Underneath the skin, a study in the identity of Leo Collins, Thursdays sitting....

you may want to look at Leos point of view on his blog http://disabledtransman.tumblr.com/

under the skin ....next phase!

So New year, new phase.
Leo and I are exploring the theme further.....

 Underneath the skin- a study in the Identity of Leo Collins

Are we what we look like or what we feel like?

Does our outside reflect what we feel like?

I try to discover whether I am representing the external or internal self. 

We have already made a straight forward portrait in oil on canvas.

Leo sat for me for several weeks last year and I discovered that painting a person with cerebral palsy who moves a bit over a few hours, is not very different to painting anyone else who also moves a bit over a few hours...

OK here we have what Leo looks like.... but this gives no suggestion to what Leo is like inside or any of the changes he has made over the years...

OK, if I now tell you Leo is trans gender....

does the panting now look any different...

but if Leo has changed his outside, his inside has not altered....

except of course, he has moods, feelings, intellectual developments quite apart from his gender

Over the many sittings by talking I have discovered more of Leo’s depths, finding him to be an analytical, sensitive, insightful young man, capable of enormous self control and determination. He is very open-minded and willing to try anything.

so how do I get beyond the visual? 

I want to draw the whole body, strong expressive poses…anger, calm, yearning, reaching, and twisting. Close up of skin, eyes, joints, in some experimental drawings I made just before Christmas I played with gouache and charcoal, rubbing and removing paper... perhaps I can use this technique....

Perhaps cut some of the pieces up, layer them, collage them….

Perhaps on to make paintings, drips, almost obscuring, the internal fighting to break out of the external.
Revisiting things that I have tried over the years... I want to take some photos too to work from..
 some thoughts..

layering of fabric, the form emerging and pushing through 

 

Identity emerging through gender specific clothes eg pushing through the folds of a ball gown, using perspex to layer images on top of images...

I will experiment for a few weeks.... watch this space.

paintings at the Six Bells at Horringer, near Bury St Edmunds

I have some paintings hanging here so if you are visiting Ickworth house in January pop over the road to the Six bells and take a look.... The foods good too....


http://www.horringersixbells.co.uk/six-bells-blog/