Automatic Art - Subconscious Painting

Automatic Art - Subconscious Painting

During my last year in high school i wanted to end it with a bang. So i looked into my work more intensely. Analysing my past artwork and my uses of colour i reached deeper into my thinking and wanted to create a series of work based on the topic of psychology. 

Through research and reading it soon lead me to the topic of Automatic Art or in other words Subconscious painting. 

Subconscious painting was by far themes enjoyable yet difficult project I've worked on for quite some time. It was about painting without making decisions, how can you do anything without making a decision? The piece above i remembered, i was painting and then suddenly i snapped and grabbed a charcoal and forced it onto the painting. 

I tried to make subconscious markings with unplanned decisions. 

Its so much harder than you'd think. 

Imagine me thinking, "i want to paint towards that direction", after i thought that i had to force my head to move my hand in ways i don't plan to. I had to argue and fight against myself to accomplish this task of subconscious drawing.  

Random notions of PVA glue spilling and then sand 

Did i want to use these mediums...no, but they were here and i just did it. 

I started to work on larger scales 

These next pieces i decided to use two mediums, Charcoals and white acrylic paint. 

Looking at these are so interesting because it makes you think, what on earth is going through my mind when not processing information consciously.

Are these visual representations of the empty spaces in my mind?

There is no doubt that there are features of the conscious mind in these artworks but mixed in with the subconscious it becomes unusually appealing. 

I moved onto even larger scales, acrylic paintings. 

One feature that i find captivating are the shapes created by my subconscious. 

Why do they have pointed edges and corners, what does that say about me? 

Towards the end of my series there was an exam that i had to take. I think i had 16 hours to create a work of art. I wanted to create the masterpiece of all my subconscious doing. 

After the exam this was my completed piece. 

16 hours of automatic art, 16 hours of subconscious actions generated through me. This is as personal as it gets, this is me, this is like the inside of my brain. Its activities its moving pattern. 

Heres the final outcome. 

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.