Glorious vibrant colours

In My Studio

Caput Mortem was the base colour used for the drawings of the paintings in this exhibition for Tacit Gallery, and in Latin means “dead head” or “worthless remains”, residue or remainder. To some extent the photographs I used were the remains of lives once lived, sold on ebay, sent to op shops, discarded, some too were remembered and treasured, borrowed.

Remainders/reminders of past lives. I didn’t want them to be forgotten or discarded, but remembered, not necessarily as individuals, but as people, small people who are so open about their emotions, the naughty laugh, the awkwardly cocked shoulder of an older brother who is trying to be responsible, the shyness of a younger one in bathers for the first time.

Reference material: collecting old photo’s

Remembered, treasured, borrowed.

In using photographs, the paintings are not meant to be an accurate representation of the image but an exploration of the inner emotions experienced by us all, but particularly overt in children who have not yet learnt to conceal their feelings.

Reminders of past lives.

In the studio I always begin with a line drawing, not much tone, just line, so much can be said with a simple line, so much emotion can be expressed with line. Then on the canvas, but in this case board, I used oil stick to draw my figures.

Outline with charcoal then oil paints from Langridge artists colours.

Often, I will outline with charcoal and then make sure some of that line is still evident in the finished painting. Then comes the colour, glorious vibrant Langridge colours, mostly flat areas of colour with very little tonal variations, that conversely defy the idea of “worthless remains”, but bring back to life, to the present, the reality/vibrancy of humanity.

In the studio I always begin with a line drawing.