E̵V̶A̸L̵U̶A̸T̴I̴O̸N̶

EVALUATION

In order to evaluate my work effectively, I've found that covering my key influences at KECs is more beneficial for being able to understand my own process in the creation for my Final Major.

I decided that for my final piece I wanted to create an oil painting alongside some of my usual textural works, combing elements to create a whole and coherent piece. I also wanted to emphasise the use of layers in my work by creating physical barrier through a use of glass or perspex to isolate and emphasise the foregrounding that I wished my work to possess.

This decision of isolation layers was largely influenced by the Graffiti of Rothko and my study of Art Restoration and Preservation. The use of gloss and varnish layers has been used to protect original works from further harm in the future. I found that the presentation of 'Anathema' would be greater by creating a piece that included aspects of vandalism or graffiti in my final major. Although, I too, wished to protect my work as I know that the unpredictable nature of spray paint could ruin my work if the spray failed.

BACKGROUND CREATION

During my time in First Year, I took large influences from Hua Tunan. The artist used kinetic energy in his pieces and was one of the large factors which led me to using spray paint for the majority of my time during KEC's. Whilst my artwork does not possess the same level of energy, scale or expression, his influence has allowed me to understand how spray paint can be manipulated to create a range of markings, and how I can use the unpredictability of this to my advantage.

Hua Tunan - Mural (unknown)

His influence can be seen in my backgrounds for my Final Major, and also in my previous works from my other units. I focused largely on creating a sense of depth in these two 20x16" boards through my use of tone and layering of mediums. I used a base of primer and then 'Asphalt' spray paint to create a barrier and a cohesive layer to work upon. I slowly began to build up the tones through using transparent spray paints (a technique I had learnt from the artist duo Herakut in my second year of study) and then cutting these with layers of opaque 'Black' spray. The multiple layers of different tones created subtle depth to my work, which I later intended to cover with a glass layer to add my final text layer to with a white POSCA pen. Although, as discussed in the difficulties section below, this did not occur.

In an ideal setting, this piece would've scaled the large majority of a wall to allow myself to include anecdotes and aspects of literature from Shakespeares "The Tempest", alongside with a greater use of markings, textures and layers from a use of gloss layers, thread and glue (that I have used as a process in previous works, please refer to "whatever goes upon two legs" mixed media spray paint piece). But, this was rather impossible due to the constraints that the Corona Virus pandemic place upon me. I had a finite amount of resources with little means of being able to acquire other mediums quickly; this included the extra 2 layers of glass I needed for covering these pieces, so slowly my final vision for my work was falling through without me realising the severity of this.

Another difficulty when creating this piece was that a thunderstorm happened to be passing over whilst I was outside making my work, which meant that some of my layers were comprised. It can be seen that there are some textural irregularities in the piece. This is where; from in a state of panic, I wiped that surface to remove droplets (forgetting that my paint was still wet) and took up layers of my work alongside with the water. Fortunately, my work has large links to Shakespeares "The Tempest" which directly means "The Storm". Some might say luck, I say poetic justice.

A positive discovery though, was a new technique that I came across during my creation of the backgrounds. Through holding my black can upside down, an extremely fine and mist-like spray was created from a full can. This was quite interesting to find as it resembles a can that had very little paint in or is empty. I now know how to use a full can to create this effect, which is extremely useful to note and to use for future works.

In conclusion, despite my inability to complete these backgrounds, I am impressed with the turn out. They have a level of depth that can only be increased with the use of glue, thread and glass at a later date when these materials are widely available to me.

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Materials used for Background :

- Montana Gold Primer : Universal
- Montana Gold Opaque : Shock Black, Shock White, Asphalt
- Montana Gold Transparent : Mystic Black, Magic White
- POSCA Pen : Black 5M
- Faber Castell Polychromos : Black, White
- Daler Rowney Acrylic : White
- KOBRA RED Stock Cap

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PORTRAIT CHOICE AND CREATION

First Oil Paint Experiment

The reasoning behind my wishes to create a portrait is rather unknown in essence. In my previous works I have focused on animals but have always found myself drawn to wishing to be able to present a portrait in the same way. I believe that my study of and new found obsession over Alexandre Cabanel's work led to my final decision making in wanting to use the medium of oil to create a portrait that would show my refinement over my initial test with the medium that I had avoided for so long.

Tyler Joseph - Sziget Festival, Car Radio 2019

My largest struggle of all was settling on a face to focus on. I attempted painting myself on various occasions in a variety of mediums, but something always seems wrong, so I decided that this would be the worst face to possibly focus on. I then spent some time looking at different family members faces, but did not wish to look at their faces either (harsh I know).

So, I went back to a face that I am extremely familiar with and have been creating art of for over a year; Tyler Josephs. For one, his influence has been great enough over me with both the lyrics and sounds of his music to get me involved into a large community of supportive artists and network of peers that I would never have met if I didn't listen to his music. These people have become my closest network of friends, and with having very little remaining friends from secondary school, I found myself needing this a lot. And secondly, I wished to use this final outcome as a way to prove to myself that my technique has improved greatly over the course of quarantine and that I can refine my ability in perfecting Tyler Josephs features through practice.

Condensed in progress shots

I quickly developed a technique of painting from dark to light with oil paints, I found that by using them in such a way, I was able to maintain the depth and tonal quality that a face would need. This was discovered through my painting of Morrissey's eye, and I decided to go forwards with this process and technique as it was rather successful.

I also decided that for my final major I was going have a tonal painting. This decision has allowed me to understand depth and use of light better and as to how the skin and eyes should be of different tones. I found that I previously "white washed" my portraits (as seen in my oil pastel experiment) which led my work to appearing ghost like. Another reason why I picked to use tone as opposed to colour was led from my studies of Klimt, his work comes across as far too overpowering with the vivid use of colour and his appliqué technique. I did not wish to overwhelm my work as it would have distracted from the delicacy in which I desired to paint my final piece.

One point that I wish to emphasise greatly is my choice of paint brushes. I used TWO to create my final oil painting.

Whilst this may seem stupid in essence, my reasoning for only using these small brushes was to ensure that I spent extra time making sure that I changed the tones that I used on the canvas. If I had used larger headed brushes, I usually find myself just washing layers of colours on my work; which was my problem with my initial test. This forced me to take time on my work, which is what was needed. I spent a total of 40 hours painting to get to the result I have been left with. In complete honesty, it will take another 10-20 hours to complete as the hair, beard and eyebrows are yet to be completely finished.

This is something that I could not control, as drying times were effected largely by the humidity due to the thunderstorms over the main timeframe of when I was painting. This hindered the process of the oils dryings to a touch-dry state, which meant that I was unable to layer the hair without pulling up older layers of paint.

This also resulted in the background not being completed. I was unable to mask of my portrait before putting a wash of colour in the background as I had originally intended. So until my portrait is dry to a suitable state, it shall remain unfinished.

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Materials used for Portrait :

- Daler Rowney Georgian Oil : Titanium White
- Daler Rowney : Linseed Oil
- [Unbranded] Oil : Black
- White Spirit (for brush cleaning)
- Daler Rowney Graduate Brushes : Spotter, Flat Shader

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PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

- Glass Breakage : My glass to cover my final oil painting piece broke, meaning that I was unable to use my original final outcome ideas until I was able to get some new glass.

- Drying Times : Humidity from the thunderstorms meant that my work didn't dry quickly. I was unable to cover my oil painting to spray paint the background, so the piece remains unfinished until it has dried.

- Anxiety and Depression : Led and spanned from being stuck indoors with my family and their opinions on my work. I was constantly told that my work was "ugly", "disgusting", "weird", "horrible to look at" and that I should stop doing art because there is no point in doing something if nobody likes it and if it will never make me any money. Thanks guys. Being berated on a daily basis was enough to stop me working, who would've thought?! (I was also not allowed to make any mess or use chemicals after a certain time, so this made expressive work hard)

- Lack of Motivation : Mainly derived from the point above.

- Sleep Deprivation : I was working as an essential worker during the height of the pandemic, my sleep schedule was already bad at 2-4 hours of sleep a day before the pandemic, but working myself to the point of exhaustion led me to having a lack of care or motivation to working. I ended up quitting my job a couple of weeks ago to catch up on my work as it was suffering greatly and so was I.

- An excess of sleep : Oh how the tables turned! I started to sleep too much. Most of the days disappeared from my body trying to catch up on (what seemed like) a year of sleep.

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PRESENTATION

I went out adventuring after my time working at Asda, after my 8 hour shifts I'd look all over for the derelict Nuneaton trying to find sources of inspiration for my work. Whilst I found nothing to aspire me, I did find many dilapidated buildings and areas that I thought would be brilliant for creating or displaying my final piece in.

I also created the KEC Foundation Art Blog for displaying the work of the current Foundation Art students on. This was quite fun! Online presentations are hard when the formats are fairly well set though, I need to brush up on my CSS and HTML coding to use that blog to its fullest extent.

CONCLUSION

To conclude, I feel that my work was satisfactory for the struggles that I faced with being motivated and also I am very impressed with my oil paint work. It was enough to make me change my university course from Illustration to Fine Art, as in the future I wish to specialise in oil and spray paint as a combined medium.

Whilst my work may not portray the original religious connotations that I wished for it to possess, it hold relevance to the storm that was happening both in my head, outside currently and in Shakespeares Tempest. The corona-virus pandemic has hindered and haunted me most days, but I'm glad that I carried on to create something that will soon be completed.

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It has been hard sitting and writing this. Finishing abruptly in March was something that nobody could've expected, and having to finish my time at KEC's in such a way has been hard. I haven't wanted to write the evaluation as it finally ends what was the best year of my artistic journey so far. Thanks to David, Vanessa, Amelia and Mandy.