Once More With Feeling

I had stumbled across a new technique on small-scale canvases which involved an initial layer of permanent ink, which was the image (on most occasions, a self-portrait). The second layer was a wash of slightly diluted ink, I experimented with different colours and shades, but blues and greens gave the most visually interesting results, in my opinion. The third layer was the new one to me, it involved spraying hairspray along the top side of the canvas and consequently the liquid would drip down the canvas, taking some of the permanent ink and most of the washed ink with it. This process was new to me and left exciting and a potentially brilliant result at the end of all the layers.

The background image of my latest piece was nothing short of plain, not much to behold. Although when the final layer was added, which was an outlined graphite self-portrait, the whole painting changed. The people in the background were broken up by the lines of myself, without realising it myself, until I had done it. This stands for a lot in my life, considering past and memories. It’s as if those lines of me, were me and they mapped out my influences on people and how my presence or ‘taint’ had affected people over time (the dripping of the hairspray). These are the foundations of my work, which are still only just starting to make sense, which I hope to evolve into more interesting pieces, still keeping similar meanings.