Previous works explored female characters in film and other media imagery. I am constantly interested in the timelessness of image and how films enable us to exit our own lives and enter into a kind of alternate reality. We are all familiar with going to the cinema, IMAX screens almost make us a part of the film. Home screens now wrap around to immerse us more in the experience. We can even watch films on our mobile or tablets.
With a general passion for film it seemed a natural thing to work from images that still stuck in my memory days after watching a film. I started to take screenshots on my lap top while watching films While compiling folders of images until I saw a pattern emerge, dictating which compositions could be used as a basis for my painting. Current works are a play of juxtaposition between the flat Water-mixable Oil on canvas, false reality of film and our empathy with the sacrifice of heroes whom may or may not be there by choice.
I decided not to include sound or other visuals alongside my paintings. I want them to speak for themselves. I hope that despite not being large scale they can still make an impact on the viewer. I think in hind sight I should have explored the addition of sound and sculpture. It may have changed the narrative or added something to the work. However I was reluctant to detract from the act of the painting itself.
I did not start this project with a specific idea in mind although I knew I would be working with portraits after my dissertation explored the relationship between subject and viewer. I was also somewhat influenced by Chuck Close and his reliance on process. I started the first few early paintings the same way using a grid however it was the emotion I took to be the focus. It was deeper than just a familiarity to the characters we know and see on screen. I was interested in the way in which we identify with the acts and feelings of these fictional beings.
Film was an inevitable source to work from, since I had already been working from photographs and media images. The issues I faced, were picking an image from the vast amount available to me from each film and what should be the focus. Once I found a pattern emerging I then had to think about composition and colour.
Colour was an important aspect in my paintings, used to brighten the once dark source image. In identifying with these characters I may have brought a uniformity to all of the paintings. The close cropping became about pausing a moment in time. It will be interesting to see what the impressions are for the viewer who does not know the character.
Titles can completely change the context of a work or add something to it, humour perhaps. My titles were often a phrase to enhance the already present emotion in the painting. Some of my titles may be a little ambiguous to those unfamiliar to the character or film but I hope this will only add to the mystery.
After a busy few hours filling in holes in the wall, sanding and two fresh coats of white paint, my Degree Show space was ready. I was chuffed at having been given the corridor outside of the studios which is flooded with lots of natural light through the skylights, high above.
I thought about various configurations of arranging my paintings: smaller pieces on the outside, larger paintings on the outside. I looked at pairing them by colour or subject. In the end I found my collection of smaller paintings looked most effective in one continuous line, not broken up by a large one in the centre. I had originally planned to put Rose Tyler: Defender of the Earth on a wall oposite the rest, however soon changed this to partner this with my larger piece.
I took the decision not to include my final painting WE. I realised this was not as strong a piece of work as my others or at least it seemed out of context. It looked more like a study, being that it was a mixture of expressions with a lot more of the background visable. While my other works focus zoomed in on the one expression, this seemed to have too much on the one canvas. Once I had removed this painting from the selection it seemed to flow more easily.
I have begun to work without the aid of a grid on my canvas as I was finding it restrictive. For this work above, I have a number of separate images I have drawn onto the canvas in pencil and then outlined in paint. I may not have left enough room for two more characters in the top right and left corners which may incidentally make some of the characters seem out of proportion in relation to the others. This is the result of not using a grid or enough planning but it is also more exciting not knowing how the painting will go. I have chosen four images from the Film Guardians of the Galaxy. I am not sure whether this will work as well as a single face. Maybe there will be too much for the viewer to take in, however isn’t that what Cinema can be! One of these characters is part Racoon and another a Tree, so it is a bit of a departure from my usual human faces.
I am still concerned with the emotion of the individual as opposed to any cinematic shot or representation. It just so happens that they are characters in a film. I have returned to using brushes to apply the paint, sometimes adding more medium to encourage the paint to ooze and drip. I tend not to match the colours exactly, preferring to concentrate on tone. I have improved at mixing colours knowing when to add more red or blue to make a cooler or warmer tone. Painting on the green background has been successful so far and I may leave blocks of green showing through. Initially the green base was inspired by Chantal Joffe but I also think it an apt colour to use in relation to the CGI Green Screen employed in films. Perhaps there is a way I could project onto the plain green sections of the canvas, combining film and paint together.
Following on from my painting of David Tenant AKA Dr Who (see finished picture below), I decided to use a smaller canvas to depict Rose Tyler; his Companion. This is an important image towards the end of a series. It marks her last appearance in Dr Who. The image depicts the moment at which Rose Tyler is separated from the Dr in a parallel universe. The two characters put their faces to the wall resting for a moment. As the Dr slowly walks away, Rose sobs.
After reading an article about an artist Henry Hudson who sculpts his paintings out of plasticine I was inspired to try and bring more texture to my work. With this painting I wanted to use an impasto approach. I have long been a fan of the style of layering on paint with a palette knife and decided to try it on a small canvas. I wanted to utilise my pink base by leaving chunks showing through. I used a mixture of broad brush strokes and thicker daubs of paint applied with the palette knife. I used finer brushes around details such as the eyes but with the hair and face I wanted large clumps of paint to emphasize the emotion. I wanted the emphasis to be more upon colour, pattern and line. With Rose’s jumper I used block colour and single lines of blue, leaving the pink background peeking through to the surface. More attention was paid to Rose’s face which I want to be the main focus.
I have prepped another large canvas with a guesso base, mixed with a green which I made up beforehand. I wanted something a little more muted in tone but I am always drawn to bright colours so I went ahead with a vibrant Apple Green shade. I am still sourcing the images for this but I intend to have four separate images on this canvas, all facing the centre.
I was not aware of Richard Diebenkorn’s work until I saw it this week at the Royal Academy of Arts. Not surprising since this is only the second exhibition of its kind to be held in the UK since 1992. The exhibition explores three main periods in his career: The Albuquerque series, The Berkeley Series, and The Ocean Park series. The significance of these phases is their relationship to his varied environments corresponding to the works. It also provides an insight into how the artist progressed from one style to the next and back again.
An American Artist, he moved from one university to the next and concluded his studies after serving in the military. In 1950 the artist and his family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. His works of this period allude to the sizzling hot climate. The colours of pink, orange and ochre give thoughts of the terrain and sun. As a young child he was influenced by the Bayeux Tapestry which can be seen in the form of symbols lurking in the corners of his painitngs amongst the large splashes of colour.
In the mid 1950’s Diebenkorn began experimenting with the figurative. We can rarely discern whom the figure is although it is rumoured he may have used friends and family as models. The figures only act as a pointer to the rest of their environment. In Girl on a Terrace she serves to break up the lines of the painting; the table to her lower left balanced by the blue/grey land to her upper right. In some areas of the painting such as her skirt the previous layer of paint is left to show through. It is not surprising to learn he counts Edward Hopper (1882-1967) as one of his influences. The composition is not dissimilar; the girl in a room looking out at a landscape beyond the window or the man sitting at the bar, but the clear relationship to their environment or landscape.
In 1966 Diebenkorn and his family had moved to California; it was at this time he would commence The Ocean Park Series Although these are some his most abstract pieces of work and therefore do not directly represent the landscape of Santa Monica, they give off a sense of calm. The palette of subdued yellows and blues makes the viewer think of sun, sea and sand. He had abandoned figurative altogether and returned to abstract in an even more flat form.
Diebenkorn also made much smaller pieces of work on the back of old cigar boxes. This has prompted me to try a few smaller scale paintings. I am beginning to think again about the composition and how other elements beside the face can aid in a sense of atmosphere and place.
