Painting Evaluation
I originally inteded to photograph Scarlett individually, however as she had been an inspiration to me as a model for a long time we were keen to see how images of the two of us together would work. We began with side by side “artistic nude” poses, but moved on to more intimate sets.
I chose to use one of the “duo” image for this painting as I find the exploration of painting a self portrait very interesting. By placing myself in the image I am able to analyse my own expression and emotional state in more depth. I also enjoy being a part of the whole process, as this is such a personal project I don’t want to feel like an observer but rather a participant.
After experimenting with more abstract techniques through the previous painting of Lulu and print works, I wanted to explore a more refined technique. I feel my skills in this area have imporved dramitically, and I am especially enjoying learning about colour and how to apply paint to canvas in an expressive yet representational way.
The main problem I had with this painting was trying to create a recognisable portrait. At the drawing out stage I didn’t include enough detail and therefore I got the proportions all wrong on my own face. I went away and did a lot of sketch work looking at proportions, facial features and comparing anatomy between myself, Scarlett and Jaime. I re-worked the face in my painting, correcting angles and mainly the shape and position of my eye and nose.
Overall I am very happy with this image as I feel I managed to capture a very delicate and intimate moment, the expression on my own face is quite pensive and summarises my feelings towards this whole project quite nicely. I am pleased that I re-worked this part as I feel I have now captured this in a way that I am happy with.
The technique I used was a combination of my other works and just experimenting with brush strokes that felt natural to the piece I was working on. When looking at the completed image I think I have managed to paint this in quite a soft, dream-like way. Although this is not so much an expression of censorship as I originally planned to express within my work, I feel it has a much deeper personal meaning and shows a very honest journey of my own explorations, sexuality and desires.
Things I have learnt whilst working on this image are that I need a lot more practice in drawing individual details such as facial features and hands. At the drawing out stage, a much more detailed starting point would have made this a lot easier and I also need to learn to be more observant of the original image rather than making up what I think it should be like as I go along (for this particular representational style).
Moving forward, I would like to focus on just portraits, as this was the first one I have done that involves much detail I would like to gain a much better understanding of facial anatomy and how to accurately depict that in a painting. This painting took me a few days to complete, however I would like to spend a lot longer on a single painting in future, perhaps looking at layering and under-painting. I could also experiment with different mark making techniques and tools.
