I have a great respect and admiration for the great Old Masters and Contemporary artists who have painted large canvases with large areas of intricate of pattern. In particular I am thinking of …. Joshua Reynolds, Gainsborough, Gustav Klimt and The Kiss 1907, Ingres painting Madam Moitessier 1856 and more recent artists, Sonia Delaunay and Chris Ofili.
Kathryn Raffell, 2015, Untitled, Acrylic on canvas, 180cmx120cm.
I will have to take a step back from this work now and contemplate. It needs more work. As you view the painting your eye travels around it taking in the different patterns and shapes but as the sofa and turban are plain not patterned your eye does tend to rest there. I think this could be where more pattern could be added onto the sofa and cushion but not necessarily colour and the same with the turban. More thought and I will return to this later. I have more ideas for work that are compelling me to begin.
Next part to work on is the head and turban. As the original photograph I based my work on has blond hair dressed into a bun, I looked for examples on the internet and found a very beautiful Nigerian female with a turban style head dress and worked from this.
Several days and re-thinks later I am reasonably happy with her. I will revue this when I have painted in the robe, it may need to be patterned as well!
Kathryn Raffell, 2015, Untitled, Acrylic on canvas, part of larger work – 180cmx120cm.
Now onto the main pattern area of the robe. I have never worked over such a large area of repeating pattern. Taking advice from my tutors I have started. Sketching in the bold areas to work on first and I’ll see how they look. If ok, I will lay down the first colours and work on balancing everything so that it works together.
Kathryn Raffell, 2015, Untitled, Acrylic on canvas, part of larger work – 180cmx120cm.
The final stages will be to add highlights and shading to add balance. I am finding it challenging to mix the colours exactly the same in the repeating pattern of the robe as I work from the top down towards the bottom of the kimono.
Moving on to work on the head and hand of the figure and stepping back I can see that I have made the hand too small in comparison to her face. I need to rework this. Taking pictures of my hand against my face was a good way to be able to re-visit and paint this area again.
Photographer Kathryn Raffell, 2015, Study of my hand.
After experimenting I think I have got the size of the hand about right compared to the face.
Kathryn Raffell, 2015, Untitled, Acrylic on canvas, part of larger work – 180cmx120cm.
After several days of working on the background here is the finished background and the start of painting in the chaise my figure will be reclining on.
Kathryn Raffell, 2015, Untitled, Acrylic on canvas, 180cmx120cm.
After many, many ideas for a background to my latest painting I have found the perfect print to use that wouldn’t overpower the foreground, I finally decided to use a spot style print.
Kathryn Raffell, 2015, Untitled, Acrylic on canvas, part of larger work – 180cmx120cm.
To keep the ideas of this large painting fresh I am working on other things as well so I am still attending extra painting classes. This new sketch of Lisa concentrated on a head and shoulders study of the model. I enjoyed capturing the colours and tones of a darker skin. The pattern on her blouse was a challenge but I think will prepare me a little for the large areas of bold pattern I am about to start in painting the leopard spots.
Kathryn Raffell, 2015, study of model Lisa, Acrylic on canvas, 50cmx60cm
