Some recent works have been added to my site. These include various drawings of portraits, trees and flowers in water viewed from different perspectives to create more abstract images.
Other work includes some recently painted portraits, which are, given the time and environment restrictions, sketches in paint. Most of my portrait paintings to date were created in this way, in class environments. I’m now ready to do some more sustained paintings with victims willing to sit for me..!
I’ve recently had enjoyed a short portrait course with the extremely talented artist and lovely person; Andy James. Using monochrome and a limited palette proved a useful approach in modulating tonal range, as did having a more sustained, although still brief, sitting.
I’m also working toward creating some portraits of my mother. She is now eighty and suffering from memory loss and I feel it’s so important to attempt capture and express what I can of her at this time.
The process of investigating and exploring a person’s face is so fascinating to me; not only as an artistic technical challenge, as much as a psychological and creative attempt to capture what emerges from really studying the life expressed on an individuals face.
For a portrait to really be successful I think it needs to somehow capture the essence of a person, which is one of the paradoxes of presenting one final image that the viewer will encounter. The time line of creating and exploring in paint and through interaction with the individual in front of you, needs, in some ways to leave its traces within that final image. In effect by its very nature the act of creating a portrait highlights the subjective nature of perception and interpretation.
Our non-verbal communication is so important to how we interact and all the fleeting micro expressions that take place can transform a face in moments and may be considered like traces on our features as we age, so we get more of a feel for who the individual is and how they may have experienced their lives.
Although not on the site yet I have also been exploring more abstract ways to explore portraiture and duality, whilst my interest in time lines, youth and ageing are relevant current concerns and part of a continued investigation.