In recent months I have been working on a large painting, Ovum Nymphs, which proved to be a challenge. It had been hung a prominent spot in my studio where it was easily viewed but ultimately was over contemplated. Yesterday I realised that its presence had started to sicken me, so I placed it in storage with the hope that it will give me the head space that I need to focus on my other pieces.
180 x 90cm, oil on canvas.
The studio feels refreshed without the painting’s door-sized presence. My struggles with this canvas were partly due to not being comfortable working on this large scale. The sheer amount of paint used makes it discouraging to rework once applied — the background alone is made up of two large tubes of white. After using up all that paint before thinking that maybe it would be better a different shade, my relationship with this painting soured. Giving myself distance from this painting will allow me time to lay aside any negative feelings I have for it. In due course I will be able to rework this painting with a fresh mind. Although I do not dislike this painting in its current state, I have not brought it to a satisfactory conclusion and, I am unable to understand how I can improve it at the moment.
My foremost experience of drawing from life was within the months before starting my at university degree. Prior to studying, I was home-educated by my mother, due to my school lacking the support required for my learning disabilities. As part of my home-education, my mother encouraged me and my siblings to draw from imagination every day.
On the lead-up to university I decided to broaden my abilities through a sketchbook of observational drawings. Initially this sketchbook was just to improve my draughtsmanship but looking back, these drawings hold more feeling than a mere diagram. Although I don’t study these sketches for my current paintings, I feel there is a connection to my current approach to seeing as well as handling of different media.
While painting the Mollusca Femella series I struggled with the backgrounds – due to my lack of confidence with light colours ‘light’ within context to my past work.
After I had painted the subjects, using a very deep blue, I darkened the background. Subsequently the subtle colours of the figure disappeared. The focus of the painting became unclear. Thinking that if the figure was darker it would balance the painting, I exaggerated the shadows, only to immediately regret doing so and undid it. A few days later it struck me that it might not be the figure but the background that is the wrong tone or colour. Unsure of how I could rectify this I commenced a sequence of background painting, first warming it up, not liking that, I added the shadow of the subject by darkening areas around the shell. Unsure if this was working for the painting, I then left the studio to go home so that I may see it with fresh eyes the following day.
My background obsession went on for weeks, too warm, too cool. I even painted it gold at one point. I don’t think it occurred to me that neither the background nor the figure had to be dark. I forgot to look at the painting with fresh eyes and was holding on to what worked for previous paintings. After finally realising this it gave me the confidence to lighten it, using the same blue of the first lawyer with white and a dash of yellow. The lightening of the background was a very gradual process, but it slowly, surely started to fit the figure until we have the blue you seem now. From this experience I realised how timid I have become with the paint, I learned to not be afraid of it and treat the paint as if it were my friend.
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Bellow I have added some pictures comparing the dark background to the light. Which do you prefer?
^ Mollusca Femella I ^
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^ Mollusca Femella III – Beginning > to > finish ^
Still life, how and why, we became friends. Although I had drawn objects from life, I never really thought of them as still-lives. Until the second term of my first year, when I produced this series of oil paintings. These paintings were done after I suffered the bereavement of fellow student and friend – only two days before the start of the Easter semester. During the first lesson, I could not think of anything but what happened a few days before. Everything my tutor said seemed to trigger me.
The subject for this painting workshop was to paint an apple, the painting I did was awful. At the end of the class my tutor suggested that we all produce at least one fruit painting by the next week. So on my way home, I picked up some fruit and painted them that night. I painted the same apples over and over again to prove to myself that I could paint an apple well, because I had failed so miserably in class. The following painting is my favourite that I have done of an apple.
I surprised myself with the amount of enjoyment I got from these paintings, I had never really thought much of still life. But whilst painting I found satisfaction in their subtle positions and giving them personalities. After that term I drifted away from still life until the first national lockdown. When, for a painting workshop, I painted a bat – I will tell you more about that painting another day. After that I started to paint the objects around me. I settled for a while on the inspiration of shell formations – find out more about these paintings here.
At the start of this term me and Jonathan sat in on a horse dissection. To begin with it was horrid! After the initial shock of the situation and the overpowering smell, I was put at ease to be told that the animals had been ethically sourced. That is, they died from natural causes and their bodies used for educating future vets for them to better care for the animals. This information helped me get over the fact I was watching students cut open an animal. I was then able to focus on my sketches. The environment was no different from that of a painting workshop, people chatting about mundane subjects, giving the class a fairly normal vibe.
Attending these dissections over several weeks had improved both my paintings and drawing ability. Drawing something that I have never seen before in person was an exciting challenge and it has changed my perception completely. After the first class my eyes had started to see differently, making me more conscious of what’s under the skin, and how movements are made in mammals.As the dissection is a continual process, the whole composition could change in an instant. This has forced me to look even harder than I would normally. I’ve found that it has made my abilities with mark making as well as my drawing skills from life and imagination have both noticeably improved.
The studies are all from my A5 sketchbook. To see all of them visit my sketchbook gallery. Most were done standing up which was somewhat intense, although I am used to standing up for art workshops. It is difficult to drawing without an easel, not to mention arriving at the dissection tiers due to it being a long steep walk to the campus. Like the smell, I slowly got used to this. I hope you found this interesting! Your welcome to share your thoughts in the comments, thank you.
At the start of the lockdown, I struggled a little bit moving out of the studio, not having classes or seeing my tutors. But when it settled down a bit I had a creative run! I was doing so much painting each day that was until, I realized I was behind on my art history assessment. This as usual paralysed my practical work because when I painted I was in fear of not getting my art history done. When doing my art history I was completely blank because I was stressing, it was gastaly! I decided that to keep myself claim, I should do some sculptural work.
It may appear that for me sculpting can sometimes be a form of procrastination. These are the sculptures that I have been distracting myself with. They are taking a long time to complete, because they are not part of my degree, making me work on them intermittently. I usually like to slowly build up the clay. Consistently working over dry layers that will gradually form the figure..
The picture on the left was taken July 1,2019. When she was in her early stages. The photo to the right is of another sculpture from June 26,2019. I had only just started sculpting this lady, as you can see I was working from a sketch. I think this is the first piece of sculptural work that I had made a physical plan for. Usually, I would just visualise ideas before picking up my clay, pondering on them as I work.
As you can see she has changed a lot from the beginning layer, and the original plan, but this is all part of the process. The only reason I noted this plan down as a drawing was because I wasn’t in the position to sculpt, when the idea struck.
Although she may look like she’s close to completion, I still have a lot more work ahead of me. Next I need to sculpt the ends of her fingers witch I will do individually so that I don’t accidentally destroy them – this cold take days. I also need to sand her and possibly carve some of her away as I think her knees need to be reworked. When the sculpting bit is done I will proceed to prime her with several layers of gesso. Then I will finally paint her, something that I’m both excited and scared to do.
I don’t normally share pictures of my work when it’s in-progress, nor do I share my sculptural work online, so I hope you like this post and share your thoughts.
“You find me at work; excuse the dust on my blouse. I sculpt my marble myself.”
Dottie-may Aston 