I decided to research into the notion of film stills. I really enjoy film and I find film stills really interesting. The idea that this one image has an entire narrative embedded in it and trying to capture this in a painting is really intriguing to me.
This image here is from a film called 'Palo Alto' based on a book written by James Franco, directed by Gia Coppola. I really liked this film, and the shots were so interesting an artistic that I could easily see how the stills could be interpreted as a painting. I was also really enticed by the colour scheme of each still; there is a primary colour in each still that I ave tried to convey in the painting.
As a background here, I used a old map I had. I really liked the size of this map and thought that the scale of the map was reminiscent of the original image. I started off with a base colour of yellow, then of green. The original image has a very strong green tone to it, but I want to apply the yellow so that it knocked out some of the blue that was in the map. I then started mapping out the image with white; white is a strong colour that really stood out from the green but wasn't bold enough that it couldn't be faded out/covered up.
I then chose to block in the image with the colour red. The actual photograph, the protagonist has strong red tones in her face and I really wanted to capture that. The flushed cheeks is a by product of the cold temperatures and is a clue behind the narrative of the film, more specifically the area where the film is taking place.
I then decided to use blues and yellows to block in the image as well. The face also has a strong blue undertone to it, which again reflects the climate there. The muted blues and reds in the actual image are covered by a layer of flesh tone. The importance of these initial layers will become important later.
The yellow acted as a way to tone down the strong white lines that I initially blocked in. I wanted a colour that would blend well into the red and blue tones, so I thought yellow would work well here.
Here is where I realised how the proportions of the face just weren't right. I covered the face with a layer of copper and bronze paint and decided to block in with red. yellow and orange. As soon as I did this, though, I decided the proportions still weren't right so I covered the area up with green.
I then decided to use copper to create the harsh lines of the contours of the face. You can still see the remnants of the layers of paint I had added previously and I really enjoy the dimension this gives to the painting. It also shows the evidence of process which I really like.
I then decided to use white to highlight the areas of the face I felt needed highlighting. I then used a base colour of copper to unify the image which is followed by burnt umber to darken the features and raw umber for the shadows. This is a good example of how I often let the paint take over the painting; because of the trouble I had with the proportions I became almost instinctive with the type of colour palette I was using. Because of this, blue was added to the areas that would become much darker in the final painting. I thought blue was a nice juxtaposition to the copper, green and browns.
This where I began to harness the fine details of the image. I started adding a lot more detail, onto the base of more copper paint. I used a mixture of reds, browns, flesh tones with a hint of blue. I used whites/flesh tones to blend out the colours and add the overcast of blurry white over the image. This overcast was something I really enjoyed.
By the end of the painting I became a little disheartened with how it went. The end result isn't something I'm greatly happy with, it lends itself more towards the photo realistic side and less towards the abstract expressionistic. I really wanted it to be more textured and more instinctive but I feel this adds as a nice predecessor to my future paintings. I tried to add an element of expressionism to the way I added flicks of paint over the painting. My favourite part of the painting, is the background. I really like how this comes together but is still quite textured.
Next time I think I'll approach the painting with a more instinctive approach and less of planned approach. Because I decided to plan the painting, and try to plot in the features beforehand I got too obsessed with the features and not enough on the actual paint. I would rather achieve a likeness and be happy with the application of paint than achieve a realistic depiction and be unhappy with my application.
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