One of my favourites of all time. This portrait was hugely inspired, like many of my others, by Jenny Saville and her painterly style. Originally, I was interested in doing a very fleshy portrait, lots of beige and light pinks, however as I began to create my piece I began to include more and more dark reds and a more bloody image came to light.
The goal was to depict the affect of drugs and psychedelics, the idea of the mind going to a different realm and zoning into darker or maybe more joyful areas of the brain. This was inspired by my studies in psychology hugely, as we learnt more about interpreting different dimensions at the hand of psychedelics and completely changing individuals real-life experiences forever.
The huge watering eyes, numb mouth and hand on her head, depict my character, Molly, as being completely detached from reality and therefore posing the question for the audience of, 'What is possibly going on in her head?'
I enjoy this zoned out, fantasy concept hugely and the painting process was very enjoyable for me. I used large paint brushes and amount of acrylic paint onto hardboard and I love the green contrasted again the warm red tones of the piece.