Painting

My artwork involves painting. Though I engage in other forms of paintings such as wall and metal painting, I mostly like painting on wood. This is because wooden panels after being painted become so attractive. Painting on wood is among the oldest arts and forms one of the most durable products. Wood painting panel is usually handcrafted to make it strong, yet very lightweight. The wood’s unprimed unrefined birch surface could be prepared to take in virtually every artistic medium such as oils, encaustics, acrylics and so on. I cautiously select a defect free wood, cut it in size and cradle it using frames (Suite 3). Since largely raw wood is hard to find as well as expensive, plywood that is made from mahogany, birth or poplar are my favorites.  Prior to painting on wood, I first ensure that the wood nicks and blemish free and as smoothened as possible. By integrating wood grain finish on the imagery of my artwork, I mount photographs on the panels to accord them presence on the gallery wall. Additionally in order to increase the paints longevity along with durability I use a strong rigid substrate for mounting weaker supports of the panel (Suite 7). My paintings range from images of geographic sceneries, paintings of people portraits, and images of cities especially when the sun is rising or setting.  Wall painting, magically transforms the walls into a perfect surface that presents some image and gives an informative message.

My painting artworks reflect the Ottonian artworks that were initiated during the leadership of Ottonian German emperors. It is said that ephemeral decorations for instance painting played a very important function in the empires’ architectural prowess (Visual-arts-cork 6). Since architecture is one of the fields are majorly interested in and the fact that my drawings comprise of cites’ buildings the Ottonian empire paintings really motivated me.   The Ottonian artists produced beautiful artworks that were placed in churches depicting holy images. The use of their skills to promote the works of God and to make holy places attractive particularly inspired me towards liking the Ottonian artwork (Metmuseum 5). The paintings on sculptures mirror my artwork, which is painting on wood. The Ottonian artists’ artworks such as wall-surfaces paintings remained for years particularly on churches’ fronts; this makes wall painting a very powerful towards passing history and turning the walls to express painting skills.   

The Codex Wittikindeus is one of the manuscripts that inspired me since it depicts the strength of the early Carolingian customs during the 10^th century. A second manuscript is the Egbert Codex, which was a gospel lectionary that indicates readings from gospels all through the liturgical year. A third manuscript is the Liuthar group manuscripts named after a monk known as Liutha, he is depicted as one of the gospel scribes of Otto III (Metmuseum 10).

The Ottonian artistic prowess along with skills I observed in the creation of illuminated manuscripts to a great extent guided me in creating an illuminated manuscript. The varying illuminated manuscripts assisted in selecting of a well-structured design. I chose the most appealing design of all, the Ottonian culture motivation towards my creation was therefore instrumental. Among the cultures studied the Ottonian culture was the best appealing and most practical. It has preserved most of its culture through painting, which is my favorite art.

Works Cited

Metmuseum. “Ottonian Art | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art.” Home | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. N.p., 2013. Web. 8 Sept. 2014. <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/oton/hd_oton.htm>.

Suite. “Using Wood as a Painting Surface.” Suite. N.p., 2012. Web. 8 Sept. 2014. <https://suite.io/venice-kichura/1jab2rm>.

Visual-arts-cork. “Ottonian Art: History, Characteristics.” Visual Arts Encyclopedia. N.p., 2014. Web. 8 Sept. 2014. <http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/ottonian-art.htm#sculpture>.