Expanded painting: Movement and Stillness

Stillness

For the subject of the painting on stillness I decided to depict a film still from the film of Dino Risi's "Il Sorpasso"(1962). I found this significant because the film is all about speed while the still I chose shows a moment of stillness where the two protagonists rest on a deserted beach in the early morning. 

While the film still was in black and white, I used a limited colour palette where the dominant colours are chromatic greys, blue and brown. I have applied the acrylic paint in simple colour blocks alternated to parts in the painting where the colours are more blurred together, for example in the see, and this alongside the limited range of tonality, conveys a sense of calmness and suspension.

The simplicity of the style, and the blurring of forms is also aimed to expresses staticity.

I particularly like how the figure in the background came, because it really looks as if he is sleeping and in a calm state.

I am not convinced about the figure in the foreground instead, because it needs more shading and definition and I am unsure if the way it is now conveys more movement than stillness.

However I am happy with the overall effect of the painting, of quiet, calmness and also melancholy deriving from the dominant blue/ chromatic grey blue, and the idea of making a film still even more timeless through its reinterpretation.  

Movement

To create a painting centred on movement I have chosen a more abstract approach that allowed me to achieve a very different effect. 

By taking as basis of my composition Bernini's sculpture Apollo and Dafne, I repeated and overlayed this image various times, which resulted in a repetitive and abstract pattern, a sort of fluid grid. I then imaginatively colured these patterns without the use of shading - apart from in the background to create a more airy effect-, by using a wide range of vibrant colours at full saturation that convey vitality. 

The repetition of the shapes, which was inspired by the painting style of the Futurist movement and Chromophotography also aimed at showing speed of everyday life and a mechanical speed, expresses a movement that goes upwards. 

Although the figures have become abstracted into colourful shapes, they are still recognisable in some parts, and their twisted bodies add to the overall movement of the painting.