Project: Burchfield Color and Shape Study

I draw a lot of inspiration from the paintings of Charles Burchfield. I have the book Heatwaves in a Swamp which contains some sketches where he explores the feeling invoked by specific shapes and you can identify these shapes throughout all of his works. For this Burchfield study I wanted to explore his colors and shapes to try to understand how he creates such a strong feeling of nostalgia, and the passing of time using the strength of nature. I selected the painting Childhood’s Garden, to study.

What I found was that every mark has a contrasting mark. For every straight line there is a curve, for every corner there is a swirl. The same was true in the colors. There are not a lot of different colors, the palette is relatively limited, but every color also has an opposite contrasting mate.

This push and pull, building layers of contrast, I tried to feel my way through it. This is what I came up with. I used Derwent Inktense Pencils and Legion Colors paper.