University Campus Suffolk

‘Trapped Flesh II’ progress…

Picture 1, ‘Trapped Flesh II’ in progress.

At this early stage of the painting I was using a brush I had not used before.

– A flexible/soft decorating brush.

-There is something about these first few marks I like. They are fluid.

-It is a shame that as the painting develops these marks will be lost. OR Will they re-emerge as I go on?

-By using a large brush for the scale of the canvas, (to quickly gain large coverage) CONFIDENT MARKS were created!

Picture 2, ‘Trapped Flesh II’ in progress.

Apply wet drips of dirt white spirit and dragging charcoal across the canvas.

– I wanted lots of mess and marks.

-Like my earlier large face on paper I want the flesh to emerge out of something more complicated.

-At the stage it remind me of a bad reception on a TV screen. I can imagine the squeaks and cracking voices.

– These marks and dragging scratches are like another layer of conversation the paint will communicate in the finished painting.

Picture 3, ‘Trapped Flesh II’ in progress.

I started working on it next to ‘Trapped Flesh I’. My pace of work had picked up considerably and I wanted to give ‘Trapped Flesh II’ enough time to dry.

-This also gave me space which allowed me to think.

-Thinking is crucial and as much part of my process as painting. It is the act of connecting emotionally with what you are doing.

Picture 4, ‘Trapped Flesh II’ in progress.

I began to block in the facial features.

– If I could go back to any stage in my paintings development it would be THIS ONE.

-Simple – Strong

I worked beyond this stage because I wanted my paint to be more varied.

– Areas of impasto, sgraffito.

-Different marks and strokes.

Picture 5, ‘Trapped Flesh II’ in progress.

At this point I changed from white spirit to False-turps solution.

– It dulled the pigment

– Sucked out the sumptuous gloss

-This is what has happened to my early painting, ‘There He Goes’ which, I want to return to using a different mixer to replenish the colour and shine.

– Otherwise it looks like acrylic. Oil paint is the one for flesh!

The result from the False-turps annoyed me ( I hadn’t figured out that this is what dulled my previous painting).

I am going to go away from it and work on it again when it is dry and work over it.

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Film stills and own images…

After a tutorial and reading back blog post 10 I have been led to revisit the idea of video stills in the context of the paintings I have been creating – Trapped Flesh I in progress > see image.

Below my image is a still appropriated by Francis Bacon. Bacon did not directly paint from this. Or at least he didn’t try to replicate it but rather used elements of what he read from the image to render his own interpretation of disturbed flesh.

I have also looked at other imagery from Horror films. Stills from – Psycho and The Woman in Black.

I am also gathering other primary images for my second Trapped Flesh painting. I want these paintings to hang next to each other.

I could screw the canvases together for the degree show?

I want to divert from my own imagery and work partially from my imagination. I think this will lead me to deal more with the physicality of the paint.

Will there will be a change of balance between subject and materials through my change in process??

As part of the beginning of my process I have edited and flipped some images. I want the two faces to curve away from each other.

By screaming away from each other. Will they become more isolated?

Isolated is another emotion linked to the feeling of anxiety I have been exploring.

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Reflection on progress so far…

Trapped Flesh…

It is interesting to me that on reflection of my practice and blogs that trapped flesh has emerged as a theme and an emotion of inner turmoil.

Something terrifying and troubled?

It is through looking back from a distance that I can begin to think and understand WHY? Why the silent scream…

WHY TRAPPED FLESH?

Throughout my project I have also been thinking about and trying to learn to control mild anxiety.

Whilst talking about this anxiety I have identified that one of the main emotions experienced is one of being trapped – Being over whelmed and taken over by an inner fear.

I have also identified that there is the need (urge) to externalise this feeling. To replicate the emotions one feels on the inside with what can be seen and understood by others on the outside.

I feel like this process has been replicated in my painting. This is an element of my own psychological nature been reflected in my work.

DO OTHER PEOPLE READ THIS? SOMETHING FEARFUL ESCAPING? DISTURBING?

This is something I have only began to realsie a link with as my project has developed.

Painting it on canvas…

I have been building up my canvas using charcoal and black oil paint mixed with white spirit. I wanted the background of my painting to be fairly dark.

* I want to work from dark to light like in traditional painting.

*The pose in this image also reflects areas of traditional painting – extended curved neck.

* Also reminiscent of John Currin.

* I have been building this background up everyday. Layering the black oil paint.

I want it to be thick and textured!

Based on a tutorial I have decided to work on another canvas to accompany this one.

I’m hoping that this will stop me overworking and rushing my work and that there will perhaps be a charge between the two paintings as they bounce off each other.

Will I make one mark on one canvas and then make a similar mark that conveys the same language on the other ?

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Monochrome ‘active paint’.

I have been experimenting with combining black and white (and the tonal greys you get from mixing them) with other colours.

Will selecting my colour more sparingly communicate more intention?

I have been producing more thumbnails in response to my images and in preparation for my larger response which will be on canvas.

I painted oil paint on to primed canvas – it is the size of a postcard.

At the time it was away for me to project my immediate ideas and response to the imagery I had been collecting.

There are areas where the texture of the cardboard still come through the primer and this lends another dimension to the paint and so contributes to its dialogue with the viewer.

I painted this study along side ‘roughing’ up the background of my canvas. I am now interested to see how the two paintings will relate to one another.

There is a change in materials but the subject is the same.

Do two artworks have to be separate? Can they be curated in a way that they are two paintings but one artwork?

My small study on cardboard reminds me of Auerbach. There are areas of my paint which are so thick that they seem to be frozen in motion.

With lines that describe the lips there is a cloyed drip that appears on first glance to still be wet. This idea of the painting frozen in motion reminds me that it was (before it dried) a moving thing.

-Frozen moments brings me back to think of blog post 9 where I mentioned film stills and trapped flesh.

-I associate moving with things that are living and so for me it inhibits the painting with an element of living paint.

-Because of this the paint plays an active role in describing the subject to me.

Will I produce more scaled down paintings as part of my degree show ? Maybe on varying materials ?

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