From my development sheet, I decided to recreate a photograph of me and my sister as children.
I began by looking back at Matisse's work, and came to the conclusion that he used minimal yet vibrant colours in his studies, so I chose 4 colours and began to briefly spread them onto my canvas. I wanted to get the canvas covered so I could work into it and keep it looking fresh.
After applying the brown background, I wasn't getting the Matisse feel, so I began researching Francis Bacon. As I began to apply the paint it was going on rough and dry; the more paint I applied the darker and more mysterious it became, less of the Flat, fresh and vibrant characteristics of Matisse.
I looked at Francis Bacon and studied some of his techniques. I took different sections from my image and made small samples on how Francis Bacon would maybe paint them. I also created backgrounds by dry brushing acrylic paint onto my paper. I managed to grasp the dark and raw aspects of his work.
I had then decided to produce my figures in the style of Matisse and keep the background having a Bacon edge to it. I worked into the background, bringing some of the items forward. I gave them a surreal style by making the vibrant colours stand out against the neutral back. I morphed the objects like Bacon does with his figures so they don't appear quite how they should be. compared to the original image the high chair is not noticeable whereas I brought it forward.
I then started bringing the toy car to life, which worked against my abstract theme. I realized that it didn't quite fit in, and the car was becoming more realistic than abstract.
To roughen up my painting I realized I had to change the toy car, and I felt a streak of Paul Klee appear, so I researched his works. I produced a Scraffito sketch of the floor and of how my toy car would look with Paul Klee's inspiration. Paul Klee is associated with Cubism, and uses geometrical patterns in his studies. I split the car up into sections of blue, and added shading to make the triangles stand out. I really began to get into the abstract feel, and felt more confident with my work from then on.
In Paul Klee's also quite, childish geometric style I made a watercolour chart of all the colours I had used and were using in my painting. I kept the colours bright, although I added a few muted colours in to give my palette some variation. I am aware I was working in the style of Matisse, Bacon and Klee, so I kept the browns and reds in as they are the colours I think of when I think about Klee; quite autumnal.
After putting in the background in a fashion of which I was content with, I began to work on the figures.I wanted to keep my strokes flat and keep layering the paint to a minimum.To do so, I blocked in the clothing in a grey, to add the shadow in first. I then applied long, very thick strokes of white acrylic onto the canvas to create the dimensions of the cardigan. I used clean lines, and making my aim to keep everything looking as fresh as possible. I really enjoyed creating the shadow with just one colour, and I enjoyed how it remained flat, yet more dimensional if you looked closer into it. I left the ends of each stroke loose, like Matisse's lines were in his studies.
I also felt the background was not to my liking, so I lightened it, to keep away the mellow feelings I felt when looking at it. Bacon's work was very raw and depressing, very eye catching in the respect that everywhere you look blares emotion. I took Paul Klee's geometric style and used the effect on the flooring. It definitely gave a perspective to the scene and brought the figures out of the scene. In Matisse's works everything in the images tend to look like they are all on the same line, no back or foreground. I wanted the background to be in the style of my other two artists however, which is why I added this.
I began to work on the faces lastly. The faces were constructed using a series of quick lines, which were individually placed onto the canvas. As previously mentioned I wanted to keep the image looking as fresh as possible. I kept the lines on the trousers very simple, and also on the shoes.
As my painting was beginning to come to finish, I really felt I had captured all three artists the best I could. Looking at the image as a whole I felt the smaller figure was portrayed as smaller and further away than the figure to the left. They have a darker and a lot more vulnerable essence to them. I feel I painted this way because I am the smaller figure, and my sister is an incredibly important factor of my life. She was the voice for me as a child and the way that I added more highlight to her complexion than mine infers that she is more important to me.
