The artwork I made for my third piece is an oil portrait of another character that’s a part of my made-up world. The portrait is unfocused and undetailed, almost like a statue, a blurry idealized version of the face the artist is painting. The character in this portrait has white, curly hair and a wide ruffled collar, with which I wanted to communicate the archetype of the Fool. Half the subject’s face is bathed in warm light, the other half obscured by shadow into a skeletal form.
I wanted to portray a level of non-specificity and duality with this portrait, like reality is obscured by a light fog of simplicity. The character in this portrait is a mad queen, once a court beauty renowned for her statue-like appearance and physical strength, now an immortal tyrant bent on slaying her enemies. She is a recurring character throughout my art and stories. For this portrait I tried to look at her through the eyes of her subjects to deepen the character of her country and power in my mind. It was an exercise in switching perspectives in my own story.
I used oil on canvas for this portrait, with an acrylic wash beneath it. It took a much shorter time than I expected, in terms of waiting for layers to dry. I used a palette knife and a rectangle brush for the entire piece.
