My intentions for this painting were to play with textures, and to paint a face (just to prove whether I can or not). I created the ‘woods’ in the background by applying strips of fabric, tissue paper and newspaper, covering all this with white emulsion (I’m economising) and then scraping acrylic paint over the top with a credit card. I also created texture in the foreground with tissue paper.
The face was a challenge! The lighting in the original photo is very dark, which is why I’ve used purples and the eyes look so dark. At least, as a fellow student commented, the whole thing does look cold!
Acrylic on cardboard, just under 3ft by 4ft.
It sure does look cold and wintry. the trees at the back are really well done, so is the little figure and the eyes look actually good so dark, thye shouldn’t be accantuated, because I think the painting is about the atmosphere, the cold and the snow…
Hi Carole,
What I particularly love about this image is the feeling that it is demanding something of and from me personally. I think that it’s because of the way that the child is looking directly at the viewer of the picture. To me this feeling seems even more intense because I cannot actually see the child’s pupils. I also agree that it does look cold and wintry, which also adds to the feeling of a stark question being put to the viewer. It’s another fascinating image Carole and has been in my mind since I saw it last week. I feel that you’re really onto something here with these images of childhood.
Benita.
Good to see you, Benita. I hope all is well. Thank you so much for the detailed feedback! It’s really helpful to know how you respond as a viewer to the picture. It’s something that is very hard for me as the artist to know how someone else might see it.
I agree with Ronell – when you look at this you are immediately struck by the feeling of cold and chill and I think the dark figure has a lot to do with that.