Guernsey Students Prize 2020

I have captured three different moments of a visit to the beach. The first piece is painted in watered down acrylic, the middle painting is acrylic and the last piece is in oil paint. The water crashing in the first painting represents feelings of stress and anxiousness. The middle piece demonstrates looking at things from a different angle, and the last painting shows how we can bring out the beauty in things from a distance.

I wanted to portray the idea of a crafted identity through this image and the makeup. This was a self-portrait shoot and I wanted onlookers to have the idea that the hand and paintbrush weren’t my own but someone else’s. I wanted the image to show how others are constantly consciously or subconsciously making their mark on your identity and forcing their perception of how you should be upon you. This is why I decided to keep the saturation of the eye very prominent as this is the one part of my personal identity that had not been changed by an ‘outsider.’

This piece was an exploration into mutation and combinations of animals that would not normally be seen together in nature. The way that the field mouse is combined with the blue butterfly creates curiosity around something that would ordinarily be overlooked.

Inspired by elements of the work of Ernst Haeckel and William Morris. Repeat patterns and muted, basic colours are used to create a calm. The lino print used leaves I gathered and pressed. The fine liner overlay from images of detailed foliage is inspired by Haeckel’s more intricate drawings. Combining both artists’ styles in this piece allowed me to experiment and use techniques and media I would have never thought to use before and I have really enjoyed the process.

A pencil drawing of a forest in France where the colours have been inverted. I did this to show how landscapes change and become unfamiliar due to climate change.

I took this image at sunset on Grandes Roque beach. I have placed the glass ball on the centre of the image to capture the variations in the cloud structure. This has also highlighted the different light tones. The ball has flipped the image upside down and at the same time it has moved the light to the darker area of the rocks. I used Photoshop to exaggerate this by making the background black and white. Overall, this is a very relaxing image.

This piece plays with the notion of reflection, utilising the mirror image of the mountainous landscape created on the water to translate onto canvas my reminiscence of childhood summers at Lake Garda. A dichotomy is present between clarity and absence of detail. This is exemplified by the juxtaposition between the depth of detail seen in the alpine shrubbery and the obscurity of the mountain peaks under the low-lying clouds. The gradual reduction of visibility in the composition directs the viewer’s eye to the indistinguishable distance, generating an image of fading childhood memories.

I have depicted a glass lens ball within a small waterfall, which inverts the image behind it. I was interested in the way that the light was reflected within the ball and on the water, and how the water flowed around it. Using different textures while painting helped me to convey the different surfaces and the qualities of the water and glass, which allowed them to stand out from each other. Doing this painting made me reflect on the small details of the environment around us and how we can manipulate their look through using photography tools such as lens balls.

I chose to draw this image because of the interesting way in which the light shone on the face. I was also drawn by the reflection in the glasses.

A self-portrait using special effects make up for a school project on the theme of Portraiture. This character is from the series Breaking Bad.

Within this image I wanted to portray the idea of movement through the technique of zoom bursts. I was intrigued by how I have never seen anything like this before, both within photography and physically watching the stars. I was also amazed by how this technique can be achieved when taking the actual image, not just in post-production editing, as I enjoy the challenge of the technical aspects within photography. This image illustrates my love for astrophotography combining both Milky Way, zoom burst and landscape photography; made into one image through post-production.

My cousin is an NHS doctor in London. I felt there was a lot of negativity around coronavirus and I wanted to express positivity through a very dark time. I wanted to approach my painting with sensitivity for the lives lost and sacrifices made by key workers but also try to keep positivity and use splashes of bold, bright colours in the background inspired by the hundreds of rainbows being hung in windows all around Guernsey. For me, art makes me very happy and definitely passed the time during lockdown and I wanted to spread the love and happiness I feel towards art for the viewers of the painting.

As part of my response to the project title, ‘Connections’, this mixed media piece explores the poetic relationship between land and sea at Portelet beach. Through processes of layering, rubbing back and drawing into, ‘Portelet Harbour’ attempts to communicate the relentless changeability of the harbour itself. Marks in the sand, chains, white light reflecting of the sand’s wet surface and the prominent, geometric form of the pier jutting out amongst a hazed sky have been picked out of these fragmentary experiences and applied onto paper. Through gestural and instinctive mark making, ‘Portelet Harbour’ ultimately combines what is seen, felt and heard whilst viewing this landscape either on a smoky evening or the breaking of dawn.

A drawing of myself and my younger brother. The artwork is pen and ink on paper, with the illustration of my brother hand stitched in red thread on top. I replaced normal methods of shading with a patterned pen work to give a more striking image. The artwork represents the complex nature of our relationship. Whilst our personalities are starkly different, there is a strong tie demonstrated by an, often unspoken, understanding.

An exploration of the change of apple and cherry trees over time. The single continuous line of the wire and sewing outline represent the continual change and shows how the tree is forever growing and changing. In a similar way to a storyboard, it highlights the importance of some stages in life to be able to develop into something new. The pieces compare simplicity and complexity: tight sections of wire with looser, more minimalist sections; detailed painting with a simpler outline. Implicit in the sewing is a human timeline and continuity, as it is a skill learnt from my grandmother capturing cherished memories.

A response to the work of Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata’s sculptures which pay homage to diversity and unity. I explored the idea of juxtaposition through contrasting different textures and sculptures, manmade and natural. The jarring angles of the precariously balanced chairs also creates tension – again juxtaposed with the tranquil setting. I explored different painting and mark making techniques to build layers of texture that become more focused and detailed towards the foreground.

This pencil study is an exploration into how the texture and transparency of plastic distorts the initial subject of our view. I was really interested to investigate how plastic, a synthetic burden on our world, can also display a kind of beauty with the various shapes and reflections it produces.

The painting is of my twin sister, who I consider as being the closest person to me. I aimed with the painting to show how she appears to me – loving but always with a touch of irritation. The plants in the background are symbolic of how I’ve always known her, making her presence a natural given in mine. I put low detail into most of the painting so that the focus would go straight to her eyes – being her most notable feature. Here they are expressing a neutral look, which is the expression I always picture her with in my mind.

The idea behind this portrait was to merge together and show off my two best skills: pencil portraits of dogs and of women. I chose this specific image because the connection between the dog and its owner (through the similarity of eye colour, hair/fur colour etc) creates a larger atmosphere of companionship between the two subjects as they are so physically similar. My love for portraiture inspired me to enter this piece.

This painting, inspired somewhat by Jenny Saville, was made to show the female form but in addition to distort it. I have also looked closely into feminism so wanted to combine all three of my interests, distortion, female form and feminism. The way I see this piece is how it’s confusing to the eye but once you look a bit closer you begin to understand the folds of fabric warping around the figure. The fabric is like the barrier between women and society and how women are now reclaiming their image no longer bound by the male gaze.