As a continue-um of my first swollen flesh painting I had three more canvases the same size made – 38 x 30 cms.
Three more swollen faces -My eyes swollen and the planes of my face puffy.
Theses were produced before the embarkment of my large canvas and as a hopeful development from them.
The beginning stages of these paintings like most in this body of work, was the bruising of my canvas with, ink, charcoal and acrylic paint.
To be honest I enjoyed these canvases as abstract paintings too. There were miniature paintings within the organic marks of the paint.
I think the disfiguration of my flesh – not my flesh as I usually see it – allowed me to paint with more freedom.
This element of distortion either through the painting process or or the imagery before is something I brought up at the beginning of this project and the reason for melding digitally imagery.
These paintings became an elaboration of the imagery had and therefor the flesh was disfigured and changed further through my process of painting. The result is redelivering flesh to the viewer as something that is alien and unfamiliar. With the hope that they see it with fresh eyes and take on the extra addition of my own psychological embellishment of my subject.
I have been looking again at the work of Auerbach, Kossoff and Yan Pei Ming. All three are featured in Flesh Made Paint catalogue from the 2009 exhibition.
My colour palette for these paintings are in-between black and white and colour – muted but with flashes of colour and optimism.
Although these paintings were created with the intention of accompanying their older brother I think they stand strongly together as a tryptic.
I have decided to title these paintings ‘No Woman, No Cry I, II & III’ (Triptych) after the title of Bob Marley’s song. It a song which has held huge emotion pertinence with me both in adulthood and childhood and fits with the subject matter of this flesh – swollen from crying.
I produced all 3 of these paintings in quick succession during a 6 hour period. Because of this they have retained an in the moment-ness. THEY ARE OF THE SAME MOMENT.Their size and looseness of form allowed me to do this.
The photos of these were taken on the side I prefere them profile. In working with this paint there was a lot of taking off as well as putting on as part of my process – scraping and cutting with my palette knife.
I built up the planes of the face with rich, meaty reds as if building a face from flesh – the bloody red shapes of the muscle first – thick and cloying and then the wetter sliding paint of the flesh – working again form dark to light.
I feel these are my most successful paintings so far.
