After experimenting with ideas, concepts and different compositions and mediums I was ready to start taking steps towards my assessment piece. I wanted to create an interaction between my portrait and the viewer, creating a dialogue between the viewer and the model depicted. To create a shared sense of intimacy and understanding. I want to project a female gaze onto a male figure. To create a sense of empathy and humanity rather than depicting the traditional idea of a painting of a man being used to showcase his wealth and power. I want to show a person with feelings, thoughts and emotions that can empathise and relate to the viewer.
These were my top 3 drawings when looking at composition, so they’re my go to’s to revisit when considering what composition to settle on for an assessment piece. The sitting position in Drawing [1] did resemble somewhat the ‘Morning sun’ piece by Hopper that inspired me so much in this Project, but it just didn’t feel as right as the lounging positions. In those positions he’s truly relaxed and comfortable within himself and his surroundings. I liked the idea of combining eye contact, to create a direct connection with the viewer, with a lounging position to create a sense of comfort and intimacy. So a combination of Drawings [2] and [3].
For my choice of media, I wanted to sketch out the scene in detail first and use watercolour for the portrait of the model to achieve a realistic look that this attempt gave me. And I thought incorporating the gouache into the background would work well at separating the two to drive a focus onto the portrait but not so different that it doesn’t fit into the drawing as a whole. The watercolour will allow some of the original pencil work to shine through as well which is ideal for what I want.
So I think having my model over again to work on a pose and getting started would be the next step.
Simona Hopewell : Drawing 1 