Barn door Painting in Plaster and Acrylic paint

Barn Door Painting 

During one weekend, i went to a friends house. His family owned a farm and hundreds of acres of land. I love the countryside, growing up in boarding school in North Yorkshire i grew to love the countryside. 

When i went to his house, i spent hours admiring the outdoors which lead to this piece. 

Yes i love the countryside but what i found fascinating on my long walks was discovering old buildings, the texture of them, the damages they had endured through weather, the interior...etc

I started documenting what i saw and photographed all that interests me. 

The moss growing on the buildings, the wear and tear the building and its materials have suffered through, the building body texture, the colour, the smell, the silent. 

I wanted to paint a still life of a barn door i came across. 

covering ¾ of the space, darkness inside gave contrast to the mould and mud on the once white painted door outside. the bricks growing with fungus on its surrounds. it was beautiful. 

I experimented with plaster, i wanted a 3 dimensional appeal that would really pop out th canvas. More than just a painting. 

I wanted the texture on the barn door so i experimented with the use of different kinds of cardboard. 

Finally after all the experimenting i knew how to proceed so i did and the outcome was amazing. 

This was the canvas i painted on but what i did was stuck ripped pieces of cardboard only on the areas i saw fit. it would create that extra depth and texture to make the overall more 3D. 

I used plaster and put it on top moulding it into brick like shapes. 

Acrylic after that. 

The annotations below are my analysis to the finished piece of painting after. to see what went well and what did not. 

In the end, i think the qualities of the cardboard and the plaster really gave this piece that compelling aesthetics that created a vas contrast between the elements of the painting. the darkness roughly in the middle brightens everything up. 

When you see this piece up close the texture looks so real that it drags you in to touch it. 

Life drawings in Giggleswick

During high school i would to partake in life drawing once every week. Every Thursday in fact. 

It was such an amazing experience and skill to learn. 

This piece above me i remember quite clearly. My Art teachers asked us all to attach a paintbrush on the end of a one metre long wooden stick. We would have to paint by holding it on the other end of the brush, he wanted us to experience different methods of applying paint onto our subjects. 

We began timing ourselves. Above took 30 mins and below took 10 mins. 

We did lots of quick times drawings. great practice. 

This piece above remained one of my favourite pieces

Looking back at it now there are many areas that i could have altered to make the overall more aesthetically pleasing however it is one of my favourites due to the time i took to draw this, the process of adding charcoal and receptively erasing, the act itself was memorable. the lighting. 

Ive always been inspired by the Fauves or translated from the french language "The Wild Beasts". 

The colour application has always astounded me

Here you see me experimenting with different uses of colour 

Through all the sketches and life drawings i had made i was leading up to a final piece. 

I decided on a pose which captured striking uses of shadows and lighting so now i just experimented with colours, scale, tones, shadows...etc

Planing and analysing my own work leading up to the final piece. 

Below is a piece i painted in planning of the final painting. 

Really had to focus on the visual elements of lighting and shadows and paint it in a realistic yet surreal way using colour. 

Below is my completed final piece 

The Faves are the foundation of my practice. Their style will forever be infused with my practice.