Mentor Artist and Concentration

Edward Hopper
Early Sunday Morning
1930
Whitney Museum of American Art
New York City

Edward Hopper (additional artwork)
Summer Evening
1947
Private Collection













In Early Sunday Morning, many of the features characteristic of Hopper are apparent. Firstly, on the building face he uses both a bright red and green with a clear partition between the two. The simple of division of bright and even more exaggerated glowing is an idea that I will use in the concentration. Another feature of his work is the use of light as geometry. Hopper is noted for frequent use of rectangular shapes and shadows cast through windows. In this piece that is visible with the fire hydrant and the window above it. Even in the composition there are many geometric features, like the long series of windows on the first and second floors. Lastly, similar to my piece “Facade”, this piece contains clear divisions between levels of the building, and the blue sky around. The idea of having distinguished background and object with contrast is something for the concentration. I additionally uploaded the painting Summer Night to supplement Early Sunday Morning because I saw clear similarities with the nighttime landscape I did of my house porch under the moonlight. An idea that I used similar to Hopper was the illumination of an area (porch) which is otherwise enveloped by darkness and near blackness. 

In my concentration, firstly I plan to explore the element of “glow” that is found in my previous pieces. While some work can be dull in nature, with reduced saturation, I plan to intensify the vibrancy and radiance. Also, in terms of color I plan to use primarily warm colors, such as reds and yellows because of their tendency to enliven paintings, and give the desired effect through color. Lastly, in terms of space I will make the object occupy the majority of the composition. I think that I work best when dealing with small details, therefore by enlarging the image will help in that goal. An example of this is below with the candleholder, which served as an example for me for the necessity to make the objects much larger to emphasize the light in its base.

My work related to concentration: