Portraiture Assignment and Self Review

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Summer Assignment and Self-Review Portrait painting, reflecting on year 1 and plans for the future

Transcript of Portraiture Assignment and Self Review

Page 1: Portraiture Assignment and Self Review

Summer Assignment and Self-Review

Portrait painting, reflecting on year 1 and plans for the future

Page 2: Portraiture Assignment and Self Review

Portrait painting: initial source

The portrait I chose as an intial source is Sir Cedric Morris’ self portrait, painted in 1930. I chose this portrait because of the balance between realism and a slight unrealistic feel, present in the way Morris accentuated the face’s characteristics, and the fauvist background. The portrait itself measures about 30 x 20 inches, which doesn’t have particular importance, unlike a much bigger painting, which would convey grandeur and authority. Hence this suggests the normality of the painting, creating a laid back sense. On the other hand, the positioning of Morris in the painting (in the center) brings all attention to him, making him the subject of thepainting; and giving him importance. The fact that, despite Morris is positioned up close, the background seems so far away, creates an illusion of space and freedom in the painting, which contrasts with the tight fitting of the frame around Morris’ upper body. The way Morris paints means that there is a certain roughness to the painting. We can detect a layering of paint on the canvas due to the pasty look of the paint, and the mixture of colours tightly packed together to give an overall impression of depth and complexity. Oil paint has been used in this painting, which is one of the reasons for the pasty and rough look created in this painting. This was a very common media used at the time, which further enhances the commonality of this painting. Morris plays on this casual look by painting himself in casual clothing, showing a comfort and relaxation, which can be sensed by the viewer, despite the vivid colours mixed to create the pigments in the background and foreground.

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Portrait painting: experiments and decisions

I started off creating different compositions using just a pencil, to find which best would fit the style of Morris. I did eight A5 simple line drawings of myself at different angles to see what emotions I conveyed in these positions and the level of difficulty I encountered. For example, as I concentrated while drawing myself from a low angle with my head tilted upwards, I presented myself as elegant and distant. On the other hand, when I drew myself from a higher angle, with my head titled downwards, I seemed shy and reserved. In Morris’ painting, he seems confident and relaxed, so by adopting his stature in my last drawing, I was able to convey this. So I decided to use this angle for my four painted A5 studies, to develop my painting skills for the final portrait. What I found enjoyable was Morris’ technique of mixing vibrant colour together to create almost natural colours in the tones of the face. For example I found myself using reds, oranges, yellows and sometimes green to create the pigments of the face.

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Portrait painting: final outcomeWhat I learnt through drawing and painting from observation in this project is never to assume what you are drawing, and always observe before you draw. A lot of the time when I was drawing or painting I assumed the shape of my nose and mouth, but the more studies I did the more I observed and found that I was more accurate than before. This helped me to improve my skills, especially when doing the four A5 paintings. Every time I drew or painted a new self-portrait, I was able to identify places where I had gone wrong and not accurately represented myself, and the nexttime I drew I would correct my mistakes by observing more closely in the mirror. I also learnt that the smallest detail in a painting can make a huge difference, and can communicate something completely different than what you originally meant to. The reason why some of my paintings and drawings looked so wrong is because I had drawn or painted a small detail wrong, and conveyed the

wrong emotion. For example a tilt in the mouth could resemble a snarl, or a lifted eye brow signifies questioning. Hence why observation is the most important thing when drawing or painting a portrait.

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Reflecting on Year 1:In the last year, I have enjoyed many of the projects which we have done, and believe that many of them have improve essential skills which I will need in the future. For example, I especially found the Tate project useful, as it opened my eyes to graphic design, and a way of presenting products to attract a certain target audience. I greatly enjoyed being inventive and creative and designing the packaging for my 6 cards.

Another project which I appreciated was the Kew Gardens project, in which I designed a sculpture for Kew Gardens, reflecting a wide range of aspects I found while visiting the premises. This enabled me to work in a 3D way, and improve my skills in model making. I found that my strengths lied in graphic design and 3D Design more so than fine art, thanks to theseprojects. I think this year I will need to work on my model making skills even

more, and familiarize myself with even more methods and techniques when making products, to better the quality of finish. I think I also need to improve my presentation skills, and be able to feel more confident when presenting ideas to an audience. I also need to widen my knowledge on different software, to be able to use them this year and at university, when presenting ideas and designs in a 3D way, but on a computer.

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Plans for the future:In comparison to the beginning of last year, I think my ideas about progression have greatly changed. About this time last year (during the first few months of year 12) I was interested in studying Fine Art or Product Design at university, and planning on working as a Product Designer and painting my own work for sale to earn extra money. Now I have found a passion for architecture, and have no interest in studying anything else at university. My aim is to complete a 7 year architecture course with the intent of getting a Masters Degree, with which I would join an architecture firm abroad, to pursue my other interest of languages (French and Spanish). To achieve this I have decided to focus my A2 studies on the Art & Design Diploma, to prove my passion for art, and continue with 3D Design to be able to practice model making and improve my understanding of design techniques and software. I believe I will be able to improve my language skills by simply living in another country; I don’t need to be in a classroom to learn a language.