For this project I linked up with Primary School teachers and developed suitable material to engage their pupils with my art. I led a series of afternoon workshops involving various drawing exercises, which covered observational drawing techniques for the face. The workshops allowed the children to practice working together by collaborating with one another to make sketches and developing compositional ideas for a class portrait in groups of four. The outcome of the project was a group portrait drawn using a continuous line.
Creating my work in a public space, this project allowed members of the public to see a painting evolve and gain an insight into the processes behind developing a portrait. The project was set inside the Victoria Quarter, where over the course of a week I worked from direct observation, painting the portrait of a life model.
I see the creation of a portrait as being a highly collaborative and intimate experience and through this project I built a strong relationship with my sitter that informed the emerging result.
To see the finished painting click here.
This project was inspired by my elder sister's pregnancy, which began in late 2007. Painted entirely from life at her home in London, this composition took over thirty hours to complete. The painting is almost life size, on a canvas sized 30 x 40".
Completed in February, Miranda arrived two weeks later and at nearly three months she travelled to Leeds with her Mum for my People and Places exhibition and is pictured here next to the painting. To see the finished painting click here.
