I’ve finished my big self-portrait and also the black and white painting of my friend Leyla. Here’s some zoomed in sections of each painting, not showing to much don’t won’t give anything away. Just need to finish my last painting and a bit more in my sketchbook then hopefully I have finished.
Alot has happened since I done my latest post!!
I got the three canvases for the paintings that will be the main focus for the show. I got two canvses that are 120 x 80cm and the biggest one which is 152.3cm x 101cm. I have documented my emotions on painting the pieces and life in general into a diary and I am going to include this into the show somehow. The idea was to have the diary locked away in a clear box onto a plinth so it stands a big part of the show. Alot has been going in and outside of uni that has been affecting my practice so I have documented all of this just to get all of it on to paper and see how my paintings turn out.
My vision as it stands is when you enter the boxed in space in the front will be the main portrait of myself which will fit the whole length of the wall. Have a projection of my textured self portrait with sound to the right hand side. However at this point as I have never worked with projectors before, I am hoping that the light beams from the projector will not interfere with the paintings, so the composition of the space may have to change. I am set on having a video in the show, as the music and the texture of the paint bring a huge importance to my emotions and other things.
With the music element of the show, I have struggled to find time to create my own composition. But I have started to think about the music I play when painting and what I like to listen to. I am now creating my own composition but using elements of pieces that represent me and the emotion I am trying to depict in the video. Originally the project was to capture other people’s emotion but now it has become a much more personal project. When the viewer enters the space with the video playing using sound, the diary and the paintings themselves, I want them to feel like they have entered my brain in a way.
So far I have a diary, the main potrait of me and the video sorted, I have almost finished a portrait of my friend Leyla and the same with a portrait of my friend Tori both depicting different emotions. In my previous blog posts I have mentioned about the portrait of Anna showing a happy emotion, to my textured self-portrait showing sadness and I really liked the contrast between them. The space I have is quite a big boxed room but with the scale of the paintings I have done, it is going to feel quite cramped I reckon, which is what I want. I will post close up sections of the paintings i have done, but I don’t want much to be given away as I want it all to be a surprise.
What’s next?
I am going to figure out where the projection should go in the space, with out interfering with the paintings. If I can’t find a clear display box, I will try to find some way else compositionally to lock away the diary. With the diary at the early stages of writing I felt that the audience should read it to get an idea of what my project is about, but now it has become very personal and private I’m not sure at this stage what to do. Tracey Emin’s pieces using writing like in her Applique blankets and neons are very powerful pieces when enter the space. Such as the tent piece ‘Everyone I Have Ever Slept With’ is a great example when entering the space you are in an intimate environment with all these names and message filled to the brim in the tent. Hoever with mine I don’t think showcasing sections of my diary would make a difference in its strength as I think with it locked away makes it equally as powerful.
