Assignment 5

Preparing Assignment

Collecting references and considering compositions

8.3.2020

I have decided I want to create a combined portrait of two of my daughters. I hope to loosely base it around compositions to 2 different ‘classic’ paintings of sisters. I am not sure whether I will opt for landscape or portrait formats yet.

One of my daughters lives in Glasgow and the other in Manchester. I was only visiting each for a short while so had to take a series of photographs to take this intent further. I liked the idea of both sisters wearing black as I felt it would unite them. I liked the notion that you would not see where one daughter ended and the other began. I had to try and unite the direction of lighting, although matching the intensity proved difficult in the wintery conditions.

I began with the profile photos, but could instantly see these did not given enough of each daughter, and they would also feel disappointed in that perspective of themselves. They expressed that even as I took the photos.

This was not an encouraging start, but once I got back to France, I tried experimenting with digital mock-up compositions inspired by the Thayer sisters portrait. There was no combination of photos that I could put together that worked compositionally, with correct lighting, the sisters appearing to look at the same thing, and which also had a pleasing arrangement.

The best composition reminded me of a Queen album cover, and still the lighting on the girls faces was inconsistent. I felt this portrait still looked like two composite photos and did not inform anything about the relationship between the girls.

I began to recognise that emulating this composition with the resources I had was not going to achieve what I was after at all.

I began some compositional experiments in the style of the McEuan sisters.

I thought I had taken lots of photos to cover all eventualities, but once I started sorting and selecting I realised the mistakes I had made with lighting, angles of heads, positioning of myself at different heights… A big learning curve. However, I have to resolve this challenge with the material I have for this artwork.

I did consider transposing some of the photos to get the girls looking the other way, but knew that would compromise me getting a decent likeness and I did not want to do that.

This first attempt comprised nice images of both the girls, with them looking at the viewer. The lighting is clearly wrong but I could adapt the light on Rosie using this second photo as reference.

I did not like this image with the second photo replacing the first.

The third composition felt like it had more potential. I like Rosie’s expression – it is animated, lively and amused, capturing an essence of her younger character. She looks at the viewer. Brogan looks more measured and composed. However, I wondered if I might find a different version of Brogan (on the left) to experiment with, and perhaps look more directly towards the viewer.

I played with this composition a few times, changing their relative heights, sizes, background colours, artwork orientation, frame positioning, and trying a couple of slightly different images of Brogan, on the left.

The background is an experiment featuring a tattoo design that three of my daughters designed together and then got tattooed shortly after their Grandfather died, celebrating his and their Scottish Heritage. I would like to feature it somewhere in the design, and the blue of course represents the Scottish flag. So, after all these explorations my preferred composition is:

I have made some adjustments in this rough, and I would also like to add a larger area of black at the bottom of the picture to create that ‘where does one sister end, and the other begin’ idea as seen in ‘The Sisters’ by Thayer. Three of my girls have really thick, naturally wavy red hair which is very much a part of their identity. They often straighten it. As Brogan had straightened hers this day, I will also create straight hair for Rosie for this image. It will also help to unify them in the artwork, and provide both a visual and physical link in the artwork.

I like how both girls address the viewer with their looks. As in the McEuan sisters it does look like the girls have been having a conversation and Brogan has turned to look over her shoulder to see what we want. There is a relaxed contentment with the essence of smiles for both of them. The positioning of the two sisters feels physically close, and seeks to represent the closeness in their relationship. Fortunately the strong light plays in the right direction in both these images to help with the feeling of unity.

Finally, I was conscious to try and restrict my colour pallet as much as possible.  This had worked well in my portraits earlier in this unit. The warmth of the girls hair and skin tones contrast with the cooler greys, blues and blacks of their clothes and backgrounds. At this stage I am anticipating creating a monochrome piece of art, maybe in charcoals, or pen perhaps? However, I am still open to the concept of using hints of colour to support my drawing, but I do not know what media that might comprise.

Working my roughs in a digital format, just using my phone to create these roughs, has been a valuable new experience. I really enjoyed learning so much more about the programme and how to manipulate images. I enjoyed how versatile the drawing and painting tools were. As I was working from a limited selection of photographs it proved to be a time effective method of fully exploring composition options, and in particular the subtle differences that light, positioning and relative scale can have on the composition. I think drawing miniature sketches would not have allowed me to push my boundaries and keep exploring accurately in the way that I did, nor to finish this part of my journey with such a clear vision of what I am aiming for in the development of my work. It made this part of the exploration more thorough, enjoyable and exciting for me, giving me a clearer sense of direction in the onward progress of this project. It helped me to ask and answer my own questions as they arose. It was enabled me to wonder and respond, and wonder and respond….  A liberating process.

Now I have a working composition, I will begin experimenting with supports and media.

References:

SULLY, Thomas, (after 1823), ‘Portrait of The McEuan Sisters’, Bridgeman Education, [online]. Available at: https://www-bridgemaneducation-com [Accessed 17/2/2020]

THAYER, Abbott Handerson, (1884), ‘The Sisters’, Bridgeman Education, [online]. Available at: https://www-bridgemaneducation-com [Accessed 17/2/2020]

16.3.2020

Continuing Studies of Brogan and Rosie

Using conte and charcoal pencils I employed the techniques recommended by Aristides in her ‘Classical Drawing Atelier and Figure Drawing Atelier Books. She advocates ‘separate the light from the shadows, flattening areas of the body into simple shapes and then lightly tone them’. Using a cream coloured paper I added the tones with a mid-tone and the highlights with a white. I then worked to build up the form with different depths of tone gradually layered on top. I recognised by this third photo that the eyes were not quite right and amended them to be a more accurate representation of my model.

This medium allowed me to create a realistic warm and sensitive portrait of my daughter.

I do like the impact of the coloured background paper which helps create a skin tone in itself, but I appreciate it is not going to work with all media. Another bonus is that these colours also permit a good similarity to the girls actual hair colour.

I am not yet sure how I might take this forward with reference to the artists that are influencing me. I will continue to explore other media and see where that leads.

Each version of my studies is helping me to recognise the particular features of each of the girls, and this growing understanding will hopefully feed into the development of my final piece of work.

By contrast I next wanted to try using a waterproof pen and the try and explore some of the qualities Mark Clark uses in his figurative work. His lines are very thin and are often just short straight lines and yet holistically these work together to create a good sense of form. I think this print is from an etching rather than a drawing.

I chose the thinnest drawing pen I had, but I was working at a much smaller scale. This was an A4 study as opposed to the A2 print from which the reference photo was taken.

It proved to be more challenging than I had anticipated and my work was not as sensitive or delicate. As the image began to grow I became disappointed with it. However, I persevered and ultimately I am pleased with the final image. I had initially intended then adding inks or watercolours to create tones but decided that I would instead try to repeat this exercise using a biro which would give me much more variety in the tones I could create.

Using a biro certainly allowed me to create more subtlety in tones, but it was more challenging to build up depths of tone and it took a really long time to do. It is really effective and a good likeness.

I did decide to explore building on the biro drawing with inks. I built it up in washes, but was a bit heavy handed with the strength of the tones I used.

On reflection I wasn’t sure if the colours were too dark, or if the isolated face on the white paper made it look more so. However, using some prismacolor pencils I did knock the strength of the tones back a little.

As I suspected, when I added some of the fringe then the colours and tones in the face no longer looked too dark.

I stopped this study here as I am trying to show the influence of Jonathan Yeo in the work I am seeking to create.

As the biro took so long to do, and the beauty of the marks the pen created was largely swallowed up in the overpainting I wanted to see if I could maybe create a similar effect by underpainting tones of grey ink to create form and then drop layers of watercolour on top to hint at colour in the face. Would the overall effect be quite similar?

I am pleased with this initial exploration. I have left the tones softer in this. From here I could continue to build up some watercolour tones on top, and/or I can build up more tones and colours with the Prismacolor pencils.

This method is certainly effective at creating an initial sense of form. The investigations continue.

References:

ARISTIDES, Juliette, (2019), ‘Classical Drawing Atelier, A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice’, Published by Watson Guptill Publications, New York

ARISTIDES, Juliette, (2019), ‘Figure Drawing Atelier, An Instructional Sketchbook’, Published by Monacelli Studios, New York

16.3.2020

Continuing Studies of Brogan and Rosie 2

I like the warm tones of these images, although I still need to work up the right hand image with Prismacolour pencils, and also add at least a fringe. If this works fine, I will do the same to an image of Brogan. This second image just used layers of watercolour to build up the tones.

Now I need to consider how I might pull all of this together to create one piece of artwork that pays homage to the portrait artists who are inspiring me in this. (Yeo, Hopkins, Waterhouse for style and Tully and Thayer for compositional ideas).

Looking back at earlier explorations for this block of self-study I like many aspects of the Schiele inspired artwork. I really do like the ochre and blue and think this colour scheme would suit my chosen subjects. The ochre tones link with the skin colours, and the blue is a link to the girls Scottish heritage. The warm red/brown colour of the hair works well with these colours and is similar in tone to the vibrant colour of my daughters’ hair.

I think the green and charcoal tone of the tights are other colours that work well with in this combination and I could also use them perhaps?

I like patterns in artwork and I think I could use a couple of patterns that relate to my subject, and are suggested in the background setting and possibly in the girls’ clothing? I must also remember my intention to include the sisters thistle tattoo shapes in the background.

I am beginning to explore how this is going to come together and also give regard to colour a little more. The background will comprise the grid lines favoured by Yeo, but they may not be as evident as in some of his work. I also have a stencil that I am keen to experiment with which will represent the grid squares in a less obvious way.

I want the girls’ skin tones to have a warm autumnal glow to complement their hair colour and reflect their warm and caring nature.

I created some big A3 potential mock-ups with the grid squares and outlines of the girls faces using gouache from big paint bottles I had. I was initially disappointed with the watery quality, but presumed with subsequent layers this would be addressed. However, I realised as I worked that these paints might be suitable for children to explore with but they are certainly not artist quality materials.

I am trying to keep the essence of the grid squares, have some transparency of paint in places, apply the paint in a loose and free manner that maybe echoes the horizontal and vertical nature of the grid squares and also have suggestions of patterning. I want the faces to be in a different media and to fit seamlessly into the gouache background.

Whilst I have painted hair in here, I do not want this for my final picture. I experimented digitally with importing the sketches I have done so far to see what they might look like. I will definitely not be using the pen drawing of Brogan, but I put it in to fill the empty face space to get more idea of the strength of the composition.

In the third version, I have knocked back the strength of the background so that it does not compete so much with the girls. The ochre is too strong in colour and needs to be mixed with more white.I think even beyond this, I first need to cover the white paper with a very light tint of ochre and build on that, so that no white paper will show when I apply looser big marks on top.

 If I add a conte and pencil drawing of Brogan which includes her fringe and part of her hair, lighten the background more and build more pattern texture into the girls clothes might that work? The thistle emblem also needs to go in the background yet of course too.

These are experiments incorporating the other images. This last one of Rosie is unfinished and I am going to keep working on that with Prismacolor pencils to build up more tones.

Next steps perhaps?

• Finish building up this last watercolour image of  version Rosie and try a mock up with the finished image
• Create a similar watercolour toned and pencil drawing of Brogan if the above is successful.
• Keep experimenting with the background options. Make the yellow and blue part lighter and more transparent in places ontop of a very pale ochre underwash
• Cut two thistle images in opposing directions into two rubbers to print in the background

26.03.2020

Creating the final artwork

After my last posting I did work up the watercolour of Rosie a little more.

I do like it and think it is delicate, but the challenge is that I am wanting to create the background with layers of gouache and stencils in the style of one of my earlier studies when I was exploring figurative art as a possible focus for this project. How would watercolour work with this gouache background? I can’t overpaint gouache with watercolour, but maybe I could leave some of the paper blank? I wouldn’t like the white paper showing through and I think the white paper would be too stark a contrast from the background. Perhaps I could experiment with using coloured paper as a background, but again that wouldn’t really work with watercolours?

The composition for these paintings, as explored in previous posts was inspired by ‘Sisters’, by Sully, painted around 1900.

The only way to answer my media questions is through experimentation. As I had done for the figurative work, which I found so exciting and dynamic, I decided to prepare three or four bases using different media combinations to work on simultaneously. Each one would be an on-going experiment building on the learning acquired as each piece developed. I jumped backwards and forwards between these live pieces of art. It meant whilst one was drying I could work on another, learning and evolving through trial and error.

This was a small A4 experiment just to explore the viability of doing this on coloured paper. I found the paper did not take the volume of water that I needed in the paint to get the effects I was after. Also the colour of paints I wanted to use seemed to just sink into the paper. I discounted this coloured background as a practical option.

VERSION 1

In this, I created the gouache background first, purposefully leaving in the grid squares (Jonathan Yeo style), and echoing the grid format by using a stencil pattern with a repeating square format on top. I applied various layers of cream and pale blue, but didn’t want the stencil pattern to fit the grid exactly as I thought that would feel contrived and ‘tight’. As I used the stencil I also decided it was ok to overprint more pattern on top of the first layers to overlap the patterns.

I wanted to use patterned stencils of flowers and leaves on the girl’s shoulders to symbolise how the girls are young, growing, full of life, beauty and potential. One of the stencils also comprised decorative hearts, and as their mother I could not resist including that too.

I chose the dark blue for their outfits, rather than the black I had previously considered (inspired by ‘Sisters’, by Thayer, 1884). Black was too strong for my vision. Using the same clothing colour unites them visually, and the blue created an opportunity to reference Scotland, their country of birth and the culture which they still most identify with.

On top of the gouache washes and stencilling, I began to draw in the girls faces with conte pencils. This choice related to the ‘Study of Lady Clare’ by Waterhouse, which I chose as an inspirational piece of artwork for this assignment. However, I was disappointed to discover that the marks were not so easy to make on the gouache under-surface. With this in mind, I moved onto explore other options on different bases.

I found it really helpful to pin up work as a form of reference as I worked on it. It helped me recall what I had tried and learned already in an instant and accessible way.

VERSION 2

Version 2 comprised several layers of watercolour on white paper. I then began to draw conte on top. However, I was not excited by this option as it developed and moved onto another similar version with more subtle undertones.

VERSION 3

Version 3 used thin layers of inks as an underpainting. I used conte pencils to build up tone and form in the faces, and worked with the blue gouache and stencils to build up the clothing. I did like the looser effect of the clothes, complete with dribbled paint.

VERSION 4

Feeling that the faces were looking very stark in version 3, with the white paper showing through I added coloured charcoal which I blended. I did then put a layer of transparent gesso on top of the faces to explore drawing on this and see if it was more receptive to conte than the first version. However, with all these options on the go, I was still drawn back to Version one. Whilst I have shown the linear progress of each version, of course I was working on all of these simultaneously transferring the learning from one version to another over a period of more than a week! I ended each day and began the next with a period of reflection of what was successful or not and what my intentions might be for that day in light of that learning.

Returning again to version 1.

Version 1

Continuing to develop this portrait and build up tones and detail.

 At this point I recognised either Version 1 (left) or 3 (right) had good potential in terms of what I was wanting to achieve and both were worth taking further.

Whilst I liked the warm tones of V1, I felt the highlights had been absorbed by the pale ochre of the gouache which diminished them too much. It was also hard to add more detail as the surface of the paper had reached its capacity with the materials I was using. Additionally, because the mixed media paper also had a texture, the fine lines I wanted to add to define the eyes were not effective or precise enough. With great disappointment I decided to give up on V1 being a viable option for my finished piece.

Some of the media used in V1: gouache, conte and pierre noire pencils, prismacolor pencils, grey compressed charcoal, Derwent Inktense pencils, Creatcolor chunky charcoal, Lyra hard brown pastels, drawing pencil.

V3 used combinations of these materials and watercolour as a first layer.

V3 certainly had highlights and the capacity to add in more tonal variation as the face was just bare paper with no acrylic underneath, but the faces looked cold. The eyes worked really well in this and it was only as I thought to use the Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils to define the girls eyes that I recognised that I hadn’t yet used these versatile pencils on V1. Perhaps that would address some of the issues I was having with it. Meantime I recognised that if V3 was going to be a possibility, then I had to make their faces warmer. I used cretacolour chunky charcoal sticks to overlay warm tones on their faces.

Returning to V1, the thistle pattern in the background is a representation of a tattoo three of the sisters got in memory of their papa who had recently died. They had designed it themselves and it is an important symbol of their unity and again a reference to their Scottish backgrounds. I have previously created artwork of Brogan and Rosie’s three other sisters (5 girls) which is why this artwork consists of just these two girls.

I had a vision of how I wanted this artwork to look and I kept pushing instinctively knowing it wasn’t finished at each stage. I displayed both V1 and V3 together on the kitchen cupboards and viewed them for several days. In doing this I recognised that V1 was the stronger image with a better likeness of both of the girls.

For the next few more days I found myself pulling V1 down off the wall repeatedly and making adjustments to it…. Lightning the top right edge, adding more blue and terracotta to the background in the middle, building up the highlights on the right of Rosie’s face, darkening the tones on the left of her face, lightening the tones on Brogan’s face.

Having the two works on display like this was a revelation for me in terms of reflecting on artwork I have created, and it helped me identify ways in which I could further adjust the painting to make it more harmonious in colours and tones especially.

This is the final ‘FINAL’ A3 image.

References:

SULLY, Thomas, (after 1823), ‘Portrait of The McEuan Sisters’, Bridgeman Education, [online]. Available at: https://www-bridgemaneducation-com [Accessed 17/2/2020]

THAYER, Abbott Handerson, (1884), ‘The Sisters’, Bridgeman Education, [online]. Available at: https://www-bridgemaneducation-com [Accessed 17/2/2020]

WATERHOUSE, John William (c.1900), ‘Study for Lady Clare’, WikiArt Visual Art Encyclopedia. [online]. Available at: https://www.wikiart.org/en/john-william-waterhouse/study-for-the-lady-clare [Accessed 16.2.20]

YEO, Jonathan, (2012) ‘ The Many Faces of Jonathan Yeo’, for the National Portrait Gallery, published by Art Books Publishing Ltd, London

Reflections on this journey

I knew that tackling a double portrait of two of my daughters, who I obviously care so much about, would be challenging. Both girls and I had to all feel invested in the finished work, and thankfully we do. My intention was to get a likeness of the girls and capture the essence of their warm and gentle personalities. I think I have reflected this through the composition, warm autumnal colours and limited palette and also in the selective patterning throughout the artwork.

I enjoyed looking at existing artwork as inspiration for this portrait before I began, as I know I would not have considered such an interesting composition through my own isolated experimentation. It also helped me feel really confident about the composition as the work progressed. Drawing on the experiences of accomplished artists about using mixed media undoubtedly resulted in my work having a looser style, and I think it really helped to take my art to a different level.

I felt very strongly, as I was working on this piece, that I had a vision of what I wanted the finished artwork to look like. I was amazed how I continually knew when the artwork was not finished as I worked on it, layer upon layer, and knew I needed to keep going, and then there was that sudden, almost unanticipated moment, when I knew it was finished. I hung it up for a few days and did a couple of alterations that built on what I had already done. Although fairly subtle these alterations did help animate the picture more.

There was a lot of learning about the materials I was using and how they work, or don’t work together. I learned about using gouache and how effective it is to glaze and alter the warmth of colours underneath. The creatacolor chunky charcoal blocks were also really effective at adding hints of colour to areas in thin layers, although their limitation is in the range of colours available.

I really focussed on getting gentle transitions of colours and tones in the girl’s faces as I know I have a tendency to overdo this and make tonal transitions too brutal.

This project combining drawing and painting, and considerations about colour and combining different media has increased my appetite to venture into Painting 1.