Film 12: Impressionism/Collings

Q1. I'm a little torn between the paintings from this week and last week because I actually like both. I also feel that civilization and impressionism are some what intertwine with one another. You need civilization to give you impressionism for your paintings. As stated by Collings " People need to socialize in order to get everything we have in our daily lives". I like impressionism a little more than last week's lession only because you can read and predict a little more information from impressionism than in civilization. With an impressionism you can see if the person in the painting is sad, conflicted, or is thinking something really serious at the time of the painting being done. Collings surveyed almost the same enviornment as in last weeks lesson. He went where the inspiration is. Where people are full of life, love, and aspirations. H walked the metropolitan of New York City, where things are busy, fast, fun, and care-free.


Q2. There are two paintings that I chose, one is a bright colored painting, and the other is a painting of a city at night.

I chose this painting because its calm, peaceful, and gives you a sense of serenity when you are looking at the painting, picturing yourself that you are sitting on blanket, on a hot summer day. Possibly having a picnic, reading an interesting book, or sifting through a magazine. Or you could be having your picnic with a loved one and your children. Sitting down watching your children throw rocks into the water, or sitting there waiting for a frog to hop on one of those pads to relax. The lighting for this painting is perfect, bright and clear, full of sun. Shows just the right amount of greens, purples, whites, maybe even a little pink and purple.

The second painting I chose is because it shows this city a little bit different at night. Its beautiful, busy, care free. The colors in this canvas are little more dramatic than the one in the painting above. You have a darker greens, blues, yellow, some red in there. Depending on the mood of the painter this city is a little more devilis at night, a little more spontanious.

Q3. Every impressionism painting is different, as stated above it depends on the painters mood, setting, and the free style of their hand. If their hand has a feeling of tightness they might paint a more dramatic painting. If their hand is loose and care free, they will paint with bright, fun colors, instead of darker colors. In th painting above you can see it is taken at night, it is a different location than the heart of New York City. Both paintings are beautiful and give an touristic view of the city. So as you see, it just depends on the location and the mood of the painter. Because you can visit a thousand places, but you will never paint the same painting in those thousand places. Collings likes this kind of painting because it gives him a variety to choose from, its not just the same style painting or the same painting at all. Collings seems he likes diversity, he likes change and different places.

Question for open discussion: Why is impressionism such a big subject when it comes to painting?