It was studio practice today which means standing in front of your easel for most of the day – not a bad way to pass the time I think! This week I’ve been looking at books on Paula Rego – Behind The Scenes by John McEwen, brilliant, sorry there’s no link – and something on Francis Bacon, the name of which I cannot remember. The Rego book has been enormously helpful, showing photos of her enormous setups: mannequins, dolls, stuffed animals, created creatures with curtains and assorted furniture. They are life-size and used in conjunction with life models for Rego to paint her pictures. It has opened my eyes to the idea of physically creating a scene to paint. Obviously I can’t make them life-size but I can make them like small theatres. I wasn’t quite sure about how to go about this but I had a tutorial with Sarita and she was enormously helpful and I’m very excited. Below is a small experiment – a painting of a small, green plasticine figure – with a small graphite addition to add a little bit of narrative to the image (which is where I’m headed with my paintings). It’s a bit weird but it’s more of a signpost really, of the way I’m headed and I can’t wait.
Acrylic on paper
I can hear the excitement in your voice just by the way you’re writing. Try to maintain that sense of enthusiasm every time you approach your work