Art and Ideas

[jacquelinetaylor]

Finished work from semester 2

Title: Christmas Eve 1944 

Oil on canvas  

Height 80 cm x 100 width x 4cm depth   

Title: Woman with Whippet # 2

Alkyd enamel (gloss paint) on canvas

Height 80 cm x 100 width x 4cm depth   

Title: Woman with Whippet # 3

Oil on canvas  

Height 80 cm x 100 width x 4cm depth   

Title: Christmas Eve 1943 

Oil paint on wooden board  

Dimensions W 100cm x H 90cm x D 4.5cm  

 Title: Dearest Harry  

Oil paint on canvas  

Dimensions W 120cm x H 100cm and D 4cm  

Title: Miles Away

Oil paint on canvas  

Dimensions W 150cm x H 120cm and D 4cm  

Above are all of the finished paintings that I have done for semester 2. There has been a cross between my PC2 work and my SP2 work as both modules cross into one another as my PC2 module this semester moved into making work about my site. Even though the works are from two different modules they all form part of my establishing art practice in painting. I think I’m developing as an artist and my work is starting to have similarity between them as I am becoming more confident in my style. In reflection, my contextual research has helped in my understanding of painting a narrative. I like to make work in response to every day and the mundane which is relatable to everyone but at the same time will emote a different reaction, personable to the person who is viewing the work. I like to set out the scene of the narrative to be imagined by the viewer.

[jacquelinetaylor]

Artist Research - Matthew Stone

Matthew Stone (born 1982 in London)  

Matthew Stone uses traditional painting methods mixed with modern digitisation to make figures that look hollow but also in 3D form. To create the work, he paints large paints strokes onto glass and then photographs these marks and imports them over to photoshop to create his figures from the painterly strokes that he previously photographed, these images are then printed onto linen canvas. The work features the characteristics of the traditional brush stroke which is the main focus of the work, the artist has an understanding of traditional paint techniques and uses this to his advantage by transforming the brushstrokes with digitized techniques into otherworldly images. Stone is using technology to further advance his painterly skills and he sees the work as a painting and not a digital image, the technology is there to enable him to push his paintings further and in doing this he is achieving possibilities further than just using the paint, the technology has aided the painterly process of the work.  I find his work fascinating and hard to understand how he has even made these beautiful works a possibility. I love the fact his is mixing technology and the painting to create a new sense of an art medium which is mixing paint and technology in a way that hasn't been seen before. I think Stone above is creating pioneering work .  

[jacquelinetaylor]

Artist Research - Chuck Close

Chuck Close is an American artist that is well known for his portrait paintings in which he borrows from photographs to produce a gridded pixeled composition which when seen up close looks like random squares and shapes and colours but step back and what you see is a realistic portrait. Close has an ongoing obsession with photography and the recycling of images. Close has revealed that he has a condition known as face blindness which means he is unable to recognise people’s faces, and it was this that prompted him to use flat photographs as a method of keeping a catalogue of faces of his friends and family. The artist is unable to recognise any faces in 3D form but photograph the face and print it out and the artist then has a photographic memory of the face which he then uses the 2D flat image as an aid to paint his portraits. Close often starts his work with several photographs and then uses one photograph and divides it into smaller units to help achieve the correct proportions between the smaller photograph he is working from and the upscaled large canvas.

This interesting to know that he has used the photographs as a tool in his work, it is also a tool I use to help with my work. The internet and taking your own photographs for me has been a great way to help me understand and overcome problems in my work.  

Baby Jane," 2018-2019, oil on canvas, 102-1/2" × 84" (260.4 cm × 213.4 cm)

Chuck Close, Arne, 2019-2020, oil on canvas, 72" × 60" (182.9 cm × 152.4 cm)  

Chuck Close, Shirley, 2007, oil on canvas, 96" x 84" (243.8 cm x 213.4 cm)

[jacquelinetaylor]

Artist Research - Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon is Irish born figurative painter who is well known for his unique style of unsettling images based around the human form. I don't find his work that pleasurable to look at but that is also part of their attraction.  You can't help but wonder about what the images are representing, is there a meaning and what was Bacon feeling when he produced the work. Bacon used photographs in his work for inspiration, which it's something I have done in my own work. For Bacon the photograph allowed him to see the image he wanted to work from clearly, he didn't need to think about the event he is depicting as the photographs enables this for him and allows for the artist to be more creative in the ideas he gives to the work and he can manipulate the image that he sees from the photograph. The photograph is a starting point for Bacon with endless possibilities of how he can depict his truth of the image.  

Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion

ARTIST

Francis Bacon 1909–1992

MEDIUM

Oil paint on 3 boards

DIMENSIONS  940 × 737 mm

COLLECTION Tate

ARTIST

Francis Bacon 1909–1992

MEDIUM

Oil paint and sand on canvas

DIMENSIONS

Support: 661 × 561 × 18 mm frame: 880 × 740 × 73 mm

COLLECTION

Tate

ARTIST

Francis Bacon 1909–1992

MEDIUM

Oil paint on canvas

DIMENSIONS

Support: 813 × 686 mm frame: 943 × 793 × 59 mm

COLLECTION

Tate

[jacquelinetaylor]

Finished work.

Title: Miles Away

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: Length 150 cm x Height 120cm x Depth 4 cm

I am finishing this semester with this as my last piece of completed work. It is the largest scale canvas I have painted on and whilst I have found it tricky as am working from home and not in the studio due to the Covid it has been the most enjoyable work I have done this semester. I found it easier to paint the features and the details were easier at a bigger scale which I think works better with my style of painting. The painting is set in an Indian restaurant and the narrative is very much up to the viewer of the work. I am setting out the scene but I am not painting a certain event, it is a thought or a feeling that I am trying to depict in this work. The work I have been producing are very much influenced by the work of Edward Hopper and Édouard Manet, I find their work inspires me as they have an inviting narrative that is looking for an interpretation from the viewer. They are depicting the everyday scene but if you look deep at the work there is a narrative that anyone can relate to and I find it interesting that anyone that looks at their work will have a different story as to what they think is happening in the scene. This is what I inspire in the work I am creating.

[jacquelinetaylor]

Progress so far on a new piece of work. I have decided with this work to go for a larger canvas. This canvas measures 150cm by 120cm so is quite a challenge as I haven't worked to this scale before. I am finding that it is easier in some ways to work larger as I have found it difficult sometimes when painting figures smaller as adding in too much detail doesn't work as well on a smaller scale. I have been considering making this painting for a while and have been thinking of ideas around it since I made a painting a few years back called "Head Down to the Chippy". This piece has some similarities with the other work as the painting depicts surroundings to which most people can relate, i.e the chippy as in the last piece, and in this piece, it is set in an Indian restaurant. Again there is a narrative to the painting which has been set by me to be interpreted as the viewer of the work wishes. I have still some way to go with this painting but I am enjoying the challenge so far.

[jacquelinetaylor]

Finished work

Woman with Whippet #2

Alkyd enamel (gloss paint)

H100 W120cm x D4.5cm

This work was an experimental piece as I decided to use household gloss paint as the medium. I found it was quite difficult to work with but I enjoyed the challenge of trying something new. I liked the way the paint has a gloss shine and the fact it dries quicker than oil paint and I was able to make adjustments quicker than waiting for oil paint to dry.

I wanted to stick with the theme of the woman in the room with the whippet. I have now done 3 paintings of the woman in the room with the whippet. Each painting has differed slightly but there have been 5 features that are repeated in each of the works, which is the woman is naked, she is in an empty room, she has a red hat, she is smoking and there is a black whippet by her side. The narrative of the painting is very much for the interpretation of the viewer. I have my own personal reasons as to why 5 characteristics are the same in each painting, however, I do feel the work has many narratives that can be reimagined over and over as to why she is there naked in an empty room, why she has the same hat, she is smoking and has the dog with her. I may have my thoughts but I have found that whilst painting each of the 3 paintings my own narrative in my head has been reimagined with each piece. Using the gloss paint was a different experience but I still prefer using oil paint as my main medium when painting. I may consider using both gloss and oil paint together in a piece in the future as there are attributes that I like in both mediums.

[jacquelinetaylor]

Title: Christmas Eve 1943

Oil paint on wooden board

Dimensions W 100cm x H 90cm x D 4.5cm

Title: Christmas Eve 1944

Oil on canvas

Height 80 cm x 100 width x 4cm depth

Title: Dearest Harry

Oil paint on canvas

Dimensions W 120cm x H 100cm and D 4cm

Above are three pieces of work I have done for my brief for the site group. It has been a journey to get to this point. I started very wide with the research at the begging of the brief. I began by looking at my family tree and it was quite overwhelming with the different paths I could have taken. After some initial thoughts, I decided to concentrate on my Grans life and her life story which I recorded about 10 years ago. I was going to base it around where she lived in Gorton and use that as my site. However, as we have been in lockdown and couldn't travel out of the area I had to adjust and change the plan. I thought for a while and decided I still wanted to focus it around my Gran's life story but thought it would be interesting to use her memories as my site and to use them as my inspiration for the work. I find it interesting that the work is based around my Grans memories of her life experiences but the work is my interpretation of her memory. It is her story plus my imagination that has created the work together.

[jacquelinetaylor]

Finished work

Title: Dearest Harry

Oil paint on canvas

Dimensions W 120cm x H 100cm and D 4cm

I am happy with how this painting has turned out in the end. It was a struggle at times as I couldn't seem to get the face to look as I wanted it to at the beginning of the painting. However, I am actually happier with the way it has tuned out than what I had planned at the beginning. It has made me realise that even when you feel it is going wrong it is never too late to remove parts of the work to start again and at the end of it you maybe happier with the way it turned out than from your initial plans and the start of the journey.

[jacquelinetaylor]

I have referenced a painting in the top right part of my painting. I came across this painting whilst searching through images on google. I knew I had seen it straight away when I saw the image. I remember this painting in my Gran and Grandads house. I didn't have any idea of the artists who painted the painting or the title at the time but seeing the image brought might back vivid memories of their house and the happy times I had there as a child, so I decided I wanted this painting to form part of the narrative of the work.

The painting is by Jean Raoux and is titled "Jeune femme lisant une letter" translated from French to "Young Woman Reading a Letter" and was painted around 1717 - 1718. the dimensions are H 99 cm by W 81cm. It currently housed at the Louvre museum.

[jacquelinetaylor]

I have been really struggling painting the face of my Gran. Again it is hard not having a reference picture to look at and just using my imagination can become a little tricky. After struggling I decided to knock the face back and scrape off the paint and paint over in a neutral so I can start again. I decided it might help to use images of the internet to try and place the features and to block in the dark areas first and then build up from there.

[jacquelinetaylor]

A new painting above that I am working on which is inspired by an extract from the recording from my Grans life story in which she told me a story that when she moved into Mr and Mrs Stott's house (her future in-laws) she wrote to their son who was in the war (Harry my Grandad) she had never met him at the time and they became pen pals before they eventually met one another and fell in love and got married. I am depicting in the painting my Gran's memory but it is through my thoughts and imagination of the story she has told me that is shaping the work below.

[jacquelinetaylor]

Finished work

Title: Christmas Eve 1943

Oil paint on wooden board

Size 100cm x 90cm

The finished work above is inspired again by my Gran's memory. This is a story I have recorded that she has told me about what happened to her on Christmas Eve in 1943. She was 16 years old and she had been leaving with her dad but she was having to pretend he was her grandad as she was the result of her dad having an affair with her mum. She had pretended since she was 6 years old (since her mum gave her up) that her sister was her mother, her sister sadly died when she was 16. She then went to live with her dad (still pretending he was her grandad) and then her dad, unfortunately, died 3 months later. After her dad died the rest of the family found out the truth and there were mixed reactions about her now the truth was out. She didn't feel welcome by some of her in-law relatives and she felt really lost now her sister and dad had passed away. It was Christmas eve and she went to Church (in Gorton where she lived) and afterwards, she went to sit down on a park bench. My Gran told me it was snowing and she has sat there all alone when her friend and her mum walked past and saw her sat there. They approached her and asked why she was there on her own on Christmas eve. She explained the situation and (Joyce) her friends mum said that her mum must be worried about her, but Gran pointed out that her mum doesn't even know where she is. Joyce feels sorry for my Gran and offers her a bed at her house. She moved in that night on Christmas eve in 1943 and stayed there for about 9 months.

[jacquelinetaylor]

After working on the face in the last session I decided I wasn't happy with the way it was looking and it needed to have a bit more depth. I used some painting butter and marble dust that really helped to bring out the features which worked well due to their impasto qualities.

I have also added more detail of the Gorton Monastery in the background. I used a photograph for reference for this. I wanted to add on the Monastry as the events that happened to my Gran that day happened when she was living in Gorton and the Monetary is a famous building that has lots of history and I wanted to reference this in the work.

[jacquelinetaylor]

Working mainly on the facial features. I have found this quite tricky as I have no photograph or model as a reference, I am having to use my imagination of what would have been the colour of my Grans skin tone, at the same time, I also want the picture to resemble how I think my Gran would have looked back in 1943 when she was around 16. I have found this easier in a way with no reference picture or model as I can be more imaginative in my mark-making. Where I have found it to be a struggle with no reference to work from is trying to work out the tonal value of which area of the face would be darker or lighter. I think overall I am quite happy with it so far.

[jacquelinetaylor]

Artist Research - Édouard Manet

Édouard Manet  was born in Paris on 23rd January 1832. Manet was urged by his father to take a career in law but lucky for us his interests were in the arts. French art in the 19th century had been dominated by the romantic painter Eugene Delacroix who turned to contemporary and exotic literary references, such as Byron, for his subject matter instead of the classical approached favoured by the French academicians. The artist Gustave Courbet rejected any notion of idealisation in art, rejecting both classicism and romanticism in favour of a natural representation of the everyday.  

Courbet stated that only realism was democratic and that the noblest subject for the artist to paint was the peasant and worker. Manet's influence of Spanish art and Impressionist technique but owed much to Courbet's dedication to realism. This is something that resonates in the work I like to make as like Courbet I find painting realism and real-life situation the most satisfying.  

One of my favorite paintings of Manet is Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe.  

Artist Édouard Manet

Year 1863

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions 208 cm × 264.5 cm (81.9 in × 104.1 in)

Location Musée d'Orsay, Paris

The painting refers back to some of the great Italia masters such as Titian (Manet referred to a painting which has since been attributed to Titian rather than Giorgione). He wanted to incorporate references to the art of an earlier period to demonstrate not just his learning but that tradition can extern into modern realist painting. I like the direct gaze of the woman in the painting who sits there naked without a trace of shame as she looks the viewers straight in the eye. This was very shocking for the art of that time and this painting was very scandalous at the time and caused an immediate outcry, why was the men clothed but the woman naked? The painting was exhibited at the Salon des Refuses (an alternative exhibition to the official Salon) and there were many questions and disgust at depicting a naked female who looks confidently back at her viewers. I admire the composition of the work as your eyes are taking on a journey around the canvas at the 4 people and what is being depicted. The painting and it's composition is clearly inspired by an engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi where you can see the inspiration for the three seated figures in Manets painting.  

The nakedness of the river gods in this classical image did not offend, but Manet's version angered the critics and public alike. The public was up on the 'art historical' reference which Manet enjoyed making. It's great to see that even manet in my opinion one of the greatest artists to have been influenced by other artists who came before him.  

[jacquelinetaylor]

Working progress. I’m enjoying painting on the wooden board as it’s very different from working on the canvas. There isn’t any give like there is painting on a canvas but the board allows for expressive mark making.