Assignment 1

For this assignment I wanted to complete a monoscenic narrative which included figurative work. I am a huge fan of the work of Edward Hopper and have seen a couple of his famous works in the Ashmoleon Museum in Oxford. He is famous for his scenes of isolated sombre figures in a landscape. He also painted indoor scenes of everyday life. On Painting 2 I painted a scene depicting lockdown and someone shielding which was the title. I revised the work for assessment and I do think my drawing and painting skills continue to improve. Further and also an inspiration for me was the work of Barbara Walker. Whilst she depicts exquisite portraits of black war personal who were not given any recognition in the war they served in, she sourced her material from archived photos at the Imperial War Museum, from ebay and the internet. In this regard I chose to trawl through my own photos. There were three in particular that I decided to use and create from a mix of these into one of my childhood memories. My childhood although it includes a lot of negative memories, it shaped who I am, the career I had, and provided a lot of the important values I hold today. It’s important to say that my motivation isn’t therapeutic as I’ve worked through many issues in my life and consider myself to be well grounded. As I look at certain images now I understand them and the people within them, much better. Both sets of grandparent kept pubs and my mother helped in the running of the pub as a barmaid. Without going into great detail alcohol its effects and the pub featured largely in my childhood.

The photos I chose are below. I scanned the images in from an album my cousin compiled for my fiftieth birthday.

Above are my grandparents.

My mother in the middle of two aunts. Although not very clear I can see how they decorated the shelves laden with spirits and glasses. There’s also the beer pulls and the beer glasses for reference. This picture reminds me of Manet’s A bar at the Folies Bergere. I include the image below. I have the image in a Ticktock book on Manet titled Manet and new realism by David Spence, published in 2004.

There has been much analysis of the above painting and it is one of his most famous images. One of the issues is about the mystery man. In the mirrors behind you would expect to see the man at the front however he is not visible. The bottles the rose and her dress have some great detail. The background is much more blurry reflecting the mirrored images of the customers.

I am aiming at using my images to compile the scene in my grandparents pub. The title might be Family lock in. There was a lot of tension between family members so my scene and the faces will be quite sombre. I will try to pick out some of the details of the scene such as glasses, pulls and some of the figures features. My granddad is counting the takings. This will be quite a challenge for me but I hope to paint it reasonably well. It might be a cross between Hopper, Manet and a little Paula Rego. I really appreciated her expressive paintings and in particular the work she did around abortion. Sadly in the Fine Art newsletter I heard she died last week. Such a great loss.

I want to use my images but try to place them as they would be in the scene. I begin to draw straight onto the canvas. I do sometimes do preliminary sketches but I find I’m more accurate if I just go for it onto the canvas. I use both images and marry them up to create my bar scene. I include the dog Dandy as he was once the source of a huge argument where ashtrays fled across the bar! My first quick outline sketch onto the canvas is below. I’m using a large 36 x 24 inch canvas. It’s important to get the perspective right on the lines of the bar and the seating area. I don’t think its too bad at present. The outline of the figures is reasonably okay too apart from my father who has a squiffy head.

Once the main drawings in place I begin to block in the main shapes with colour. I am trying to work to the plan below and to the process.

As the plan suggests I’m only working with five or six colours, Alizarin crimson. Ultramarine, Lemon yellow or cad yellow and white. I’ve learned that you can mix any colours from using the main primaries and white and it’s good to do this as it helps you to be confident with colour and you learn such a lot in developing you own palette.

I mix up a chocolate brown for the left side and go very light in this shade for the back of the bar. This needs to be light and brighter.

The above shows more blocking in of the front counter and the side of the seat. Both are in teak effect wood.

I start a little of the work on the figures. I work quickly with a flat brush on the hands and I quite like the effect on the fingers. The hair isn’t too bad either. I brush in a little shadow on the face to the right side mainly as the light I decide will come from the right to the seating area.

The above shows more blocking in with the figures. I put my mothers hand to the pull and paint these in a little and I’ve adjusted my fathers face and filled in grandad. Not sure yet about the floor colour but will begin now on some of the details and adjust backgrounds as necessary as I proceed. I include a close up of mother so far.

I keep working at all areas now. Grandad’s face need adjustment and I start to work more on his clothes, grandma’s clothes and my fathers. The painting is beginning to take shape and I also paint the counter in a light grey. I may change this as the original counter was a tone of red as I recall it.

Above is a close up of my mothers face and fathers head looks a little better but further to go.

I decide to paint the counter red. My decision is based on the detail I’m going to try to add. Any glasses will reflect the colour they are surrounded by and if my table top was a similar colour I might not achieve what I intend. The image above shows the addition of the bottle. I need to refine it a little as it’s wonky but I continue to add more details. The image below shows more detail to everyone’s clothing. I’ve added Dandy the corgi, some of the flooring and further details to my father’s hands. I’ve also added some of the details of the glasses and back of the bar area. I added the edges to the hatchway and repainted but not fully so the light reflects off it a little. Grandparents have a little shadow behind their heads and I’ve left a splash of light on the floor. I’ve added detail to grandads clothes with shirt buttons and a tie. Grandparent’s feet look okay I think. Dandy looks okay and he’s looking at us a little maybe? With a little poetic licence I decide to put a blurry reflection of my mother in the painting. I need to sleep on things overnight and revisit/refine more the details. The floor isn’t perfect perspectively speaking, but I like the tiled effect. I think there are some stronger elements than others in the painting but I’m reasonably pleased. When I painted the glass my father is holding his hand and fingers are seen mainly through the glass and his thumb at the top. I like grandparents corner better. Grandad is counting his money, the nights takings.

Another day to reflect and I want to revise again certain areas. Today I work on my father’s clothes collar and tie and lapel, revision of his face and my mothers. It’s easy to overwork. I also revise some of the glass ware and bottles on the shelf. I also add some definition to my mother’s reflection which also serves to provide definition to my father’s face. Some of the improvements are in images below. My parents faces including revisions to my father’s hair.

The final painting is below.

I have very mixed feelings about the completed work and there are some areas I would still re-work but running out of time. I’ve enjoyed completing this and I do want to be able to paint figures in storytelling. I explained my motivation and this piece is about my cultural background, heritage and also a family story. If I was able to I would work on the faces a little more of my parents. I might also add in another relative at the hatch. I think the perspective of the shelves could be better too. I have been inspired by all the artists mentioned earlier such as Hopper, Rego and other impressionists including Manet. What I feel I need to do is keep working on the techniques I’ve learned about such as colour, shadows and for this kind of work figures and facial features. What I loved about my approach to this painting was the confidence in some of my brush strokes particularly around painting the figures and faces but I still have a way to go.