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| "Little Bear Hug" 5x7 inches, acrylic on paper ©2019 |
What in the world would persuade me to attempt such a challenge? First of all, I'm learning that having limitations can be a great opportunity. Limitations push us to think more creatively by shaking us out of our usual way of making art.
When my dear friend Gayle challenged her blog readers last month to try painting in an art style which inspires us, I knew exactly what I wanted to try. Pick Your Passion - The Full Circle Studio
I've admired the Art Nouveau movement for over 30 years. Pronounced [noo] + [voh] it simply means "new art" which is kind of funny since it seems like old art to us now, but I digress. This wonderfully decorative style flourished from around 1890 to 1910 and featured repetitive motifs, curved lines and celebrated nature. Favorite subjects were flowers, plants, dragonflies and the female form. If you have marveled at the famous stained glass lamps designed by the many artists employed at Louis Comfort Tiffany's glass-works, then you are acquainted with an American interpretation of this style.
I suppose it is no surprise that an art form focused on flowers and curving lines would resonate with me, but it is one thing to appreciate something and quite another to figure out how to make it yourself. Of course I went straight to the artwork of the master himself, Alphonse Mucha, to see what I could learn. Scroll all the way down the page at the link above and you will see a small selection of his wonderful artwork.
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| Gismonda poster 1895 |
In 1890, Mucha began supporting himself as an illustrator in Paris. His dream as an artist was to create epic historical paintings, but illustrating for magazines paid the bills. An amazing opportunity knocked on his door in December 1894 when he was asked to create a poster on a super short deadline for Sara Bernhardt. The publisher wanted it to appear on the streets of Paris on January 1, 1895. Alphonse designed the poster above and it created a sensation, which pleased Miss Bernhardt so much that it lead to a nice six year contract for Mucha.
What I think is brilliant about this poster is how effectively it uses design to convey a hierarchy of information. What key information do we get at a glance? The name of the play, the actress and the theater where she is appearing. "Gismonda, Bernhardt, at the Theatre Renaissance" All the important facts, boom, done. Designers today would say that is an obvious visual strategy, but I don't think it was common to design that way back then.
If we have a few moments to look closer, we can gather even more information. The mosaic tiles at the top of the poster as well as the dress Miss Bernhardt is wearing suggests Byzantine style. The play is set in 1450 Athens, at the very end of the Byzantine era. The cross behind her head and the palm branch she holds reference Christian religious beliefs that are an important part in the play. Every visual element has something to communicate.
I also noticed the simplicity of the palette. Variations on the primary color blue with it's secondary compliment, orange. These choices may have had to do with printing cost limitations, I honestly don't know, but they certainly add to the visual style.
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| 1896 photo of Sara Bernhardt by Theobold Chartran |
The inspiration for my Art Nouveau artwork came from my cousin Mary who adores her cats. She sent me this photo with the tag line "HAVE A HUG! And two hearts for you!! (Little Bear's and mine!)"
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| "Little Bear" photo ©2019 Mary Goring |
Mary's birthday was coming up in February, so I wanted to send a hug back. I hoped to convey my message as clearly as Mucha did with his poster. I kept this in mind as I arranged the key design elements and squeezed in as many heart motifs as I comfortably could into the drawing. How many do you count? ;D
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| "Little Bear Hug" drawing ©2019 |
Dark outlining of main design elements is another common feature of Art Nouveau, as well as the distinctive typography. I was inspired by this one found on Allfont.net. Link here.
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| "Art Nouveau Bistro"©2006 A.L.Gophmann |
For my limited palette, I chose primary yellow and it's secondary compliment, purple. The purple was created by mixing quinacridone magenta and pthaloblue. Combined with the yellow, it made the perfect warm brown for the kitten's fur.
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| Color palette. |
I was going to be really strict about only using yellow and purple, but this mostly yellow & purple color themed illustration by Mucha influenced me to add another secondary color, green.
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| JOB cigarettes poster 1898 Alphonse Mucha |
I mixed my green from the same three palette colors I was already using. Cadmium yellow and pthaloblue makes a nice bright green which I thought needed a little touch of quinacridone magenta to grey that brightness down a bit.
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| Color Palette, mixing the right green. |
I'm not certain if the way I used the green is as pleasing as Mucha's, but it certainly achieved my goal of making the yellow word "Hug" stand out. I actually wanted the letters to be in gold, which was another cool element often used in Art Nouveau style, but my gold paint didn't look right and I had to change the lettering back to plain yellow.
All in all, I am happy with the way the artwork turned out. I really like the underlying design and I would like to move the colors around a little and paint it again. My friend Gayle is going to use it in her next blog and my dear cousin absolutely loved it, and that is the best praise of all.
I highly recommend making something in an art style that inspires you, what you discover on that journey may be a delightful surprise.
Happy creating!
>^-^<
Tina
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