essay 2

My mental move.

While in higher education I had the opportunity to look deeper into contextual taking a particular interest in groups such as the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood concentrating on Dante Gabriel Rossetti and on the other end of the spectrum the Feminist movement and the artist, mainly looking at the illustrators and painters, who reside in it namely Tara Booth.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti influence may not have been as literal as other artist I had looked at previously but the content in his work had the biggest impact when considering my own. One big thing was his observational drawings on the female body, the way he portrayed the women in his paintings and sketches, the way his paintings always gave off a air of Romanticism, something I always set out to try capture in my own illustrations and paintings. Romanticism has always captured my attention and always carried my work further. The illustrated women and flowery botanical gardens of the Pre-Raphlite era, which showed the delicate and beautiful side to both humans and nature, something which I adore in all of the brotherhoods movements work, especially Dante’s.

He portrays women in his work as delicate, plain, and pretty. Something I always try and give off in my own work. Though I feel, unlike some of Dante’s earlier work, I try to give women a more independent and a more modern feel, showing off the charm and the shape of the body in all forms, rather then the thin petite shapes of Dante’s life time.

Not only do I look at Rossetti’s work for actual model and postioning influence, for example I have taken inspiration from his piece titled ‘Lady Lilith’ but also for the contrast in his work. The bright colours with darker muted backgrounds have always been something I have looked to achieve the ability to give a painting a 3D effect.

While I will not be using Rossetti’s work as distinctively in the future I feel that every life model   and every painting I do will always be inspired by him as his work fills me with joy. In a way seeing his art work in places like the Tate Britain has given me ideas for future work if only for the sheer size and for what others get from them.

Tara’s illustration and painting work, unlike Dante’s, does not contain delicate figures or dainty women portrayed in quiet English countryside’s. On the contrary she portrays women in a realistic, some would call unflattering but this is subjective. Doing this while injecting everyday situational humour that could be considered relatable for all. This is something I hope to carry on into later projects as I love images that can get across their point in what could be seen as a light hearted manner. Further on I would like to possibly including a mixture of dark humour and un-discussed topics often seen as taboo by some outside the feminist movements. With Tara’s work as a reference I want to look deeper into colour and the colours she uses (namely bright powerful eye catching ones) But more importantly look at the one key element that sets her apart from Dante, and most illustrators, the figures which draws. The way they are so ‘messily drawn’ but at the same time so constructed and planned. The way her characters seem to look distorted and out of proportion but closer observation reveal the obvious human observation Tara has considered. I want to be able to draw a body or person freely with little thought and is able to make blatant body shapes and curves while using a minimal amount of hand movement. Thinking about what I am drawing can result in images being to force or to put it simply to not be the result I was looking for.

Another thing I hope to achieve by continuing to look into her work is to be able to get full reference of layout, this is something Tara’s work excels in specially in one of her recent pieces called ‘Peeing in a romper’ in which she shows her self in three different acts in such swift movements we get a idea of what the character is doing. In the future I want to be able to put that much fast paced action in.