Mediterranean, Greek, Roman and Egyptian civilizations were who first used oil painting. Its made of vegetal essential oils. It was invented in the 15th century. Oil paint is a traditional paint choice. Becasue people have been doing it for so long, their are certain expectations, yet oil paitnign can be so versitile that you can explore new 'frontiers' of oil paitning. Also mixing is a large factor of oil paitning, and that on its own can be an art.
http://www.cyberlipid.org/perox/oxid0011.htm

Mother and Child - Mary Cassat Madame X - Pierre Gautreau Shiva at Whistle Creek - Sally Mann

Mary Cassat put more emphasis and detail in the child's face putting more pink and skin tone in her face and lips. It seems like she did this to show that in the relationship between and a mother and child, the child is most important and the mother is always there to serve and take care of the child. she used cooler colors for the background and warmer colors for the woman and child creating depth. In Madame X Gautreau used the cold white to emphasise the woman, but keeps the painting warm with browns and maroons. These colors are usually related to elegance and inferiority. Mann's photo is very dark and cold. she makes the effect having water and making the photo black and white. its sad and creepy. it makes you wonder what happened to the girl.

All these pictures portray something about the people in them. Whether it is the stay they are in or what title they posses

Andrew Wyeth Edward Hopper

Wyeth's painting with the dog sleeping and the window showing a Winter scene. It looks like a lazy Saturday morning in Maine, and makes you feel tired, but his choice in white and greys give the painting the cold feeling that would come in winter. When i look at Hopper's picture, the mood i get isn't based on the painting techniques, but on the choice of what the painting is of. I'm curious to who the woman is and whats she thinking about, and also where she is. It looks like a theater.However, his choice in warm dark colors, gives a sense of familiarity. Both pictures use a lot of light in their pictures, but shadows in Hoppers are done very well, while there are better highlights in Wyeth's, I think.

Where I am at

At this point in oil painting, its clear that i have improved on some aspects of painting like shadowing. I learned how to create texture with shadow when i painted a leaf. I learned depth during the white painting when i painted a white pot. The most difficult apsects that i have come across are highlights and reflections. right now im painting a windowsill and the refelction of the objects in the picture are hard to capture because the colors are hard to mix. Looking at paintings with glass windows helps and seeing how that aristic created that affect.

Some Famous Paintings

The painting i findthe most interesting is Nighthawks by Edward Hopper. It uses dark warm colors. it is very detailed with its highlighting and shadows. As for the composition, he used spacing as a tool by the placement of the people at the counter. He usued balance in the view of the picture, how the restaurant is to the right not in the center. The texture of the wood on the outside of Phillies and the counter is very detailed and thats how you know its wood. This painting was made in 1942 of two people sitting in a downtown diner late at night. Nighthawks is the title because it is another name for night owls, who are people that like to go otu late at night.
The scene was inspired by a diner in Greenwich Village.

In the Vase of Flowers by Jan Davisz de Heem, he highlights the flowers really well. By adding white to the flowers original color and then adding white to the backround like a halo makes it look like there is light reflecting off the flowers. Another tequniqe he uses is shadowing. HE does it the best think on the leaf. Leafs are hard because you have to show the light but also you have to make sure the leaf looks curved which is hard, but he did it very well.

Reflection on Studies in Smallness

The first painting were the most difficult because it, the shell, was the first painting i had done in long time and i felt like i was just getting in way over my head, but after i had finished it i felt much more comfortable and confident and went on to the leaf painting. These painting were definitely helpful for preparing me for the the white painting because i learned how to make specific colors, shade, and learn how to create texture.