Oil painting 2

I decided to experiment with oil paints and portraiture as this is something I have not experimented with before, I waned to try to mix realistic skin tones and mid tones. As this piece was an experiment I painted this piece on paper. 

I first started by sketching in the basic face shapes using a coloured pencil, I then refined this slightly till I felt. I had the face shape correct. Once I had drawn the basic face I then blocked in the darkest areas using a large paint brush, I also refined these slightly and started adding highlights. Once the main blocks of tone and shadow were added I mixed a series of skin tones in oil and blocked these in roughly till I was happy with the shape of the face and the overall tone of the piece. 

Once I was happy with the overall facial features I then started adding more precise tone to the features to make them appear more realistic.

This gave me a base to add the detail, I used a very fine brush to add detail to the piece around the eye, nose and lip area. I also used a relatively small brush to fill in the hair.

For my second piece (final outcome) I wanted to experiment with more surreal colour schemes, for this I started by creating a base to work on, for this I selected the background colours I wanted from the artists work I was most inspired by; Jen Mann. I took images of her work into a paint store which scanned in the images in order to mix the correct colours. I bought two tester pots to prime my canvases with. The colours I selected were a pale shade of blue and a pastel pink. I first primed my canvas using these colours and then I protected the image I wanted to use onto my canvas and used a mechanical pencil to draw in the image.

I them mixed a series of different colours which complimented these colour schemes; blues on pink, pinks on blue. Using a similar technique to before I used these colours to block in the main bulk using s large brush including the shadows and highlights. I them began to refine this will smaller brushes until I finally added the detail using a fine brush around the face and hair, including the eyes, eyebrows, lips and hair. This draws attention to the face itself, making the face the main point of interest in the piece.

OIL PAINTING HEALTH AND SAFETY. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dangers-using-solvents-oil-painting-deodanda-pretorius

Pablo Picasso and Frida Kahlo.

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican born artist who created paintings that focused on herself and the major events in her life, her pieces almost created an autobiography of her life through the use of

symbolism and surreal imagery. Born on July 6 1907 Mexico City, Frida lived a relatively normal life until she was involved in a bus accident that had a detrimental effect to her health, breaking her spinal column in several places. Frida suffered two main accidents in her life, her pieces started during the recovery period of the bus accident in which she painted the experience. Frida also contracted polio at the age of six, leaving on leg thinner than the other, something which Frida despised, often depicting it in her paintings and covering it up with long skirts. Frida was immobilised for three months during her recovery in which she painted many self portraits. Frida herself stated; 'I paint my self because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.' 

Frida's accident made it impossible for her to have children resulting in miscarriages during her pregnancies, this changed Frida's perception on life, she painted these experiences, painting herself in a hospital bed with physical wounds on her body symbolising the psychological wounds she had gained during her accidents, miscarriages and other depressive moments in Frida's life.

''I never painted dreams, I painted my reality''.

Fridas work was inspired by Mexican culture and although her pieces in the beginning were very traditional her pieces took on a more dark approach to art which any artists admired. Mexican culture is evident in her work through the use of heavily symbolic imagery, bright colours and an almost primitive way of working. 

Frida has inspired me to act on my own feelings when creating my final piece, using subliminal messages within my work through the use of imagery and colour to show my feelings about my own artwork. 

Pablo picasso also created pieces which were inspired by his own feelings much like the way Frida

created her pieces, although Picasso's pieces were not surreal like Frida's they used heavy symbolism through the use of colour and a primitive style of working. Between 1901 and 1904, Pablo Picasso painted pieces in various shades of blue and green, these pieces were quite somber and used these colours to express Picasso's feelings at the time.These pieces were heavily inspired by Spain and Spanish culture much like Frida's work was inspired by Mexican culture. These pieces were first inspired by Picasso's journey through Spain and the suicide of a very close friend, Carlos Casagemas, these works included any portraits of his friend as well as various other subjects.

Picasso also created numerous works in what was named his 'rose period'.

This lasted from 1904-1906. After the death of his friend Picasso met Fernande Olivier (a French artist and model) in which they became very close, Picasso was happy with his relationship with Fernande and this shows throughout his work, he admitted himself that this ay have been the reason for his change in painting style.During the rose period a harlequin would feature frequently and sometimes throughout the rest of his career, this became a personal symbol for himself depicting the happier and more cheerful times during Picasso's life and was often used throughout his career even after the Rose Period had ended.

Picasso has inspired me to think about my use of colour within my pieces and how colour can effect emotions and portray emotions of both artist and subject, I want to experiment with different shades of blue and pink to show how colours effect emotions. 

Final studio photographs, high key lighting.

Finally I wanted to create more flat images with less shadow as it was difficult to edit the colour schemes with the different lighting setups used. I also asked my model to wear darker clothing as I found it difficult to adjust the colour schemes against a white background in the previous studio photographs.

To create my flat lit photographs, I used two strobe lights at the same height as the model against a white background. These strobes were angled towards the model in order to illuminate shadows on the subject. 

2 strobes, 2 light stands, 2 20" soft boxes. White background, high key lighting. 1/60 Shutterspeed, aperture F8, 100 ISO. 

I wanted to experiment with different poses, some of which were quite unusual mad awkward looking, these could then be used with my surreal colour schemes and layered to provide me with my source material for my paintings. 

I placed a table in the room with the backdrop hanging over so I could have the model pose in more unconventional positions. I felt this fit my theme much more as my theme deals with facades and identity and the awkward, shy and uncomfortable positions show how the subject truly feels. 

I wanted to use more unusual poses as I felt these would work well layered over the top of each other creating interesting compositions to be used as reference, these could then be digitally rendered to change the colours creating more surreal colour schemes. These could also be used in my own digital collages which could work well in my final outcome. 

Here are some of my favourite photographs I have taken which I feel would work best when converted into a painting;

Model- Ami Jacobs.

Digital layering and composition

I wanted to experiment with different emotions and psychological feelings, I thought these would work well with layering images, dealing with issues such as; split personality, facades and some mental illness's. These would then be used to decide how my painting would be portrayed and provide the source imagery for the pieces.

I started by using photoshop to blend the photographs I had taken in my second lot of studio photographs. To do this, I first placed one of the photographs onto a blank background (layer 1) I then pasted my second image over the top of this (layer 2). I chose images that I felt would flow into the previous photograph and would work well together. Due to the photographs being very opaque I couldn't see the photograph beneath it, to resolve this I then changed the opacity on the image above to allow the image below to peer through. Once I had done this I then moved the images into different compositions to experiment with different images for the piece.

These images could then be converted into my colour schemes and used for reference in my own surreal coloured paintings in the style of Jen Mann.

Martine Johanna and Jen Mann.

Martine Johanna and Jen Mann are both contemporary artists who specialise in portrait paintings. They both produce pieces which focus on psychology and feeling which gives deep meaning to their work; these meanings may be personal to themselves or interactive with the public. 

Both artists use a very similar colour palette consisting of very cool shades such as cool pinks and blues as well as pastel shades and some more unconventional colour schemes when it comes to portraiture. They also both delve into surrealistic elements in their very realistic portraiture, this includes overlapping images and surreal imagery. 

Martine Johanna is an artist and illustrator based in Amsterdam the Netherlands. She likes to use bio-degradable materials when painting and creates pieces using a mixture of layered materials including watercolours, oils, graphite and acrylics; these may be used on paper, wood panels or canvas.

As well as realistic colour schemes, and realistic style painting she also used more unusual colour schemes which guide her work a more surreal appearance much like Jen Manns work, only Martines work is not as surreal in terms of colour and more in terms of the imagery used.

Martines piece have been inspired by many things such as folk art, music ect. But much like Jen Manns work she also concentrates on deeper meanings as seen in the piece below 'phantom limbs'.

Jen Mann however is a Toronto based artist who paints pieces inspired by identity and relationships, this interacts with the public well as many can relate to her pieces of work. Like Martine Johanna she uses interesting and surreal colour schemes such as pinks, blue, ect these convey each ,essays and are carefully picked out to make the piece interact with the viewer.

Jen Manns work is worked in a very different way to Johannas, her pieces are created from one corner to another rather than working in layers so she does not miss any small details. These are crated in a large scale using oil paints. 

Her pieces are very meaningful much like Johannas work but I feel as though the ,earnings are both personal and public making her pieces very interesting to look at. An example of this is the painting seen below, created to show how the things we try to hide can escape and consume us even though we try so hard to hide them. 

Both artists are quite similar in terms of colour, meaning and subject matter and are also very relevant ,to my own theme 'identity'. When I saw these artists work they i ideally caught my eye and I knew I wanted to research into them, it wasn't until I started doing research when I realised the relevance to my own art project which I feel shows how the meaning behind the pieces are quite clear and interact with the audience well. These artists have inspired me to create pieces in a very similar method, but also to spark feeling in the viewer much like these artists do in their own as the public are able to come to their own conclusions about the artwork allowing them to relate to the pieces themselves which I feel us very effective and makes these two artists very alike.

Exhibition Space.

For our own exhibition our pieces will be displayed in 2 relatively large art studios with high ceilings. These studios will be converted into the exhibition space using tall white boards, these boards have allowed the space to become a blank canvas in which students can paint, decorate and wallpaper the boards if need be before placing the pieces in the exhibition. 

The space also included several plinths in which students could place 3D pieces, allowing the audience to walk around the entire piece much more accessible. This also meant the space did not feel as empty as some of the plinths could be placed in the centre of the gallery space filling the empty space in the middle of the exhibition. 

The space itself was very large, allowing the public to move freely through the exhibition making the space a safer space to move around in. It also means the public can step back and look at the artwork. The space is very clean and open which I feel compliments the artwork well making it the sole point of interest. 

The boards themselves have been placed at angles to enhance the artwork and sepperate each students pieces, this works well as it makes it clear to the audience which pieces are linked to each other and which ones are sepperate from others but still linking the pieces on a whole.

Aspex Gallery Portsmouth

Upon my visit to Aspex gallery in Portsmouth I saw numerous presentation techniques, these included plinths and wall hangings. In this exhibition there were several pieces displayed including photography, painting and illustration, these were each displayed differently. 

The gallery itself is very accessible to the public as it doubles up as a cafe, this means the audience can relax take their time looking round the exhibition and then settle for something to eat or drink whilst thru enjoy the artwork. I like the feel of this atmosphere as it is very relaxed and doesn't feel too formal, allowing you to appreciate local artworks. This is a very interactive way of displaying work in a gallery as pelple may be more inclined to visit the gallery due to the cafe inside. 

The space that artwork is placed in is very raw and compliments the artwork, pieces have been did played carefully did to colours and space provided so the texture and colour of the gallery space compliments the artwork well. There are also many high ceilings in the gallery, which gives a contemporary feel to the space provided, much like a lot of the artwork placed in the exhibtions. 

Many pieces within the gallery were quite small, this forced the audience to get very close to the pieces of artwork in order to appreciate them, these were also placed on very blank walls which emphasised the size of the pieces due to the large amount of negative space around the pieces. Most of these small pieces were nearly craned and ranged in different shapes, these were often paced my different orders but we're all consistent in height. These were always placed at typical eye level making the pieces easier to view by the audience.

Other pieces were much larger and were  placed in unusual compositions, the viewer can see piece clearly from afar but the viewer can still get up grey close and see much more prominent details. These were also placed at a convenient height for the viewers eye. I found the space these pieces we replaced in very open, allowing the viewer to step back and view each piece of artwork from a distance

The display methods in the exhibtion have made me think about how my own pieces would be placed in exhibtion and have allowed me to view different presentation techniques and analyse a gallery space much like the one my own exhibtion will be being placed in. I plan to use these methods to interact with the public and major my own pieces eye catching and interesting to view.