Roz

'Roz' (1/12/2008) Dimensions 10 x 15 cm. Oil and varnish on board.

A painting I did of me lovely girlfriend, Roz! I wanted to get as much detail into the clothing as possible particularly the pattern the knitting makes on the green jumper. It brings me great pleasure to spend endless hours painting dots onto things.. this little painting let me practice layering skin tones which I have wanted to do for some time. I admit it isn't as good as I wanted it to be! In the end I felt I didn't really need to layer skin tones, i preferred the skin tones I created in the past using flat colour.

With Love From Me to You

'With Love From me to You' (22/12/2008) Dimensions 81 x 108 cm. Oil on board.

This painting is part of the group of paintings where I have been looking at the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In my last post I said I wanted a large painting to be displayed opposite the mass of smaller paintings, this painting was going to be that one. I decided however 'With Love' is not big enough, although the imagery in the painting is very close to that I will use in the larger version.

With this painting I wanted to show a different view, almost humorous, certainly a little ludicrous. To juxtapose with the smaller paintings I wanted a sort of propaganda image, I was looking at both photos of the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq as well as Socialist Realism.

Iraq War Series (part 3)

'Street Market' (2008) Dimensions 15 x 10 cm. Oil and acrylic on acetate, concrete and board.

A view of the paintings from an angle that shows how I hung the paintings on a concrete frame.

From the third year show, how the paintings hung as a group.

Iraq War Series (part 2)

'The River' (23/11/2007) dimensions 10 x 15 cm. Oil on Board

Most of the paintings that I have made in this group took approximately 4 months to paint. I worked on them all at once going between them, this helped me not stagnate on any particular painting.

This group of paintings is intended to be hung together, relatively closely so as to form a large group. By grouping smaller images into a large mass, I wanted to show what I felt was the huge mass of unseen and hidden evidence of abuses taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan. This was intended to be displayed opposite a single painting, in a slightly more tongue and cheek style based upon propaganda imagery. 

'Detention' (27/11/2007) Dimensions 15 x 10 cm. Oil and linseed paste on board.

'Teeming' (9/12/2007) Dimensions 15 x 10 cm. Oil on board.

'Hospitalized Child' (5/12/2007) Dimensions 15 x 10 cm. Oil on board.

Iraq War Series

Part of a series of paintings I made in 2007/2008 based on the war in Iraq which subsequently influenced the paintings I have made in 2009. This painting is of a bombed out building. It is oil on board (dimensions 15 x 10 cm) and is shown here on concrete (finished on 12/1/2008).

I was looking at placing strong images on abstract or surreal surfaces thereby heightening the reality of the building. This method came from looking at media portrayals or war, and Iraq which consist mostly of strong images with very little context. By using less jubilant imagery than much of the media used in the beginning of the war I wanted to expose the underlying issues that the conflict brought up.

'Street and Rubble' (1/11/2007) dimensions 15 x 10 cm, oil on board.

'Street Scene' (13/12/2007)  dimensions 10 x 15 cm. Oil & soap on board.

'Wires' (14/1/2008) dimensions 15 x 10 cm. Oil on board.