A figure in an interior

Is the figure or the internal space the starting point? Does the figure determine the activity of the space or does the space require compliance from the figure? What are the dominant features of the image? When previously I have produced architectural perspectives for conceptual ideas, I have placed figues to enhance the architectural design by indicating scale and to help to tell the story of the place. In this exercise I have total freedom to determine the story...HELP!

After trying out some test sketches of different options, I decided to challenge myself with a scene including reflected images. I have wanted to capture my wife engulfed in her creative activity of stitching so have used that as the theme for this exercise. The room becomes a stage set for the activity the figure is engaged in.

Whilst observing the stitching process I recognised the additional potential movement of the figure creates. I explored capturing this through over-laying three different poses and was quite pleased with the outcome. A key feature of the scene was the sowing machine, a man-made object which would add contrast between the figure and room - should this be more dominant than the figure?

Achieving a satisfying composition whilst caputring the reflected image ment I needed to work in landscape for this exercise. Once satisfyed with the concept, I sketched out the composition and took some reference photos as the complexity of the scene and its location (my wife's work room) would prevent me from painting in situ. The reference photos distored the scene bending the verticals due to the nature of the camera lense. As I did not want to replicate the photo image, I corrected the distortions based on my sketches.


Wanting to work at a scale larger than A3, I chose to work on a mount board support (700mm X 500mm) which I primed with yellow orchre mixed with white household emulsion paint. I started by drawing in the key features with a light wash then began to block in the main hues. I found working on a larger support created new challenges, forcing me to stand back more often to see the impact of my marks on the whole and work with longer brush stroaks. Paint drying issues and mix quantities added to the learning process which resulted in my use of wetter mixes to begin with that were more transparent allowing underlying marks to show through.

As I had started by drawing out the composition with brush marks, I found I needed to adjust the porportions of both figures and correct perspective lines that did not flow through properly into the refelcted image. I slowly began to build up layers working from the reflected image and backgound feeling my way into the foreground. When previously attempting a composition of this nature I would have used mechanical drawing equipment, worked in pen and added colour washes. Working directly with brush and acrylic paint was creating a completly different outcome. I was particulalrly aware that the larger and longer brushes I chose to work with added to the frustration of fuzzier and fatter marks than my prior pen work. It felt like learning to walk again. New effects and limitations throuh up new opportunities and closed down others.

Having chosen a faily complex composition and at a larger scale, I realised I was spending longer on this exercise than I had planned. I had already started to work on the next exercise and the final piece for assignment 3 at the same time to make better use of my time overall. Despite improved time management, I have now put this piece of work to one side for the time beeing so I can move on with the module as a whole. This has been a very good learning experience and I intend to come back to this exercise as time allows to close out unresolved areas of the painting.