Felicity Gill
Already a hugely talented and successful portrait artist, it
feels like Felicity Gill is on the cusp of a major breakthrough
in her painting career. Her portfolio includes fresh
likenesses of the likes of Joan Bakewell and Boris Johnson,
the latter completed when the new PM was still Mayor of
London and resulting in what is surely Felicity’s highest
career accolade so far – an Artists & Illustrators front cover.
Nevertheless, the Kent artist has been growing frustrated
by the limitations of a conventional sitting. “I have always
thought that photographic portraits show just a fleeting
moment and therefore often don’t quite look like the
subject, whose face constantly changes with millions of
micro-expressions,” she explains. “We used to assume
photographs were ‘true’ but digital photography has made
that concept obsolete. We can manipulate an image in any
way we want and so, with the odd perspective of selfies
and all the filters put on photos for social media, images
are showing less and less of a true likeness.”
To get around this problem, Felicity has been turning her
attention toward figurative work. “After years of painting the
subtleties of facial expressions, I wanted to explore
whether I could show mood and emotion, particularly
vulnerability and intimacy, through body language.”
This culminated in what she calls “a wonderful,
Damascean moment” during a Royal Drawing School class
with tutor Dilip Sur. The looser gestural approach that he
instilled in her drawing was soon translated into paint.
“I am now taking off almost as much paint as I am putting
on,” she says. This shift in technique was aided further by
a chat with former London Group president Peter Clossick,
an artist who piles the oil paint on his palette and pushes
it around the canvas with real relish.
Felicity is delighted to share the fruits of her new approach
in forthcoming exhibition, Being Human. Not only has she
evolved a more gestural approach to applying the paint, but
she has also embraced a more sensual subject matter and
shrouded them in a theatrical, chiaroscuro-style lighting
that is fitting for a gallery in a theatre. “It’s been wonderful
planning the show with the space in mind,” she says.
Being Human runs from 29 October to 9 November at The North
Wall Gallery, Oxford. http://www.felicitygill.co.ukFresh
Paint
Inspiring new artworks, straight off the easel