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Amanda Luciani-Wickens - The Open College of the Arts

To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.

Amanda Luciani-Wickens thumb

Amanda Luciani-Wickens

The following is extracted from Amanda’s blog. It shows the process she undertook to make an abstract painting from a photographic source; I think students will find it interesting;
Abstracting Near and Far
I decided to work for this project from a photograph found on a site selling made-to-measure windows and window seats as I can’t face the May view of melting patches of snow and brown patches of dead grass from my window.
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4.15)    25/05/2014 charcoal  (A4) This charcoal sketch represents a detail from the above photo. The objects on the table have been grouped in front of the view from the window with the aim, in future studies, of merging near and distant form and removing the impression of illusory space.
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4.16)  26/05/2014   marker pen  (A4)
In this first simplification of the still life and background I experimented with different ways of colouring positive and negative space. This causes a certain amount of simplification and added to the use of a single colour causes some flattening of the image. There is still a sense of depth present in the composition due in part to out previous knowledge and in part due to the linear perspective of the table and the bread.
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4.17)   26/05/2014    marker pen and acrylic wash  (A4)
In this study, the form of the trees is brought down to mingle with the objects. The table has been presented as a rectangle without any linear perspective and the objects have been coloured following effects of overlapping.
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4.18)   27/05/2014    acrylic and oïl pastel on canvas  (A4)
In this study, there is a certain abstraction of form of the objects and trees so that there is some blending of background and foreground. The bottle with the knife seen through its glass gives a strong indication of layering and depth however.
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4.19)   27/05/2014   acrylic and pencil on untreated canvas   (A4)
This study was more strongly influenced by Nicholson’s own work, using geometric forms and evident overlapping of shapes. The shapes appear to be floating in space whereas a firm surface would add to our perception of place. The study was made on the untreated side of the canvas, a large amount of paint was soaked up in a very small space and the canvas then curled up into a tight roll. The effect of the paint application gave an interesting texture to the composition and it could possibly be use for a freer painting in the future. The b2 pencil was not really soft enough to show on the raw canvas.
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4.20)  27/05/2014   acrylic and marker pen on canvas  (A4)
This study, using looser mark making, shows quite interesting effects of overlapping of shapes, mixing of foreground and background and use of colour. The effect of the marker pen on acrylic paint produced strong colour and shine. This is moving away from Nicholson’s style which uses strictly established forms however, so I will not pursue this for now.
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4.21)  28/05/2014   acrylic and marker pen on canvas  (A4)
This succinct study shows a nearly total flattening of space with a blending of objects between themselves and of the foreground and background. It leaves, however, little for the viewer to imagine or discover and is too uniform over the whole compositional space for interest.
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4.22)   30/05/2014   acrylic on canvas    (36x44cm)
The final painting was more closely inspired by Nicholson, mixing some of his neutral colour schemes with subtle green. The objects are shown in profile against the rising rectangle of the tabletop and the tree trunks cut through the whole design mixing with the bowl and reappearing below the objects.
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I asked Amanda if Ben Nicholson is an influence in her work in general, and if she would consider herself an abstract painter and how has this come about?
Before joining the OCA my drawing and painting was very firmly based on strong figurative motives. I studied Practice of Painting last year which, although keeping to figurative themes, really helped me to loosen my style, develop my self-confidence and experiment whilst producing a large body of work. I am now studying level 2 Exploring Concepts which encourages detailed observational work whilst helping me to analyse and experiment with what I see in a visual manner.
I am currently enjoying discovering the historical development of abstraction and am particularly interested in the difference between abstraction from figurative themes and pure abstraction and the delicate distinction between the two. The theoretical and practical work involved in my research into the origins of abstraction has included looking at the ideas and working methods of Ben Nicholson. I did not previously know this artist and I have used the concepts running through Nicholson’s work, concerning the exploration of ways to develop the elements of a scene into abstract impressions, to inform my own practice. Nicholson explored ways of merging distant views with still life elements, flattening illusory space to produce a two dimensional impression on the canvas surface.
Visit Amanda’s blog here


Posted by author: Joanne

2 thoughts on “Amanda Luciani-Wickens

  • This is inspirational stuff and especially interesting to see the thought process behind arriving at the finished work. Moreover you have arrived at something very appealing which, I’m sure, galleries would lap up. Well done you!

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