After last weeks exploration and idea generation I realised I was drawing lots from my surroundings. And, seeing as I have been spending so much time in my own company and thoughts lately, due to lockdown, I have settled for the theme ‘reflection’ for my FMP. I will explore reflection both literally but also through the means of self-reflection and through my reflective thoughts. I wish to somehow explore and visually express my mind through my work, and through a sort of narrative. I read some interesting essays on a website called ‘Every Painter Paints Himself’ and this one specifically discusses mirrors/ reflections as a recurring theme found in many great paintings : https://www.everypainterpaintshimself.com/theme/mirrors. This gave me some food for thought and so this week I began thinking a little more complexly about the subject matter and elements I should perhaps like to work with, also prompted by the artists whom I have been researching.
This was a spur of the moment sketch I produced after coming to the realisation I would use ‘reflection’ as my theme. I jotted down quickly, some specific ideas I could potentially use for a painting composition. As you can see on the left, I redraw the scene I drew from my window last week, as well as some mirrors and various versions of myself, each a sort of different character of myself reflecting different mindsets and feelings I come to find myself engulfed in lately. I purposefully attempted to make the elements overlap as I wish to express business of the visual reflections and imagery that runs through my mind. I feel cabin fevered and trapped in my room, seen as I am forced to spend so much time in here at the moment. When I close my eyes I often see objects from my room that I am constantly surrounded by, and so I tried to represent that here, which I continued to develop in the drawing below also.
Within this study, a development o the drawing above, I was inspired by the painting below, by Brigitta Kocsis. I am drawn to the way she layers and merges the room together through layers of paint yet still succeeds in suggesting space and perspective . I also like the comparison of the detail in the portrait and in the patterns on the fabric compared to the more suggestive strokes. The soft, sensitive colours that are beginning to emerge through this drawing are inspired by the renaissance styled paintings I have been looking at, which are shown below, but also I think I’m choosing colours that most suit my mind at present; soft, airy, fragile colours are what I am finding myself drawn to using as of late. I will develop this drawing and make more studies of my own, in paint and attempt to layer paint in a similar way for I should like to achieve a similar affect in my own work.
This snippet of a large painting, which I sketched down in my drawing above, prompted me to start thinking about potentially including a literal but thought provoking element symbolising ‘reflection’, such as the shell, which perhaps I could replace for an oyster or some other symbol, within my composition, and I like the colours and delicacy of the piece for it creates a dreamy, contemplative atmosphere.
This piece too, influenced my pastel and pencil drawing above through its green and pastel pinks alongside one another, as well as the influencing my lines through the range Melntyre uses. I find the combination of very simplistically painted/ drawn lines alongside detailed areas of painting, interesting on the eye, and the vigour of quick lines alongside detail lends the piece energy. In painting / drawing this way I feel I am able to be quite expressive.
Above is another study continues on from the previous, again inspired lots by Ally Melntyre’s piece, in which I’m further exploring things from my surroundings and attempting to play with their proportions against one another. I quite like the effect of the spray paint along with the thin lines of pencil and pastel, I may experiment more with using spray paint.
I found I wanted, now, to make a more refined version of a portrait reflecting my current self to fit in my loose sketches of my room, which allowed me to visualise composition ideas a little more by laying them out alongside all my other studies. I stumbled upon this portrait below, painted by Picasso and I instantly found myself craving to work in blue for it expresses a sort of solitude that I relate to at present.
I first made the sketch of myself, which, while making the words ‘hold on’ came to my mind as I feel at the moment I can see a strong version of myself growing but I am not quite there yet. I see her in my mind, it’s as though I’m grasping her but she’s just a meter ahead and so upon reflecting on this situation I’m feeling, I find my mind telling myself to ‘hold on’ to her and to keep her in sight, for eventually I will get there and become the strongest and most grounded version of myself.
Next, I developed my drawing into a ink/watercolour painting, using a similar pallet to Picasso’s portrait, I am quite pleased with it for the darkened areas support and draw attention to the lighter areas, while I have also managed to lend the study some life and shape, compared to the oil version I attempted on the right, which appears a little too flat for my liking along with the colours muddying into one another a little to much. I am still learning to work with oils and need to experiment a lot more with them, for I am far less familiar with them than I am inks.
I have been watching interviews of the Scottish painter and playwright, John Byrne lots recently and these two self portraits of his, with his cat, really capture my attention, they come across so expressive. He seems to capture the thoughts and feelings he and the cat share. I admire also, the jagged lines he uses, they certainly bring forth the image very quickly.
When reflecting on my childhood, very precious to me, was my cat called Charlie. Her and I were ever so close, wherever I went she would follow me, whether it in the garden in the house, we were always side by side and she would even lay alongside me in my cot. I often think of her and speak to her in my mind from time to time when I am lonely for I think she is listening to me somewhere. I drew her multiple times from photographs I have of her and then I painted version from my drawings, I find I create much looser and expressive paintings when painting from my own drawings as opposed to from the photograph. I used very thin washes of oil paint, diluted with white spirit, on cartridge paper primed with gesso. I enjoyed working in thin washes for I was able to sort of merge the stripes of her fur subtly. I tried to be very deliberate with my brush strokes, especially in the coloured study, changing which direction I made my marks in order to mimic her fur. I like the way the brush marks show in using thin washes, I notice John Byrne’s cats detail brush strokes and so I bore this in mind while trying these.
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