The final painting in the series.

The final painting in the series for the Gosport War Memorial Hospital is now completed. It is a still life of the apples from the tree. It was difficult not to eat the apples I set up for observation!.

So I loosely used this composition on which to base my final painting. Here are pictures of the painting process for this still life.

I like to do underpainting with texture to get the form of the fruit - and the basic colour allows for overpainting on the texture and makes the additional colours more luminescent. Then I start to add observation detail.

As you can see this work is far more observational that the others in the rest of the full sequence. I have purposely divided the  composition up into halves and quarters; and I have also deliberately curved any lines. I have also stopped projected shadows short of moving into another quarter of the composition. Also the composition tends to mirror different projections from viewpoints with different planal values as if in a mirror. This is to help patients engage with sections of the work and not necessarily the whole composition. It is hoped that there will be some interaction with both hemispheres of the brain in that when patients look at this composition - they will actually be doing a form of cognitive and perceptual exercise. This is the rational behind this work.

Whilst working with the terminally ill in a Hospice - I noticed that patients with brain tumours would only register their own drawings on certain sections of the page. They were convinced when drawing their own still life composition, that they had drawn the entire still life across the whole page, when in fact whole sections of the work was actually missing. This is why I have divided up my final composition in this reflective and deliberate way.

Hopefully I will find somewhere to show the work in its entirety before it goes into the hospital - as the ward is secured and the work will be for patients and staff only.If anyone reading this blog could offer a space for a short exhibition - then please do get in touch!

 

Magic and Logic - nearly finished!!

March has been so hectic - lots of teaching and lots of painting for the Deadalus Ward for Dementia at Gosport War Memorial Hospital - too busy really to make a note on this blog! But here is the update - I have managed to complete a further three paintings and am about to start the final one. I am taking some time off from my university teaching in the spring break in order to bring this specific project to a close. The final painting in the tree sequence is complete, and two of the landscapes are also complete. The work is very simple, stylised and redolent of archetypical  representations usually associated with childhood.

Below is the final tree in the sequence - Autumn.

I will be putting the words of the patients and staff used to describe the seasons on the right hand branch of the trees. So below is a picture of how these trees will look all together.

As you can see they are taking up much of my kitchen at the moment! 

The next three paintings are part of the narrative of the painting sequence as a whole. The work is to be viewed as one whole piece rather than seven separate pieces. The fictional landscape contains the trees. The aim of the landscapes are to try to build a basic narrative as patients take the time to move along the corridor where the work is to be displayed. This may help staff to engage in that narrative with the patient. If the patient cannot remember one image to the next, there are other aspects of the work that can also be explored, such as texture colour, shape and form.

This simple and bright landscape also has the sea in the distant horizon. So the second landscape - is actually a seascape - the sea on the horizon. The patient has the chance to identify with the horizon, the mid ground of the landscape, and then the details of the tree - and the passing of time and the seasons.

The final painting in the sequence will be a simple still life - of the fallen apples from the tree. When all the work is completed I will try to find somewhere to show the work before they go onto the ward. I have enjoyed this project - and look forward to seeing it in situ. I am also going to turn elements of this blog into a book in order to raise further awareness and funds for creative projects on the ward. I will be looking to crowdsource the costs of the book - and hope for any help offered! 

With special thanks to: 

The Portsmouth University Art Shop 

and

www.artdiscount.co.uk

Catch-up – Magic and Logic on the same Tree.

Quite a lot has happened since I last wrote on this blog.

 The final of the Sky Arts Portrait Competition came to its conclusion (I may write about that a little later), we had the festive season and the new  year – I moved offices into a new building at my University, and I had the flu. Then suddenly, there’s lots of storms and it’s February already!!!

In the meantime, I have been asked to write a paper for a conference, and another book chapter, and I need to get my paintings finished for the Daedalus Ward at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital.  The trees in the paintings are coming along and very nearly finished.  So I have a couple of the compositions to talk about in this blog post. I started on the summer painting..

 

 

The colours are rich and the composition follows through from the others. This time apples are added to the textures - simply and stylistically worked so as to be easily identified, touched and counted by the patients on the ward.  

The final autumn painting in the sequence was started next and is nearly completed as I write.. with all the changing seasons - I spend time walking in woods and getting a feel for the mud and the falling leaves before winter holidays.

 

So I tried to get the sense of saturated colour - using purple skies which will contrast with orange and yellow leaves (which are added next!), muddy greens and stronger textured strokes with the palette knife.

This final tree painting will eventually have the most colour contrast developed on top of the initial textured and coloured ground. Once I have this composition completed, I will then work through all four paintings in this sequence together, bringing in elements of colour and brush stroke to create further continuity for the patients who will view the work. These paintings are starting to take up lots of space!!

There is one strange thing that has affected the work however - as these paintings have progressed for patients in the dementia ward - my partners father has been diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease - and it seems that as the paintings have developed, so has his disease, thus making the work more poignant and personal for me. 

Painting is a magical process and tells stories on so many different levels..

Very special thanks for brilliant art supplies go to:

www.artdiscount.co.uk

Sky Arts 1 Portrait Artist of the Year 2013 – Episodes 4 and 5 - Cardiff and France – Rugby Balls and getting drunk...

Due to various situations beyond my control (sickness, moving office etc), I have had to combine my views on two episodes in this blog (both Cardiff and Paris).

Cardiff.

I felt that the Cardiff event proved to be the more problematic of all the sessions filmed around the country. It appeared the theme of the Cardiff programme looked at technique rather than observational qualities and likenesses of the sitters.  So it came as no surprise that the selection of the sculptural, solid work of the rugby player, Gavin Henson, (without his fabulous torso and rugby ball) was selected as the winner.  The Falklands veteran burns victim, Simon Weston proved to be an inspired choice of sitter – his portraits proving to be both colourful and textual.  The third sitter, artist Lucien Freuds model  Sue Tilley, was a further challenge. There is a snippet of the show here:

http://www.sky.com/tv/show/portrait/video/cardiff-festival

Paris.

Paris was much more interesting. The four finalists were taken on what seemed like a mini-Masters Degree course to Paris. Starting with a formal critique (crit) at the Royal Academy in London – it was also interesting to see the finalists other work. I do remember how awful some crits can be at art school – especially when faced with a panel of judges. The remarks appeared appropriate and fair to me, and started to make me think a bit more about how I can get back to my own drawing studies. It was this initial crit that set the theme of the episode - with one memorable piece of advice being given to a particular contestant by Joan Bakewell who advised that he should go and get drunk in Paris. The contestants appeared vulnerable – so the theme was one of apprenticeship and learning.

The sitter was Sophie Dahl – and after the contestants had looked at the various ways of implementing their advice from the crits in London – they produced some difficult work in 6 hours over two days. The pressure looked enormous – and consequently from this experience, I got the impression that the majority of the paintings appeared to be overworked and insecure. I think the judges identified this too.

It’s good to be insecure about your work sometimes, as that means there is room to learn and grow as an artist. I hadn’t done any more self portraits since my own experience submitting my own work to the competition and being short listed for the Glasgow semi final.

So last night, I got out my pencils and had another go. Thinking about my earlier discussions on this blog of notions of 'the gaze', and thinking how I can take my work further myself, I took a cynical view – and thought about my feelings of the Sky Arts experience including reviews of the programme being a place where 'high and low culture can be surprisingly successful'. (Jones,2013)   So instead of focussing on getting a likeness this was my result...

I think if the Sky Arts finalists can let go of the pressure and the obtrusive gaze that is the programmes focus on the artist and their work, then the artist’s relationship with the sitter will be relaxed and should reveal both the artist and the sitter in fabulous paintings. 

 So artists.. yes.. get drunk.. and kick that rugby ball into touch - and do anything else that will release the creative spirit!! 

Reference:

Ellen E Jones. TV Review. The Independent.  6^th Nov 2013