Musing
Self-portrait
900mm x 900mm x 35mm
Oil on linen
Friendship I
900mm x 900mm x 35mm
Oil on canvas
Friendship II
900mm x 900mm x 35mm
Oil on canvas
Friendship III
900mm x 900mm x 35mm
Oil on linen
This body of work Musing presents the outcome of posing different questions relating to process, material and representation within a painterly exploration of photographic source images.
Through these works, I play around with my own habitual technique and make different decisions throughout the process of painting, striving to incorporate new ideas that I have discovered in my research and analysis. I aim to retain the vitality of the original photographs through very different brush and process techniques. Four solutions to four different problems that strive to communicate the same energy.
In Self-portrait I felt compelled to work with a live model, simultaneously with an image rendered from the sitting, of a situation I, myself had created. Therefore, being fully invested in the evolution of my process.
While painting Self-portrait, I worked looking into a mirror as well as from a selfie I took in situ. I used the heaviest raw linen I could get my hands on so that I could achieve a highly textured variation in my paint finishes over different areas of the surface of the painting. Self-portrait is the result of this journey.
Throughout this process I have continued to investigate and better understand the methods used by artists who occupy a similar territory.
Jude Rae and Zarahn Southon both inspired me to use varying ground surfaces as well as differing techniques in how they use and cover the surfaces. I also really love the works of Francois Bard and Alexander Tinei that both somehow loosen the surface of their works with their brush techniques used, similar to Odd Nerdrum.