SELF-PORTRAIT PROJECT

STUDIES AND SKETCHES

LIFE DRAWING

BP NEXT GENERATION SUMMER SCHOOL AT THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

INFLUENCES AND INSPIRATION

Lucian Freud I was inspired by the rawness and fleshiness of Freud's paintings. The muscles under the skin can been which gives an honest and powerful portrait.

Tony BevanI like the gritty psychological impression. I was influenced by the angles that he shows as this I thought thus would be more challenging. The backgrounds draw the viewer to the face and appear like they are on a plinth.

Frank Auerbach I like the lively free flowing movement of his mark making, this gives a sense of movement. His colour palette is interesting and I like how he uses it for light and shade.

Process The first part of the process was where I put the mirror in relationship to my head. The artist I was inspired by, often had the angle of their painting from a low angle looking up at the head. I did not start with a initial drawing, instead applied paint in a loose way first, then changing my brush sizes, then focused on detail. I then added a polymer gel with my paint, which gives a gritty texture.

FINAL OUTCOME

EVALUATIONMy final outcome was a triptych portraiture (see previous page) which was mainly inspired by the work of Tony Bevan, I used the gritty texture to give depth. I tried to emulate his composition in my portraits, where the face tends to be centre stage in the middle of the canvas. The pose that I choose was challenging to paint as I could not hold the pose and paint at the same time, also these were not an angles that I was used to seeing myself in.I also played with idea of using red as a defining colour to contrast with the prominent greys and blacks. I purposely choose a open shirt to wear whilst painting to create a less formal image and this would also elongate the face neck and torso.