SUMMER ASSIGNMENT, SELF REVIEW & PLAN FOR

THE YEARMARTHA WATTON

PORTRAIT PAINTING: INITIAL SOURCESFIONA SHAW BY VICTORIA RUSSELLI chose this portrait by Victoria Russell as it stood out to me from some of the others in the gallery. I loved how although it is very realistic its still clear it’s a painting, and doesn’t have the photorealistic quality that some of the others had. In terms of composition, the subject sitting on the chair gives a relaxed feel to the piece, which is emphasised by the sheets draped around and over her. The colours used could also contribute to this as Russell has only used neutral shades, with the skin being the most ‘colourful’ area. The simplicity of this feels calming but strong. The piece has an air of confidence to it, mainly due to the clothing on the subject as she's in her underwear, which isn’t something you'd just go out in public wearing alone, yet in this painting that’s all she has on. Although you can’t see much of the room in which she is sitting, the artist has given a feeling of space by not placing any other objects near her, giving the impression of an empty room.

The artist has almost dabbed the paint onto the canvas when painting the skin because you can see the areas where the tone changes, it doesn’t blend seamlessly into itself. Again this emphasises the fact it is a painting, and not trying to look like a photo.

PORTRAIT PAINTING: INITIAL SOURCESTAD BY JOHN BOROWICZ

Tad by John Borowicz stood out to me as soon as I saw it, mainly due to the paper bag on the boys head which obviously was different to most of the other paintings. There are no props or objects in the background and the child is centred in the middle of the painting with his hat taking up almost as much space as he does on the canvas. The lack of background makes it almost impossible to work out the context of the piece which actually makes it quite comical. I would also say it poses many questions for the viewer because it seems so strange for example, ‘Why isn’t he wearing a top? Why is there a paper bag on his head?’ etc. The paint seems to blend into itself well, so no evidence of mark making is clearly visible, however the artist would have worked in layers because he used oil paint. The attention to detail on the bag is incredible as it really looks like it could be 3D and real. Borowicz used

highlights and shadows very precisely in order to get the exact crinkle of the paper. The boy himself is also really realistic which is mainly down to the way the skin tones were painted so every area has its different undertone which helps create natural looking shadows and skin.

PORTRAIT PAINTING: INITIAL SOURCESFRANCES GQOBA BY LONDON STEREOSCOPICAt the National Portrait Gallery there was a small section of photographs of the African Choir from when they toured and had their portraits taken by the London Stereoscopic Company. All the photos were striking but I chose this one, of Frances Gqoba. The main thing that drew me to this was the way that light had been used to create a dramatic cast on one side of the portrait. It highlighted her dark skin and natural beauty which is why I think this photo is so beautiful, as well as celebrating her African culture.The composition is typical for a portrait, with the subject sitting right in the centre looking straight on. I do feel, however, that this works well for this piece because the focus is all on Gqoba. Similarly, the lack of background only emphasises her as the main focus.

PORTRAIT PAINTING: INITIAL SOURCESWILLIAM HOGARTH BY LOUIS ROUBILIAC This terracotta bust of Willliam Hogarth stood out to me because of how realistic the piece is, and the amount of detail, especially in the face. It would have been hand sculpted however no signs of mark making are visible as the surface seems very smooth. There are ridges on the clothing and hair which add texture and again a sense of realism and movement. The pose seems confident and gives the impression that the subject was an important person, due to the clothes he’s wearing and the turn of the head.

PORTRAIT PAINTING: INITIAL SOURCESJAMES RHODES BY ALEXANDER CHAMBERLINIn this portrait of James Rhodes by Alexander Chamberlin the figure is placed centrally in the rectangle. The composition works wells for his particular painting as there is very little background detail so all focuses on the figure. Rhodes’ relaxed pose reflects Chamberlin's’ aim to paint people in their natural settings and the dressing gown he’s wearing further achieves this. The messy, unfinished background mimics the fact that the subject is in his comfort clothes and he is too messy and unfinished as he's not ready for the day yet. Furthermore, the large, rough brushstrokes that are soft but clearly visible contribute to this rushed, messy feel of the portrait. It gives the impression of the subject being laidback and carefree – like the brushstrokes.The painting feels real. Although the rushed style is not photorealistic, it shows emotion. The messy brushstrokes show texture and couple with the clothes it feels tired and worn out.

This, however, stands out to me as its not the most ‘perfect’ and its more of a real representation of a human as opposed to the ‘regal’ style of many traditional and photorealistic portraits.

PORTRAIT PAINTING: EXPERIMENTS & DECISIONS

I began experimenting with different compositions for my self portrait, drawing direct from observation by looking at myself in the mirror. This meant I was limited on what compositions I could draw because I still had to be able to see myself enough to draw. Because these were just to get an idea of which poses would work best for my final self portrait, I only used a pencil and did simple line drawings with not much detail. It was difficult to get these drawings to look like me as I wasn’t using any tone and you can’t tell much about it just from lines. Most of the sources I looked at from the museum had the subject facing straight on or slightly from the side so I decided to do the same for mine. My favourite composition is the one that is angled slightly from above as I think it has the most striking look to it and can imagine it looking even better as a painting. However, it was the most challenging to draw as I found it difficult to see myself in the mirror and draw whilst keeping the pose due to the angle.

PORTRAIT PAINTING: EXPERIMENTS & DECISIONS

Once I had drawn out a few different ideas and compositions using line drawings I built upon these to create painted self portraits. I used acrylic paint because its easiest to mix colours with and mistakes can be painted over quickly.The artist I was inspired by, Alex Chamberlin, has a slightly messy style of painting so I kept this in mind whilst doing mine, particularly on the hair. The poses were my favourite from the composition experiments plus a couple that I spontaneously decided to do whilst painting. As I did more painting I began to work out exactly which colours produced the skin tone I needed and thus it became easierand quicker.

PORTRAIT PAINTING: FINAL OUTCOME

In this project I thoroughly developed my ideas throughout, beginning with the initial researching stage at the National Portrait Gallery. I then used these pieces to develop my own initial ideas in the form of eight compositional drawings, and then four painted self portraits. I found painting my final piece to be easier than the other small paintings due to the fact I now knew how to mix the exact right colour, and the best techniques. For example, I found that using a palette knife was the best way to lay down the base colour as it gave a texture to it. Also because acrylic paint dries darker than how it looks, I had to always mix it a little bit lighter than what I wanted.I also found that in portraiture its better to look a the subject as a whole instead of at all the small details. This can actually make it look more like the subject as their features do not exist alone but together.

REFLECTING ON YEAR 1In year 1, the first project ‘Equivalents’ was probably the biggest learning experience as I was thrown into having to do a substantial amount of work quite quickly – something I hadn’t done before at GCSE. It was also the first project in which I did drawings from observation which is obviously something that is imperative within my work now. Being introduced to the workshop and sculpture also widened my skillset, even if I didn’t find those areas as interesting as others.Since September my skills and understanding have progressed hugely whether it be in mixed media, drawing, painting, sculpture or print. This has helped me recognise where my strengths and weaknesses are.

Drawing and painting are my strongest areas as well as the things I enjoy most out of everything we did last year. On the other hand, my weakest areas are sculpture and anything computer based because I find it difficult to produce work I'm proud of using these medias and they just don’t interest me as much in comparison.

PLANS FOR THE FUTUREAt the beginning of the year I wasn’t sure what area of art and design I wanted to pursue and so had my mind set on attending an art foundation course to give me more time to experiment with a variety of disciplines and make a decision from there. This then changed into wanting to go to university straight away to do a degree in fine art. However, over the summer I researched more into what degrees were available and have since decided that illustration is more suited to me. This is due to the fact that many fine art courses I looked at and visited degree shows for were based a lot around conceptual art which doesn’t appeal to me. It also seemed that illustration degrees actually teach you how to develop your skills and techniques whereas fine art had a lot more freedom but less teaching. I also found that many people said illustration offers more career paths to go into after university.To be able to do a degree in illustration I will need to do well in my courses at college, as well as make sure I have a strong portfolio of drawings, paintings and other illustrative work. In year 2 I'm going to focus my projects much more around illustration in order to have a lot of work which will help me get onto a degree course. I will also create my own illustration brief for my EPQ and build a well developed sketchbook for it along with a final piece.