I have finally completed my final piece to a standard which I think to to be suitable for the assessment. There are some areas that I am still unsure about and I still find it slightly boring. However, I could choose to work on my paintings nonstop and never truly believe they are finished, there will always be areas which I would be unhappy with. Overall, I am happy with the outcome. Throughout my entire City project I have stuck to pastel, baby colours to keep in with my child-like theme. Therefore, the crossover of childish innocence in my work to the darker elements of the city has resulted in a more powerful, intimidating piece in which the colours are brash and saturated and the shadows are dark and dramatic.
I also think using a hot colour pallet was the correct choice as it stands out from the other works I have made. It is also what gives the piece it’s sinister feeling and therefore confirms the overall message I was trying to convey throughout this project.
Here are some of the changes I made which I felt enhanced my piece a bit more, I darkened the lower left grey building as I thought there needed to be more of a contrast and I stencilled in some more lettering, this time making them less hidden than the first one.
I still felt dissatisfied with it and knew I needed to make some further changes. Here is how it looks finished.
All I really did was fill in the post on the left a bright orange to match the subtle orange of the lettering. I believe it now looks finished in a way that encompasses my techniques demonstrated so far in this project along with my ideas and research. I am happy with the stencilled lettering, particularly as they don’t make complete sense. I like this element of mystery. I also like my use of yellow (inspired by James Jessop), the way I have made it the backdrop of the composition and used hints of it within the buildings, it accompanies the violent red and emphasises the cool blues and greys. I chose my colours carefully.
I have always been unsure about the grey building on the lower left. I have wanted to keep some of the flat, blocky style I used at the beginning of this project present in all my pieces, despite how they vary. Therefore I have been reluctant to add more detail to that area and keep the roof abnormally bright as I liked this unreal element.
I also encorporated some of the techniques I learnt in the group painting sessions we had with James. Instead of painting completely flat block colours, I made layers. This can be seen subtly in the red buildings where I ‘skuffled’ or ‘dry brushed’ the bright red over the dark red. This technique came in handy when I wanted to change a certain colour as I think this use of layers makes my piece more interesting than simple flat colours, especially as it is only subtle.
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