ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [1 December 2009]

I am 45, and currently working fulltime as an advanced nurse practitioner. what is this you ask? It basically means I work like a doctor but i am a nurse, i have been a nurse for nearly 30 years. got degree and master's degree in specialised nursing. so you'd think I would be sick of studying! Well no!  Having got to the top of my game in my current work, I thought I would do something that I had always loved, which is Art. Art was the only Olevel I left school with, so now here I am, mid life crisis i think, other people who have midlife crisis go and buy a motorbike or get a tattoo or something but I've already done that! so Now i must be nuts to combine more studying with working fulltime, well its nothing new. Always done it that way. like to keep busy, do things, be challenged and stimulated.

Its strange that after 20 - 30 years I decided to take up art again, it is almost as if it was always meant to be. So we'll have to see how i do. this is all for now, will keep you posted. Bye everyone.

# 2 [3 December 2009]

Well today I have been messing about with wire for my drawing option. I have attempted to do a head, looks abit freaky. It is based on my own head using a touch only drawing style which I transferred to paper and then, used it as a basis for the wire sculpture. I took a series of pictures, and have also been messing about on photoshop. I will try and upload the pictures.

I have also got to do a transcription drawing of an old work of art. a series of sketchs and can also use wire or digital media. The art can be a painting or sculpture, I had thought about looking at the Velazquez, Rokeby venus or Titan's Flora. I have seen both of these for real and they are two of my favorite paintings. So I'll keep you posted.

Well success at the uploading.

# 3 [17 January 2010]

FA22 - This module I have decided to continue with portrait painting, in oils. It is what I am interested in and is the reason why I started my fine art degree. I have outlined on my learning plan, to do a series of portraits using one subject, my husband Alan. I will try and focus on the portrait, looking at the style, surroundings and light, as I will also work from photographs.

I have taken on board the comments from my last module and will focus more on family and friends, as I found my last module to generalised and not specific enough. I will focus on technical accuracy of my portraits, as well as develop my painting skill. I will continue to use large canvases for my work and include sketches.

My current influences are Tai Shan Schierenberg, Euan Euglow, Lucian Freud Paula Rego, Simon Davis, and Jenny Saville. By researching into and collecting images of these artists I find I am influenced by the techniques they each have and hence developing my own unique style.

We have our Gallery exhibition in March and I have chosen to do three studies of my husband for this. There is only 7 weeks until the exhibition, and I feeling slightly panicky about the whole thing as I have to also work full time as well, so it is busy busy busy!!

I have started on a portrait of my Husband Alan, I have considered various poses and opted for a pose that show’s light in his features, and not a traditional front sitting portrait.

My progress so far: see picture

I am working in oils; the canvas is 80 x110 cm. The shot was taken of him going down the stairs, and pausing on the stairs to the front door in my home. The difficulties I have found so far is getting the right texture for his hair and beard. I have so far put a lot of time into the hair and I am now working into the beard, as you can see it is not quite right. It is all still a work in progress.

# 4 [22 January 2010]

I am also painting another picture at college, as well as Alan 1 at home. I have decided upon another pose of Alan, this time he is lying down on a bed of Cushions, he was watching TV at the time, and I wanted him to forget that I was sitting there with a camera.

This Picture I have called Alan 2. I have started with a rough outline of Alan’s head, and I have started with the background first. The background is chocolate brown cushions, one long fur type and the other a satin type fabric. I have found getting the texture of fur challenging

I have then started to paint in the face, and so far I think the face colouring is right, but it looks a little flat to me. It is still early days, and also I have monged up the ear, and have since scraped that back.

# 5 [23 January 2010]

Well so far I have continued to fill in the canvas. I have tweaked the eyes a bit more, as they were too green. He has a grey green blue colour, which I am finding hard to duplicate. The jacket has also been painted in.

The background has also been worked and I like how Alan stands out on the canvas.

I have noticed that his nose is a bit more rounded than it is naturally on the end. So I will adjust that more.  Also, I will work more into the beard and skin tone and hopefully it will be finished soon.

# 6 [26 January 2010]

Monday 25^th Jan 2010

Alan Painting 2, Well I am currently struggling with the ear! Already scraped it back once, and redone it. It now looks he has got a cauliflower ear and will probably do it again. He is also complaining of Sigmund Freud syndrome, that is I have given him a receding hairline! So that needs to be rectified.

What I want to know is how do you paint hair that makes you want to run your fingers through it? I have been looking at some Chuck Close Portraits, which is a bad thing to do really, as the detail in his work is absolutely staggering and must take years of practice. I want to be able to paint like that now!!! Which I also say” in my dreams!”

# 7 [27 February 2010]

Well, I have managed to turn my husband into Sigmund Freud, with the hair line. It is a bit square, which is all wrong. Also I need to work on the shadows, tones of the skin, the nose look s a bit flat.

And the Ear, well, I am not going there! It looks like a rugby player’s ear. I am finding it hard to draw right, and get the correct tones.

Well, I have put some colour all over the canvas, and now I will study it to see what I need to do next.

My picture all though has a lot of character, looks flat, so I will strive to make it look more 3 dimensional.  I am enjoying studying the colour mixes to get the right skin tones and shades. Alan’s face has a ruddy tone to it, so it show’s a lot of reds and yellows, he has a sun weathered face, through years of riding motorbikes, and the sun hitting his forehead and cheeks.

I think I may have finished it, but no doubt I will find something wrong or change it again. I have so far, altered his hair line, and ear. I have also dabbled more with the skin tone, trying to achieve a ruddier tone to his skin.

We will have to see where I take it next

# 8 [27 February 2010]

I am working in oils; the canvas is 80 x110 cm. The shot was taken of him going down the stairs, and pausing on the stairs to the front door in my home. The difficulties I have found so far are getting the right texture for his hair and beard. I have so far put a lot of time into the hair and I am now working into the beard, as you can see it is not quite right. It is all still a work in progress.

Well so far I have continued to fill in the canvas. I have tweaked the eyes a bit more, as they were too green. He has a grey green blue colour, which I am finding hard to duplicate. The jacket has also been painted in.

I have noticed that the picture looks flat, and the head rounded. His neck is too short and his nose too big so I am attempting correct this. I took the canvas into college to get the opinions of my fellow students and tutors and they agreed with my view.

I have difficulty in trying to be subtle with the use of colour and blending, tones and shadows. This is what I am attempting to do in order to sort out the flatness of the image.

However, I am worried, that with all my tinkering, it no longer looks like Alan. As so far I have stream lined the back of the head, and cheek. I have moved the (R) eye and altered the nose, but the features now look too sculptured, so I guess I will be repainting again.

Well I have turned my husband into George Micheal!!! His nose is too sculptured along with the eyebrow’s. His beard also is a bit more messy than I have painted it. So I will try and change this so I will recapture my husband again!!

Well this is it, I think I have got the result I wanted, again I will study it, and if anything looks like it needs to be changed then I will do it, or not!! Who knows!!

# 9 [28 February 2010]

Well I knew I'd tweak it more! This time I think I might have finished it.

# 10 [28 February 2010]

While I was painting Alan 1 and Alan 2, I was looking at a pose in which Alan was looking into the mirror. The mirror reflection was all blurred and Alan himself was sharp in detail on the photograph I took. i thought this would be a good subject to capture, and have tried to give it a go. I have again used oil on canvas (size 80 x 110cm).

I tried to capture the blurred shadows of the picture by using a big brush and slapping wet oil paint onto the canvas, the technique seems to work. Don't know I f what I have done is correct, but I have enjoyed it. Enjoyed it so much I forgot to take photos of my painting progress, so did this straight off until finished, took about 8 hours.