Voxel 3D Printed Water Lilies

•

3D Printed Water Lilies

3D Printed Waterlilies: Exploring the themes and techniques of Claude Monet through physicalization of image data.

Designer: Joseph Coddington

Original Artwork: Claude Monet "Water Liles"

Paintings have long explored 3D qualities while being restricted to a 2D plane. My designs are in search of image data sets which showcase a 3D or physical exploration, and which present this 3D theme as a 2D image. Claude Monet's Water Lilies is one such image, using a range of painting techniques, impression and scale to create a physical immersion within his artwork. Water Lilies creates a sense of peace by immersing the user within the stillness of a lily pond, by voxel printing this painting into an object the same qualities Monet paints can be replicated and enhanced.

Original Artwork

Claude Monet

Along with the artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Monet began a new style of painting in the 1860’s named Impressionism. The term impressionist derives from critics mocking early impressionist work for the lack of clarity in the paintings. Impressionists such as Monet would paint images depicting nature through direct observation. Therefore what Monet observed became the primary tool for constructing an image, a contrast to the precise and scientific approach seen in the artwork of John Constable. In his later years, Monet was losing his sense of sight, dramatically affecting his observations. He would start to paint images far removed from the form, they can be considered abstract; therefore Monet became a critical artist linking the traditional approaches to painting in the 19th century to the radical abstract and surrealist painters of the early 20th century.

Water Lilies
Painted from 1914-1926 Water Lilies is a series of paintings Monet completed towards the end of his life. This image is a single panel from the Water Lilies collection.

Technique

Monet paints this image with near countless layers of paint over many years. Each layer is made up of blurry rhythmic brushstrokes forming abstracted blends of colours. The multitude of blurry layers gives the painted pond a sense of depth, where we see Monet depict the materiality of a body of murky water.

Size and Perspective
Monet wanted these massive painting to stretch around the walls of galleries, the idea being that they would have no corners forming a panoramic image. By making these paintings so large, 199.5 x 599 cm, and installing them so that they surround the viewer, Monet is compelling us to the perspective of looking at a close up of his depicted garden pond. By viewing a close up of the pond, we are less interested in its form and instead immersed in the visual qualities showcasing the depth of the pond. This is why the size and composition of the image are essential to the abstracted forms Monet is painting as together they reinforce the emotive quality of a peaceful pond.

The Theme of the Painting: Peace
Around the time of completion, Monet was interested in finding peace and slowing down. He wanted to use paintings to visualize the peace, allowing viewers to find a sense of peace when viewing his artwork. In this case, Monet paints his peaceful French garden pond, where water is a symbol of relaxation and ease amongst nature. The painting is located in room 5, gallery 515, and considered one of the MoMA’s Quiet Hideaways, areas which immerse subjects in peace and relaxation.

Light
Water lilies depict light reflecting on the surface of the pond. It also visualizes light travelling through the pond, illuminating particles in the body of water, making it a visual tool for depicting depth within the painting.

Process: Digital Painting

The layered approach to painting is replicated digitally using Adobe Photoshop. Fifteen layers are constructed by digitally painting on photoshop with each layer’s colour applied, reflecting Monet’s process. The back image was painted first, then each digital layer was added individually to construct the final image and provide a image data-set.

Layers made by digitally painting individual images, inspired by Monet's layer-by-layer painting techniques

Front plane of the digital image, made by layering the 15 individual images

Original painting, digital painting and voxel print

Final Design: Voxel Print

Similar visual features to both the original painting and the digital painting. The voxel print retains an overall visual articulation of Monet’s Water Lilies. By retaining its visual qualities, the voxel print has the theme of peace embedded within the crafted object. It has a smooth tactile nature, based on the hard digital materials it is constructed from, separating its tactile nature from the original painting and the depicted pond. Now a crafted object, the images expose the 3D nature of objects and therefore showcase depth in a more accurate manner, rather than the illusion of depth Monet paints.

Water Lilies voxel print, note the layers are visible on the left plane.

Holding the image data presents a new tacit way of interacting with images alongside visual observation.

Detail: Light

Pond water tends to be murky with fragments of materials floating within. These fragments appear at different depths when light shines through the body of water. Monet captures this sensation by layering his paints; however, his image is still restricted to a 2D plane. Voxel printing can expose this 2D plane, and offer fragments of material to be dispersed through the crafted object. When a backlight shines through the print we get a similar quality to light rays shining through a pond, as the light illuminates and is distorted by the material fragments. The voxel print has a cinematic quality to it, due to harness light within an object, which separates the print from most Stratasys J750 prints. The ability to harness light showcase the depth and 3D nature of crafted objects in ways Monet is unable to capture.