ARTIST STATEMENT

Oil paint allows for me to create the skin tones I like as they blend so beautifully. Also, when used with a medium like Liquin, I am given extra time to blend and achieve a more rich and deep skin tone. I have always appreciated oil paintings, from an early age, when I visited museums it would be the large classical oil paintings which struck to me the most.

Portraiture continues to be my main subject focus in my practise which does not surprise me. I adore people and faces, so it makes sense to me to paint them. I find people so interesting, and so I like to be able to honour them by painting them. Expressions also come into play for why I enjoy portraiture so much. I find the way we think and feel to be an interesting notion. How we can express ourselves using only the muscles in our face and this be recognised intrigues me greatly. So, I tend to try and paint portraits of people with a unique or intriguing expression. Allowing viewers to look closer at the subject and decipher their emotions. Through this, they may also be able to relate the subject themselves.

I enjoy making art that many people would be able to relate to. For too long art was to be admired only by a select few people. Those with wealth and status, now is the time we fully disassociate from this I believe. Art is to be enjoyed by everybody, leaving no one discriminated against and so as an artist, I believe it is important to create work which many will be able to simply enjoy. People can very often feel intimidated within the art world as works can sometimes appear complicated and difficult to understand but they hold such great meaning. My works are in a way, fairly simple. I just often paint children pursuing in childlike activities. This is a theme I hope many would be able to relate to as we have all seen children in their day to day life. Their inquisitive and mischievous, and so by seeing this I hope the viewer would be able to find comfort within the space in which the paintings are. We were all children once, so I hope by creating a conversation between us and them, I can allow the viewer to feel more comfortable and related to.

Currently, I am working on a more personal project titled ‘Just before I was born’. Which is allowing me to explore and visit my world before I became a part of it. This also allows me to find more relatability between me and my mum as I can begin to become more similar to her as I become more independent.

My paintings, similar to first year, still often lack a background. This is due to a number of reasons. Firstly, I try to distance myself in a way to some of the classical portraiture in their use of backgrounds. Backgrounds were used as means of showing off wealth or status whereas I only want the viewer to be focused on the subject. Wealth is already celebrated so much in our society; I think it is important to take steps away from this. Emotions and happiness, I think deserve to be displayed more in art. Allowing the viewer to also feel these emotions when they look at my paintings hopefully. Also, by having no background, I allow interpretation from the viewer. They can think about where the subject may be or why, or they may choose to disregard the blank space completely, just allowing for a single figure in a blank space. I do think that sometimes backgrounds can remove significance to the portrait, and so by not having one, I am allowing the subject to be appreciated as a stand alone being.

I find children fascinating, which is why I choose to paint them so often. This is due to several reasons. I like how unfiltered they are, unbothered by others assumptions of them, they live more freely, perhaps in a way which we should take example from more. This transpires more in photos of them too. Children of a certain age do not know the weight of significance that a photo may hold. We as adults know that this image may be held on to for years, maybe even decades to come so pose in response to this. Children are oblivious to this, smiling or pouting just as they were in that moment, there is something really special about that that I try to capture in my paintings.

Self-portraiture is something I continue to practise when I have the opportunity to. I think it is important I continue to study my own face as it is good practise for when I draw others. It’s easier to work from life like this as well, as I can take all the time I need to study proportions without worrying about someone else’s comfort or movement.

Family has always been important to me, so I do often still choose to paint them regularly. However, since moving to university, I have met friends who I feel very close to, and feel comfortable with them enough to paint them. In the future, I plan on painting both friends and family in a more equal proportion, as both are very important to me, and so deserve to be celebrated through art. Human bonds and connections are so significant, I feel so strongly about having them be appreciated more in modern society, hopefully, one day my portraits can help contribute towards this.