gogh ~ Starry Night (O11)
Description: Learning piece. 2005.
Medium: Oil on Ready-to-Hang Canvas.
Dimensions: 50 x 40cm.
Price: SOLD.





Title: Learning from Cezanne ~ Pines and Rocks (W2)
Description: Learning piece. 2008.
Medium: Watercolour Work.
Dimensions: 26 x 19cm.
Price: S$35 (USD29).

Title: Learning from Cezanne ~ Under The Trees (W3)
Description: Learning piece. 2008.
Medium: Watercolour Work.
Dimensions: 23 x 16cm.
Price: S$35 (USD29).

Title: The Binary (A5)Description: This piece was created for the fill-your-walls Apple-on-Canvas launch exhibtion on 12 Dec 08, and a nod to my favourite artist, Cezanne. 2008.Medium: Acrylic on Ready-to-Hang Canvas.
Dimensions: 25 x 25cm.Price: SOLD.
2 comments (starry):
jeffrey said...
Not bad!
beibei said...
Niceeee... I like Van Gogh...