As part of the Stockton Arcs series of projects (PART 2) celebrating northern artists, and the concept of Home – I created this gouache painting based on the theme of ‘Family’
I painted it using a 90s childhood photo of my brother and I as reference. It was taken in Scotland on Halloween. Our faces were painted by our father, Our expressions (‘1000 yard stares’) reminded me a bit of the painting ‘American Gothic’ – ‘pinched and grim faced’ on what was supposed to be a fun occasion.
Like the American gothic painting, I’ve exaggerated some features. Making the colours a little colder and bleaker, adding a green tinge to the soft furnishings and a slight vignette around the subjects. I also included a lot of patterns, on the curtains and clothes. I restructured the composition to include just my brother and myself with a view of Scotland in the background, with a single, lonely boat in the Loch.
I was aiming for a ‘nineties rural’ feeling. The original photo makes me feel a little nostalgic and sad, I remember how everything was cold and wet, and family occasions fraught with conflict. It feels so long ago, and like a photo of someone else entirely. I’m disassociating in the picture disassociated from the picture. I wanted the painting to look both old very fashioned, and recently retro, and also very stiff, formal and cold.
Thinking about it, the exhibition project might have been about celebrating family, and my picture isn’t quite that – though it does (hopefully) convey a closeness with my brother, but doesn’t really celebrate the whole situation
This is gouache, but I may recreate this picture in oils at some point.
Aimee Charlotte 