The Oil Lantern

I chose to paint this old rustic oil lantern as this would have been one commonly found in the shipyards during the darker months or when the workers were working late into the night. This lantern was a lot more basic in comparison to the crystal or delicately decorated ones which would have been found on board within the 1st class areas. This directly shows the contrast between the grand elegance and the harsh ship building conditions. 

One of my inspirational artists for this piece was belfasts own artist Terry Bradley whom created a project named 'Sailor Town' where he included portrates of ship workers. One of Bradley's pieces was a blue painting of an angel name the 'Hope Angel'.  When I seen this piece after learning it's name to be 'Hope Angel' I immediately thought of angels association with death. During the sinking of the titanic 1,500 lives were stolen. The fact this angel is called Hope lead to me to imagine the emotions of those on board the titanic during its sinking, all the had was Hope. I really loved the blues used and don't think the piece would have had a better effect with the addition of any more colours. The blues inspired me to think of the ice and cold temperatures of the water. I thought this was a good linking aspect to incorporate with the oil lanterns. Like Bradley's piece I decided to drip the bottoms by watering down my paints and blowing through a straw allowing them to drip across my page in different directions. For my piece this was to portray the lantern smashing as though it had fallen as the ship hit the ice berg.