Over the summer break I decided to make and paint a large canvas (1.8×1.2m). I researched for my dissertation the work of past old masters and in particular a painting by Velasquez.
Diego Velasquez, Rokeby Venus, c. 1647–51. 122cm x 177cm (48in x 49.7in). National Gallery, London.
Jenny Saville, (2013-14), Olympia, Charcoal and oil on canvas, 217x290cm, shown at the Gagosian Gallery in July 2014.
I studied and researched the Velasquez and Saville work and then used them to make my own work.
Kathryn Raffell, 2014, Venus meets Olympia, Acrylic on canvas, 180cmx120cm.
The change of scale brought new challenges, using larger brushes and mixing bigger quantities of paint was so different to what I was used to.
I previewed the work every few days and changed parts I thought didn’t work. However, it didn’t matter how many times I repainted or changed the colours and shading I couldn’t make it work so in the end I decided to paint over it and start again with a new idea. It was not time or materials wasted as I gained a lot of experience in painting techniques that need to be used with work on a larger scale and I can take these lessons I learnt into my next piece of work.
I have wrapped this idea under a new primed layer that will be the foundation of new work.
