The recorded mess of an art student's mind - Work I have produced & things that inspire me.

Working predominantly in portraiture, there are two elements that inform the decisions and judgements that I make with regards to my work – the visual appearance and the emotional experience between subject and viewer. When I paint the human body I become captivated by creating as much realism as possible. I want to encourage the viewer to look at the beauty and subtlety of paint depicting flesh and am fascinated by the process of being able to manipulate paint to create three dimensional image through the creation of light and shadow on skin. By working on a large scale the work becomes much more powerful as well as allowing me more space for the control and application of the oil paint. Being able to apply thick paint strokes that from a distance imitate the multi-tones and unrefined surface of flesh. I aim to create a relationship between the work and the person viewing it. One method I use to achieve this is by placing the subject in a vacant space – this avoids the viewer from making any assumptions about the subject from a painted environment. A figure becomes timeless when their environment is withdrawn and by removing any unimportant distractions I allow the viewer to make their own decisions about a character.