Yes, this is the backdrop that Diana has been sitting on for the past month. I was about to pick it up after putting her back on the shelf, but paused to look, whch is always an invitation and a risk. It doesn’t look like nearly three days work. And I don’t think I’m done with it yet because it made me question that crazy moment when a painting stops being about the subject and instead becomes a self portrait. In making this study I found drapery to be dangerously enveloping…
There’s a fascination in the puzzle-like quality of painting fabric which has intrigued artists throughout history. Ingres was merely famous for it, while spanish painter Francisco Zurbarán (1598–1664) almost drowns us in the softness of Saint Serapion’s robes. Contemporary Scottish artist Alison Watt continues the tradition in fine style while reducing her subject matter to just that, but on a very grand scale. She said of Zubaran:
“Each fold has been pared down to the basic elements of light and shade. As a viewer you are seduced by this simplicity, only to realise you have been duped. Zurbarán has elevated the humble fabric of the robes of Saint Serapion to a divine level with pure, magnificent white.”
While struggling with the complexities of this study I came to understand the intrigue. Drawn in, almost obsessively, I couldn’t leave it alone. I will admit to a certain anxiety that was not related to the painting, but became transferred to it and soothed at the same time. I began to wonder at this exchange, curious as to how much of this painting was about the folds of the fabric and how much of it became about my own tangled state of mind. In absorbing my angst I think it became a self-portrait… stopped being a study and became promoted to a work worth signing.
Further reading: Beyond the Pale an article by Alison Watt on the painting of fabric.