David Cambria is one of my most favourite artists I’ve found while researching for my self-directed project, I love all of his work in this series of portraits. I like how he creates a detailed face from smaller marks, of different colours, and the uses bigger strokes for the outline and on the background. I also like how the background isn’t textured as this makes the painting stand out more, and this will be something I try within my own work. In this particular painting I like the darkness he uses to create shadows and the red and blue hints in the face. I like how the majority of the portrait is built up using skin colour. I also think the strokes are expressive and interesting to view. His work is definitely something which inspires me, his paintings are my favourite that I’ve come across.

Within my own work, I want to push myself using this sort of style to create portraits, and going larger than I have done before,  I think this kind of style will be interesting to experiment with and quite fun to do too. 

Andrew Salgado is one of my favourite artists I’ve come across since starting my research for my self-directed project, the way he builds up a face or a figure using colour and strokes is really good, and something which inspires me. I want to be able to create paintings to a similar standard of these one day and they are definitely something to look up to. In this painting in particular I like how the colours start of warm and then fade down into a variety of blue tones. I like how even though it is an expressive style the detail hasn’t been lost in the face, especially in the eyes. 

Masri Hayssam - Dolcia – Oil, Acrylic, Gesso 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.8in

Dolcia by Masri Hayssam is a very expressive painting in terms of strokes and gestures created by the paint. The features on the face are very prominent and stand out from the rest of the face which almost creates a background as it’s painted so loosely.  The colours are mainly blue tones giving it a cold tone and also makes the painting seem like there is a deep emotion behind the eyes. The thick lines and strokes are quite messy and rough but are placed in certain ways to make up some of the outlines. I really like how Hayssam paints his faces, they look quite quick, almost like a sketch, and I think that is really effective. I think this sort of quick style would be something to experiment with. 

Andy Denzler

To continue my journey project I want to look at the break up of an image/painting/drawing. I came across Andy Denzler and his work inspired me to go down this kind of wrote. I found the textures, the blurs and movements  in his paintings interesting to look at, and thought this is something I could experiment with in drawing.  

                                                    Jaeyeol Han- Passerby, Comma 13.4 x 8.3 x 1.2 in

I really like this style and how the artist has created the face using a few large strokes, the minimal use of different colours is really effective too and could link into how I am currently looking at how colour effects an images in terms of emotion and mood. The yellow Han has used to create highlights is interesting and it’s different, however, the features in portrait are not as clear as some other paintings I have looked at. I do like how the background is not touched and it is literally just the outline of the face.

Brandi Hofer -  The case of  M.Valadamer 20 x 18 x 0.8 in

This painting by Brandi Hofer, caught my eye as I had been taking photographs, for self-directed, using lighting to create a different effect and mood in the photographs. A few photographs I have taken have used red lights, and some of them I want to use to create paintings from. This has given me inspiration as to how I could include the colour into my paintings, like I have with my photographs. I also like how the artist has used very little colour in the face, with only hints of red and yellow to create highlights and how the background has been bought into the face. The strokes from the background make it all flow.

                                      Jeong Ah Lim - An Ordinary Person 9. 20.9 x 17.9 x 0.8in

I like how the artist has used the background to create the face, by only painting the features and some strokes to make the outlines. The different coloured backgrounds in her work is similar to the photographs I have been taking for self- directed as the colours could mean different things and also can give the painting/photograph a different emotion/mood.  

                                               Thomas Donaldson – 9-14-13 Head. Acrylic, 

                                                         Oil paint, Spray paint, wax 19.7 x 15.7 x 0.8in

Although I am not keen on the colours used in this painting or the face itself, I like the build up of textures and the fact Donaldson has used lots of different mediums to create the painting is very interesting. I also like how the right hand side is not of the background is not as textured as the rest of the painting. I think looking into how he’s worked spray paint and wax into the painting could be something which would be interesting to experiment with for my Self-directed project. 

Agnes Cecile

Agnes Cecile is one of my favourite artists, her work is so skilful and different. There are many artists who use water colour and inks for portraits but I think her work is some of the best. All of her paintings are different in colour, expression and meaning. Some have bursts of colour where as others are lighter and use only a few tones and colours. She also uses pens, white and black, to give outlines, highlights and shadows.

Some of her paintings are very detailed and intricate, whereas others are a loser more expressive style. I also find her speed painting videos on Youtube inspiring as you can see how she builds up the paintings and creates the marks. These are a few of my favourites –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g857UNIKQsM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xryN4wT-XeA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cUv4csQw1o

Seminar Presentation

Paul Wright

Paul Wright’s art work is inspiring due to the amount of colour and tone he uses to create the face. Mixtures or blues, reds, purples, and greens are just a few that he uses to give the portrait depth, using dark lines to mark out the structure of the face. He’s painting style is very loose and he works with oil paints.

This painting almost looks as though the face has been caught while moving, the different lines give it a blurry effect, the eyes really stand out in this painting. The paint strokes/marks make the painting more visually interesting to look at.

Drawing - presentation research

Nick Rain

My drawing presentation is not on an artist that draws, I struggled to find an artist/drawings which linked well with what my journey project already consisted of, also not being able to go on the London trip or visit galleries I started searching the internet. I came across a photographer, who may not be a drawing artist, but his images were really thought provoking and had a real meaning, not something that could be made up. Each photograph had a disturbing story behind it, and you could see this from the expressions on the girls faces, the pain that they were hiding. They made me instantly want to look further into the images and find out more about the subject. Many of the images were from over 10 years ago, but it doesn’t stop the emotion from the portraits.

Nick Rain did a series of images from different parts of the world; they were an assignment and part of a project to Combat Trafficking in children and women. The photographs are all in black and white, and are portraits of young girls/women who are trafficked by ‘pimps’ for prostitution, some of the girls look younger than 10 years of age. Not all of the photos are about the prostitution; some are about children who are trafficked for other reasons, such as begging. Some of the photographs are also just about poverty in men and women, the jobs they have to do to get buy, the places they have to live in and the things they have to see and live with for the rest of their lives.

The fact that these images are in black and white makes them even more effective, they make you focus on the person and nothing else around them, and it makes the photographs look darker and more depressing. The images draw you into the girls eyes, and makes you question about their life, and it’s even quite hard to believe. The photos show a scary real life.

After finding these images I researched into the photographer more, he has been on many journeys, and travels, including some of the places that I have included in my work. Although as a photographer of his travels, I didn’t find the rest of his work anywhere near as interesting as the project he was involved with. Art is supposed to draw in an audience, make them think and question, his series of images for the project definitely do this even if they were for something completely un-related to art. 

Nick Lepard

I first looked at Nick Lepard when I was doing a-levels, the style in which he paints still inspires me, as it is so textured. He uses the paint to create strokes and marks in his portraits which shape the face and also makes the painting very expressive. He manages the lose look while still keeping the detail and expression in the face, and that is what inspires me the most. 

Even though this painting is more tidy, the lines in the face create the shape and expression of the man. The hints of blue and grey, show a coldness and the tone is very dull. He is a great artist to look at for my paint project.

Drawing - Presentation research

Nick Rain

Slaves To Poverty

Mark Bradford

Mark Bradford creates collages on canva’s, he incorporates elements from his daily life into his work, using things like leaflets, posters and other things that he finds. He works using paint and collage, also stencils, and graffiti. This piece is called ‘The Devil is Beating His Wife,’ within this; he has used different materials and colours to represent different things in life. I have been looking at his work for inspiration for the ‘journey’ project for drawing. 

Jorge Charmorro

This artist manually manipulates photographs, changing images to become something new, or someone else. Here he has used pages from a book of images of statues, using a cut out of part of a portrait, this almost brings the statue to life and gives them a new meaning.

        

   

Charmorro also cuts out parts of the faces, paints on them and puts string on them. The portraits with the eyes and mouths missing almost show a lifelessness, and a depressing emotion. 

Water Colour - 'indi1288'

    

This is an artist who I found on deviantart.com, the user name was ‘indi1288’, when looking at water colour portraits I really liked the colours, and the detail in this artists work, the features of the face are very precise, and there is clean lines. Within this the use of colour, such as the hints of blue and red really give a more detailed effect. The subtle drips/splashes that the artist uses really give the paintings some meaning, and make the paintings look more interesting, without being over the top.

 

Sally Mann -Faces

I feel like this collection of images by sally mann show expressions captured by the people, as if they didn’t know the photo was being taken. I like the effects from the old camera and the out of focus features.

With parts of the face being out of focus this also gives the impression that these were snapshots .

The eyes were very important to me as I think in sally mann’s images these are the main focal point, they are always sharp and clear, they almost tell the story of the photograph. The image above is my favourite out of the collection, as even though the eyes are very dark they stand out and make you question what is going on in the mans head and what he is thinking. 

With my own photographs I tried to take close up photographs of people during conversation to give a more ‘natural’ look. I took photos of different textures to add to my images on photo shop to try and give a similar effect. 

@che_az –Instagram

                  

         

I found this photographer/artist on Instagram, his username is @che_az. I really liked his collection of photographs, and for the Journey project I think they link really well. He is overlaying photographs with textures, and other images with give the photos a different meaning, and almost a thought inside the persons head.

                                 

They also show movement and time, using blurs and making parts out of focus.  I think they are interesting collection digital manipulations.

Catherine Hennessy

“0000019” water colour, pen & ink.

I really like the style in which Catherine Hennessy paints, a lot of her work are only the features of a face instead of a full head. This means the focus is on area’s such as the eyes, which give a depth to the paintings and draw the viewer in. She works in colour and black and white, some are quite delicate and minimal, whereas others are bold and bright. My favourites of hers are her black and white paintings, and they are perfect for inspiring me for my paint project -  self expression.

“photo sensitivity” by Catherine Hennessy