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EXPRESSIVE MOMENTS

Dilshad Ismael Aldoskani

Academy of Art University, Graduate School of Fine Art Painting

Final Thesis Project

May 9, 9:00AM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Autobiography……………………………………………………………………………….................3

Resume………………………………………………………………………………….........................4

Timeline…………………………………………………………………………………………...……5-6

Summary………………………………………………………………………………………………….7

Final Report………………………………………………………………………………….……….8-10

Thesis Paintings………………………………………………………………..………………….11-14

Details………………………………………………………………………………………………..15-19

Influences…………………………………………………………………………………..……….20-22

Artist Statement…………………………………………………………………………………..……23

Statement of Future Plans…………………………………………………………………..……….24

DILSHAD ALDOSKANI ____________________________________________________________________________________

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

My name is Dilshad Ismail Aldoskani. I grew up in the small beautiful city of Duhok, Kurdistan-Iraq. I have

eleven siblings of which I’m second to oldest. In my childhood, I spent my days going to school, playing

games and enjoying time with my family and friends, and especially being with my father because he used

to teach me a lot of things about music and art.

Stepping into high school was a great opportunity to gain basic knowledge. I also started to focus on

drawing. With my interest in becoming an artist, my father supported me and encouraged me to join to

Institute of Fine Art which is located in the same city where we live. Going to the institute began a path

that led to my eventual career. My teacher taught me about drawing and sketching. We learned different

ways of mixing colors in various ways in a same artwork. At the beginning, it was harder to get the mixture

of color, but after practicing, things became easier. I eventually completed my five year course in fine art

in the Institute. After this program, I began study four years in the College of Fine Art in Sulaimani city,

Kurdistan, Iraq. This period was difficult. I had to really work hard and focus on my goals. But with

patience, great support from my teachers and family, I was able to graduate successfully. I am passionate

to be a part of art. I applied to teach and spent six years as a teacher at the Institute of Fine Art, Duhok.

Fortunately, after teaches, I got a scholarship which have been my greatest achievement in my life so far,

and now I am studying my masters at the Academy of Art University with the help of the Kurdish

government.

mailto:[email protected]


TIMELINE

Spring 2013

FA_600_01: Figure Studio Jin – Sung “Zin” Lim

FA_606_01: Still Life Painting Tomutsu Takishima

Spring 2014

FA_602_03: Head Drawing Tomutsu Takishima

FA_626_02: Chiaroscuro Aron Meynell

Summer 2014

FA_616_01: Portrait Painting Kevin Moore

Fall 2014

FA_604_01: Figurative Painting Zhao Ming Wu

FA_605_01: Landscape Painting Dean Larson

GLA_621_01: History & Techniques of Character Animation, Elective Tom Bertino

Spring 2015

FA_607_01: Cityscape Painting Gregory Gandy

FA_655_01: Midpoint & Thesis Preparation Dean Larson

GLA_617_02: Mythology for the Modern World John Dobson

ILL_610_02: Clothed Figure Drawing Lisa Berrett

Summer 2015

GLA_601_01: The Renaissance Art World & Its Classical Origins Paul and David

ILL_609_01: Watercolor Camille La Pointe-Lyons

Fall 2015

FA_368_01: MS: Urban Landscape, DS Gregory Gandy

FA_607_01: MS: Cityscape Painting, DS Dean Larson

FA_801_01: GDS: Process and Thesis Development Aron Keynell

FA_801_04: MS: GDS: Landscape/ Cityscape/ Still Life 1 Carolyn Meyer

Spring 2016

FA_607_01: MS: DS: Cityscape Painting Gregory Gandy


FA_842_01: MS: Landscape/ Cityscape/ Still Life Painting 2 Carolyn Meyer

FA_674_01: Professional Practice for Fine Artists Chery Coon

Total: 63 Units


SUMMARY

Expressive Moments is a series of paintings that focus on specific times of day during which the lighting

creates a group of silvery gray harmonious colors. These colors create a mood in which the viewer should

feel a sense of place. I chose San Francisco as my subject matter because it is a part of my personal

journey. San Francisco inspires me because of its unique lighting effects. The city’s architecture and

skyline are a way to document this part of my life. These paintings to me are like journal entries because

they depict a specific time and mood. Whoever, I tell my story and show the evolution of my process and

the city itself through the continuum of color from sunset to dusk.



Final Report

Expressive Moments is a series of paintings that presents an unexpected perspective of urban life

through scenes of major construction projects, endless traffic, and busy people. Despite the chaotic

subject matter, these pieces evoke a sense of gentle beauty and comfort through the harmonious colors

that bathe the city from sunset to dusk. These are scenes of San Francisco as seen through the eyes of

someone who grew up in a small idyllic city and close-knit community in Kurdistan in northern Iraq.

Feeling both overwhelmed and inspired by the vast expanse of this American metropolis and its mixture of

classical and modern architecture, I found solace in the dramatic colors and warm light of the San

Francisco cityscape.

While studying in California, I reflected on my opportunity to create something that is a departure from my

previous work. I wanted to paint and learn from life, which is something that was difficult to do before in

my country, and now having San Francisco as my muse, I had a lot to say and draw from. I had

experienced working on landscapes and figure painting in my studio, but not from life, which is common

practice. Living in San Francisco for the past three years has made me very sensitive to the ways in

which the light affects the architecture. The lighting in San Francisco is so much more colorful and

dramatic than the light in my hometown. It is that unique color and emotion that I wanted to express with

this body of work. During these moments, when the warm light is close to the horizon, I can see the blend

of harmonious colors between the sky and the ground. Some colors appear very saturated and others

create neutral and silvery gray. These colors create a gentle mood and overall feeling of comfort. It is

that emotion that I found very inspiring. During my artistic journey, I have developed a particular view of

color, and how as an artist I can exaggerate color to create a unique mood and feeling. Throughout my

experience, finding the color that I want to use has challenged and inspired me. I was looking for comfort

in this big and busy city. Through these colors I can feel comfortable with unrivaled mood that I got from

scenes.


Process

My goal was to create a variety of paintings. I emphasized the importance of having a strong and clear

idea for each painting, showing my craftsmanship through the arrangement of all elements, colors,

composition, and technique that accomplishes the stylistic and concept goals of my thesis. Continuing to

experiment and evolve with different colors and techniques for each painting, I faced many challenges.

One of the key challenges was how to take night photos that would best replicate the colors and values

of natural light. By taking many photos from different angles and exposures, I was able to compose the

best painting I could. Since sunset until dusk is a short period of time, I was looking for colors that I could

capture from the sky without thinking about composition when I took my photos references. I strove to

organize all of the elements that would result in the best composition through shapes, light, shadow, and

color in each painting. That pushed me to take multiple references, and to become familiar with all the

colors in the sky and their effect on the ground. A key point was perceiving the strong light from the

setting sun reflecting from the sky to the ground below and the silvery grays of buildings and cars that are

in shadow. My focus was how the warm and cool colors create an overall expressive moment. I focused

on a foreground, middle ground and background, so I could depict the illusion of a believable

space. Getting clear references allowed me to control my composition by arranging all of the elements of

the painting to create a sense of balance. This balance came from connecting the main elements of the

painting to the continuum of colors from the sky to the ground and the range of values related to the

composition. Taking evening photos of familiar scenes of San Francisco that were directly related to daily

life, also enhanced my ideas.

Another challenge was the painting technique. For each painting, I was very determined to find a different

technique to enhance the style of each individual painting, through making each one in the series unique

and more complicated than the others by using a variety of colors and techniques. I worked in a realistic

style with some simplified elements and soft hues. I wanted to employ a variety of techniques depending

on the scenes themselves. Some scenes work best with a realistic style and showing detail, while others

may work better with abstract elements to show the mood and essence of the scene. I combined these

two styles by simplifying some elements with brushstrokes around the painting, creating some abstract

elements and compilation of lines, colors, composition and a blurring of edges to push the viewer’s eyes

into the scene and to keep my focal point clear to viewers.

After midpoint, I started to improve my technical skills in painting, while continuing to produce high quality

paintings. Each semester after semester, I was able to learn new techniques to accomplish the stylistic

and concept goals of my thesis. My instructors emphasized the importance of having a strong and clear

idea for each painting. This helped me to produce better work with a particular technique tied to each

piece. This challenged me to search for the ideal technique for each scene. I continued to grow as an

artist and expand my repertoire with different colors and techniques for each painting. Also, I was looking

for different styles around me by visiting several galleries and discovering techniques of some artists in

San Francisco and at Academy of Art University as well. During my studies, I learned how viewers could

get an overall mood through brushstrokes, colors, concept, or different materials. Some of these artists

created their unique style using a roller, palette knife and brush. I aimed to discover how to create unique

cityscapes with a strong connection between the mood and the scene.

I worked in a variety of sizes depending on the photo reference and the composition. Some images

worked best cropped vertically, while others were best as horizontal or even square scenes. The idea

was how to let the location and my feelings deicide the format. I found several sizes to be particularly

good matches for these cityscapes (18 x 24, 24 x 36 and 30 x 30). These different sizes suited particular

scenes that should show different elements such as buildings, cars, skyline and sky that all were

important to exhibit the essence of these scenes.


Thesis Paintings

1. Millennium Tower on Mission St2015

Oil on Canvas 24x36

2. Columbus Ave 2015

Oil on Canvas

24x36

3. Pink Day at Beale on Mission St2015

Oil on Canvas

24x36

4. Fremont on Mission St November 2015

Oil on Canvas

24x36


5. Fremont St 2016

Oil on Canvas 24x36

6. Rainy Day at Fremont Street 2016

Oil on Canvas 24x36

7. Fell Street 2015

Oil on Canvas 24x36

8. Beale Street 2015

Oil on Canvas 24x36

9. Green Street 2015

Oil on Canvas 24x30

10. Sunset at Polk and Union Street 2015

Oil on Canvas 30x30

11. 10th Street on Market St 2015

Oil on Canvas 24x18

12. Market Street 2015

Oil on Canvas 24x18

13. Powell Street 2015

Oil on Canvas 24x18

14. 1st St on Mission St 2016

Oil on wood 16x20

15. 13th St on Mission St

2016 Oil on wood

8x20

16. Duboce Ave on Mission 2016

Oil on wood 9x20


Details

Millennium Tower on Mission Street, 2015, Oil on Canvas, 24x36

Just being in San Francisco, I was inspired by the variety of scenes available to an artist along with the

colors of the City at dusk and at sunset. I got my inspiration by walking the streets a couple of times every

week and watching the buildings grow day after day. I was interested in the movement around these

streets created by cranes, workers, traffic, and crowds of people. All of these movements were core

elements in my thesis. I was more confident with this painting than others because, it was the product of

hard work and allowed me to find my special style using brushstrokes and blending colors with geometric

shapes to make them one body on the surface that integrates the mood with the richness of harmonious

colors reflected on buildings at dusk and sunset.


Columbus Ave in Chestnut, 2015, Oil on Canvas, 24x36

I wanted to capture some scenes that related to my journey and some places where I spent time during

my stay in San Francisco. I spent every day at 701 Chestnut Street, where it intersects with Columbus

Avenue, in a studio working on my final thesis project. At a specific time of day, I was struck by the

reflection of colors overlapping from the sky to the ground in a very smooth continuum. In this painting I

tried to create a connection between the complementary colors through the red-orange in the sky to the

silvery gray on the street by overlapping these colors with brush strokes to create harmonious colors with

shapes. I did this by balancing the movement of the parts of the composition. Via this process, I was able

to capture similar scenes at the same time of day with varying colors and abstract elements to achieve my

goal.

Pink Day at Beale Street on Mission Street, 2015, Oil on Canvas, 24x36

Day in and day out, I walked the streets to discover some moments that would add a variety of colors to

my series of paintings. Pink Day at Beale on Mission Street was a different day from other days. At that

time, the pink color dominated the scene. I was inspired by how the colors blended into each other from

the sky to the ground, making geometric shapes, hard edges, and vehicles glow in the dim setting sun. I

aimed to enhance the overall mood of the painting by choosing the pink base color for this piece that

would make it stand out from the other paintings in the series.

Powell Street, 2015, Oil on Canvas, 24x18

During my thesis project, I looked at numerous colors to create each mood in my paintings. My interest

began when I was at Powell Street looking at the reflection coming from the sky of purple blended with

silvery gray. The cold colors coming from the sky complimented the warm street lights, which gave me an

opportunity to make use of this unique combination and create a unity in my painting. It was important for

me to represent the movement through colors in this painting. The intimacy of this painting lies in the

focus on the scene without turning to the detail of movements around this street at sunset.

Folsom Street

2016

Oil on Canvas

24x36

Rainy Day at Fremont Street 2016

Oil on Canvas 24x36

For a long time I was waiting for rain. I was inspired by this specific time because I could see collections

of reflections of light everywhere. These reflections from the sky and shapes on the ground made a

symphony of movements. I was eager to paint rainy days that allowed me to use brushstrokes and to be

free to exaggerate colors and movements that I wanted to show in my painting. I aimed to keep the form

of each element of my subject but to take some liberty with my brushstrokes path to make one united

body of work.


Artistic Influences

Jeremy Mann

My thesis project consists of many lines, shapes and colors that will show the light and movement and

expressive moments in the time of dusk. There are many artists that use lines, shapes and colors that

have influenced me. One of the most influential artists is Jeremy Mann. In these paintings Jeremy's style

involves a combination of lines, colors, and expressive edge control. His mark making, through the use of

brush strokes, rollers, and scrapers, emphasizes vertical and horizontal lines interlaced with each other

that create a feeling of movement.


Geoffrey Johnson

Another artist that captured my imagination is Geoffrey Johnson, especially his three artworks (Study

Gramercy Park, Red with Gray, Rush Hour). His style is distinctive through the use of simplified elements

and the emphasis of flat shapes. I admire how he combines abstract and realistic qualities in each

painting. His use of directional lines helps lead the viewer’s eye to the focal point. His talent of using few

colors to enhance all elements in his painting keeps his style unique from others.

Ben Aronson Another artist that influenced me is Ben Aronson. What I like in Aronson’s painting is the accurate

drawing mixed with a blend of lost edges. Many of his paintings include cars with the top-lighting afforded

by city streets enclosed by high-rise buildings, which shows his craftsmanship with dark and light spaces

in his paintings. His use of value creates an interesting composition.


Artist Statement

I grew up in a small, beautiful, quiet city, surrounded by mountains in Duhok, Kurdistan, northern Iraq,

where everyone knows each other. As I grew older I wanted to paint and discover a large, fascinating, and

busy city. So, I moved to San Francisco to start my Masters in Fine Art.

I wanted to create a body of work that captures the essence of San Francisco, from an outside

perspective. I wanted to paint and learn from life. Painting on location was invaluable in learning about

color, value, and simplification. Painting on location allows me to focus on the lighting and color effects

that happen as the sun goes down. During this time of day, I can see the blend of harmonious colors

between the sky and the ground, where some colors appear very saturated and others create neutrals

and silvery gray. These colors create a gentle mood and overall feeling of comfort. I started to emphasize

downtown San Francisco street scenes to explore the atmospheric effect of the sunset. Both sunset and

dusk are short periods of time, which pose challenges for me as a painter.

My aim is to enhance the overall mood of my paintings by focusing on the shapes of the buildings and the

movement of people and vehicles under the glow of the dim setting sun.

Living in San Francisco for the past three years has made me sensitive to the unique ways in which the

light affects the architecture and all these movements around me.

My journey has given me fresh eyes. I have discovered a variety of colors and styles to achieve my goal. I

have gained a new way of looking at this city through to my work. I hope to bring this new experience back

to my hometown and show others the process of painting cityscape in Kurdistan and beyond.



Statement of Future Plans

My goal is to create artwork that represents my journey with art and my experience through these years in

the San Francisco Bay area from the perspective of an outsider, in my case a Kurdish citizen. Upon

graduating, I will apply these skills to paint my city, Duhok and others as well. I will specialize primarily in

cityscape painting. I will share my skills with cityscape painting to college students. This subject will be of

interest and relevance because cityscape is considered a new genre that no one has experience with at

the Duhok Institute and College of Fine Art. This will be my opportunity to teach students general skills

about cityscape painting with an emphasis on expressive color and light.


Bibliography

http://www.johnpence.com/

https://www.pinterest.com/

http://www.hubertgallery.com/exhibitions/2-new-paintings

http://www.artnet.com/artists/ben-aronson/

http://www.johnpence.com/

https://www.pinterest.com/

http://www.hubertgallery.com/exhibitions/2-new-paintings

http://www.artnet.com/artists/ben-aronson/

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