Larger Scale paintings

This week I have decided to gather all my current experiment ideas together in order to begin painting large scale, focusing on a specific photograph. I have gotten to a point where my style is independent and personal to me, however my artist still have a high influence on my work, as it is through their style experimentations I was able to discover ideas and style's of my own.

To begin with I used two photographs for this set of work (bellow) is a scenery of the sea side in Lithuania, and a image of a river in a woodland area. As I have done before, I am more concerned and interested in the light and colours that this surrounding creates my idea was to create two sets of board paintings of the same image. Both of which are strongly focusing on my theme however for my first paining I tried to choose colours very similar and realistic as to the ones in the photograph (this in a way representing a more realistic image of the landscape) however for my second painting I have edited the colours of the photograph to make them have a stronger contrast with colours which are unrealistic and unusual for the environment, quite similarly as Vytautas Kasiulis changes colours in his paintings creating his own world of art. The idea of editing the photograph and then painting according to that distorted reality, is express and emphasise feeling or memories towards a certain place which change over time, and become less clear as to precise details, and in a way the first painting should reflect what we may see and remember from looking at a photograph, and the second edited painting is what we remember and feel ourself.

 This is the original photograph used as inspiration for my second painting
And bellow are two edited images of this photograph, which are distorted in shapes and colours.

For my first painting I began by preparing the board, by applying acrylic paint over an old background to get a clean background. I then started to focus on the sky for which I used  blue acrylic paint which I tinted when I needed lighter shades. At first I applied quite smooth straight lines of various shades of blue, that were quite defined yet not flowing together, hence I decide to use a technique which i previously have used with Joseph M.W. Turner inspired work of using a damp sponge and white acrylic paint to dab and blend as well as smooth the paint together, This was very useful technique as it made the sky look more realistic and in depth, yet smooth and flowing.

I then continued my painting, by staring to focus on the section of the sea which is hitting the coast. In comparison the colour of the water has a lot of different colours and undertones that the light reflects. Hence I started off by applying purple and green coloured tones as the base, once again blending them in with a sponge, using different shades of blue acrylic paint, I went through this process several times, as I aimed to built up the tones, to get that deeper blue sea colour. It was harder when it came to painting the waves, as in the photo they are quite sharply defined adding dimensions to the whole image. However because my theme and style of painting consist on the idea of general light,texture and colour, I wasn't focused about recreating perfect sharply defined waves, but instead used some light acrylic paint to highlights specific areas where the waves are more defined. In result the painting still consists of blurriness of unclear landscape, yet displays beauty of light and colour conveying detail from a different perspective.

This whole process of layering tones and colours does have some rebalance to the way Turner used to paint. As he used to paint over areas of his detailed paintings to perfect them, which in result lead to overbuilt amount of media, causing the detail to be change and slightly distorted making the painting look more ambiguous and unclear. Even so Turner was doing so to create a painting that represented his thoughts and ideas the strongest, emphasising that perfection and beauty of a painting is all down to what the Artist sees as perfect, and that viewers should think outside the box because any kind of painting has perfection of its own in the eyes of the Artist. With my paintings it's a similar idea, I layer the paint over and over so that it becomes something unique, although unlike Turner who may have taken a long time changing his work, I am building up the media in shorter space of time. I want these paintings to  make the viewers understand the concept behind it by examining it to form their own ideas of what they view in the painting, and not just from first impressions which may be misleading.

I then continued to the last part of the painting which was the sand. It was quite challenging to create tones which varied as they do in the sand of the photo due to light and water. This is why whenever painted the sand it did blend with the rest of the subtle colours in the painting (as seen in image on the left bellow) The main aspect of the painting causing this was the obvious colour change almost like a barrier between the brown and the blue colours (sand and seas) because they didn't collide or blend in together. To fix this applied more white acrylic paint round the are where the two colours meet, to even out the obvious colour change, I then hanged the painting side ways and applied light blue oil paint in only a few areas and then pressed down turp substance with a paintbrush to make the turp substance thin down the oil paint and cause it to drip down to the sand are, I then similarly some this with a small about of black pen and hairspray. This overall resulted in a blended effect which makes it look like the sea waves are hitting the coast line more naturally and organically due to the free flowing oil paint (result can be seen in the image on the right bellow)

My overall inspiration for this piece of work was this piece of work I have created in my sketchbook, which had originally been inspired by Joseph M.W. Turners work.

Lastly for this sea painting I wanted to add some textured surface detail as in the work above, by making marks on paper with various media such as coloured pencils, hairspray, pen, acrylic paint and paper.

Bellow are two textured pieces of collage that it stuck down to the board with masking tape to see which one would be most suitable.

In the end I decided to use the collage on the right side (photo above) although it did rip the paper a little bit to fit in better with the painting, after ripping the paper I glued it onto the board with PVA glue and then using white acrylic paint and a sponge went over the edges and the are around the paper to allow it to blend in with the rest of the image. Bellow is a photograph of the finished painting.

For my second painting I started off by painting a white base using acrylic paint. After allowing the paint to dry I started applying green and soft brown shades of oil paint. The main idea was to recreate a similar style I have previously discovered during Vytautas Kasiulis research. Initially I wanted to apply smooth defined paint marks which stood out individual yet combined as a whole together. However when I started painting I discovered that the oil paint did not apply the same way as it had on the paper in my sketchbook, despite that the result was even better, as due to the board being hanged up to the wall, as I would press down the paintbrush with the oil paint and the turp substance the whole mixture would start leak down the board creating organic, bold and lively colours. Hence I discovered a new technique which I found excellent for the purpose of this abstract landscape painting.

As seen above I started to gradually build up the dripping effect of the oil paint, which started to associate a lot with the trees in the photograph. However there was a certain point at which the media and colour built up became overwhelming and the whole painting look harsh, which in a way makes the whole painting look brash, with no real focal point. The dark paint around the edges of the board made the whole painting look framed, rather than spacious. Also in this painting I used acrylic paint to highlight some areas, however the undertone in the green paint looked quite artificial compared to the other earth green tones, which made the whole painting stand out in a negative way even more.(Here are the pictures bellow)

In order to correct this issue, I decided go to over the areas which seemed to have too much media, and gently using white acrylic paint and a sponge covered them up. (Image bellow)

It straight away made the painting appear lighter,  lively and more fresh and subtle. I also made sure the overwhelming green tones weren't showing any more, and instead started to apply more earthy green and brown colours. Instead of applying any more paint to the top of the painting (as it would have made the painting look dark and framed again) I gently applied so tea stain to give it a soft warm yellow shade.

 As the majority of the colours blend and compliment each other in this painting, I wanted to add a detail to this painting that would stand out from the rest, hence as you can see in the image on the left bellow, there is a section of grass by the river that is bright orange. Hence I painted a piece of paper with red/orange toned paint, and the stuck it own with masking tape to see if this would look effective, so that I could then later paint it on using oil or acrylic paint. Overall I think the paint looks effective as the redness of it draws the viewers eye to that specific area, making it the staring and focus point of the painting.

Bellow is the photograph of the finished painting, after I have applied red oil paint onto the canvas. Unlike the image on the right above, I chose a less intense and more naturalistic red tone, as I still wanted it fit in with the whole idea of earthy colours.

Overall the process of painting these two paintings has allowed to to stretch my ideas as well as discover and refine new techniques. It has also allowed me to express myself through more abstract landscape art, which takes away the obvious details, replacing them with detailed marks and colours, which can emphasise a lot about a painting, just by looking at it. I think these two experiments have really helped me in terms of considering the main ideas of what I am going to be creating for my final piece, and I now know that painting on a larger scale using board is what I want to continue as well as refining these skills even more, possibly combining them together as well as adding some other techniques from my sketchbook that I have yet had a chance to transfer onto my board paintings. I still look back at my artists for guidance and inspiration, but I believe my experimentations have allowed me to become more independent and expressive in my own personal style.

Refining and exploring styles

After going on the Oxford trip and gathering inspiration and ideas from what I have seen, I continued to keep working in the styles of my three artists Vytautas Kasiulis, Scott Naismith and Joseph M.W. Turner, in order to allow me to adapt these three styles together and create my own personal style overall.

The painting you see above is in mainly the style of Scott Naismith, created using acrylic paint, oil
paint, ink and hairspray on paper. My main focus for this painting was one of my photographs of a beach taken in Lithuania during the summer (Bellow)

And the main artist  images that inspired me were Naismith's  paintings 'Glen Spean Snow 2' and 'Scapa Distillery' (images bellow)

Above (On the left) Scott Naismith 'Glen Spean Snow 2' 30 x 60 cm, oil on linen (1) (On the right) Scott Naismith 'Scapa Distillery' 60 x 60 cm oil on canvas (2).

I chose these two paintings for inspiration because just like my own photograph, they show a gloomy and darker atmosphere. Also 'Glen Spean Snow 2' shows a great example of layering paint in only certain sections to make the work stand out more without there being too much media in one place. As you can see in my painting I tried out this method by layering thicker amounts of paint in the corners of the the painting rather than the whole surface, this creates a bigger variety of surface texture which gives depth to the whole image. There are some down sides to this as a thicker amount of paint does chip off more, I also applied some blue ink onto the painting because I liked the previous outcome of doing so from my previous experiment (image bellow) The blue ink does in fact make the whole image look more lively as something in particular is highlighted from the whole image, giving a starting point. However looking back I do not think that the ink is suitable for a sky background as it appears quite glossy and smooth and would be better for representing a flow of water, like a river, do to its organic free flow appearance and the intense blue colour.

(image of my previous art work)

Overall looking back at this painting, I think that applying layers of paint both at the top and the bottom of the page is too much, as it creates very sharp looking corners that it in a way frame the whole image making it visually appear less spacious, whereas a landscape painting should be very open and spacious. Hence in the future I will try to balance out the details in such way that the whole image does not look framed and overdone.

After completing one side of the painting on the other side of the page I intended to recreate the same image, but in more unrealistic colours (image bellow). I wanted the unclear picture to represent some form of memory of that place, where not all details are the same as the ones you would have looking at a photo.  For this image I used acrylic paint, coloured chalk, pen, hairspray, PVA glue, newspaper on paper. I tried to make this image look more like my previous experiment that I showed in the image above. Unlike the other painting I wanted the colours to be more subtle and less intense, yet still colourful. However the colours I chose were more unrealistic however overall this worker more effectively.  Initially I hoped that the oil paint colours from the first painting would show through to this side of the paper (as in a previous experiment second image bellow) however because I used turp substance to thin down the paint, the colour did not show through as I thought it would have, Hence I decided to just paint a background of my own. I also tried to layer paint, however this time in only used a singular colour (white acrylic paint) and only layered paint on one section of the painting, which in fact looked more effective than the previous image, I also went round some areas of the image with a pen and hairspray, as I wanted to brighten up the subtle looking image, and this proved to be effective. 

(Above are three stages of painting the second painting. )

(Above is my previous art work, which demonstrates the effect of oil paint showing through on the other side of the page)

After finishing both paintings, I had some oil paint remaining on a plastic wallet, hence I decided to utilise the paint. I folded the plastic wallet together to mix up the oil paint colours and then pressed the unfolded wallet onto my sketchbook to achieve the result bellow.

I also added some pen and hairspray to the image to bring out certain areas even more.

Overall compared to the two images I painted before,  I prefer this art work much more, mainly because it still in a certain way  highlights the colours of the beach, but presents the whole scenario in a creative and not a straight obvious way, which looks more expressive and beautiful.





The three images bellow are mainly colour and media application studies that I carried out in order to understand further methods of layering media and colour in such ways to create an effective base or background.

Although the initial inspiration for these images was my unrealistic painting version of the beach inspired by Naismith (image show previously) as these images have a lot of light purple, blue pink shades as well as white tones, just like the painting, it must be said that the experiments are meant to be more related to Turner's style.

 Main artist inspirations for these art work were;

Above (On the left) Joseph M.W. Turner 'Essays in Colour to Try his Palette' Watercolour on paper, 480 x 345 mm (3) (On the Right) Joseph M.W. Turner 'Moonlight' Watercolour on paper,   251 x 381 mm (4).

The reason why I chose these two pieces of art work is because Turner was also experimenting with them, in terms of colour palette and mark making of media (watercolour in this instance) I also liked the fact that the art work is subtle and neutral colours, as after some of my previous experiments I realised sometimes vivid and bright colours can be overwhelming.

For my first art work (image on the left) I used watercolour, coloured chalk, pen, hairspray white acrylic paint, tape and paper. To being with I created the background by applying a brighter watercolour base which I then made even more lively by adding bright colours of  coloured chalk (blue, purple, pink and yellow)

I then printed out an image of a landscape which I had previously edited online (images bellow) and then used the sellotape transfer technique (sticking tape over a printed image and then using a damp sponge remove the paper from the tape in order to end up with a translucent image) The new image I then stuck down to the page, and to finish of the whole art work I went over the bright background and the corners of the photograph with white acrylic paint to town down the intensity of the colours.

(Above, on the left is the original photograph that I have taken, and on the right is the edited version of the photograph, I used the website www.befunky.com to edit it)

For my other two artwork (image in the middle) I used pen, hairspray, acrylic paint, coloured chalk on paper. (image on the right) Mixture of acrylic paint on paper. Similarly as the first image on the left, for the other two, I gradually built up a background, by adding one type of coloured media, and then another one on top to see how overall all the colours would appear together, and what colours to choose so that they would compliment each other. Overall these three pages of experiments allowed me to understand that it may require time to gradually create a desired outcome, as built up of media is needed.


Further Techniques in Turners style and colour experiments in Kasiulis's style.

My next two pieces of art work are inspired both by a painting of Turner and one of my photographs.

Above (on the left) my photograph, taken in Vilnius, Lithuania (on the right) Joseph Mallord William Turner “Norham Castle – Sunrise”. Created using oil on canvas in 1835-1840.Support: 908 x 1219 mm,frame: 1060 x 1370 x 70 mm (5)

To begin with it all started off with me trying to recreate a section of “Norham Castle – Sunrise” using acrylic paint, paper and a damp sponge (image bellow) 

Because this piece of experiment turned out as I intended, later on I decided that I should try and clash this painting and my own photographs together for the purpose of style and technique. Hence I once again recreated sections of “Norham Castle – Sunrise” on a book page which I then ripped in large pieces and glued onto my sketchbook so that I would appear as collage. Then I one again repeated the technique of applying oil paint onto a plastic wallet and then folding it up to mix up the colours (in this instance I chose orange, red and white coloured oil paint as they are similar colours to the ones of the sky in my photograph) And then I pressed down the paint onto the page opposite which created the result you can see in the image bellow. 

I then decided that I should furthermore continue these experiments of colour and collage combined together and focus on my sunset photograph alone, and it's warm and harmonious colours. The experiments I carried out bellow are a mixture of previous techniques I have discovered from working in the style of my three artists. 

Media used; acrylic paint, enamel paint, oil paint, watercolour, PVA glue, canvas fabric, hairspray, pen, newspaper, black and brown paper, wallpaper on paper.

To begin with I think that choosing not to actually recreate the image but its colours was a good decision, as this allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and not be afraid to experiment and try to make something perfect or accurate. These two pages included the process, of applying black and white enamel paint onto newspaper, and after it dried I ripped it up and glued it down along pieces of wallpaper (which I coloured with water colour) and black and brown paper to create my background collage. I then went over some sections with a pen and sprayed hairspray over it. On the other side I painted the whole page with black acrylic paint, after it dried I once again pressed down oil paint onto the page, resulting in patches of colour (one thing I did notice is that I did not put enough oil paint onto the plastic wallet for there to be a bright enough colour on the paper).

For the little piece of canvas fabric I used orange, red, yellow and white oil paint I firstly applied the paint all over the fabric, and then I dipped a paintbrush into some turp substance and firmly pressed down the paintbrush and dragged it over the fabric to create lines that reveal different undertones of oil paint which I previously added. I really liked this technique as it makes a flat 2D surface more 3D as it creates light and depth. I originally got inspiration for this from another experiment I carried out in the style of Kasiulis (image bellow) I simply applied strokes of oil paint on a page (without mixing them or tinting them) I wanted to see how brighter colours can compliment and work with each other in a similar style as Kasiulis applied his paint.  Media I used; Oil paint, white enamel and tea stain on paper.

Above (on the left) Vytautas Kasiulis 'Mulen Ružas’ (Moulin Rouge) oil on canvas, 1980’s, taken in Vytautas Kasiulis Art Muesum, this painting is the best example of Kasiulis's technique of bright and intense colours. On the right is my experiment of combining bright colours in his style. 

To finish off my experiments in my first sketch book I took the whole collage and colour experiment even further, by combining all my work to create a very textured background.

Above you can see two images of the same two pages of my sketchbook, in the middle I glued down 4 pages of a A4 book, which allowed me to create lots of textured collages. Overall the media I used was; acrylic paint, coloured pencil, PVA,  paper, pen. On the 4 pages I glued down separate pieces of paper, I then went over them by making harsh marks with both pen and coloured pencil, I then covered the collaged with a thin layer of white acrylic paint to make all blend into one piece. For the main sketchbook background, I used acrylic paint and a damp sponge to create a blended and layered background, by dabbing the paint on gently with the sponge. I firstly applied darker various shades of colours which included dark green, dark purple and dark blue. When the colours were applied, together they did not compliment or blend together effectively, until I once again went over the colours with white acrylic paint, which evened out all the colours and made the unite. 

To conclude all of these experiments allowed me to strongly move forward in terms of understanding the most effective techniques that will help me to begin working outside by sketchbook on a larger scale. 

References;
(1) Scott Naismith 'Glen Spean Snow 2' http://scottnaismith.com/30-x-60cm-glen-spean-snow-2/
(2) Scott Naismith 'Scapa Distillery' http://scottnaismith.com/60cm-scapa-distillery/
(3) Joseph M.W. Turner 'Essays in Colour to Try his Palette' http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-essays-in-colour-to-try-his-palette-tw0475
(4) Joseph M.W. Turner 'Moonlight' http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-moonlight-d40138
(5) Joseph Mallord William Turner “Norham Castle – Sunrise” http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-norham-castle-sunrise-n01981

Oxford Trip

On the 1st of October 2014, I once again had an opportunity to visit three Museums in Oxford.

The first Museum I went to was the Oxford University Museum of Natural History as well as Pitt Rivers museum. Differently than the other two museums I went to later on, this one was mostly full of natural specimens, fossils, and other subjects. 

(Outside and inside the Museum)
Because my theme is abstract landscapes, I had to think about the sort of things I could be looking at that relate to my theme. However surprisingly there were surprising objects there that actually strongly relate to my artwork and inspirations.

Before visiting the Museum, quite a few times I have mentioned how bright colours are not seen as 'natural' or 'earthy' and look artificial, especially whenever my artists that I study (Scott Naismith and Vytautas Kasiulis) paint landscapes and other subjects in lively bright colours.

However I was quite wrong, in fact I discovered quite a few natural specimens that consist of beautiful, bright and sharp colours, that the earth has produced, so in fact my idea of a 'natural colour' is deceiving.
I noticed a lot of the beautiful colours are from materials that we don't necessarily see everyday or in typical surrounding we may be in. For example a lot of minerals, crystals and metals have very intense, clear and in depth colours. Here are some examples bellow:

Not only do these crystals present amazingly bright colours, they also have very unique textures and surfaces.

There were also colours of those who were once 'living' like small birds and fish that have bold and vibrant colours on their bodies;

However what fascinated me the most were minerals that fluoresce in the dark due to UV light creating very fluorescent and vivid colours. This surprised me because I was not aware at the time of this sort of minerals and the fact that they can glow. Meaning this once again proved my idea that organic object colours are mostly neutral and muted wrong.
Here is what they looked like bellow:

I believe these minerals match and relate with the my work and theme the most is because in the dark they don't show precise lines or details, they stand out through the powerful illuminating colours. Similarly with my theme, I am not trying to focus on landscape details, but the colours of the whole surrounding, which is exactly what the minerals in the photograph represent. I want to achieve the whole principle of viewer to questioning the actual subject matter they see in front of them but still be fascinated by the flow of colours presented. They also remind me of Vytautas Kasiulis's painting 'Loušas Elgeta' ('Lame Beggar') where Kasiulis uses a black oil paint background in order to make the colourful oil paint stand out more sharply.

(Above, Vytautas Kasiulis - 'Loušas Elgeta', oil on canvas, 1950's, Lithuanian Art Museum)

During the visit I also got a change to observe and in some instance feel different textures of old specimens of which some seemed misleading at first. For instance the two specimens bellow; the picture on the left side is of a mineral called 'Pyrite' which is a Iron Sulphide. It is 10,000,000 years old, It is known as fool's gold, because it has often been mistaken for gold due to its resemblance. In fact its appearance is delusive, when I first looked a Pyrite I thought its texture would be very metallic,and due to its texture the edges on the metal would be quite edgy and sharp. However I was wrong, in fact the texture of Pyrite was very smooth and the edges were worn down, hence the texture overall felt bumpy. Generally when looking at it doe to its shiny appearance, the Pyrite looks as if new, hence knowing that it is 10,000,000 is quite unbelievable.

Similarly the specimen on the right side appearance wise looks bumpy and quite rough, however the surface of it is quite smooth in texture. 

Here are some other interesting textures and surfaces I managed to find:

What I find interesting about the objects above, is the fact that the majority are of an organic source, and not man made, hence they are not in a perfect shape or form, which makes them unique. The fact It took these specimens thousands of years to develop, wear down and form into the way they look now, (which in many cases is probably very different as to what they looked like originally) reminds me of the work of Joseph William Mallord Turner. As from studying Turner I learnt he also often altered his paintings, making them completely different as to what they used to look like originally. He achieved this by painting over them, building a layer over another layer of paint on the canvas. Which in return for the long run has caused the paintings to crack and chip and wear down, just like the specimens above have due to the years of weather,and other factors. 

I also had time for a few observational drawings, I firstly looked at a skeleton of a dinosaur and tried to focus on its shapes using charcoal, as this choice of media seemed to be the best to represent what is now a fossil.

Here is what my sketches turned out as:

 It was quite hard to draw it in proportion and the right shape, however I tried making it more free flowing as it was a sketch hence there wasn't a lot of time to draw it. However because charcoal smudges, the two pictures above smudge the pages in front of them, creating very interesting marks of the same picture but more vague which I really like, due to its slight uncleanness of fine detail.

I also observed a crocodile as I found his skins texture very interesting, it had some resemblance to the way Scott Naismith layers his paint in small round patches. For these observations I used a variety of media such as pen, pencil, charcoal, however once again I though the charcoal was the most effective as it was the most convenient medial to use for a more free flowing style.

We then travelled to Oxford Modern Art gallery. At the time there was a Stuart Brisley 'State of Denmark' exhibition. Sturat Brisley is a British Artists, born in Surrey in 1933.

In particular I found two of his art pieces most relevant to my theme (images bellow). These two pieces of artwork are very textured and visibly layered with mixed media to create a very strong and rough feel for both the chair and the canvas. The only downside for this artwork in my perspective is the work seems a bit off putting because it looks like its been burnt and covered mud. However it is most likely what Brisley is trying to express with his work, some sort of damage or a example of neglect. Although saying that, I do like the fact that the artwork especially the canvas is very naturalistic, and does not have specific detailed drawings , but rather is full of textural detail.

(Above, on the left, Stuart Brisley 'Chair'  1996 - 2011 Wooden chair, paper mache, PVA, acrylic paint, hardwood parquet floor, tar. On the right, Stuart Brisley 'Royal Ordure' 1996, Mixed media on canvas 60"x48".)

Another similarity I have noticed is that 'Royal Ordure' looks quite similar to a painting by Niki de Saint Phalle called ''Shooting picture' which I viewed in the London Tate Museum (image bellow). This gives me and idea of considering trying to experiment with applying layered media all over the canvas, page or other type of media that I can use for the base of my artwork.

Another interesting thing I noticed in whilst in the Oxford Modern Art gallery, was the inside of the building as it looked a lot like and experiment I have created before. 

Here is what the ceiling looked like:

I like how the ceiling has patches with parts of the white paint cracked off or discoloured,its like the layers of paint built over years finally reveal what's always been underneath.

Bellow is an image of my work which I think looks a lot like the ceiling because of the colours and smudges of light paint, also the other side of the page has layered oil paint on it, and the page we see in the image bellow is just the paint showing thought from the other side, hence it fits the paint showing through concept and idea.

Lastly we went to the Oxford Ashmolean Museum, there I found a few paintings of landscape however, although the paintings are of landscape they do not carry out the same ideas and goals as I want for my artwork. Firstly the majority of the paintings I have seen there are very detailed with clear lines and subject matters, created using thin layers of oil paint on a canvas, using naturalistic tones and colours, also in size they were relatively small compared to other artist paintings I have seen before, and for a landscape painting a small canvas does not look effective, especially if an artist is trying to pass on the feeling of what it is like being in that moment, Whereas a large scale painting makes the viewer fell more like they are at the place of the painting. Whereas for me it is more interesting to examine work which shows passion for expressing colours of the atmosphere around the artists and texture that adds depth and 3D form to paintings. However I still think the oil paintings I have seen in the Ashmolean were helpful in order to allow for me to distinguish what type of artwork style is for me and suits my theme and ideas the most.

(On the left Pierre-Auguste Renoir 'Landscape with Trees' oil on canvas', on the right, James Abbott Mcneill Whistler 'The Shore, Pourville' oil on panel.)