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Resilience.

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Virtual Sketchbook 4

I wrote about Jackson Pollock at the beginning of this class, and I’m so glad his name came up again because he is an artist who intrigued me the more I read and looked at Autumn Rhythm. Thomas Hart Benton was a mentor to Jackson Pollock. Benton took Pollock under his wing and taught him painting techniques; he also cared for Pollock because they seemed inseparable. Benton later left New York as his career began to launch. When Benton left New York, Pollock took it hard and began to violently drink; he also took this time to find his style. Pollock learned that he didn’t want a technique; he wanted to express his feelings through painting rather than illustrating them. I believe that is why his colleagues or the people who watched Pollock work often would say that Pollock was oblivious when painting, because he was truly thinking about how he felt. 

“When I am in my painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing… I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own.” Jackson Pollock is the perfect quote to explain Pollock’s artwork. He isn’t thinking, he’s just feeling and displaying what he feels onto the canvas.

My abstract work:

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Virtual Sketchbook #3

Deianira Abducted by the Centaur Nessus

by Padovanino (Allesandro Varotari) Italian 1588-1648

SN 142. Oil on Canvas 1627

This painting is an oil painting that measures roughly 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide. The colors and shapes used in the painting involve a mix of reds and browns, with strong contrasts created in the background. The shapes include curved lines and sharp angles, which help show the intensity of the scene. Curved lines appear where the older man lies in pain and where the woman lifts her arm.

The subject of the painting is based on a Greek myth: Hercules, the son of Jove, was traveling with his new bride, Deianira, when they came to the river Evenus, which was a raging torrent due to heavy winter rains. It looked nearly impossible to cross. Hercules had no fear for himself but was concerned for his wife. Nessus, the centaur, appeared and offered to carry Deianira across, claiming he was strong and familiar with the river. Hercules accepted the offer. After throwing his club and curved bow across, he swam to the other side. But once across, Nessus betrayed his promise and tried to abduct Deianira instead. Hearing her screams, Hercules shot a poisoned arrow at Nessus, piercing his back and killing him.

This painting was inspired by Titian’s masterpiece The Abduction of Europa. Some design elements shown in the artwork include diagonal composition, chiaroscuro (the contrast of light and shadow), and contrapposto (a natural twisting of the body). The artwork feels unbalanced—it uses darker tones for the older man in pain and lighter tones for the woman. It also shows both the woman and the man pulling away from each other, creating emotional tension.

Contrast is strongly emphasized in this painting, using light and dark to express emotional intensity. The painting also shows unity and variety—unity through the color palette and theme, and variety through the different poses and expressions of the figures.

This artwork made me feel very curious. I kept coming back to it, noticing new details each time. As someone who’s a Greek mythology nerd, I already knew the story, but I never knew there was a painting that captured it so vividly. Seeing this painting helped me connect to the myth in a new way.

The artwork is part of the Renaissance movement. The subject is the story of Nessus, Hercules, and Deianira. Alessandro Varotari, the artist, also shows inspiration from The Abduction of Europa. This artwork shows that Varotari had a deep interest in Greek mythology. He gets his message across clearly through the emotion on Nessus’s face, the way Deianira’s cloak flies in the wind, and the appearance of Hercules in the background with his bow and arrow.

The Abduction of Deianira by the Centaur Nessus tells a classic Greek myth through powerful visuals. I picked this artwork because I love learning about mythology, and while I already knew the story, I never imagined I’d see it told so emotionally through art. It shows that storytelling doesn’t always have to be in words—art can bring the emotion, action, and depth of a story to life in a way that words sometimes can’t.

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Virtual Sketchbook #2

1.

2.

Title: Bullfighter Thrown by a Bull

Figure: 4.12

Artist: Francisco Goya

Page: 10

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 bull full of energy

• 1 bullfighter dodging bull with spear

• 1 long spear

• A full crowd

• A mix of grays, blacks, and whites

• A solid arena wall

• Some strong shadows to add depth and realism

• Lots of repeated shapes in the crowd for rhythm

DIRECTIONS:

1. Lay down a wide, arena as your base.

2. Add the bull

3. bullfighter mid-air dodging

4. Fill the background with a packed audience-use repetition to build a steady rhythm.

5. Use bold lines and shading to create the intensity.

6. Balance the scene with strong diagonals and contrasts.

3.

If I had to pick a color scheme for my life, I’d choose yellow. Yellow is associated with new beginnings, happiness, and wisdom. Throughout life, repetition and rhythm have followed me—I would constantly repeat bad patterns until I found the rhythm to outgrow them. And with that, life gave me wisdom. Yellow shows how I have used directional forces to get where I need to be, because yellow is the light in dark moments. It has helped me find balance, especially when I believed my imperfections outweighed my strengths. I believe my purpose in life is to find balance—to become a whole person, someone who masters both yin and yang. I want to merge and embody both imperfections and perfections, because that is what yellow means to me.

4.

5.

Landscape

Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Washington.

Potrait:

This is Bryan Lewis Saunders. In this picture the artist conducted an experiment where he drew himself each day under the influence.

Still life:

This still life painting is a bouquet of flowers which was created by Rachel Ruysch. Multiple flowers are included to simplify a different meaning. The message of the painting is broken down as the bouquet of the flowers in full bloom signifies growth. As mentioned previously each flower has a different meaning the poisonous nightshade represents deception, daisies representing innocence, etc. There is some type of growth with each flower and its meaning.

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Virtual Sketchbook.

My first impression of the artwork of Jackson Pollock 1950 Autumn Rhythm: Honestly, when first viewing the artwork it looked like scattered paint. I began to look at the artwork for a while and the more I stared at it, it reminds me tree bark in a way with the colors Pollock used to paint.                           

Hello, my name is Janielle. I am majoring in Psychology and taking this class to challenge my creative side. I believe that as a person, you have to see things as a different perspective and art is one way people show their emotions.

5 Facts About Jackson Pollock or Autumn Rhythm:

1. Jackson Pollock has painted 363 paintings

2. Jackson Pollock signature style was creating palimpsest paintings

3. Autumn Rhythm was painted with household enamel paint

4. Jackson Pollock struggled with alcoholism  

5. Jackson Pollock died from driving under the influence at 44. :(

Yes, the way I viewed this artwork changed. As mentioned before when first viewing the artwork I truly had no idea what I was looking at, I saw it as just scattered paint. When reading about the Autumn Rhythm there is very few information on what this painting is but now the more I look at the artwork it reminds me of nature or brown camouflage. I do not think there is any significant point of the painting besides showing his art techniques of paint dripping.

Jackson Pollock 1950 Autumn Rhythm:

2.

I look at this picture each time I wake up. Honestly sometimes it still scares me :D I bought this from a homeless man, I would always see him standing outside with his paintings since middle school-high school when riding the bus never got the chance to speak to him. A few months ago when riding the public bus the homeless man finally rode the bus I rode so i asked him if i could buy one of his paintings! It was $20 and worth every dollar, i love it. I love this painting because it came from someone with not as many resources and ive only been into the more darker styles.

3.

What "baggage" are you bringing along when you look at art:

Honestly, I have only started deeply looking at art when starting this class. But since art is in all types of forms such as music and writing (Which i have looked more into) I look for the more darker themes. When looking at art or listening to art i am looking for the expression of emotions. I look for sadness, happiness, excitement and words used to express how a person feels.

My name is Janielle Mitchell, I have recently turned 19 years of age, I am female, I am from Sarasota, Fl, my ethnicity is Nigerian and Benin and Togo. What I like to do for fun is read, I am not a member of an organization, I work at Jersey Mikes. What makes me unique from others is the way I express my emotions without using communication but my style such as, how I dress.

4. Self portrait: