The Nude as self portrait.

"Every artist is a narcissist returning to work continually on his own self portrait, even when he is painting the nude.  The gestalt of the creator is woven into the formal elements of painting, every graphic work, every sculpture"

France Borel observes "The artwork feeds on the artists longing, on his passion for the other for the model, the nude before him and on his narcissistic passion for himself.  The creative act is profoundly erotic in nature."

"They are a kind of fetish operating simultaneously for as sexual substitutes and as a vehicle for erotic projection"

Taken from "erotic art" by angelika muthesius and giles neret

A journey...or something. pt4

The piece has lost that sketchy quality and is starting to look more finished. I want to keep the expressive dashes of colour but i feel as i've added more shadow its becoming too dark and also a little flat.  When i continue to work in it, it should be lighter. With a bolder contrast.  I'm starting to miss the fleshy quality that it had earlier with a dodgy face (see previous pics).

A journey...or something. pt3

With a fresh pair of eyes (not the next day, because it took getting some courage up) i returned to the FACE. I got some feedback off a few people and all they were really seeing was the nude. So i redrew the model larger, redrew the reflection and redrew the painter larger. Then scribbled the painter out cuz it was pants. Also painted over the original artwork of someone else resting against the mirror with my work. The piece becomes increasigly narcissistic

A journey...or something. pt2

Painting in oils takes time. There's no way around it. I like working wet on wet paint. But there comes a point where your just moving the same thing around. Pics above of the process of the painting.  It got to the point where the face was just a nightmare.  I kept moving the paint, and moving. Felt determined that i couldnt leave the studio until it was right....made it worse. went nuts. draw a smiley & went home.  Lesson one learn when to call it a day.

A journey...or something.

I was feeling quite ambitious and brave, so I decided to paint a large canvas. The Canvas is 3x4ft. Which is pretty big as far as i'm concerned.  I had been sitting on the image i wanted to use for some time.  It was just about finding the right thing to do with it.  Usually my work focuses on a single figure, so I wanted to develop more aspects in a piece with more of a narrative.

I had also been wanting to do the traditional things that painters do. Nudes and self portraits. So this one kills two birds with one stone.  I was a bit apprehensive to start because its quite a private and sordid little moment.  But private and sordid little moments is what I paint so....

Halloween

So this is what piss poor painters do on halloween....more painting. My good friend camila let me do her up like a dia de los muertos inspired sugar skull. Completed with roses and some dead flowers (dont ask) for that goth touch.  It would be cool to paint a portrait with a bit more detail. Its trickier painting on faces than canvas. It's something i wish i was better at.

A Hero

A quick blog post about a hero and constant source of inspiration over artschool and now.

Marlene Dumas
Born in Capetown, South Africa, 1953
Lives and works in Amsterdam


I paint because I am a woman.
(It's a logical necessity.)
If painting is female and insanity is a female malady, then all women painters are mad and all male painters are women.
I paint because I am an artificial blonde woman.
(Brunettes have no excuse.)
If all good painting is about color then bad
painting is about having the wrong color.
But bad things can be good excuses. As Sharon Stone said, "Being blonde is a great excuse. When you're having a bad day you can say, I can't help it, I'm just feeling very blonde today."
I paint because I am a country girl.
(Clever, talented big-city girls don't paint.)
I grew up on a wine farm in Southern Africa.
When I was a child I drew bikini girls for male guests
on the back of their cigarette packs.
Now I am a mother and I live in another place that reminds me a lot of a farm—Amsterdam. (It's a good place for painters.) Come to think about it, I'm still busy with those types
of images and imagination.
I paint because I am a religious woman.
(I believe in eternity.)
Painting doesn't freeze time. It circulates and recycles time like a wheel that turns. Those who were first might well be last. Painting is a very slow art. It doesn't travel with the speed of light. That's why dead painters shine so bright.
It's okay to be the second sex.
It's okay to be second best.
Painting is not a progressive activity.

--Marlene Dumas