Feedback

I am glad to see that with Part 4 I have really progressed with my work and skills. I really enjoy working with the paint like qualities of oil pastel, something which I explored as I expanded my use of media in the Part. I think taking some of my tutors feedback of using thinners to really mold the paint like quality of the pastels is definitely something I can look into as I progress into my personal project while continuing to look at portraiture. I should also limit my palette, my tutor suggested not using so much white and look for more natural skin tones to work with than using harsher colours like white and black. My tutor also suggested applying painting skills to my drawings, introducing more watercolour and perhaps acrylic paints within my drawings to build up my skills ready for my next course, Practice of Painting.

I was planning to look at the female body in more detail and context for my personal project, however my tutor talked about the male body being depicted in art, there are very few paintings of nude men, perhaps because they aren’t as sexualised or objectified as the female body, so perhaps that is a topic I can build up to, hopefully with my model once lockdown restrictions are eased up. So for now that is a very limited option for me, which isn’t great as I really wanted to expand upon my portraits with my model for my Personal Project as well as looking at my own body.

I want to look at women and empowerment. How do I paint my body without being objectified, sexualised or for a male viewer to feel entitled to me. Is it even possible when everything about women is sexualised and judged. I want to romanticise the experience of the body, male and female, create a vulnerable but safe space within the portraits I create. My tutor praised some of my sketches of my model where he had a hint of a smile, showing a relaxed, comfortable but vulnerable position. So maybe that is a start to develop these vulnerable but comfortable portraits, that don’t feel harsh or sexualised? I have seen a lot of feminist Artists take an approach of ’empowering’ portraits that graphically depict the female body, but I am not sure that is a direction I want to go in. It is harsh and paints the body in a grotesque light (such as the work by Jenny Saville) rather than highlighting a more natural and warm approach, an approach I would prefer to depict for the female nude.

I have a lot of ideas, and can’t wait to build upon the skills I have developed in Part 4 for my Personal Project.