Working on a larger scale

These past couple of days have been very exciting, as I have been experimenting with working with much larger water colour compositions, in response to the When Worlds Collide project. As I'm usually very precise with my work, I tend to get caught up with going into too much detail, which is very time consuming but also drives me to this idea of 'perfection', which isn't always achieved. I tend to think that art isn't always actually that good when it's considered as 'perfect'; the more bizarre the work, the more interesting. This is something that I've been trying to accomplish in my work recently; instead of focusing on very 'idealised' portraits, I have been trying to make my portraits as quirky and eccentric that I possibly can.

I really enjoy using watercolour as a medium, as it allows me to work quickly, and spontaneously; but most predominately, I never really know what the outcome of using it is going to be, which I find very interesting. I have also particularly enjoyed working on a larger scale these past few days, as it has really allowed me to go a bit crazy with the paint; but I also feel that I have taken a few more risks with these larger compositions as I have more space to experiment onto. 

Artists such as Marlene Dumas, and Sally Bourke have a very predominant influence on my work- as they also use watercolour as a medium for their own work. Marlene Dumas is such an influential artist for me, as she captures emotion so clearly in her portraits but not in way that would be considered 'beautiful' or 'idealised', but in a way that can actually be quite shocking and grotesque. I hope that by the end of this project, that I have succeeded in portraying emotion in such a way that Dumas does in her work. 

Usually, in preparation for a water colour painting, I will find a photograph that I like- whether that be one of friends, family or myself. Choosing an image to paint is quite simple, as I just choose it depending on the images colour or formality that I like.

Above, are a few of the larger scale paintings that I made using watercolour. For these images, I wanted to capture the most significant part of the photograph, whether that be their hair, a hat, or their clothing. I think these images look quite interesting without any facial features, it sort of creates a mysterious effect- as if we don't know what the people in these portraits look like, but we can only see their most significant features. I also like how t

These are some of the original portraits in which I worked back into, either using black ink pen, or pencil. I think the effect of both of these techniques is very effective, but also very different. The black pen, which was my original technique for this project creates a more cartoonish effect, which I do like however, I think the use of the pencil creates a more subtle, and fainter effect to these portraits.