Helen Frankenthaler

Frankenthaler pours paint on a large scale to create her work. Although mine are on small canvas' the technique is still the same. She will just spend a lot more money on paint than I do. I'm not particularly keen on her work style, but I do appreciate the style in which she does it.

Morris Louis

I looked at Pollock due to how he used paint, I've researched Morris Louis because of the way he makes his paintings look, they look like they have been poured. But I think they were really made by using precise techniques. There too perfect for them to of been done any other way.

Jackson Pollock

I've looked at Jackson Pollock, because of the way he uses paint, it looks as though its been dropped on, which is similar to how I've done my canvas' with pouring paint onto them.

Stefan Duncan

I've started to look for artist who create sky effects differently than painting the sky as it is seen. This is to help me with my abstract path, try and get some ideas. This lead me on to the work of Stefan Duncan, who can be described as a modern Van Gogh.

I think these are absolutely stunning. They must of took ages. I don't know if I could recreate these effects because it must take mass amounts of talent, but I can give it a go in my own style. 

Lisa Milroy

There's only one piece of Milroy's work that is related to my work, but I think its amazing. 

It looks almost photographic.

Damien Hirst

As my work as took a more abstract turn I thought I would look at contemporary artists who have done a lot of abstract work. I particularly like Hirst's spin paintings. When I experiment with pouring paint, I hope I can create similar effects combined with a sky element. 

JD Innes

Innes has some beautiful skies in his landscape work. Although I'm not a particularly good painter its still useful to look at his work for inspiration on colours and shapes, and then use that in my own style.

John Hoyland

John Hoyland was a contemporary abstract painter. His work is similar to mine, in the sense that it all seems sort of random, but really a lot of thought has gone into it in accordance with colours and effects. I really like his work as it is really colourful, and doesn't look all perfect and precise.

I took some quotes from a book about John Hoylands paintings named: 'Star Thrower'. The quotes were what Hoyland used to describe his work.

'Painting is acting purely; you can't hide anything. You can't pretend to be a tough guy if you're not. Everything shows; it's a seismograph of the mind and body'

'Paintings are a kind of dream language, and like music they propose a new reality. Simplicity can give them their greatest power'

'As you will see, the only sanctuary left for the artist, or anyone else for that matter is only to escape into the imagination - in my case through art' 

I like Hoyland's quotes, they aren't that pretentious, which is unusual for an artist. I also like the fact he's used them, his art is very random and messy in a sense, the quotes tame them a bit.

Alexander Cozens

Cozens is a really lovely landscape painter, landscapes which include really nice skies. 

But the work I particularly like of Cozens is a lot more simpler than his classic landscapes. They are just pencil drawings of clouds, but there strangely intriguing. I don't think they would look good on a large scale but as small studies they are really effective. 

Peder Balke

Peder Balke was mostly a classic landscape painter. But he did a series of studies that were simplified right down to just using black and white paint. Its not directly linked to my work, but they are really effective pieces to say they are quite basic really.

Harris Gallery

At the start of the project I went to the Harris to gather some contextual research. Unfortunately the photos haven't come out great because I took them on my phone. 

This one is probably one of the best as you can see that its a cloud, and get an idea of how paint can create an illusion of texture. 

I quite like this one, it looks a bit like a photo. I also like how looks abstract even though its took from a very normal landscape piece. 

This one looks worn and old, which creates a nice effect, gives the painting more story. 

It might be worth me going back to the Harris with a better camera, but paintings are really hard to photograph well, so its probably easier to print them from the internet.