In some of the rooms, a solitary lampshade was left dangling when we arrived here. I have collected them and planned to use them both as a support to paint on and as a subject for still life.

They first appeared in Part 3, Project 2, Experiments with mark-making:

And I used one as a support for a fun way to close my rather dark drawings with masks  in 2.3 Narrative:

I am now arranging the lampshades in various ways for still life, piling them up instead of hanging them to take them out of their context.

Pencilsketches A4:

Sketches in Payne’s grey and Titanium White acrylics, A4:

I like these shapes and see that they have potential, but it is when I imagine to include the figure that I really start getting excited about this subject.

One advantage with the Covid 19 lockdown, is that my daughter and granddaughter have time to model.

Pencil sketches A4 in sketchbook:

Sketches on the walls of “Parallel project- empty room, modern cavepainting” ( see separate post):

A4 sketches in acrylics with Indian ink:

From here, I took a big leap to starting three big (100×120 cm) paintings in oil on canvas all at the same time:

This is unprecedented. What is happening here is that I am making a very clear and loud statement to the universe that “I am going to paint!”. I spent the last 20 years doing very sensible things before finally starting, so I am not ready to stop. Being in a household where very suddenly we do not have any foreseeable income at the moment, could bring up different ideas, but no- I will food garden and renovate and babysit and work- and I will definitely paint- on big expensive canvases in oil even 🙂

Letting my daughter and the little One wear the lampshades on their heads is a way I find to speak about a lot of the feelings coming up in these times. There is the feeling of not seeing where we are going, or even standing in front of a wall. There is an element of hiding as well. In one motive, my daughter poses nude, emphasizing the vulnerability of the now. In the other, where I photoshop my daughter and granddaughter together before painting them, they are wearing the soggy casual sweatpants that I see almost every day.

I start by covering a white canvas 100×120 cm with a military green acrylic coat.

Once starting in oils, I struggle for a really long time with the background. I have the idea to use a camouflage pattern, but then smudge it, so it is a camouflaged camouflage pattern.

 

I try this is many unsatisfying ways.

Finally I cover up the whole background with a rather monotonous military green in oil, similar to the acrylic background I started out with 2 days prior. The red stripes just happened, after I listened to a podcast about statistics on Soundcloud, which had similar wave patterns.

I am using a big flat brush all along for the figures, to avoid overworking.

This is the final painting.

I call it “Spring Summer 2020” like a fashion collection. I really like this painting myself. It shows the mixture of humor and fear I feel at the moment and I have captured something very personal in both my daughters and granddaughters postures that make them recognizable to me even with their heads covered.  I also like that this painting connects us and our unplanned time here all together with some of the odd old elements of the house that I connect to this parallel project- the lampshades.

The second painting is a nude with lampshade. I choose to paint this much more carefully and try to achieve the right flesh tones. I find that the more careful approach reflects the more vulnerable feeling of this painting.

I placed her in the corner, feeling trapped or without direction. The walls are crashing down on her, there is no spaciousness. I hesitate long about what to do with the floor, but decide to paint brick coloured tiles similar to the ones that are really here, to have a solid floor, instead of letting her hover in something more grey or non distinct.

These brickcoloured tiles could also be outside, which maybe brings more confusion to the painting, which I like.

This is the final painting:

I am happy with the motive and the feeling this painting transmits, but I was too careful in my choice of colours and precious little brushstrokes. I enjoy a bolder approach more.

The last painting does not exactly belong to this post, as it has lost the lampshade. I place it here though because it is a part of the same experience and just a few photos before the one that I chose for this painting, Ria was actually wearing the lampshade, but I prefer to paint her longing expression.

In all three , Ria is also wearing the same slippers and socks- an allusion to this time closed in the house.

I have started this last painting on a linen canvas that I have stretched ( also a new experience.)

I will post the painting here once completed.

At this point, I am just starting on Part 4 of the course, and can see how these lampshades may reappear in the project of Installation or maybe be used for the site specific artwork fro Assignment 4.

I also want to experiment further with using the lampshades as supports.

To be continued