24/05: Oil Study and Reflection
New to the Projects:
Crista Cober by Heather Favell
For the past year or so I’ve pushed myself into the medium of oil painting. After looking up to so many artists from Titian and Tintoretto to contemporary artists such as Roberto Ferri and Mike Dargas, I’ve wanted to give it a go myself and find my own style. Do I follow the route of realism? Impressionism? Expressionism? Abstraction? Do I use impasto? Glazing? Painting in Alla Prima? There’s no wonder why oils is still a popular medium to this day as it provides a plethora of opportunities for artistic expression.
Although it is an exciting time for an artist to experiment and discover a new medium, concept, or style, I felt frustrated that I didn’t know which path I wanted to follow. Purely because as artists we strive to be “good” at whatever style or medium we pursue and when we don’t succeed straight away then we mustn’t be destined for it. Sometimes this mindset is hard to shake, but with my recent study of the gorgeous Crista Cober, I tried to use that energy to just paint freely and allow whatever creative decisions to flow naturally. It’s not about mimicking styles or demonstrating your level of skill in comparison to other great artists, but listening to your gut instinct and responding in a way that is 100% authentic and true to you.
Heather Favell, ‘La Vie Sauvage’. Featuring Crista Cober for Glamour France, January 2015.
During this session I took glances of the reference image and took note of my initial responses: the saturated colours, the warm light reflection, the juxtaposition between a calming facial expression and a vibrant explosion of colours and textures on the skin. From this point, I took these responses and tried to highlight them in the painting, allowing the viewer to see what I see in the image. This was a much more empowering process of experimentation, rather having a goal to achieve complete realism or complete impressionism. It was about listening to my gut and take creative liberties where I felt necessary.
Is this result perfect? No. But it’s a stepping stone in the creative process. An artist never truly arrives at a sole definition of their practice. We don’t “figure out” that we only want to do one particular style and run with it for the rest of our lives, churning out the same products over and over again (unless, if that’s what you want to do then of course go ahead). Every experience, experimentation, art session, whatever you do in your day to day life informs and reshapes your practice in some way, no matter how big or small the impact may be. Who knows where my practice will take me next year or the next 5-10 years but it will be an exciting journey.
That is the significance of living in the now, listening to yourself and living truthfully.
Take care,
x
