Aberystwyth University

I painted a friend who i don’t see everyday yesterday. I am still hoping to go onto painting strangers, but to start with it’s best working with people who i am acquainted with whilst i compose and prepare myself for what i want to depict.

I feel i had a breakthrough.

Tutorial tomorrow, will post more then.

I don’t see myself as a portrait painter. But i have been strongly advised to stop the painting from photography and paint from life.

So this past week, i have.

I am still looking for a way to tie it all together, but i feel a lot happier in myself for getting up the courage to work in this way and get over the boundary and pressure of creating an exact replication of who is sat before me- it is an interpretation, an expression that i want to create.

To still keep the freshness and ambiguity of some of my other work, i’m toying with the idea of getting strangers to sit for me (but i know this is going to prove difficult). I am receiving feedback from my tutor this week, so i will keep you posted of his views on the change.

Okay, i’m stressed.

Haven’t been on here in the past month as after my portfolio assessment i decided that i pretty much hate my semesters worth of work (don’t worry, i haven’t done anything drastic! And it wasn’t that my feedback was bad, i just feel as though what i produced could’ve been better…it wasn’t really me). I suppose this decision is better late than never- at least i haven’t realised this after the degree show eh? But it means i have a lot on my plate with what to produce now for the exhibition!!

The paintings shown here are 4 key pieces from last semester that i do like.They are my new starting point, and from them i have turned over a new page, and looked up Lucian Freud’s work in more depth (i am in love with it!), as well as some of Walter Sickert’s paintings, Josef Herman’s sketches and Reginald Marsh’s depictions of New York.

Wish me luck!

Finished the modelling paste acrylic painting…finally! (i really don’t like it compared to oil painting, but as an experiment it seems to have worked pretty well). 2 more paintings to finish off today then sketchbook work ’til i go crazy. After Monday it’s a different story.

…Looking back at this, i hate it. (better late than never, at least i’m realising this now, rather than after the degree show!)

After completing my oil paintings so that they are dry in time for Monday…I have FINALLY managed to get round to having a go with the modelling paste! I did a quick canvas painting using the acrylic paint, modelling paste and oil bars in order to build up texture and continue with my usual impasto style. I shall post the results below.

I was impressed with how quickly it dried, i decided to leave it in its current state last night so i can work over the fully dry layer when i wander over to the studio today. To be honest, i don’t like this painting too much but at least i know i definitely prefer the oils!

I will upload the body of my portfolio work when i have managed to photograph it all (there isn’t too much of it luckily…quality not quantity, right?), but in the meantime i’ll leave you with images of my first year (and early second year) degree work on; http://hannahjp.wordpress.com/

Looking back i’m not sure what to make of it, but it has only been recently that i have come to accept that i am here to learn, and everything i do whether i like it or not is all about personal development. It’s a balance of doing the work to meet the criteria needed for the course, but also personal expression.