Sketch Book

 I would like to share my sketchbook with you. 

I am exploring my feelings on women in art and feminist theory.

I started from a deeply person point.

Thinking about how I feel about my own body. 

I have dealt with a long term illness which has left me with a confused opinion of my body.

I am both proud of my resilience and disappointed at, what I sometime feel, is weakness.

These were some of my first paintings. I reduced a female figure to the 

simplest form and made it into a vintage style wall paper in two sizes (above and below)

Through my work I wish to address this paradox and I hope that I can 

develop a healthier view of my body. 

This personal view point is also coupled with my exploration of my feelings about 

feminism. I am proud to say that I am most certainly a feminist but that is about as far as

I have figured out my opinions on matters of equality. 

This project deals with my anger over the biased representation of women in the media and in art

however it also celebrates women's strength and vitality.

It's getting complicated to say the least but I know that to keep working is the way to

move my thoughts forward. 

I've become slightly obsessed with the idea of the eyes and lips

(attractive features) mirroring the breasts and pubis. Reducing women to these features

of shallow beauty.

Here I deal with the problem I have with the need for "perfect" women in the media

and the fact that I myself feel the pressure to conform to an image. 

The matter is confusing to me as although, somedays, I completely disagree 

with the pressures on women I also really enjoy fashion and make-up. 

Where is the balance? I would like to find out.

I've tried to remove the complication of having a female figure in my work by 

reducing women down to circular "breasts" and triangular "pubis".

Chris Smith raised the problem that representing a women as a nude has a lot of baggage to it. 

I also tried to think of ways to represent women in other non-physical ways (eg. the make up above)
However I am concerned this will become more stereotypical. Perhaps we should not feel that a sexual woman in a painting is a bad thing. A woman's sexuality is her own and a good thing.