Two Life Drawings 25/02/2019
Two Life Drawings 25/02/2019 Read More »
Last week’s life drawing 30/01/2019 (oil on paper 84cm x 59cm)
Life Drawing 30/01/2019 Read More »
Life drawing 20190123-1 (acrylic & charcoal on paper 84cm x 59cm) painted with a palette knife in an impasto style.
Life Drawing 23/01/2019 Read More »
This is my latest painting of Paul Jennings. It’s an attempt to reflect on some of the fascinating discussions we’ve had during our portrait sessions over the last 8 months.
It attempts to raise questions about how we see ourselves and how others see us, a subject which feels especially pertinent in the current climate. I hope to expand on the thinking behind this in a future post.
In terms of the approach taken to the painting, the colour ‘shapes’ are intended to pay homage (yet again) to Picasso’s stated aim of trying to create a painting which could be cut up and reassembled, using the ‘visual indications‘ to create a sculpture.
I’d hope to think that the viewer is always aware of how incomplete/flat/crudely painted the area ‘in focus’ is, but that they also gain the sensation that areas viewed ‘peripherally’ seem to make visual sense, until attention is redirected to them and they, too, suddenly stop making sense (a bit like a faint star that can’t be seen directly).
Initially, a basic geometric ‘framework’ was hand drawn, with the intention of suggesting the space around, and relationships between, objects and their environment, the goal being to direct the eye around the painting. As a result, the eye is seldom given a chance to rest, until it’s suddenly brought to a shuddering halt when the ‘lines of force’ intentionally peter out, and the viewer is – once again – confronted with the flatness of the surface.
Over time, the figure and shadows were allowed to ‘evolve’ to align, where applicable, with these lines of force.
This was brought to mind by Richard Verdi‘s description of Cezanne’s intentional alignment of the edges of foreground objects, such as apples or vases, with background elements, such as patterns on wallpaper which, once again, offers the viewer a challenge to consider both flatness and depth.
During the production of this painting, I was also thinking about David Hockney’s multiple-viewpoint photographic ‘joiners‘ including ‘Pearblossom Highway‘ and, especially, the comparison between Hockney’s dynamic/living photo-montage of Annie Leibovitz’ making preparations for taking his photograph, and Leibovitz rather static end result (see slide 13).
Finally, painting in varying thicknesses of impasto using a palette knife brought to mind the figure/ground ‘experiments’ of the Abstract Expressionist, Barnett Newman, who incorporated thin vertical lines, or ‘zips’ as he referred to them,in his paintings. I really like the idea of using different thicknesses of paint to subvert the principle of the figure/foreground v background relationship,so that elements that should be further back ‘pictorially’, are ‘physically’ closer to the viewer, even if it is only by a few microns depth of paint layers.
New Painting: Why Not? Read More »
Life drawing 20190116-1 (acrylic, charcoal and chalk on paper 59cm x 81cm) painted with a palette knife in an impasto style.
Life Drawing 16/01/2019 Read More »
This painting was the result of attending a workshop with Joanna Evans. The original objective was to imagine an artist wearing a hat and to paint them in a way which represents their style or associated artistic movement.
Unfortunately, despite several attempts to be as bold as Frank, I still ended up producing a rather literal interpretation, as well as neglecting to put a hat on him (I think he’d be wearing a coal miner’s helmet to protect him as he excavates the truth in his paintings). I also made his eyes too big, so he looks a little bit like Gollum. Sorry Frank…
Joanna Evans Workshop Read More »
Life drawing 20181205-1 (acrylic on paper 59cm x 81cm) painted with a palette knife in an impasto style.
Life Drawing 05/12/2018 Read More »
Life drawing of model in shade 20181128-1 (acrylic on paper 81cm x 59cm) painted with a palette knife in an impasto style.
Life Drawing 28/11/2018 Read More »
Life Drawing 20181121-1 (acrylic on paper 59cm x 84cm) painted with a restricted palette of 4 colours plus white.
Life Drawing 21/11/18 Read More »