Atelier - Copying The Masters

I have spent the last few months trying to copy some of my favourite painters. I have enjoyed trying to guess their paint techniques and have had my understanding reaffirmed that they are masters for a reason. I feel my confidence growing as I understand the behavior of paint and I am also reading Ralph Mayers  - The Artist Handbook of Materials and Techniques. This is a colossal book with loads of interesting information about the chemistry of painting and how mediums work. It has probably been the most influential thing I've read so far about painting. (I'm still reading it and will be for many years as its so thick!)

Below are MY copies of artwork from the work of Jenny Saville, Bacon, Monet etc . It has been a very worth while but very frustrating method of learning. I totally acknowledge that my colour's are very different from the original paintings. I'm not going to post the original next to my copy as my intention wasn't to try and reproduce it like for like, but to get a better understanding of how they painted. If you did compare them to the original artwork you would clearly see my inferiority as a painter.

Jenny Saville - Host

I gave myself a day to paint this, it was taken from a Jenny Saville Book I purchased. I enjoyed mixing the paint for this pallet. I did get a really sense of 'flesh' while I was working, which I think the point of her work.

Bacon's - Three Figures at the base of the Crucifixion

I tried painting on the back of the canvas, I had watched a documentary where Bacon said he prefers to paint on the back, so I tried it. The paint absorbed quickly which made the marks rough and textured. This is my favourite one from this triptych. I like the rawness of his work and I think his painting method supports it.

Monet - View of River Seine

This still isn't finished. It is actually very hard to paint like him. I don't think I chose the easiest of his paintings but I don't usually work in purple so I thought I would try it. The thick impasto layering of paint makes maintaining colour difficult. I have enjoyed the movement of this painting style.

Frank Auerbach - Nude lying on her back

I used a palette knife for this one. I struggled to control the paint but I did enjoy the randomness of the marks. It's as if you keep molding the paint until you get the mark you want. I would scrape if off and reapply and once I was happy I would leave it. 

Portrait in the style of Caravaggio

I painted this portrait in the style of Caravaggio - according the the old masters methods, but I realised much later on that he used a very different method. He painted the highlight's first on a dark ground. That's not how I did it. I totally understood why thin glazes have been used across history in portrait painting, they give a very beautiful effect of light. They also dry darker so you need to keep layering. Opaque paint blocks the light traveling through the paint whereas transparent glazes let light pass through each layer. It is a very delicate and natural effect.

Turner - Snow Storm

This has taken me too long and its not even half way done. I think I will actually do another post about this one as its was a good lesson in 'changing direction'. All I will say is that I still don't understand how this man paints.
 

Autodidact

noun 

a self-taught person

I’m six months into my self taught journey. I have no finished work to show for it, however I have learnt more in this last six months than I have ever done before in my life as an artist.

I have had however, some formal tuition through out my life. I studied A Level Art and I did a foundation diploma at Leeds College of art and design when I was eighteen. I have since completed various informal courses and a distance-learning course where I earned a certificate of Higher Education in Visual Communications. All of this has given me something and nothing at the same time. What I mean by this is I have gained a basic understanding of what is required of me to jump through academic hoops but I have no work I am proud of to call my own.

The lesson I learnt when I did my A Level was that I loved making images and I had a small growth of confidence in this area when my hard work brought me an A grade. I learnt at Art College was that art was not what I thought it was. I wasn’t very good at accepting critiques as I always challenged my tutors view. (On reflection I can clearly see I have a problem with authority – but I’m acknowledging this and I am able to admit that they were just doing their job and maybe my resistance did come over a little strong.)

I learnt a lot from doing a black and white photography evening course. I also did wood carving. These were good practical skills where I was allowed to do my own thing and I did really well to listen to the teachers considering my embarrassing inclination to challenge.

I completed a five-year stint at distance learning - I say stint because it felt like prison. It brought me as realization that I could produce work to meet someone else’s criterion and get a mark for it. I even got a shiny silver certificate to prove how good I’ve been at jumping through these hoops.

I have been keeping a journal of my learning, I have about five journals now and if I’m totally honest, they are the most negative things I have. All I have done in my journals is moan the hell out of everything I’ve been doing. I can do a lot naturally and that has brought me what I have now, that is, a wide general understanding of many genres of art and design. But why was I still starving?

I have never been taught how to draw or paint during all this time. I have learnt however, how to fulfill a brief. So I did a few weeks life drawing classes last year and one day I had an epiphany. I am proud to say that on Wednesday 18^th November 2015 I was painting this woman’s head and I just had the most exhilarating feeling rush over me. I felt excited and energized and confident and painting just spoke to me and said ‘Yes’. I came home and I said ‘I’m having wine’ and I celebrated. I finally know what language I can speak. Even though I acknowledge that I don’t know how to speak the language yet, I know it’s my language.

Six months on and I am growing in confidence, however I have a lot of ground to cover… I mean years of ground to cover… and I’m swearing a lot…but when I get it right I feel alive.

2 hour head study