Cima: Computer Intelligence Make Adobe

A fellow classmate raised an interesting issue today in class.

"we're bieng forced to do graphic design [...] when i use a computer i get stuck. like, where do i go from here?"

Marcelo pointed out that creativity can be applied to every medium, everything if the person has the intent.

I'm not implying that Cima doesnt have the intent, as those of us who know her are well aware of her curly depths....but ive taken this opportunity to show her what i would do with technology....even though i have created something with my "finer" art skills.

First i grayscaled my image to see if my contrasts where suitable.

Then i reversed the image, an advantage that Caravaggio using his camera obscura didnt have. Thats why a lot of his painting were visually "tense" with more people leaning to the left rather than their more comfortable natural right sides.



Then i tweaked the colors to the potential i might have and weak point in the painting.



It's upto me and oils to figure the rest out.

Thank you all for your input today.

I especially appreciate it coming from people like you, who are so talented.

You've motivated me and made me happy to be an AUD student. That in itself, seriously......!

The Painting : Process

It's been about 2000 brush strokes since my last entry

Which explains the delay.

I have been consumed by this painting as it demands my constant attention during its birthing process, like a newborn.

I havent got much to say as I am still absorbing all the lessons the folds of fabric are teaching me (i feel i could write a song just based on those shadows), the layers of washed acrylic and the feelings present in the eyes of my subjects all hold valuable insight into not just myself but....yep...life in general. As most things have the potential to hold.

My next steps, altough our critique was finished today, is adding an ambitious oil coat to the work.



The underpainting, in greys and green shades as Caravaggio did



Building the contrast



Adding Color

The Final Photo

Photoshop Canvas size: 12 x 9 inches

1. Color



2. Grayscale/ Darkened backgroun

Martha

The following pictures detail the process of photographing of "Martha"

Here is our original reference point




1. The lighting

In this instance the face is dark. In the picture of Mary, if you recall, her face was lit rather well. Besides the technical significance of nothing this fact, it is also an emotional choice by the artist as Mary is "stepping into the light". Martha's role is downplayed somewhat by this fact. Here is the way the light moved, with or without the model.



2. The Hands

The most captivating part of Martha's pose is the pleading hands. It took meticulous observation to stage.



3. Aya as Martha

This picture, as the set up was preplanned and I had worked with the photographer before, was exactly what I had envisioned.



Here's my photographic thank you to Al and Aya :)

Painting Sketch

I was getting horribly impatient and was aching to paint something.

So I sketched the diorama roughly after the background was painting and using Noha's facial expression as a guideline, included some figurative representation in the rough image.

The following is the original sketch:



I then began to tamper with effect on photoshop so I could see where the different interpretations of this work. The more imagery and flexibility I add the more dynamic this work could turn out.

Planning

The following are the stages which I have undertaken so far:

Picking the Artwork

Researching the Technique of the Artist, stories surrouning the painting, the artist himself

Sketching

Staging and photographing Model 1 (Noha El Khatib as Mary Magdalene)

Studying Lighting in image (photographer consultation)

Photoshopping - Model Picture

Diorama construction

Painting Sketch of Diorama

Photoshoping - Diorama pictures

STAGES REMANING UNTIL DEADLINE (May 2nd)

Staging and photographing Model 2 (Aya Atwieh as Martha)

Photoshopping - Model 2 picture

Placing Noha and Aya together through photoshop

Combining diorama table, Models, Objects into final photograph with Photoshop

Using photoshop image, adjusting dimensions so that they are easily translated into a canvas in the ratio 3:4

Gridding the image onto canvas

Painting

Diorama diorama night and day diorama

Our Tableaux began its transition to vivant with the process of diorama construction.

From the onset, I knew I would construct the scene from paper. I had just learnt a technique from Mr. Marcelo that I felt could be translated succesfully into 3D format.

Human figures could be broken down into generalized shapes, ovals and circles. I thought by recreating that form I could sketch the diorama eventually with relative ease. This is how the process unfolded:


1. Using paper strips, I recreated the models and mimicked body positions (as well as the little flower of which I'm quite proud)

2. I cut a base out of styrafoam to represent the floor (not seen in orginal piece), then shaved the edges with a sanding machine (whoever hasnt tried carving styrafoam should attemp it at least once) to clean it up, the attached a thin foam board (white) to the back to act as the wall.

3. I placed the paper ladies on it after "clothing" them with tissue paper to replicate the fabric.

4. I nailed 2 pieces of wood together to serve as the table top

5. Using a metal wire of medium thickness, I created the outline of the mirror that Mary rests her hand on

6. Painting the diorama. The background was initially white, as was the floor. I used the moody earth tones that Caravaggio employed to add artistic relevance to the 3D miniature model.

7. Photographing the Maquette
The importance of this step shed light on the purpose of the dioarama. I did not intitally understand the function, but after framing the scene the whole image came to light. I took the picture at different exposures in order to explore variations to the background, perhaps making it more appealing for modern day audiances.

a. diodrama - low exposure


b. table dimensions in focus



This table photo catalysed the most important observation I had made throughout the construction. My prespective and sketches of the diorama pre photograph had been skewed. Now, after adding the framework to the construct I am able to see how the models will interact with the object in the room.

c. exagerrated hues



This photograph is out of focus but the colors in at are appealing and interesting to look at.

I am unsure what elements the final selection will contain, but at least im self assured with an accurate prespective thanks to the Diorama.

(yes, brilliant idea, we get it Sir!)

An obscura observation

Location: AUD Mac Lab
Interviewer: Insistent blogger (N)
Interviewee: Almoutasim Al-Maskery, Photographer (A)

N: Looking at this picture, what can you say about it?




A: Is it a painting?

N: Yeah

A: Very accurate in it.

N: What can you say about the "Camera Obscura" method alledgedly employed? He set up a box with a lens in it....whats that about?

A: A light going through a small hole then getting...flipped. Its like a pinhole.

N: What about the lens?

A: We actually see things upside down. Through the hole, thats the way the we could see things when it reflects on a wall like in those days. But with a lens, it fixes the image so we see it the "right" way up.

N: Oooh, thats so cool!

N: So what about his method? Why is his use of lighting intelligent? More recognized than other artists..

A: His lights give an accurate shadow. But you don't usually see the light shadow around the face. Its usually darker than in the painting.

N: Where?

A: Around the neck, they would be black. So his skill was in making the details in the shadow show. Let me demonstrate something to u....

Try this: Al grabs a newspaper and makes a tiny pinhole in it. A window with blinds on it is behind him, with light shining through. On a desk, infront of the window, he holds the pinholed newspaper closely to a white piece of paper.

I observe on the white piece of paper...the shadow of the blinds reflecting on the blank paper on a small scale.

It looks beautiful.

N: DUDE!

A: (Laughing)

N: So he would use the lens to flip the images...

A: The image you saw was distorted, the lens flipside upside down, yes.

N: What can you say about the "light source"...was it real or imaginary?

A: It was kept in, emphasizing probably, that lights coming from a window. Theres a dilema here. Its probably coming from a window hitting the subject but its probably from a different room - from a pinhole. Light from the window, hitting the subject, reflected on the pinhole he's drawing from.

The other alternative, [that the light] is not there so he imagined it. He created a lightsource in his head coming from an imaginary window located high up above [Mary's] face. The reflection you see in the mirror, the top right corner.

N: Freaking wow. But how could all the subjects be lit the same way?

A: Its not very accurate. The lightsource from the top should be hitting her (martha) more intensely on the head...

N: Both head

A: No only the one.

N: Any final words?

A: Its amazing how humans could use light with advantages to make like easier for them to reach their visual goals.

N: :)

After this interview, I realised the importance of taking at least one photography class if not minoring in it in some way. As an artist, one of the biggest obstacles for me when depicting reality is understanding how shadows fall on people or objects.

It may be scientific, but learning the fundamentals of it - something Caravaggion clearly mastered, would allow me to manipulate and exaggerate the shading.

Much like how our ancient ancestors accentuated the bust and female body parts to depict fertility - Caravaggio exagerrated shadows to depict drama.

Rennonsense!!!

Although my best friend in drapery might be appealing to some, its not exactly the effect i was aiming for.

I want high luxury. I want her oozing sensuality and innocence....dicotomy and allure



What? What the hell have i done?

Ok. Photoshop attempt one.
Verdict: EUW.

That...looks...like she's going to Bollywood. And she might not even get a part in a B movie.
I'm so sorry Noha. Forgive me.

I thought I'd try something else. Just to see if i could completely transport noha back in time....to this specific point



Et voila...



Not sure how i will use this, but the process of superimosing the outfit made me observe a lot of details i would have probably not picked up on. I was forced to examine shadows and reflections minus my flightly attention span....that I'm sure...will come in handy.

Diophrama coming shortly....

In stores now! A canvas slightly smaller than the original painting...!

In the year 1598...

Caravaggio woke up from sleep, probably cranky given his emotional instability.

Inspite of himself he had work to do. A painting was fermenting in his system ready to be actualized. Whether the cardinal had requested or if it was from his own imagination - the setting for the conversion of Mary Magdelene was about to unfold on a canvas.

It was said that Caravaggio set the environment and asked his models to come in separatey. Allegedly, he would sketch whoever was involved altogether - then have them come in at separate times at their (and his) conveniece.

409 years later, in a building on shiekh zayed road - an "artist" formally known as Natalie is bringing in a model to recreate the expression captured so vividly by a man who added dramatic moody lighting to the face of Baroque art.

This is how the session progressed before the final facial selection was perfectly snapped....



1. Setting up
The drapes were, um, borrowed from Painting class. I hope Ms. Townsend doesn't have this address...



2. Nervous model, giggling away the awkwardness.
(not seen in picture, very lucky photographer who was in the presence of much asthetic beauty)



3. Coustesy of the photographer, lighting and mood was bieng set up according to the painting. I had a printout on hand, shoving it to his face - he didn't need much coaching on my part. One look and he knew what i was going for.


4. Discussing the scene
Natalie: Ok. Here's the deal. Your a prostitute...
Noha: *blink blink*
Natalie: But you've found the "light". Your sister...has convinced you that those days are over and in one second, your life changes. We want to see the look on your face in that second
Noha: Dude. Ok. Hold on *deep breath*.....

And there we have it



5. Mary Magdelene, April 2007

Model: Noha El Khatib , best friend at large
Photographer: Al. Alfred. Altussem.

Thank you both very very much.

Spiritual Cleansing - In Pencil

A few A4's and A3's later...

I came up with something i was content with...not because it was perfect...far from it...

The most impactful and charming aspect of Caravaggio's masterpiece was the look on Mary Magdelene's face. He tends to capture major emotional turning points or transitional phases. Her expression in the sketch I created had the same mood.

In my embryonic art skills, I feel I this sketch has some innocence in it. Innocence that Mary aspires too.

The cherry blossom in her hand was a common sign of purity in those days. They were used in primarily in wedding bouquets, to accentuate new beginnings...

The little insignificant flower that a few tints and tones brought to life, made me emotionally attached to the work. It's the link - from my life now in 2007 - to the artists vision back then. I'm in the middle of my own personal conversion...now I have ghosts in oil paints to share it with.

Our painting instructor said something to me the other day that's been echoeing on and off in my brain since i heard it

"if you use an experience to create art, you transcend the experience".

He'll hit you in the nose

I sketched.

And sketched.

Then tonight, at about 11:30, a sketch that was bearable to my eyes, but still unbloggable, rested under my hands.

I began to think about what Caravaggio saw when he was about to sketch. The look on his face and the image in his mind. How he would do it. Pencil or charcoal? Would he do it when he woke up? On an empty stomach? Did it matter? All i knew was that i was growing increasingly frustrated with this whole sketching business...so I decided to take a break and research my mentor... I soon discovered that Caravaggio was very familiar with frustration :)

Caravaggio

I delved into his life story. I learnt that he had been orphaned at 11 and that same year he apprenticed to a painter. He soon went to Rome and met the man who would provide him with a pseudo family environment in the form of a home and food, Cardinal Francesco del Monte.

With this stability he was able to establish himself as a painter and by 24 was renowned for his work. It was around this time that he began to paint some rather controversial images, most notably of Saint Matthew argueing with an angel.

His temper also began to make an occasional appearance. In 1603 he punched another painter in the nose...a year later he threw a plate at a waiter...then stones at some Roman Gaurds.

(at this point i'm thinking...right so should i start throwing canvases around Painting class tommorow and whacking my intructor with some Acrylics to channel some Caravaggioness? )

Things got worse from here on out. It was less about the painting and more about his mood and fights. It all climaxed when he killed a man in a fight at a bar - it is rumoured - either over a sports match or the courtesan Fillide Melandroni (who he used as a model frequently).

Either way he degenrated psychologically. He was banished from Rome. In the summer of 1610....a confused series of movements and decisions led to his early death.


Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610).

He had 3 paintings with him the last time he was seen, allegedly gifts for Cardinal Scipione. He never once stopped. I'm convived it was the only thing that kept him alive.

Imagining the sequences of actions that lead to his death and mindset was incrediby tiring. I gave up.

She's Quite the Bunny....

In an attempt to find other artist's renditions or interpretations of this work, I came across some interesting information.

Turns out that the woman who was beheading Holofernes in a previous Caravaggio work is the same woman posing as a Mary Magdelene. So my Judith/Mary had an adaptable face. I hadn't noticed. I took a look now and lost confidence in myself as an observant member of the aud art community.

The painting I've chosen is also referred so as "The Conversion of Mary Magdelene". I'm guessing from naughty to nice. It is said that her sister Martha - the frumpier member of the scene - tried to convince her sister to improve her....um...outing habits.

The Bible reference, since it is Easter today, is in John 11:5

"Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus."

So Lazarus is the mirror?

I never said i read the Bible :)

Since my search for sketches or roughs of this work were unsuccesful, I decided to have technology assist me in the breakdown of Caravaggio's genious. In the same manner that I learnt how he could have possibly employed a "Camera Obscura" to create outlines and proportional relations on his canvases....I will use available tools to help recreate the scene he presented. And so the cycle continues



I first transformed the image in photoshop to grayscale in order to better note the shifts in contrasts that Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was renowned for. I wanted to play with the brightness and contrast to observe the movements on the shadows.

I only began artistic endevours outside music in this university in the Fall term 2006. My confidence in picking up a pencil and sketching with attention to these things is absent as of yet. I think computers allow my brain to adapt the images from a familiar medium through my eyes...then when im manually comfortable all the photographic observations will translate into a wicked sketch. Until then, this is my guide...



The grainy-ness of the image aside...this helps me note where the source of light is allegdly eminating from (camera obscura taken into account). The flash or flare of the camera seems to be in 2 places strangely enough, but moreso on the wall behind martha then moving through from her to Mary and the far right. For recreating the scene this helps me envision where the camera is going to be located....and how the lighting needs to be arranged.

We have painting tommorow morning, I think I might just ....go into a little corner...huddled with both printouts and attempt.....maybe.....

Should I bring Ink?

I'll see.

Im very curious about Caravaggio's personal goings on. He seems awfully moody. Maybe he's gemini or sumthing. Well, now you know my next entry is going to be the dissection of the masters life.

How did they say good-bye in the renaissance?

Aribaderci!

Baby Steps

I, a first time painter (putting it in print made me uneasy!) have begun my research into our classes final assignment. A few boxes, a stump and an violently colorful self portrait is the trail that leads me to this project.

When our instructor, for those of you who are here by accident, Marcelo asked us to construct a Tableaux Vivant, my facial expression dissentigrated from excitement to confusion. The exotic sound of it threw me off, even though I speak french. The modern humans interacting with classic paintings - a language I do not speak.

But I ascertained enough information to begin the process. The process, yes the process. Maybe if i say process 40 times I'll get an automatic A :) - for the blog at least.

I was initially tempted to select a modern artist – I know I would passionately recreate vibrant colors, especially when coupled with human forms of some kinda - Munch came to mind.

This is mainly due to the fact that whenever I see renaissance work I am immediately put off. The subjects (religious mostly) would bore me and the enchantment surrounding the scenes never stirred a deep movement inside me. The scale and detail of the works of Michaelangelo and his contemporaries are meant to intimidate and awe the audience, especially the ones they were targeting at the time. But that contrast in expected reaction and my own is the very reason I could never connect with the work.

However, bieng infinitely excited about all thing painting, it is specifically due to my ignorance that I’ve chosen Caravaggio.

Out of all the 15th century painters he was the only one whose paintings contained some hint of contempt and a slight bitterness towards his own work and subject matter. I might be wrong, but until my research proves otherwise – I think his dramatic manner disguises the sarcasm he feels towards religion. I can relate to that and that’s a good place to begin any painting.

So in my own “Italian Idol” search for the best painting from his selection, the following stood out.


Narcissus (1588 – 99) Oil on Canvas (110 x 92 cm)

“Narcissus” is a charming way to depict vanity, but the reflection in the water or whatever liquid is too advanced for the stage of painting that I currently reside in. If this were a direct recreation I would have less trouble, but since it is staged I sense my own rendition would lack the substance present here. I know that if I attempted this technique this early on in my art studies I would do a less than ideal job and proceed to be discouraged in future reflective paintings. Moving on *looking in mirror*

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Judith Beheading Holofernes (c.1598) Oil on Canvas (145 x 195 cm)

“Judith Beheading Holofernes” - are you kidding me? In one month? Marcelo would behead me for lack of talent.


Bacchus (c.1956) Oil on Canvas (95 x 85 cm)

“Bacchus” I confess, has some strange hold over my perception. He’s mesmerizing, even though he’s not really my type :) This would be relatively easy to stage, but one thing I love about paintings which is absent in self portraits or portraits – especially Caravaggio’s – is the interaction between two or more human forms. He uses light to create the conversation and atmosphere that take place in the scene and I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to tune into that wavelength, which explains my choice.



“Martha and Mary Magdalene” was the winner. It wasn’t a superficial choice as my explanation demonstrated there was a progression of thoughts and preferences in Caravaggio’s work that drew me to this image. I did note; however, that my selection of his work was restricted to his earlier paintings. So I learnt something new about myself. Now I can pretentiously say this statement at dinner parties: “Caravaggio? I prefer his work before 1598. I feel that his paintings got slightly out of control and less loving. They got angrier on average and I sensed he was painting as he could so well that it was almost his middle finger to the art community”. I’ll paraphrase it. The major appeal of this work is the fabric and tone. I can’t wait to stage the scene with some beautiful costumes.
c. 1598
Oil on canvas, 97,8 x 132,7 cm

Even though I’ve selected my work – the questions have only begun. For instance, back then there was no “Emirates Trading” to go buy your standard sized canvas. How am I going to recreate a canvas whose proportions have 0.8 and 0.7 in them? How do I apply the oil to get that smooth blended effect? Where do I get renaissance clothing from?

I will ask and see where that leads me. And now…onto more research.