Linear Perspective

For this exercise I wanted to explore the technique of phototransfer, and the idea of landscape as a process learned on a Clare Wilson workshop. I used two pictures which both represent sad times from the past, as I thought it would be interesting to explore time and space and the emotional aspect of the composition.

One picture from a newspaper, was of a soldier at the commemoration of the centenary of the Armistice, which I liked and kept in my scrapbook. I transferred the photo onto a 30 x 24cm canvas board using Plextol 498 as adhesive -

The other photo is a linear perspective view of the Cloisters at the GF Watts Cemetery. I outlined the perspective of the cloisters loosely with charcoal, and wanted to keep as much of the background as possible -

As I went on, I initially used Raw Umber acrylic mixed with Matt Medium for the windows in an attempt to achieve an element of transparency, which didn’t however work well, so I changed my plan for the rest of the painting to use Chinese Ink and Gouache and my final piece was -

I’m fairly happy with the final piece except for the tree branches on the right. I initially thought the branches would serve to take the eye of the viewer towards the head of the soldier, but that didn’t work as I found the eye was held by them. I wish therefore I hadn’t put the branches in, and unlike a normal acrylic or oil painting it wasn’t possible to overpaint them without making a mess. A second regret is that as I did the photo transfer straight from the newspaper the background colours were not strong enough, and the subjects got a bit lost in the composition. All good learning experience.