Initial influences and inspiration

 21/01/2014

Blog entry 5:

This blog entry will outline what inspires me as an illustrator and how I intend to use these influences to shape my own personal way of working. This blog entry will include images by other artists and illustrators, referenced using the Harvard system.

Antony Micallef and expressive paint marks:

A Study of Icarus Antony Micallef,  Etching on Somerset Tub-Sized 310gsm paper, 59 x 57.5 cm

A Little Piece of Me 9 Antony Micallef, oil on card, 30 x 21 cm, from the A Little Piece of Me collection

Angel Bomber Antony Micallef

Antony Micallef is a fine art painter with a prestigious reputation in the fine art world. 

 The work of Micallef has been very influential to my work due to his expressive paint marks and the use of realistic detailed elements with abstract areas to create the suggestion of form, for example The A Little Piece of Me collection uses realistic facial elements, such as the nose on A Little Piece of Me 9, with larger areas of expressive paint to suggest form rather them portray it in a detailed manner. I feel that now I have developed my painting style to a more refined level (which I intend to improve further), I often find it difficult to let go in the sense of creating more abstract areas of my imagery, this will be something I will be looking to develop further throughout my Masters degree by using expression to create areas of my figures or objects effectively and believably: I intend to achieve this by experimenting with form and figure drawing.

For more information on Antony Micallef visit the below link:

www.antonymicallef.com

(Micallef, 2014)

Lyndon Hayes and fine art illustration:

Illustration for The Guardian Weekend Magazine Lyndon Hayes

Screen shot taken from Occupy blog

Above accessable by below:

 http://www.weoccupy.co.uk/blog/2011/02/07/lyndon-hayes/

 (We occupy, 2011)

Lyndon Hayes is a London based illustrator who works predominantly in paint.

During my second and third year stages of my BA(hons) course in illustration, I have been fortunate enough to be tutored by Lyndon Hayes, I feel that his experience and advice has shaped the way I work somewhat in how I look at painting as an illustration device. Working closely with a tutor who works in similar media and focuses on the figure like myself has been a privilege and has allowed me to discuss my work and how to improve it in a way that I understand. 

The way that Lyndon works interests me particularly, as it is similar to my own ambitions: Lyndon illustrates as part of an agency called Dutch Uncle, as well as exhibiting his work where possible and lecturing as a sessional tutor. As aforementioned in past bog entries, I am very interested in bridging the gap between fine art and illustration through exhibition and potential installation, along with becoming an acclaimed illustrator, as Lyndon does. I am also very interested in potentially lecturing at degree level as sessional similar to Lyndon. Currently I feel that unlike Lyndon I would like to work freelance form myself rather than an agency, however it is still a consideration.

For more information on Lyndon Hayes follow the below links:
http://www.lyndonhayes.co.uk
(Hayes, 2013)

http://lyndon-hayes.squarespace.com/
(Hayes, 2013)

For more information on Lyndon Hayes' agency Dutch Uncle follow the below link:
http://www.dutchuncle.co.uk/lyndon-hayes/
(DutchUncle, 2005 - 2014)

Leonardo da Vinci and painting as a master:

John the Baptist Leonardo da Vinci, Oil on walnut wood, 69 x 57 cm, The Louvre, Paris

The Last Supper Leonardo da Vinci, (1494 - 1498) eggyolk, vinegar and oil on dry palster, Maria delle Grazie, Milan

I feel that it is only fitting as a painter to be inspired by those that are considered masters of the trade. As a painter I am mainly interested in the Renaissance period: da Vinci is one of the most widely known painters of the Renaissance period.

The work of da Vinci I find particularly inspirational due to the way he portrays figures and the religious subject matter he was commissioned for due to the time. I actually wrote my dissertation on The Last Supper (above), one of da Vinci's most famous frescoes.

To read my extended essay, da Vinci: The intention of a genius follow the below link:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/201232779/Extended-Essay-Helen-Marie-Kelly

One thing that piqued my interest when studying for my essay were the androgynous male forms in da Vinci's work, and how these characters may be artist depictions of the "Full Human" (Erebro, 1490): The full human is an ideal originally outlined in Leone Erebro's Dialogues of Love, which suggests that Adam (Genesis) was the full human created in the form of God, before Eve was created from his rib, meaning he contained both male and female characteristics. The full human is a potential ideal that was suggested in art throughout the Renaissance period (Burke, 2011), similarly to da Vinci's portrait John the Baptist (above).

Extra reading on androgyny in the Renaissance period, please follow the below link to Jill Burke's scholarly blog:
http://renresearch.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/men-with-breasts2/

When considering aspects of The Libarary of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges (see blog entry 1 & 2), much is based on or around the divine or divine beings, to depict these and future imagery that deals with religion, I may consider creating my own version of the full human.

Religious art and reference is something as an illustrator in which I am very interested in depicting and shall look at this further in subsequent blog entries.

The blog entry is a brief overview of the main influential areas to my practice before I get fully involved with the Mdes project. In later blog entries, I intend to research artist and other influences to a greater extent.