New project: 09/02/2010

 **CURRENT WORK, PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR FREQUENT UPDATES**

I am currently starting an exciting new project.
I will be painting a personalised magazine cover in oil paints on an A1 canvas, which will give me the chance to add fine detail (which is always a good thing!)

Here are the basics:

   

the painting process: 

 

(reviewing old work) Painting 6: Self portrait: distorting the human figure 2

This was my exam piece for A-Level Art and was painted in 15 hours. The project was called : The Human Form. I chose to explore ways of distorting the human body by looking from different perspectives. I painted this image on MDF that was a little larger than A2 in oil paints.
Here is the original image:


I chose this particular image because:

• It featured body distortion due to perspective.
• the wind making movement in my hair.
• the bright white background, adding interest, but not distracting the viewer from the main focus of the image: the figure.
• there are ripples around the feet because I was moving my feet (I wanted a lot of movement in the image).
• the body creates a nice, fluid shape.
  

parts of the painting I'm happy with:

I'm happy with how the face turned out (although I don't remember painting my cheeks orange - bad lighting whilst taking the photo of this painting, sorry!). I used a tan colour to frame my face, helping my skin tone fade into my hairline. I learnt, whilst painting this piece, that to create the look of fine strands of hair, I needed to use a lighter colour than my own hair colour. I think it turned out very well.

This was my second try at painting water, and I think I improved in that department. I made my submerged feet a lot lighter than the rest of my body. I am happy that learnt new things in this project, and that I embraced the challenges.

(reviewing old work) Painting 5: Self portrait: distorting the human figure 1

This was part of my A-Level Art coursework - the project was called : The Human Form. I chose to explore ways of distorting the human body by looking from different perspectives. I painted this image on A2 MDF in oil paints.

Not only do I enjoy fine art, but I equally love photography. I combine these two loves A LOT - many of my paintings start off as my photography. I love photography that has a lot of contrast and texture to it e.g. a bright figure with a dark background (contrast) standing in water (texture).

So my idea for this piece was not only to tick the box of distorting a figure, but add other interesting aspects to it - like standing in a next to empty swimming pool at night (which I swear had some inhabitants in it... the things I do for my art!). I love the contrast of the bright clothes with the dark background. Here is the original image:

parts of the painting I'm happy with:

I think adding the dark shadow behind the figure really made it pop out of the painting and look more realistic. I made sure that I blended out the shadow so that there was no sharp line, but not blend it so much that the shadow was not solid enough.

It was interesting trying to get the effect of the water into my piece, because it was something I had never tried prior to this painting. I'm happy with how my first try went - notice how the ripple actually cuts into the right foot. It was strange having to trust the photograph, and actually paint the left leg in that particular shape (because that's how it looks from that angle) - this project really taught me to trust my eyes (and not so much my brain!).

(reviewing old work) Painting 4: Gracie (again!)

This is another painting of Gracie for my sister. Gracie's such a beautiful little thing, and I love to catalogue her different ages and milestones using paint - by the time shes 1, she'll have a dozen portraits of herself! I painted this on A4 oil paint paper, so it isn't as detailed as some of my larger pieces, however, I think simplicity works for this particular painting. (the photo of this painting came out a little darker than it really is). Here is the original image:


parts of the painting I'm happy with:

I'm happy with the nose on this particular piece, once I added the white highlight, I felt it come to life. I added a peachy line on the right and parallel to the white highlight, which I then intergrated into the rest of the peice - which made it look more lifelike.

As always, I enjoyed painting the eyes in this piece. I think I enjoyed this one in particular because of how bright they were in the original image, therefore, making me use more white (I'm used to making eyes darker, due to the makeup that people wear, so this was a nice change for me).

Project 2: Self portrait series: Painting 1

If you read one of my previous posts on self portraits, you would know that I am starting some self-directed work.
I am working from images I have taken of myself - here's the first one I am tackling!:


Here's some photos showing my work so far:






*CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES*

(reviewing old work) Painting 3: Gracie (surrealism)

Another Gracie painting! A birthday present for my sister. This was painted in oils (like all of my paintings) but on a board of MDF (a little bit larger than A2). With this piece I explored surrealism, I looked at the face as a smooth 3D object, rather than a face. It's not a style I usually do, (I prefer to get a close match to the original photo as possible) but I really enjoyed the experience and the finished product. Here is the original image:


parts of the painting I'm happy with:

Because the painting was so large, it gave me the opportunity to do all the fine detail. I LOVED to do the eyes in this painting because of all the contrast.. the light was hitting the eyes at an angle that made them so vibrant. If you look closely, you can see all the markings in the iris, and even the window reflected in Gracies eye! God I love painting eyes! I enjoyed painting the subtle eyebrows and eyelashes too.



I really liked painting the lips in this painting (which is unusual for me). Creating depth by painting the shine and shadow was a lot of fun, and I'm extremely pleased with the results!

(reviewing old work) Painting 2: Happy Gracie!

This is one of my most recent paintings, and probably one I am most proud of. It was a gift to my sister and her fiance, of their daughter. It was important to me that I chose to paint an image that captured her happy spirit, so when i took this picture:

... I knew I found the image I was looking for! There are a few changes that I made to my own painting that you can see by looking at the original photo.
For instance:

• the background. I found that the background in the photo was too distracting, so I opted for a simple beige background in my painting, making the baby the main focus of the painting.
• her skin tone. hot clammy days make the skin red and generally not the best to photograph. So in my painting, I created a more even skin tone.

parts of the painting I'm happy with:

With every painting, I learn something new. With this particular painting, I learnt the effectiveness of combining cool toned colours for shadow with warm toned colours for highlights. You can see how I used a blue around Gracie's face whilst I used a warm skin-tone for the rest of the face. I found that this really helped the image look more realistic, and it is a trick I now use in all of my paintings.



I usually paint mouths last (probably because I don't find them as exciting to paint as, say, eyes) but this time, I payed more attention to the mouth, because I wanted to be sure the gums looked like gums (its not something you paint very often!). I am very happy with the way the mouth turned out, and I think the glint just under the tougue shows the texture of the mouth.

(reviewing old work) Painting 1: Emily

painting is tedious work... it can take hours of painting before I'm happy with a piece, meaning this blog can only slowly grow. However, I DO have a lot of old work, so why not review it?

Painting 1: Emily

This is probably my most 'famous' (haha) piece. It is of my sister, and it was entered for the Royal Acadmey of Arts A-level Exhibition Online 2008. 760 paintings throughout Britain where entered, and 55 works were chosen to feature in the exhibition. My painting 'Emily' was chosen, and is shown as the first painting on the page (you can visit the exhibition here). It then went on to be featured in the Romsey Advertiser (you can read the article here).

parts of the painting that I'm happy with:

I was happy with how the hair turned out on this particular piece. I'd always found painting hair a challange before, but I think this piece helped me overcome all my hair problems! I basically started off with a base that was pretty much the same colour (mid-gray), and worked in white highlights using a slightly scratchy brush that created the strands of hair. I continued to build up the highlights whilst adding depth, where it was needed, with black.


The fabric Emily was wearing in the original photo was velvet, which challenged me to try and replicate the fabric with paint. I enjoyed the challange, and I think it turned out well.

self portraits, and doing what I love...

To me, it is very important to continue to do self-directed work, and tick all the boxes of the things I love to paint. For instance, I can't get enough of painting close-up facial shots - no face is the same, and I love to really study bone structure and the depth and detail of eyes.
So heres my own little project; a series of self portraits. I am eager to learn more about my face - ha!
So I did a bit of dramatic makeup and took some shots, trying to get different angles of my face.
I love that I am able to combine my love of makeup, photography, design and produce fine art at the end of the project.

Here are the photos that turned out the best:

I really love this image because of the effect the flash of the camera had against the hair and forehead - so abstract! It is very interesting how the flashes of light frame the face - I couldn't have asked for better placement. This will be an interesting image to paint.

What I find very striking about this image is the great contrast between light skin and a dark background. It makes for a powerful image.

This is probably my favourite image, because I love to paint close-ups so much. I really like how the light is spilling down, from the right brow, and hitting the cheek. I am looking forward to painting this. I will paint it in a way that will create a flawless, almost surreal look, because I think that will make the image look more powerful.

Expect painting updates VERY soon, including photos of the paintings coming together.

Project one!

As a way of paying back my brother for making me such a lovely website (have you seen it yet? check it out!: www.elouisegodwin.com), i'm painting him a series of 5 paintings. 5 of his favourite lead singers from various bands ...


still working things out... please check back to see how the paintings develop, and if you want to have your very own bespoke painting, visit my website :)

(like my website? check out my brothers site: www.digibloc.com)

ta-ta!

*UPDATE*

I am working on these images sporadically, whenever I have free time. So heres a few images on where I've got so far:

I'm nowhere near finished with this painting... expect updates soon!