(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!).