I have to admit I really am not looking forward to this next project, painting a portrait. I can only admire artists who manage to capture someones personality and image in a painting. Its quite interesting because I have noticed that even when I am taking a photograph of someone I actually much prefer to capture someone when they are not aware that they are being photographed, compared to a false, uncomfortable pose for the camera. So I am not sure yet how I am going to approach the positioning of the sitter yet.
Painting a portrait of someone however is going to pose a whole lot of problems for me. I know that painting people is not my strongest point and I suppose that in a way having my hand forced to tackle this project can only be a good thing as normally i would avoid it. Previous problems I have had in the past is getting a good likeness, and if I do manage to get a reasonable likeness, there is often a lack of vitality to the image. Its hard to entirely explain how I am going to remedy this as its hard to pinpoint exactly what it is about what makes a portrait that works and one that doesn't. I think that it is often a deadness in the eyes, it seems it is the eyes that really help to define a portrait, and they are the hardest to get right.
My next challenge is going to be getting a model, who has got time to sit for me and is not going to laugh to much at my attempts.
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Peter Blake and the Ruralists.
I have just started reading a book about Peter Blake. I have always admired the work of Peter Blake and have seen a couple of his paintings at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. One of the reasons I picked up his book is to find out a bit more about his subject matter and find out some of his thinking behind his paintings and how he himself is inspired, basically what makes him tick.
The era I chose to have a look at, at this point is the 1970s, as the times that he was producing these particular paintings, the country was going through struggles that draw parallels to the problems that the country is going through now. It was during the 1970 s that global economic crisis loomed and opposition politics were drifting ever further into radicalisation. It was during this time that Blake and his family moved to the countryside in search of a less hectic life away from the city. A group of like minded artists began to grow and the Ruralist Movement was formed. There was never a manifesto as such but Blake summarised their aims best:
"Simply, our aims are the continuation of a certain kind of English painting;
We admire Samuel Palmer, Stanley Spencer, Thomas Hardy, Elgar,Cricket, English landcape, The Pre Raphaelites, etc... Our aims are to paint about love, beauty, joy, sentiment and magic. We still believe in painting with oil paint on canvas, putting the picture in the frame and hopefully that someone will like it, buy it and hang it on their wall to enjoy it. " (1)
In a time that the art world was ruled by the minimalist and conceptual practices of the Avant-Garde this could have been considered as career suicide. The theme that drew the practice of the Ruralists , Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood and the Brotherhood of the Ancients was the interest in myths and English literary subjects.
Peter Blakes work during the 1970's could in some ways be considered a healthy escape from the concerns at that time, many of which are still ongoing today. From concerns with the environment and economic decline, his work offered a fantasy world of beautiful images.
Ophelia, which Blake painted around 1977 has his own contemporary twist, unlike the painting by Millais, Ophelia is painted standing waste deep in the water staring directly at the viewer . Her impending death is further emphasised by her holding a bunch of twigs. Her figure appears so pale and ghostly against the dark of the background as she gazes out at the viewer. I really wanted to post the image here, but the copyright in the book disallows any reproduction of any of the images.
(1)Peter Blake, "Contrariwise" , Aspects,no.3,Summer 1978 pp.1-2 A planned magazine titled "The Briar Rose"(after the celebrated series of paintings by Edward Burne-Jones)which would have functioned as manifesto and voice piece never came to fruition.
The era I chose to have a look at, at this point is the 1970s, as the times that he was producing these particular paintings, the country was going through struggles that draw parallels to the problems that the country is going through now. It was during the 1970 s that global economic crisis loomed and opposition politics were drifting ever further into radicalisation. It was during this time that Blake and his family moved to the countryside in search of a less hectic life away from the city. A group of like minded artists began to grow and the Ruralist Movement was formed. There was never a manifesto as such but Blake summarised their aims best:
"Simply, our aims are the continuation of a certain kind of English painting;
We admire Samuel Palmer, Stanley Spencer, Thomas Hardy, Elgar,Cricket, English landcape, The Pre Raphaelites, etc... Our aims are to paint about love, beauty, joy, sentiment and magic. We still believe in painting with oil paint on canvas, putting the picture in the frame and hopefully that someone will like it, buy it and hang it on their wall to enjoy it. " (1)
In a time that the art world was ruled by the minimalist and conceptual practices of the Avant-Garde this could have been considered as career suicide. The theme that drew the practice of the Ruralists , Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood and the Brotherhood of the Ancients was the interest in myths and English literary subjects.
Peter Blakes work during the 1970's could in some ways be considered a healthy escape from the concerns at that time, many of which are still ongoing today. From concerns with the environment and economic decline, his work offered a fantasy world of beautiful images.
Ophelia, which Blake painted around 1977 has his own contemporary twist, unlike the painting by Millais, Ophelia is painted standing waste deep in the water staring directly at the viewer . Her impending death is further emphasised by her holding a bunch of twigs. Her figure appears so pale and ghostly against the dark of the background as she gazes out at the viewer. I really wanted to post the image here, but the copyright in the book disallows any reproduction of any of the images.
(1)Peter Blake, "Contrariwise" , Aspects,no.3,Summer 1978 pp.1-2 A planned magazine titled "The Briar Rose"(after the celebrated series of paintings by Edward Burne-Jones)which would have functioned as manifesto and voice piece never came to fruition.
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