Process Deep Dive – Page 3

Summer – week 8 experiments

This week was all about birds. I love hybrid animal/people, and I like using them in my paintings. So I thought I’d add bird heads to the figures I’ve been drawing. I really enjoyed drawing/painting them. Birds are wonderful creatures, and come in a vast variety. I really like the results and think they make great stand alone illustrations.

Summer – week 7 experiments

Drawing, Experiments, Process Deep Dive

I feel like I went round in circles this week, and although I got a few good drawings out of it, I seem to have lost the thread of the of what I’m aiming for, especially how the drawings I am doing relate to the paintings I have in mind.

One of the things I focused on this week was drawing things in the back/foreground of my figures. Although I am not that keen on the drawings I produced when practicing this, it is still a good skill to hone.

I also drew a few contraptions. The Heath Robinson book arrived, but I didn’t find it as inspiring as I thought I would. I then tried some steampunk-type mechanics, but this too isn’t quite right for the paintings I have in mind. What I am after is water falling through different levels, rather than contraptions per se, so I’ll keep experimenting.

The drawings I really like, and enjoying doing the most, are little character studies of my friends and family. These are maybe something I can develop further down the road, as works in their own right. For now, I feel it’s important to not get too side-tracked by this type of drawing, as it’s somewhat of a departure from the figures I have in mind for the paintings. Still, all drawing is helpful, so I might keep doing these now and then.

Summer – week 6 experiments

Drawing, Experiments, Process Deep Dive

I had another productive week in the studio. I primarily focused on people sitting, adding bits of furniture now and then. My favourite is drawing ladies in salon chairs – I did tons of them. I also did lots of friends and family, which was a lot of fun.

Towards the end of the week I started drawing contraptions. I love a good contraption…who doesn’t! The last image is a Heath Robinson (the king of contraptions) inspired one. I bought a Heath Robison book during the week, and when it arrives, I plan to draw one of his contraptions each day, to build up my contraption-component lexicon, with the hope that I can eventually draw fabulous one’s of my own.

Summer – week 5 experiments

Drawing, Experiments, Process Deep Dive

Sketching

I turned a corner this week with my sketching, and feel like I made real progress. The best part is, I am really enjoying drawing now. Not only is it much easier now, but I also really like the results.

The previous week I mostly drew people from behind, which is a great way to start when drawing figures. This week I started drawing people in profile and from the front, as well as people sitting. I also graduated from using other people’s sketches as a reference, to using photographs. Using sketches is a good place to start, as you can see where to put the marks. Photos are slightly harder, but the results are more original. My favourite thing is drawing friends and family.

I am aware that illustration could be a distraction at the moment, so I am being disciplined in my approach to keep moving my drawing forward, so I can use it in my figurative paintings. I’m so thrilled with my progress so far, and feel very hopeful for the paintings I have in mind.

Below are just some of the many the sketches I did this week.

Summer week 4 – experiments

Drawing, Experiments, Process Deep Dive

Sketching

Another frustrating week in the studio. I tried to spend most of it drawing, to varying degrees of success. Though, towards the end of the week, I began doing these little pen and watercolour sketches. Using pen means your committed to the lines you make, which can lead to less fussy drawing and which I think ultimately adds character. For some reason I seem to have a knack for old ladies. they are definitely my favourite type of person to draw. I’ll keep doing these for a while.

Painting

I also did a little bit of painting; mostly developing the lace/water technique and playing around with colour. I am really loving the addition of brown, as in no.105.

Summer – week 3 experiments

Experiments, Process Deep Dive

Monday 3rd – Thursday 6th July – drawing

I decided to spend the week drawing – above are some of the results. These aren’t really the types of figures or faces I would have in a painting, but they are good practice. I’m trying not to get attached to the outcome of an individual drawing, but rather see them as exercises to get more fluid and confident with drawing. Hopefully, by the time I come to put figures in my paintings at the end of the summer, the drawing practice/discipline will pay off.

Friday 7th July – Sunday 9th July

I thought it would be nice to take a break from drawing for the weekend, and work on developing the lace detailing, trying different designs and techniques etc. I love no.99/100, adding the vertical lines of dots really enhances the overall design. I love this kind of painting. I’m not that keen on the more formal/balanced designs of no.98/101 (I prefer the more free-form design of No.99/100/102). Although No.102 isn’t finished yet, I like where it is going. I think this technique will be a good way to represent water underground.

Summer – Week 2 experiments

Experiments, Process Deep Dive

Monday, 27th June

No.88 – A few strange paintings this week, including this one.

Tuesday, 27th June

No.89 – I really like this one, especially the way the image is suspended and emerges from the darkness.

No.90 This was a struggle, especially the shell-like casing on the back of the bug. I got there eventually and really like the result, although the image as a whole is a bit too static.

Wednesday, 28th June

No.91 – I tried this fellow with various backgrounds. With the last one, I used middle-grey, as in film/photography, and although the colours are truer, I still prefer a black background.

Thursday, 29th June

No.92 – An experiment with a figure. It gives me hope that if I keep practicing my figures over the summer, I could have some really interesting paintings. Here I used a fashion model as a reference for the body – I love the stance.

Friday, 30th June

No.93 Experimenting with colour here. I like the colour of the thing the bird is standing on, and think that’s probably as blue as I should go for these paintings. Not as keen on the light blue in the bird. I think I’ll keep blue I use in these paintings to a minimum – less is more. For example, in the painting above, I used blue for the woman’s eyes, and a tiny bit to the right of her shoulder and feet. That’s enough.

Sunday, 2nd July

No.94 – Obviously, I didn’t make the decision about blue for these paintings until after I painted this. I do like the colour of the hare, just not so much of it. I love the colour of the owl, which has a hint of Indian yellow. The little dots in his wings is sufficient blue.

Summer – Week 1 experiments

Experiments, Process Deep Dive

You can always tell when I’m stressed, cause I eat sugar and draw cats. This week Geoff and I have been in negotiations to buy Anam Cara, consequently, I ate a fuck-ton of sugar, and here are my cats (except for the first which is a horse).

Monday, 20th June

No.83 – here I am experimenting with building up the picture with see-through layers. I really like the look of this technique.

Tuesday, 20th June

No.84 – I absolutely love this painting, it’s one of my favourite of this series so far. I like all the different elements in it, and think it is a style that could lend itself to storytelling. I especially love the flying cat. The addition to this painting, that distinguishes it from the previous ones, is the use of pencil outlines. I really like the effect.

Wednesday, 21 June

No.85 – from here on the paintings this week seemed to devolve into frantic doodles, on account of the stress. Still, I love cats so much that I really like this and the following paintings.

Thursday, 22nd June

No.86 – a negotiation faceoff if ever I saw one. We lost this round, but we’re not defeated yet.

Friday, 23rd June

No.87 – I love this little scaredy-cat.

Sunday, 25th July

No.88 – this painting illustrates the fact that losing Anam Cara and owning Anam Cara are terrifying in equal measure. It’s been a very hard week in the studio, with lots of internal disquiet and external distractions. However, looking back over the paintings I produced, I can see some real progress, in terms of style and storytelling possibilities, so it definitely wasn’t time wasted.

Week 30 experiments

Process Deep Dive

Monday, 12th June

No.75 – Just trying out some more lace ideas with this one. I love the horse and the lace, just not together.

Tuesday, 13th June

No.76-77 – More lace experiments. I’m definitely not keen on the lace directly on the animals/figures. The palette is really coming together.

Wednesday, 15th June

No.78 – I love this frog, and prefer it to the one above. I definitely prefer creatures etc to be suggestive of something, rather than explicitly so.

Thursday, 15th June

No.79 – I love this painting too. I like the lace here, as it looks like a covering, rather than directly on the creature. I also like how weird the creature is.

Friday, 16th June

No.80 – I painted this on the last day of my first year of my masters. I feel like I have made real progress with the figurative paintings, and I’m loving every minute of it.

Sunday, 18th June

No.81 – I absolutely adore this painting, and have called it “Colin the long-legged guinea pig”. I’ve begun adding Indian Yellow to the palette, and love what it brings to these paintings.

Week 29 experiments

Experiments, Process Deep Dive

Monday, 5th June

No.65 – This painting felt like another breakthrough. I can really see the potential in this kind of work. Painting bigger definitely allows for more detail. This is a very exciting process. Sea underpainting.

Tuesday, 6th June

No.66 – This is a sea-painting on canvas (30cm x 30cm) – just trying different things. This type of painting takes well to canvas, which is good.

No.67 – Another sea-painting (on paper). Rather than paint an entire big painting just yet, thought I’d do close-ups of certain aspects. Again, I like the amount of detail that can be used in bigger work.

Wednesday, 7th June

No.68-70 – These were some unfinished small paintings I had lying around, so I finished them off. I like aspects of them, but it’s definitely more enjoyable painting bigger.

Thursday, 8th June

No. 71 – This is another painting I had lying around. It was initially of something different. The only part I liked was what is now the octopus’ head – so I kept that and painted out the rest and added the tentacles. It was pleasant to paint.

Friday, 9th June

No.72 – I spent the morning at a pre-op appointment with my Mum, for her hip replacement, so I painted this in the afternoon. Rather than a sea underpainting, this underpainting was done by spraying seawater. I love this painting. I’ve often thought that the white in these dark paintings look like bone. The lace overlay is another breakthrough – I’m thrilled it looks great with these paintings. I will definitely explore these two elements (bones and lace) in the coming days.

Sunday, 11 June

No.73-74 – In these paintings I was exploring the lace overlay further (minus the bones), I absolutely love the results. I especially love how the underpainting shows through, giving the effect that the lace is see-through. There’s a deep connection between lace and the sea for me. I also think it adds a mystical aspect to the paintings, plus it is a pleasure to paint – so it’s a win all round!