The other day I was taking a little trip down memory lane and looking through my art folder (which had been in the shed for a while). Some of the paintings have some mold on them which is a shame but luckily nothing that was really ‘good’ was in there, those had been stored inside. In amongst the paintings I found this one. Let me explain. This was the very first oil painting I did. It was done around 1996/97 before I’d done any art serious art training.
If you look closely you can see what looks like ‘acne’ on her face, in fact that the previous layer of painting underneath. One thing you learn in art school is not to paint over an old painting as parts of the previous one will always show through. I suppose I both didn’t know that and didn’t care at the time. This took five goes for me to be happy with it. Of course its a pretty awful painting but I believe in remembering where you started, hence the reason I’ve kept it (and also the reason I’ve not hung it up in my house….ever).
My philosophy is usually not to start at the beginning of things but to dive in, head first and try the hardest thing I can think of. At the time I figured that was an oil painting portrait. Now days I find oil painting and portraits only a little challenging but not quite as challenging as this one was.
I should explain too, this is Ivy. She is a relative of mine on my Mum’s side and I have always been fascinated with photos of her. She seemed to have a lot of fun, always dressing up in costumes and mucking around in photos. She was probably quite the character. I’ve painted her one other time, also around the same time but this time in watercolour. I must say that the watercolour attempt was easier and much more successful (if I can find a copy of it on my computer I’ll put it up). I might share some of the other paintings I found in the art folder soon too.
