Maria Browne

SUITCASE

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The search party...

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Bright and breezy

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Keep Breathing.. the story's not over...

Small Portrait - KAY SAGE (American)

Kay was a surrealist artist and her works which remind me of cities emerging in UAE deserts are not generally figurative. There are however the familiar elements of landscape, construction and fabric within the face and I am fascinated.

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Still Life - Second attempt.

Bones, swan egg, feathers and apple.

Acrylic A4

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Still Life Workshop. I took a while to get settled into the drawing. At the bottom centre and right, were my left hand attempts. Which I like.

The image at the top is the 25mins of a bone I found yesterday, whilst clearing ivy from the stone wall in my garden. Its beautiful but it smells.

Chalk on sugar paper.

Bones make me think of GEORGIA O’KEEFFE and her body of later work in the desert of New Mexico, which she made her home.  The rocky landscapes contrast of colour enhance the timeless quality of the bones, which she frequently paints juxtaposed with the  fleeting beauty of blooms.

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As the threat of Covid continues to ebb in Ireland, the situation in India has become dire.

The chakra wheel is in disarray under the pressure of crisis, within colours which link our Nations.

Oil pastel, paint, PVA, chalk, ash, straw.

I admire the Artist ANSLEM KIEFER and his use of texture. His subject matter is deep and frequently dark. He works on a large scale with a multitude of materials and is a combination of sculpture and painting with works leaving the confines of their canvas, if necessary.

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Adding colour to a grey Covid Winter - Photo huawei P20lite

Self Portrait under plastic - Maria Lassnig 1972 (Austrian)

Maria brought forth a theory of ‘body awareness’ a practice of creating a hyperawareness of your body, its nerve ending and consequent sensations.  She frequently painted naked and often with her eyes closed as it was more important to recognise how she felt whilst painting than the appearance of the outcome.    I watched her short film ‘Kantate’ (1992), in which Maria sings her way a version of her life story.  It is completely charming and uplifting. I would have liked her.  

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Pencil, ink, watercolour A4

I like the portrait work of LUCIEN FREUD and was thinking of 'double portrait' 1985, whilst drawing. I sketched Freuds image when I saw the exhibition of himself and Jack B Yeats a couple of years ago. I also spotted a sketch of the whippet in the gallery at Lismore castle last year.

Another attempt, in acrylic.

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Packed, for your convenience - Death of the Pangolin.

Clay, wire, carton, cling film.

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Story -

Is a strand in the fabric of my consciousness through which I navigate memory and potential, entangling and disengaging.

My warp life looming, predesigned, intersected by a myriad of weft encounters, coloured infinitesimally.

Slinking under, sliding over, I wrap awhile, helix entwined on rare beauty, to patterns new. 

° For this assignment I looked at my first year of Art College swaddled in a Viral Pandemic.

° The opening character was the pangolin, like the virus, unknown. This unique mammal was portrayed as a covid carrier but it is our human interference that is likely to have caused the issue.

°I explored the ideas of self protection using the pangolin armour as inspiration. The struggle to keep our minds happy and our lungs healthy.

°There was solace gained from nature weaving its way unperturbed to Spring and the sharing the jouneys of those beloved to me.

° I have kept a broad church in relation to my reference artists, the entries for which are tangled amongst my posts and can be located by searching #StoryResearch.

° I am forcing myself to act on my ideas, irregardless of the success of the outcome. There is no story unless you create one.

Salon #3

Excerpts from my Story development notebook.

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Workshop - Self portrait. As suggested by Eoin, I began working on a larger scale. I did most of the shorter pieces with charcoal on newprint and found working vertical and the marks made in newsprint challenging. On a second attempt, I focused on the lower portion of my face on A2 and found this more successful. The photo contains my dogs paw (for scale). I failed to get my likeness within the 20min piece on A1, but my determination may have come through. I added blue paint to the sketch after the class. It hasn't increased the likeness but has maybe added a little interest.

I have looked again at the work of Francis Bacon, which I have enjoyed for some years and that of Frank Auerbach, who I was introduced to in Semester 1.  There is an unsurprising similarity in styles given that the two were acquainted with each other.  Bacon paints with a cruel eye, even on himself.  Auerbach lashes on the paint, always searching and sometimes landing.  I have chosen a simpler sketched self portrait below.  It is wonderful.

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I went back to the painting from last week. I wasn't happy that the figure was submissive. I decided to portray a defiant approach to my Pandemic story. One where you fight from within to protect. Whilst my Pangolin pal cannot withstand the attack of humans, humans may defeat Covid.

I have looked at the work of JENNY SAVILLE and the honesty of her portrayal the female form.  Her portrayal of flesh is confrontational.

Jenny did two album covers for the Manic Street Preachers.  The image below was deemed too disturbing by retailers.  The album was sold with a brown paper slip cover, to protect the public!

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Collar Project, Research & Design

Here I used apple juice boxes that were silver-coated on the inside. I cut them in the shape of petals and used a hole puncher to cut out holes. I then crocheted them together with double stitches. I placed them so that the next row of petals is slightly above the previous one. I really like the way it looks as it references the armour side of the gorget beautifully.

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Cosima has created a collar with the same configuration of layers as those on the Pangolin.

I love that the reflective card used on the collar gives the look of armoured metal.

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Drawing Practice with Charcoal. Still life from my Chaotic Kitchen Campus. A2

I began looking at Kitchen sink realists such as JOHN BRATBY, who painted domestic scenes.  The term later became used for domestic dramas. Jean Cooke, who was once married to John, was also an artist. Her work entitled two boys reading, is directly below, with the last image being Johns painting Still Life with chip frier.

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Armoured woman emerging phoenix like and gasping for air.

Used more refective card, this time etched with a spoon and covered in acrylic. Trying to capture perspective from a higher viewpoint.

The references I used were Sissy Spacek in the final scenes of Brian del Palmas adaptation of Stephen King's novel 'Carrie'

The perspective idea was from Dali's 'St John of the Cross'

I had also looked at images in painting of Joan of Arc, but was disappointed that many showed a woman to weak and meek to wield a sword, no less lead an army to battle. Rossetti managed a titian beauty with a strong jawline and sword, but with throat exposed and ridiculously vulnerable.

I also looked at the work of WILLIAM BLAKE.

Blake was a etcher/engraver, painter and poet. He was spiritual but rejected organised religion. Anti authoritarian and anti Academy, he created his own illustrative mythology. His beliefs were based on Christian doctrine and he held strong views on global politics of the time. He worked feverishly to his death in 1827.

The image below is from 'los howl' d' from the first book of Urizren 1796.

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Painting workshop - I found the still life more difficult to do than the self portrait, probably as I am more familiar with my face and the relationship each feature has to each other.

The items in the still life hold different weights of importance. At the top is My Mums cake tin, which held the dried fruit and glacéd cherry ingredients for Christmas cakes. The mirror was carried forward and married with the binoculars. The bowl and other items are from my kitchen windowsill. The Rossa pottery bowl has within it coral like lichen of the finest green, which I found on forestry land a couple of weeks ago. Whilst a little heavy handed, I wanted to highlight its colour in the final piece.

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Protection - surrounded by the cells of life, the figure cowers. Self inflicted marks, lungs exposed.

I have been looking at helplessness within the dark, winter, covid filled days. Thoughts fueled by a barrage of media speculation. Where certain quarters moved with swiftness from virus talk to that with evil undercurrents. Talk which had been waiting on the sidelines to emerge at a time of vunerability.

A3 household paint and acrylic on poundshop canvas.

The references I took were from MATTISE  cut outs.  I also looked at the women drawn by DEGAS, especially those bathing.  Their bodies strong but vulnerable to attack. In addition ’Blue nude PICASSO for its strong outline.