For my series of paintings, I wanted my subject to be self-portraiture, and my first challenge was how to make the series in a way that differed from conventional head and shoulders portrait compositions.
I thought it would be interesting to develop the theme I had begun earlier in this module - self-portraiture views in mirrors - and I wanted to improve the technique from my work in part 3, as I especially like the softness of the brush strokes and the sfumato technique that I wanted to practice more.
With this in mind I conducted research on self-portrait painting as opposed to self-portrait photography, in response to a question from my tutor on assignment 3 - painting portraiture vs photography portraiture, though incidentally I do love both of these art mediums.
See Research for assignment 5
The Process
My first instinct was to use the big landscape mirror in my living room, which projects the aspects of the living room interior which I love. To develop the idea, I first did some quick sketches looking at the mirror.
Then I set up my camera and sat at the dining table facing the mirror, and took many photos of my image from different chairs at different times of day over the next two days, wearing different clothes and hairstyles, trying to get ideas of composition and lighting, putting in different objects until I had enough information to work on.
I wanted to make three self-portraits that communicated something, rather than just representations of an interior with my face on them. Despite thinking hard without inspiration striking, I decided to make a start in the hope that ideas from my research would help me develop the message in the process.
I really liked the various photographs I had taken, which I thought had a cinematic feel to them, like film stills. They reminded me of Edward Hooper’s work, and some of the compositions reminded me the composition of Velasquez’ ‘Las Meninas’, where Velazquez seems to be painting the image of a big mirror in front of him and his subject.
The core idea I reached was a series of three photographs taken facing the mirror in my own surroundings which could each stand independently, but which could also be seen as one big painting, so using my IT skills I played with the photos, cropping sections of them and mixing them up to see how they could work together, until I reached a combination I was happy with.
The basis of my chosen 3-photo composition in the mirror was –
Firstly, a self-portrait looking straight at the viewer
Secondly, a self-portrait of me taking photographs in the mirror with the camera partially covering my face, inspired by my research and introducing photography into self-portraiture
Thirdly a small self-portrait photograph in a frame, which could be read as the final result of the process, viewing the image in the mirror.
Although I had the photographs which helped me create the composition, I nevertheless spent time in the living room painting from life to get the light and shadows of the room and the perspective of the three paintings.
For my medium I chose a limited Water-Mixable Oil palette with the intention of resolving issues of colour - Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red Medium, Lemon Yellow, Burnt Umber, French Ultramarine and Titanium White
For my support I used 3 pre-primed A2 stretched canvases, to which I applied neutral grey acrylic wash, the size dictated mostly by the convenience for posting when the time comes. I would have preferred a bigger size as I would have loved to get more detail in my self-portraits than I normally do.
My final series
Painting 1
Painting 2
Painting 3
Complete series
Self-assessment
I feel that during this course I’ve come a long way in the use of paint and learned to apply it not only with brushes but with all sorts of tools. As said previously, I wanted to take this module because my knowledge of medium was predominantly charcoal and pastel, and I was concerned that I would never be as comfortable in other mediums.
I’ve come to the conclusion however that there’s not necessarily much difference as the ways of applying the paint are transferable between the mediums. For instance, for these pieces I used the sfumato technique that I normally use with pastel, the only difference being that in pastel I use my fingers and cotton wool buds, and with paint I used rags and brushes - to achieve more or less the same effect.
The use of colour to harmonise the composition has been a big learning curve, and although I need a lot more practice, I think I definitely have improved, and that the quality of my paint application is much better now.
I’m pleased with the outcome of the series, though I could spend a lot more time working on the three to make improvements. I like the fact that they are all different but relate to each other, and that they can be hung individually or put together to make one big painting.
In painting 1, I feel this really does show the aspects of self-portraiture referred to in my research 2 - likeness, proof of presence, psychological characterisation and evocation of essence. I think it does look like me, it offers information about my personality, inquisitive attitude and the things I like, and it also shows my inner energy and a certain air that I’m always looking at and challenging the world around me.
The introduction of the telephone box ornament (actually a money box), something which tourists love to buy as memorabilia of London, is a reference to the part of me that will always be a foreigner, inevitably never quite able to fully fit into the society I live in.
In painting 2 I am shown in the process of creating this work, and the tapestry on the back wall behind me is a work of a Peruvian artist representing Inca subjects, included as a reminder of my roots.
I find the composition in painting 3 very calm and restful; the light colours of the picture frame and the windows help to project the intimacy of the work, though I know the self-portrait in the picture frame, the curtains and the tones needs more work.
I believe the series makes up a quite unconventional composition. We very often see compositions where artists depict themselves at an easel in the process of painting, with a brush in their hand, or sometimes using handmade tools or the well-documented use of camera obscura to optimise their process.
With the advent of photography many artists used photography in their process - Alphonse Mucha, one of the pioneers of photographic sketches as a tool for the study of body language and creative composition for his posters, George Shaw who used photography to produce his realistic landscapes, and Francis Bacon, who based his emotionally highly charged portraits on photograph, though in self-portraiture, the camera itself is almost never depicted in the work, which I think is an omission.
I believe that by embracing modern technology we can create more interesting compositions to get the best of both painting and photography and thereby make a more successful pieces of work. It depends of course on what the artist wants to achieve and what the artist thinks works best. I personally like to start with quick sketches to get used to the subject, and to take advantage of photography to optimise my process of developing my compositions. Having gathered my information in this way I like to work from life to understand the light and shadow and the freshness of the subject.
I think this series shows how much I’ve learned in terms of contextual work and how to incorporate and explain the influences and inspiration of my research into my work. I found the research very useful in terms of practical application, and think the theory is the key to expanding the horizon of my work.
In conclusion, I found managing my time and juggling with day to day commitment very hard during the course, but I did enjoy the learning process, and I think I have vastly improved. Many thanks to my tutor for all her help.
Updated May 2020
Reference:
Universal Principles of Depicting Oneself across the Centuries: From Renaissance Self-Portraits to Selfie-Photographs
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00245/full
How artists see themselves
https://www.format.com/magazine/galleries/art/format-picks-artist-self-portraits