62nd Painting

61st Painting

60th Painting

This is a close up image of one of the 7/7 survivors. Reliving the trauma in court and speaking to reporters afterwards clearly left its mark on her face. Sun and deep shadow added to the drama and emotion of her experience and in order to paint this with a degree of accuracy I painted this upside down.

59th Painting

I used the blissful human situation of a loving father and new baby (the original models were David Cameron and his new baby daughter) and contrasted this with an American female soldier, heavily equipped and ready to fight. Traditional gender roles are questioned in the painting. The release of Wikileakes information regarding politician's knowledge of torture in Iraq scarily highlights man's inability to genuinely respect the human situation.

58th Painting

The original image was a sublime photograph of two young Afghanistan girls. Their composure and simplicity offering no suggestion of the tragedy happening in their country instigated by both the Taliban and foreign troops.

57th Painting

The trauma of the human condition involved in war is forever caught by photographers in the faces of children. The original image gave me no information as to why the child was crying but the fact that he stands so close to a heavily armed soldier creates its own unnerving narrative. The jewel-like colours of the child's red hoody and turquoise background sit behind the power of the camouflage and weaponry.

56th Painting

Another image taken from a domestic violence site. These are sites I've been looking at in preparation for work on some bigger paintings which will at first glance appear to be mainly contemplative pieces. I'm interested in Matisse's notion of a painting being like an armchair at the end of a long day of work. I want to include areas of contradiction into the piece by adding a more political area to the work recognising our own problems, struggles opinions etc. I really admire Martha Rosler's collages.

55th Painting

I've been looking at some images which encompass the contemplative and also something edgy. I found this image which I think was on a site to do with domestic violence. I painted the image completely upside down in the space of about an hour not paying too much attention to what the image was but concentrating on colour and shape and shade. When I turned it up the right way I felt it had some energy which I don't think it would have had if I'd painted it the right way up.

54th Painting

This image was taken from a fashion magazine and generally I don't often find images with a great sense of 'truth' to them in those type of magazines but this was obviously taken without the knowledge of the people around her so it looks relaxed and honest.