John Virtue was my original inspiration for the large piece I created. I like his work because it is quite dark and abstract but it is still clear on what each piece is displaying. Here are some images I selected from his work which I like best, but also which fits best with the project Land and See.
Taking those images into consideration and as inspiration I wanted to do my take on some of his techniques, using some of my own sketches found in my sketchbook as a starting point.
I started with a blank piece of white paper and some drawing ink, creating a very dark atmosphere: most of the paper was covered in black ink, however I didn't just paint the white sheet black, when doing this used the ink to carve out some of the main shapes of the image, such as the hills and the sharp line which separates land from sky. To start adding tone, I then went on to use white acrylic paint mixed with some black ink which allowed me to give the illusion of shadow and light creating the lake and the sky and some of the grass. The piece itself was layered quite heavily with ink and paint to give it more of a texture like John Virtue's work.
The final outcome didn't turn out quite as abstract and dark as the artists because I found it very difficult to achieve the right shapes and the right interpretation of the landscape in an uncontrolled manner, as I have a tendency to express things the way I see them. Despite not ending up with the affect I originally wanted the piece to, i thoroughly enjoyed working on the piece and it does incorporate John Virtue as my inspiration but also my own twist to it, which I like.
