samuel peploe - alan davie
...oil paints. The composition of Davies paintings seem to have no or little resemblence to how a still life would appear conventionally but this I feel is the splendour of his highly emotional and expressive work. The moods of the still lifes tend to be cheerful and thoughtprovoking such as in 'monument for 5' where bright colours prove very visually stimulating. The subject matters in Alan Davies still lifes are very varied,using unusual ojects,animals and symbols.His work is highly influenced by 'primative art'.His work often appears surreal and are a reflection of Davie's presumably extremly creative imagination. In Alan Davies own words he says that his paintings "make colours harmonise like notes in music". Some of Davies paintings are gritty, dark and violent at times, so much so that one or two of his paintings would bring the word disturbing to mind. In my opinion Alan Davies enigmatic dramas are not to be understood or questioned but simply enjoyed. Davies finds his inspiration from world cultures such as the Navajo Indians, Aboriginal Australians and Inuit, Carib and Jain traditions. I found Davies seemingly light hearted and 'fun' paintings deep and meaningful once you came to your own unique conclusion about them.I loved that the paintingscould be anything you wanted it to be and make you feel how you interpreted his works' message. Even Davies himself sees his own creations as"a source of wonder". Peploes was one of the 'Scottish Colourists' and originated from Edinburgh. He used a far more traditional and conventional style of painting still life in comparison to Davies. He incorporates a bold use of colour, like Alan Davies, but is more restrained in his interpretations of his subject matters. His work was realistic yet expressive and made use of large brushstrokes and a wide use of highlights throughout his still lifes. I notices that a few of his paintings were tinted pink such as 'tulips in a brown jar' and 'still-life with chops' which gave the paintings a softer appearance. Peploe also used black line in his still lifes which is not dissimilar to Davies style also.The black lines in Davies works are used to seperate different boundaries in his compositions wheras Peploe made use of the black line to shade and empasise shapes and his distinct style. His compositions normally consist of one main focus object ie a vase or a jug and there is a lot of use of flowers,fruit and everyday objects in his still-lifes. White and blue china also appears frequently within his compositions which I find very visually pleasing and ornate. One of his more abstract works is 'Dish with apples' which is more angular, heavily shaded and pleasing to the eye as it is a more relaxed style of painting. In 'Still Life with Tulips' there are vibrant, vivid and more expressive colours which are similar to that ofVan Goghs 'Sunflowers'. 'Anemones' is, I feel, the painting that I feel is most similar to Alan Davies work as there exciting bright colours, a use of more abstract shapes, and the blackline is used in this painting to seperate different boundaries in the composition. Some of Peploes paintings however such as 'Tulips and Fruit' bear no resemblence whatsoever to Davies work as they are carefully and delicately painted and washier pastel colours and have little definate definition. Peploes compositions allow for the eye to...