30 Minute Portrait Stories- Continued

What can you get done in 30 minutes? 

For this series, I wanted to make portraits that had a visible narrative. I was inspired by a photographer called Brandon – his blog Humans of New York. It was also a chance to try a technique of laying on paint as if it was watercolour as I'd seen and admired in the brilliant work of Annie Kevans. The technique's not that different from how I usually begin.

What makes a portrait successful? It's more than just capturing a likeness – there's something else, I can't put it into words. So paint! There has to be a story that links to the person I'm painting. 

"Tell me about your best day ever."  That could be a good place to start.

Turn it into a game by writing the questions on colourful pieces of paper. Ask people to pick a few questions out of the bag…then I got to work.

In addition to taking no more than 30 minutes to paint, a time limit of no more than 8 hours to add the answers to the paintings. I'm working in collaboration with Barrie Morgan on this project. Our styles will sit side by side in the Project Space. The end result is colourful, funny and poignant all at once. With my paintings, look closer as the text is very small – on some, it carries around the edges.

‘Fragmented stories appear, with hopes and dreams that give a glimpse into someone’s life’.

A visitor stopped by and said, “Without our dreams, we’re nothing – it does give us hope…”

Maybe the little girl who answered the question, “If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?” might actually chase her dream of living in Barbados! By writing it down – putting it out into the world, somehow might make it a reality and not a daydream. 

http://www.humansofnewyork.com/about

http://www.anniekevans.com/the-muses-of-jean-paul-gaultier.html

With thanks to NewportLive and NCC for making this project possible, The Riverfront, The Project Space with their support from Arts Council Wales, Webber Design Ltd, Dariasz at Tesco Extra, Andy Nawroski, Julia Wilkinson, Ellen Roberts, Silvana Leverrier and James Carreon.

 Since this post was written in 2015, Andy Nawroski is no longer with us. Sadly he passed away in February 2023 as a result of being made homeless and will be missed by many.