Howard Hodgkin's Responses

This lesson we looked at how we could use colour to represent a memory. As I explored earlier in my colour theory post colour can represent emotions from passion to loneliness, from anger to happiness. These paintings are also inspired by Hodgkin work's we looked at how a took a particularly memory and turned it into an abstract piece  which conveys a snapshot of a memory which is personal to him.

Firstly I chose a red bracelet from my memory box, I carefully thought about the memory the object created from my summer holidays. It reminded me of a day at the beach were I met some new friends and we messed around in the sea, the bracelet was a gift from one of the guys that developed feels for me. The colour I used depicts my mood and feeling in the moment. the blues symbolize the water and the relaxed atmosphere between friends, this contrasts with the vibrant red which shows my summer love and the passion that I felt between us. It also represents the intense heat and the scorching sand. To show the memory I decided to draw a face with flowing hair as it represents the movement of the sea and my hair while I was swimming but also my powerful memory of my first kiss under water. I used circular forms repeatedly to show that my red bracelet sparks the memory and also to represent the bubbles that escaped to the surface when I held my breath underwater. I purposely let the background white to represent the purity of the act and child like simplicity of this memory-us playing the sea.

Again I used reds that represent excitement, adrenalin and danger along with blue that connotes  confidence and precision. also used to represent water and the cold air. I purposely made this response look like an aboriginal pieces, as I wanted it to represent a story of a night out and map out the root that we took on our adventure. My extrovert friends invited me to join them on one of their monthly 'lengging' sessions (which involves throwing water balloons at delinquent youths that chose to dress with a certain 'swag'). From the eventfully evening I kept a souvenir, a chewing gum rapper from the gum Johnny gave me, to remember it by. I used zig-zags in my piece as the rapper had a jagged edge, this simple pattern effects me as I instantly remember the night and the significant object when I look at the piece, making the work personal. I specifically used the colour blue to represent the water balloon, I drew circles to represent the shape of the balloons but also to indicate targets as the colour blue means precision. The yellows represent danger, I purposely mixed it with black creating stripes in the middle as this traditionally links to caution and a warning. There was the fear of getting caught, mixed with adrenaline that is also symbolized by the colour yellow and red. I used green to represent the youthfulness of this activity and to show that we all had fun.

In the this painting i used Hodgkin technique to create an abstract piece that represents my memory. I spent a lot of time at the beach when I was in Italy this summer and as usual I love to collect shells from the sea shore. this painting was inspired by shells in my box. I tried to create a rippled effect with the paint brush that looked like the ripples and lines on the shells. I think this technique worked well as when I asked my peers what the thought of it they instantly told me it reminded them of the sea. I particularly think my brush stroke technique is effective as it represents the waves of the sea as well as the sand and the texture on the shell. The colours were again the most important aspect of this painting. I used yellows to show that I was in a joyful mood while at the sea. The warm colours also reflect the temperature, I used yellow to show that the sand was so hot u could barely walk on it which represents both joy and caution. Red connotes my love for the beach even though i only get to go once a year. The colour blue represents tranquility in this piece as I always feel very relaxed when I'm by the sea. I intentionally made the yellow and the blue merge together to create green as going to the beach always brings back memories o my childhood.

This particularly memory was very special and it evoked a number of different emotions from love to fear as you can tell from the wide range of colours. This memory comes from both my journal and my box. The object that represents this memory is a medallion that was given to me by my summer love to remember him by. The necklace was very special to him as it was given to him by his older brother who is in the was in Iraq and he gave it too me. At this moment I felt almost every emotion and felt like i couldn't except such a gift this is represented by the colour yellow to show caution but also contrasted with joy as I was happy that I meant so much to him. The red represents the love and passion that we felt for each other in this moment. I used green as it symbolizes hope in Italian culture and we both hopped we would see each other again this is contrasted with purple, which symbolizes the unknown. I cloured the medallion in red and blue to represent that i felt comfortable and safe around him but also strongly attracted. I surrounded the medallion in white to symbolize the how innocent and pure this gesture was.

This painting was taken from a memory in my journal. It represents a night out with my friends at a psychedelic rave. I also related this to a object in my box; white florescent body paint in a round blue container. The main colour in this peace that I used is black this is because the rave took place in a forest at night and it was quite dark the only source of light where the lasers coming from the main stage therefore it was very heard to recognize anyone at all! Yellow is a colour that symbolizes joy and happiness. I used it in this piece as i can remember feeling very happy and excited to be with all my friends. In the piece I drew faint figures in yellow, I purposely drew them blurred to represent movement as we everyone was dancing for the whole night. I painted waves of energy flowing between the people in red and yellow. Everyone was in a good mood and the whole night was filled with good vibes this is shown by the yellow. The red represents peoples flirtatiousness as a lot of people try to 'hook up' at these kind of events. I tried to represent the fact that it sneekes around people by intertwining the colour red like a ribbon. I drew a hand at the top to show that everyone at the rave was like a big family and even thou you don't know people you still make new friends. I used purple to represent the unknown as every rave you go to you have a different experience. I purposely made the whole painting squashed together in the middle of the page as if the memory was trapped in a bubble this is because I danced all night and lost track of the time and usually when you go party's its almost as if you enter another world where nothing else maters apart from the know and you don't want the night to end!

I think these experiments worked well as they clearly respond to Hodgkin's work and and provide a vivid experience for both myself and the viewer. I could develop this idea further by focusing on one memory in detail and creating more responses for that particular memory. I will definitely use the concept of colour and its meaning in my final outcome as it intrigues me and I have learnt that I have a passion for colour.