La Demoiselle d’Ynys Môn (Acrylic on Linen 100cm x 50cm)
This is my latest painting and is a first attempt at using Flashe Vinyl paints by @lefrancbourgeoisofficiel. Once again it’s loosely based on the Henri Matisse painting ‘La Joie de Vivre’ as well as David Bomberg”s ‘The Mud Bath’. To be honest, I’m really struggling for a title for this one. I’m tentatively calling it ‘The Space Between Us III’, but please let me know in the comments if you have a better suggestion! (Flashe Vinyl paint on unstretched canvas 36″ x 24″)
Life drawings 5/10/20. Still trying to let go of representation and local colour, so tried to keep in mind Matisse’s Blue Nude as well as Picasso’s maximum, ‘If you don’t have red, use blue’. Acrylic, acrylic, pastels, ink & charcoal all on A1 paper (81x59cm)
Wow, that was hard going! We had to submit the application form for the AAAC (Association of Anglesey Arts Clubs) Biennial Exhibition back on the 1st November, but I didn’t have any previously unexhibited work available, so I filled my entry form in with 8 pieces called ‘Untitled I’ to ‘Untitled VIII’! Original, huh?! Since then, I’ve been trying to generate those 8 pieces, all whilst wrestling with my first dose of ‘artist’s block’. Grim… I managed 5 pieces in total (including only finishing the charcoal nude at midnight on Sunday) but couldn’t get 1 piece framed in time to submit yesterday, so the attached pictures are the 4 that made into the selection process. Fingers crossed they get in! 1. Charcoal on paper 80cm x 60cm 2. Monotype on paper 42cm x 30cm 3. Dry point etching on paper 30cm x 30cm 4. Oil on linen 100cm x 80cm (this isn’t the finished state of the painting, as I forgot to photograph it before submitting…) #associationofangleseyartclubs #biennial #artexhibition #oilpainting #printmaking #monotype #etching #drypointetching #charcoaldrawing #figuredrawing #ynysmôn #orielmon #anglesey #artist #art #emergingartist
I was struggling with trying to find ways to play with three-dimensional form on the two-dimensional printmaking surface, a recalled the Cubists’ use of cardboard maquettes (of guitars etc) to try and work out their ideas, so these are my attempt to reverse the process and create depth using flatness.
I’m currently re-reading ‘The Cubist Epoch’ by Douglas Cooper (Phaidon) and I can’t stop thinking of the following passage relating to Picasso’s painting, ‘Dance with Veils‘:
[which] reflects yet another of Picasso’s sculptural preoccupations, for it seems to bear out his expressed hope that, if he had succeeded in truly representing his subject, one should be able ‘to cut up’ his canvas and having reassembled it ‘according to the color indications … find oneself confronted with a sculpture.
Whilst it’s not a particular favourite, this painting (referred to as ‘Nude with Draperies’ by Cooper) is one of several produced during 1907-8 which helped Picasso ‘advance progressively towards the creation of Cubism’.
I love the concept of a 2D sculpture, as it resonates so well with my interest in contrasting ‘flatness’ and ‘form’, so this new painting is another attempt at exploring methods of reproducing it.
During it’s production, I was also trying to keep in mind lessons learned during the recent collage workshop I attended and, especially, the bold use of colour made by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in his ‘Self Portrait with Model‘ that I used as reference.
For interest’s sake, below is the original life drawing on which the painting is based. It was painted back in February of this year so, given that I painted over it the day after and have been re-working it on and off since then, it’s come as quite a shock to me to see how much the finished piece has changed from the original.
Without being able to refer to the original (and having forgotten until now that I had the photo below), I felt I had a very strong recollection of the pose. I was even considering calling the painting ‘The Yellow Dress’, as that was the most vivid part of my memory, but I now see how faulty that memory was.
I guess the finished piece must be an amalgam of fragments of remembered poses from different sessions, or of half remembered snapshots of the evolutionary/developmental stages of the piece itself, rather than the actual pose. Fragmentalism?
Life Drawing 2018-02-14 (acrylic on board 91.5cm x 61cm)
