sarahjenningsart

[sarahjenningsart]

First two paintings up for the degree show! We’ve been in the studios cleaning and painting the walls getting them ready and I’ve finally started to hang my work. It’s so exciting seeing them up in their finished form after working on them all year and them being so personal to me. I still have more paintings to hang ready for next week.

[sarahjenningsart]

Unit X: Critical Reflection

This year I wanted to focus on ideas of childhood and nostalgia, I have always been someone who paints the people I know and love. As this project has been about family relationships, it has meant surrounding myself with photographs of those I feel the most comfortable with, as throughout being at university I’ve always wanted to stay close to home and family, and this theme as helped me do that.

I haven’t done that much exploring this year with materials, I wanted to develop my style with oil paints. I keep my painting style quite loose to keep them away from being too close to the photographs. I like my paintings to look like paintings, seeing the brushstrokes and the textures. And with my paintings this term being so small these aspects were emphasised. I have always tended to stay on the size of A4 when painting, so I didn’t want to overwhelm myself by having larger paintings as this project was all about home comforts. I also feel that if the paintings were larger, they would become more realistic and loose the soft feel that the smaller paintings have. I did experiment with video production, taking childhood home videos, editing them together to make a montage of my life. I like the way the end video came out but, in the end, felt like it took away from the paintings but it’s still a nice thing to have and show my family.

I painted the sides of each painting black to make them seem more cohesive, I didn’t want to leave them white and thought if I stretched the painting over the edges they would look less like photographs. I think the black just makes them look more professional and neat.  

I’m really happy with all of the paintings from the ‘Family Album’ series, from them being so sentimental for me but also the technicality of them. The painting ‘Fishing’ is one of my favourites I’ve done. It just feels so light and bright with the sunlight beaming through, which is exactly what I wanted to show in these paintings, that they look like the happy memories from childhood. And the image itself is just the epitome of childhood, fishing for rubber ducks. With the cap covering my face I think it detaches me from the image, so the audience can relate to the painting more and see themselves or other loved ones in the painting. I’m also happy with how I’ve represented relationships in this series with all the pairs of people showing love and happiness. I found it challenging to paint the people I’m most familiar with as it made me even more of a perfectionist when it came to them. Especially in the painting ‘Grumpy Grandad Smiling’, which features both my grandma and grandad, who have both passed away during my time at university. My dad actually asked if I could paint this photograph as it is one of the only photographs of my grandad smiling, so this painting probably means the most to me out of all of the series. I’m happy with what my painting style has become through the past 3 years and the final body of work produced for the degree show. This series is definitely one I wish to continue post university, exploring more photographs and memories.

I’ve spent more time in the studio this year enjoying everything it is that I paint. I feel like I’ve really started to come into my own in my third year, much more than the first two years where things were constricted due to covid. I’ve finally began to feel confident in my work this year, with showcasing my work and during the group crit sessions. To help meet the Unit X outcomes I have set up an Instagram page, a Tumblr blog and a website. With myself feeling more comfortable to show my work this unit, I began thinking about how to make myself more professional. I have always seen my art as a part of me so rarely show others my work, so I have really pushed myself in creating an Instagram account, where I’ve started to post photos of my paintings. I have also made a blog on Tumblr to show the process of my paintings and bits of research from this project. From the Tumblr page I have also made a website, where it has links to the places people can contact me, a section for my artist statement and portfolio work, featuring work from this unit as well as archived works from previous projects. I had some issues with this and had to start over when the site crashed, but I think the final look of the page is very professional and clear.

For this unit we had to raise money for the degree show catalogue. I was a part of the fundraising team to raise a target of £1,000- which we managed to make- I helped with the clothes sale and baked cookies, brownies and cupcakes as well. I was concerned I wouldn’t be huge part of this, because I’m not as vocal as others, but I was an active member within my group as they all made me feel really comfortable. I’ve felt like this year was the first one I haven’t felt so isolated with university life so it’s sad that it’s not coming to an end. I’ve learnt so much about myself and the paintings I produce in this project and it’s something I really don’t want to lose.

[sarahjenningsart]

Finished collection of paintings from 'Family Album' series. I'm so happy with how the whole series look together, that it does look like a photo album so my childhood. I hope the series is relatable for the audience, that it stirs memories of their childhood and brings the same happiness to them as it does for me.

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Varnishing the final few unfinished paintings using the Winsor & Newton Artists' Gloss Varnish. I think the gloss really brings the paintings to life and makes the colours so much more vibrant. I've varnished 5 paintings today, as there were some already varnished that weren't as glossy as some of the others so I wanted to even them out. I've been finishing the paintings with two layers of varnish to make them extra glossy and smooth.

'Mummy', 'Grumpy Grandad Smiling'

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Screenshots of the editing process, the finished video ended up being 9 minutes and 24 seconds. Taken from snippets of 58 childhood videos.

I wanted to make a video, showing home videos from my own childhood. I've spent the whole of this project looking through old family photos and my dad kept coming back with memory cards full of family videos. It turned into a frequent event whenever I was home, of us sitting down and watching them together. I've felt like this project has been a collaborative one from me and my family and given me new memories and made this theme even closer to me and my family.

I've never edited a video before and I am happy with how it came out, I think it gives the project more personality as the viewer can hear and see whats happening. I edited it in iMovie and it worked well for a beginner.

I won't be including the video in the final degree show exhibition as I don't want it to become self involved and want to keep the whole idea of childhood within the project, without it becoming my childhood. Though they are pictures from my childhood I want the paintings to still be relatable.

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Possible design layouts for the upcoming degree show.

There are two options, one with a vintage, retro wallpaper inspired by the 'Open House' exhibition from the Whitworth Art Gallery. I think if I were to use the wallpaper the paintings would have to be framed with thick black frames, like the photographs are in the Whitworth exhibition, so that the paintings would not be lost in the busy backdrop. The wallpaper would be more appropriate if there was a larger collection of paintings being shown.

I think the blank background would be a better choice, just as it related more to the photo album theme I am trying to achieve. I also want to have the paintings in pairs around the exhibition, so the white walls would be better to look like the loose pages from a family album. It would also be difficult to have stripes of wallpaper around the rooms.

I want to now begin to choose the final paintings I will include in the Degree show and how they will be arranged.

[sarahjenningsart]

I edited the parts of this painting I didn't think looked right, mainly in the eyes and the face of my Grandad didn't seem smiley enough, so I tweaked his smile and warmed his face up. I also added detail into the background which I really think gave life to the painting. This is one of my favourite paintings from the series now, I think it captures my Grandparents well and it makes it sweeter as I know how much it will mean to them when they see it.

[sarahjenningsart]

Adjustments and finishing of the latest painting in the 'Family Album' series, 'Grandma and Grandad'. I started painting the faces today, I first put down the shadows and highlights first so I could fill in the more detailed areas with mid-tones. There are still some adjustments I need to do on my Grandads face and put more detail in the background, with the highlights on the trees to brighten the image up. I'm happy with how this painting is coming along and think it's a good addition to the series.

[sarahjenningsart]

Today's progress on the newest painting 'Grandma and Grandad'. I started by layering down the darkest tones in the background to help me track the shadows. I then started on the background to work my way forward. I painted the clothes by blocking with the mid tones, then building with shadows and highlights. Then I worked on the arms to establish the skin tones, ready to start on the faces.

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Finished painting of 'Mummy', just need to wait for it to dry so i can varnish it. The updated finished painting is the one on the left.

The painting on the right was how it first looked when I thought I was finished with it. However, the more I looked at it, the more I thought it didn't look right. It didn't have a lot of dimension and the painting style in parts was too rough and in other places appeared over blended. The whole painting also looked too brown, especially the skin tones.

So I decided to touch up some of the bits I didn't like. I added more tones and shadows to my mums hair and I think it looks so much better and adds more dimension to the painting. I also added more warmth into my own face to give the painting more life. I like it so much better with the alterations and think it looks more sophisticated.

[sarahjenningsart]

For 'Family Album' series for exhibition

Starting another painting, the MDF board is primed and I've mapped out the darker tones and shadows. This painting is one of my grandparents on a holiday from when I was younger. I love this photograph and when I came across it I couldn't not paint it, I wanted to honour and remember them in this project, and I know how much this will mean to them when they come to see it for the degree show exhibition.

Often when painting directly onto a white canvas, colours can appear slightly different than in the photograph. The Neutral background helps to make the colours look more natural.

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Two more additions to the 'Family Album' series. 'Trapped' and 'Grumpy Grandad Smiling'

These are two I've been tweaking for a while, the ground in 'Trapped' always looked too flat and the grass I tried to paint created a weird texture which I didn't like. So I decided to focus on the tones of the grass rather than the texture and I think it gives a better look. I also re-painted the ropes as they appeared too flat.

The second painting is one based off of a photograph from my Aunties wedding in 2009. I spent so much time on the foreground and background surroundings, and really liked how they looked. But it was the faces I couldn't get quite right, they didn't capture the emotions in the original photograph or just looked strange. This was an important piece for me to get perfect, as my grandparents in this photograph have both passed away and wanted a painting of them to remember them with. My "Grumpy Grandad" was famous for his constant disgruntled expression and I was apparently the only one who could make him smile. And this photograph captures this moment, making it one that means so much to me.

[sarahjenningsart]

Selection of paintings from 'Family Album' series.

I like how they looked hanged as a collection, as if pages from a family photo album. I'm still deciding whether to hang them as a whole in the degree show, displaying them in a line to appear like film, or, display them separately to give the look of loose pages of a photo album.

'Amber Donkey', 'Angry Face', 'Dancing', 'Fishing'

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Working on a painting for the 'Family Album' series

Focusing more on close personal relations. This is a photograph of me and my mum from 2006, I love this photo and just shows the love I have for my mum and the importance of family relationships throughout this project.

[sarahjenningsart]

'Family Album' series, 'Skye'

Oil paint on panel (21cmx14cm)

This painting is of my childhood dog, from an image taken by my brother when he was young. I think this painting catches the charm I wanted in this series, that it has a youthfulness to it with the Westie wandering off behind the sofas.

[sarahjenningsart]

Another finished painting from the 'Family Album' series, 'Fishing'

Oil paint on panel (21cmx14cm)

One of my favourite paintings from the series, I really like how this painting came out. With the brightness the sun rays give and the shadows from the leaves. I think this image is the epitome of childhood, fishing for rubber ducks.

[sarahjenningsart]

Next painting in the "Family Album' series, 'Amber Donkey'

Oil paint on panel (21cmx14cm)

Finished varnished piece. I wanted to use a high shine gloss varnish to emulate the finished look of a photograph.

This painting is of me and my brother as children, with our childhood rocking horse we called 'Amber Donkey'