Art and Heritage Online Database

Object Type: painting, collage
Artist/Maker: MacFarlane, Sarah
Place Made: United Kingdom: Aberdeenshire, Gray's School of Art
Date: 2022
Media/Materials: Acrylic and modelling paste
Dimensions: overall: 98 cm x 119 cm
Awards: RGU Drawing and Painting Purchase Award 2022
Classification: painting

Description:

Brighlty coloured paint collage depicting and Islay coastal landscape.

Artist's statement:
Throughout most of my work I focus on places which evoke feelings of nostalgia, for example, places on Islay. My work explores and reimagines existing photographs, either my own or those of my extended family. We are living in an era of rapid and profound technological, sociological, and urban change — change which is invariably imposed on local communities in both rural and urban settings. An understanding of how communities are affected emotionally by such dramatic changes is rarely undertaken. My work explores places which evoke nostalgia, acknowledging emotional attachment as a very human response to the space/time continuum of change. The original image for this painting is a family photograph of me on a beach on Islay, on a family holiday in 2005. I use collage techniques aided by Adobe Capture and Procreate software applications as they allow me to experiment with different colours and explore the ways in which textures can be applied to represent different themes. I use acrylic paint to form my collages and I tend to rely on a reduced colour palette while reimagining images or sections of images. The name of this painting stems from the original photograph in which I look ‘moody’.

Artist's process:
Step 1: First I select my Procreate drawing
Step 2: I make my board
Step 3: I put the image in to Adobe capture for the colour pallette
Step 4: I lay cling film on the table or on boards
Step 5: I make the paint (acrylic) colours on the clingfilm mixing the paint with a gloss pouring medium
Step 6: I prime my board and add texture whether that be modelling paste, Polyfilla or expanding foam
Step 7: When the board is dry I project my drawing on to the board to scale up correctly
Step 8: When the paint is dry on the cling film I peel it off of the cling film
Step 9: I then use PVA glue to stick the pieces of paint to the board
Step 10: when the collage is complete to make sure it Is extra secure I spray a gloss lax spray over it.
Object Number: ABDRG2022.17