Sunday 5 May 2019

Dreamscape Portrait : SIOUXSIE SIOUX

ASPECT 1 : HB pencil 60mm x 40mm
 
ASPECT 2 : HB pencil 60mm x 40mm
 
This was the project that went astray with the Night Terrors piece, but I've had a bit more luck with it this time. The idea behind it was to select well-known people, who I thought were decent sorts, not the usual crop of "slebs" and attempt to do dreamscape portraits of them.
 
One of the first ones that I chose to do was Siouxsie Sioux. Now, I know very little about her, except the music she created with The Banshees and that she was stood in the background of the, now infamous, Bill Grundy interview, where Grundy's response to her ignited the reaction by Steve Jones. I could have found out more about her, but that's not the point of these works (and besides, anything else is none of my business). If I had researched her more, it would have risked these pieces being nothing more than mere fan art, and I didn't want that.
 
ASPECT 1 began to go a little wayward, even when the profile of the woman in it became apparant in the Rorschaching stage. This is probably the reason it became this mish-mash of shapes as I continued to do it. I attempted to sustain the thought of the subject whilst drawing it, but the mind does wander, especially when you zone-out as you work on it.
 
ASPECT 2 clicked almost instantly at the Rorschaching stage and I was able to develop it just like a photo. The only problem I encountered with it was the streak of hair over the ear. It was either going to be that or the character's hand brushing her hair back. I chose the former one and it doesn't look too bad. I actually like the way it hints at the character's hand, as if it's morphed into what it is.
 
These images aren't supposed to look like her. They're meant to be "aspects" of her based on a fixed thought which dominates the works. Sort of like a portrait of an idea of someone. How this will evolve as I attempt others, is yet to be seen.