work in progress

So, from working over the photos of the teddies, I progressed onto my own imaginings of these, working on a much larger scale and toning down the textural paint quality a little. I was particularly keen to extend the expressive qualities of the features, with a great deal of work going into the look of the eyes in particular. I was keen to juxtapose the soft dewey-eyed look of the bears eyes with the idea of the criminal identikit device. Finally I felt I had achieved my goal, creating an image which was playful, with a bit of a mischievous spark. An image that worked in layers, portraying the cuteness and softness of the bear, whilst also suggesting the harsh criminality of the identikit. An image that symbolised the innocence of my new born baby daughter and yet also showed the potential of the world around her to taint this almost cocoon-like existence. My intention now is to produce a series of these bears. Made up of different bear shapes and also scales within the frame of the canvas. Each will be treated with the same identikit facial qualities and the same approach to predominately primary colour (the colour of children's toys and representative of early artistic development. The backgrounds will be kept fairly neutral and non-descript, like the walls of police cells where such photos would be taken. I may also play with the idea of creating accompanying text, telling stories about the bears and their predicament, although I'm less sure that this is a necessary part of the image. It may be better to allow the audience to create their own stories. De-mystifying the image through an explanation may take some of the fun out of the images perhaps?
I also intend to try and finish at least one of the scary self portrait images I started. I've included one of these in progress on the left. The photos were painted over with thick black gesso, before cling film was applied to the wet surface and marks were forced into it with the wrong end of a brush. When this dried, it created a really cool textural quality. I then dry brushed white over this, picking up the textural highlights of the black gesso. White squares of various sizes were then sponged over this (as a reference to my super-organised, retentive personality), before I dribbled PVA glue over the image to create an almost maze like series of compartments. This was in part a reference to an earlier sketchbook page, where I had used the glue to compartmentalise elements of a picture, almost like the drawers of memory in the sub-conscious. Again the idea of hemming in parts of the picture relates to my love of order and structure. (Perhaps here lies a hidden link to my abstract collage work of old, as most of that was to do with structure and balance and a sense of order from the random). I hated the image initially, seeing it as far too much of a departure from myself and what makes up my personality. However, I re-visited the image at the same time as working on the bears and began to add little shocks of colour here and there, over-working the photographic imagery. It started to take on a much more comfortable feel, so the intention will be to continue to work with shocking colour in the pockets created by the maze-like border of PVA. I may also add some typographic references to mapping, perhaps adding the names of countries or river systems, as I believe the piece has a map-like quality. Perhaps it is a map of my artistic psyche? Hmmm that's a bit deep.....