March, where shall we begin. It was a whirlwind of a month that included two sides of the Atlantic, two mediums of paint, video, photography, and the passing of my dear 93 year old grandmother, yiayia Mary. Everything combined caused for more inward reflection and I think finally some recognition of the self, something I have been quietly denying with the portraits of fellow yachtswomen. But in truth, by championing my friends in the industry I am telling my own unfinished narrative.
This video was taken on a beach in Cornwall after a massive winter Atlantic storm blew its way through the English countryside. For me the sounds of the sea crashing and eroding away the shore translates to many times felt while onboard. With this short clip I am exploring the theme of the sea as masculine and the self as feminine in confrontation.
Oil / Oil! Felsh tones / flesh tones! With the advice of my mentor and almost everyone at residency I am really trying to get a handle on my flesh tones and decide which style of paint application works with me best. My mentor wished for me to move away from using photographs as reference so much so the first is a WIP self portrait using her suggested palette of viridian green, quinachradone red, cadmium red, and lemon yellow. The second is again using a similar palette and working in an oil sketch for a much larger painting I wish to do of this theme. In this composition I want to show the conflict between the feminine and masculine realms but, ultimatley the two need to work cohesively in order to survive. I plan to revisit this composition in a few more variations before moving on to the larger piece. The third is a revisit of a past theme from last semester mostly to work on some flesh tone variations. Here I did an underpainting in burnt umber then glazing my flesh tones over (cadmium red, cadmium yellow, and ultramarine). The effect is dramatic yet slightly grey in tone.
In my gouache sketchbook I continued to paint images that are around me while working on boats and inner feelings and thoughts. Using the gouache book as a type of visual journal has been very freeing for me this semester and really loosened my often tight paint handling.
Again, continuing from last month I attended as many live model nights as possible while in Cornwall. These have become extremely valuable to me and I hope to find somewhere to continue this practice locally.
Mizzle: is basically Cornish for light rain/drizzle. While on the train from London to Falmouth the tide was out. We passed boat after boat just laying slightly to their sides on these expansive mud flats. The boats had all the capabilities of sailing; mast, rudder, rigging, sails. But sitting on what seemed to me like a mud desert and mirrored with the mizzle the boats seemed sad, incapable to perform the tasks they were created to do.
She of the Sea.
While in Cornwall taking a walk by the Helston with Stella, a friend and fellow yachtswoman, we were discussing the possibilities of creating a closed facebook group for women in the yachting industry. We thought it would be a good platform and safe space for women to post concerns, questions, and insights. We thought about the appropriate ways to go about this and upon research into the idea Stella stumbled upon the very recently launched website, She of the Sea. The site does everything we would have dreamed of providing and more. 'She of the Sea' provides tools and a space for women in yachting and other maritime industries to build fulfilling, rewarding, and inspiring careers by offering a community platform for questions, advice, and inspiration. The sites creator, Jenny Matthews, calls it a platform used to connect and champion each other to excellence. For me, I am much more fulfilled knowing that there are other like-minded women in the industry already moving forward and creating resources such as this and am very excited to see what this online community can achieve.
