Here i've been working on a piece of plywood. I primed the wood with varnish and some acrylic paint. I disciplined myself to work from light to dark, and only using a few colours with black and white. Before the painting itself I tend to go through much deliberation on what to paint, how to paint it and will this make a good painting?... or do i need an estimate on my insurance? The first stage was to take digital photographs of the sink and toilet bowl from the ground. I wanted it to be dark and although there was no flash on the camera I simply exposed it for various lengths until i was happy with the image. I have for many years watched films from a technical point of view. I am always studying the way the director moves the camera and how it may suggest things without the viewer being aware. The use of a low angle for this painting is a sort of homage to Orson Welles. Welles placed the camera low down whilst looking up partially displaying the ceiling. No director had done that before him. I used the angle to illicit its innate anatomical strangeness. As an object seen from below it becomes overwhelming and menacing. In hindsight i think i would of painted it as a medium shot, as it is the composition is rather boxed in, but maybe that works.
