esheehyportfolio

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Final Piece 2021

This piece is an experimental self portrait that is the final piece of my personal investigation into ‘How do artists portray emotions in portraiture?’. Towards the end of my sketchbook I focused on portraying the intense and difficult emotions that I feel as a result of me being raped and the PTSD that I deal with continuously also as a result of this. This is a very difficult situation to portray but I have always felt that painting has been my way of expressing these emotions when words can’t. I want to use multi-media for this piece as this allows me to express and experiment in new ways. So far I have photographed myself presenting these emotions, then edited them to best look like what I was envisioning for this piece, such as the colour schemes and ranges, and if the photo was going to be distorted in any way.  I am also planning to do a collage surrounding the faces with my poetry and with relevant articles about sexual assault. This is to overall create an outcome of awareness and a way for me to portray my emotions in ways that speaking can’t.

‘Picked at/unwanted touch’

For this portrait I wanted to portray the difficult emotions of feeling you’re being ‘picked at’ and ‘unwanted touch’, overall the feeling of not being able to feel comfortable in your body/skin. I started off with an oil pastel outline on a metal sheet, where I then painted in a warm tonal range of oil paint. When I was painting I was layering up the oil paint very thickly due to my idea to later smudge the paint in mind. I also included some colours like purple and black to add a contrast without overthrowing the warmth. After that I then used a palette knife to smudge the paint in various directions across the metal sheet which was beneficial to the smudging and ‘pulling’ process.

Disassociation 1 (unfinished)

For this piece I am trying to portray the feelings of disassociation and the overall feeling of ‘not being there’. This piece starts with an oil painting outline on top of a metal sheet. When the oil paint is dry I will then punch the metal individually to create a ‘static’ effect across the whole sheet of metal, and then I will apply shards of mirror on top of parts of my face in order to reflect the viewers reflection/surrounding and furthermore creating a look of ‘not being there’. Then I will apply the finished painting onto the board where I have painted a slot for it to go.

‘Exposed’ (unfinished)

For this piece I want to incorporate negative space so that I can solely focus on the features and the emotions of feeling ‘exposed’ and the feelings of ‘anguish’ that come with it, which can feel like feeling unsafe in the world. I started off with a graphite HB sketch then painted in acrylic paint using a warm tonal range, which purple was used as the colour in replace of black or a dark colour. This was in order to keep the warmth of the expression as I wanted it to look like an effect of high exposure. I then plan to finish the acrylic painting continuing on with this plan in mind.

‘Shame’ and ‘Depression’ (unfinished)

This piece is a portrayal of the intense feelings of ‘shame’ and ‘depression’ that I feel and how consuming these feelings can feel. I used a deep blue cool toned colour palette as I felt that this was an appropriate colour choice for what I was trying to present. First I started with an oil pastel outline on top of a metal sheet, then I painted the facial features and overall structure that you see on the face. I focused on brushwork as I wanted the brushwork to be bold and apparent in order to apply layers and depth to the painting. I then layered cerulean blue and cobalt blue on top of the black where the hair is and smudged it with a palette knife. This was because I wanted to represent feelings of ‘chaos’ surrounding my face, by doing this it added some similarities between the portraits also. I have also got more to finish with this piece such as the position of my arms and then painting them in the same style.

Disassociation 2

This piece is a portrayal of the multiple other feeling of disassociation as it is so broad and multiple types, this one specifically is about how I can feel like I struggle with depersonalisation where it can feel like I’m a ‘ghost’. In order to portray this I sketched out the outline very lightly in HB pencil then used charcoal and graphite to lightly define my features, focusing the depth onto the facial features and my outline, leaving the rest of the portrait ‘disappearing’ and ‘fading away’ from the depth of the charcoal and graphite. I also smudged the graphite and charcoal with a smudging stick in order to create a ‘ghost-like’ effect onto the face.

‘Anxiety’ (not started yet)

For this piece I am going to portray the varying feelings and levels of anxiety that I feel. I have started by sketching the outline of my face and the position of my hands/arms. I then plan to paint the portrait in watercolour, acrylic and oil pastel. I am going to layer these mediums in order to produce an unconventional look in the way that anxiety can be. I am planning to paint in a warm-neutral palette with shades of pinks, reds and purples and blues.

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Experimental portrait of a friend

For this specific piece I wanted to experiment with incorporating negative space into my work and a more abstract approach with my painting. I used acrylic paint and focused on layering and not blending when I was painting. I then proceeded to use oil pastels around the face/outline of shoulders and on the other parts of the face in order to bring in contrast to the piece.

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Portrait of Juice WRLD

For this piece I combined multiple of WRLD’s album concepts to create a painting that has multiple layers and holds a great focus on detail. Firstly I sketched out a basic outline of everything in a HB pencil. After that I did an underpainting where I used a burnt umber acrylic wash over the face, hand, the road and then the car on the far left. I used the appropriate colours and tones for the rest of the underpainting such as building up the city silhouette in black acrylic. Then I proceeded to paint the face and hands in oil paint, I started with lamp black and burnt umber, just defining the dark values of the face and hand. Then I gradually built up light colour values and the correct tone by using a linseed oil heavy painting technique. Once the face and hands were done I painted the cars in acrylic paint and also used marker and oil pastels for more detail and boldness. The background is painted in watercolour as I wanted the sky to seem ‘fluid’ as if it was running down the page. Layer by layer the painting started coming together and overall I like the outcome of the painting.

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Media experimentation for my final piece

This piece is an observational experimentation of photos I took as part of my planning for my final piece. In these paintings I experimented with mono-tone colour ranges with watercolour. Overall I think it gave me a good idea on where I wanted this piece to go moving forward even if I didn't use the same photos.

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Observational oil painting from a primary image

For this piece I photographed the sitter in a position that projects the feelings of shame and sorrow. I then edited the photo to have a monotone colour scheme of shades of blue as I feel that blue was a good conductor for portraying these emotions. I used a light vermillion acrylic underpainting as the oil painting would be cool toned, I wanted the underpainting to be warm in order to create depth and prevent ‘flatness’. I also incorporated negative space, which with the warm toned underpainting, creates an appropriate contrast.

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Portrait done from a real life perspective

For this piece I was experimenting with observational painting where the sitter is directly in front of me. I at first sketched out a rough sketch of his face, then I painted the basic definition of his face with watercolour paint, slowly building up contrast and definition. Overall I think it went well.

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Watercolour portrait of a friend

I took primary images for this piece and then edited the colour arrangement in order to have a good reference for what I was envisioning. In this image I am trying to portray ‘happiness’ and ‘joy’. Using complementary colours, I didn’t add too much definition, just wanting to focus on portraying these emotions and the direct colour placement.

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Portrait of Christian Bale (American Psycho)

For this piece I was focusing on portraying emotions, this was as I was developing my understanding of emotions in portraiture. I used pastel pencils for the whole drawing, then in order to create the look of blood on his face, I watered down crimson red acrylic paint and then flicked the paint with a paintbrush on top of the piece.

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Monotone experimentation portrait of a friend

I took multiple primary photos for this piece and then edited them in order to create an atmosphere of ‘despair’ and ‘fear’. This was a cropped up-close observational study I completed in oil paint. This was part of my ongoing study into ‘How do artists portray emotions through portraiture?’.

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Portrait of Steve-O

For this piece I started with a basic toned underpainting using watercolour. I then proceeded to use pastel pencils to gradually layer and build up skin tone. I then finished with a black felt pen for detail. Overall I think this turned out well.

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Self-Portrait about moods (unfinished)

This piece is about my moods and there instability and fragility. I started with a rough sketch and then started the underpainting once I had a plan for what I wanted. The underpainting medium was acrylic and I used a vermillion shade for the skin tone, a violet for the sky and then cobalt blue for the ocean. After the underpainting was done I started painting the face and body in oil paint in a pink-red palette. I used acrylic, pens and oil pastels for the rest of the painting. I am going to rework the ocean as I do not think that the gold fits in with the ‘atmosphere’ of the painting. The way I painted the ocean does not look ‘realistic’ in the way I wanted it too, I think I painted it too ‘messy’ and not detailed enough in the right way. Likewise with the flowers and flame I think I need to rework that also. 

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Artist Research observational drawing

This is a observational study of Kathe Kollwitz’s ‘Death grabbing at a group of children’ (1931). In the original, Kollwitz uses lithography to create this dark and atmospheric scene. I used charcoal in my study due to its depth and harshness which I feel is highly relevant to this piece.

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Mural on old door (2015)

This is a mural I painted in acrylic back in 2015. At this time I was very interested in mural work and large-scale work. 

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Observational ‘emotions’ study

For this piece I wanted to focus on an intense and difficult emotion such as anguish. I found this specific reference photo as I believe it truly illustrates this emotion and I wanted to attempt to recreate this. I used graphite pencils and I only focused on detailing the aspects of the face where there is a high degree of emotion, leaving the other aspects of the photo not as detailed. With the rest of the painting I incorporated negative space.

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Observational oil paint study

For this piece I was doing a study where I was trying to have a more realistic approach to painting faces with oil paint. I applied more linseed oil when colour mixing in order for the pigment to blend more smoothly and to also reduce texture. I think if I had done an underpainting the portrait would look less flat, I would also mix the black with a blue or purple in order to give it depth and prevent harshness that can hinder the type of realistic approach I was trying to portray.

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Observational gouche painting from a primary image

For this piece I was using a red, orange and yellow colour palette. With the gouache painting I was using a heavy and harsh technique when applying the paint. The brushwork is very apparent and distinct, this helps to bring together the overall structure of the painting.

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Observational oil painting (unfinished)

For this piece I started with an acrylic underpainting of the basic tones of the painting and face. I then started the oil painting process by first setting out the basic tonal range of the painting and by beginning to add basic definition. I think I am already at fault with this project due to leaving very long periods of time in between each layer of paint. I will carry on with painting and see how the outcome is.