Marianna Caprotti

Le Cerf

During my GCSE art course, I was able to experiment and explore with many different artists and their styles. I was particularly inspired by artists Joseph Wright of Derby and Caravaggio, each with their own interpretation of the chiaroscuro technique that I tried to imitate. I was also inspired by artist John Constable and his amazing studies of landscapes. I was inspired to paint mountain landscapes which I personally photographed, although, instead of rendering them realistic like Constable’s paintings, I tried an expressive style. My experimentation with the expressionism style led me to be inspired by artist Monet, with his colourfully capturing landscapes, and modern artist Francoise Nielly, using expressionism for portraits. The themes which most inspired me were naturalistic landscapes and portraits.

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YEAR 11 ART EXHIBITION BOOK | 2020 - 2021

I experimented with multiple different techniques and skills, from acrylic paintings to clay work. However, the techniques I most focused on were expressionistic acrylic paintings and pencil chiaroscuro. Being the material I use most, I felt confident using pencils, hence I tried to push my pencil skills to new boundaries using the chiaroscuro technique, which I had previously not used as a technique, although it fascinated me. Expressionism was completely new to me, and I decided to work with this technique firstly to experiment. I enjoyed the freedom of interpretation I found with this technique, and chose to keep developing it.

I initially developed my ideas brainstorming everything on a mind map entitled ‘events’. From there, I chose the path which most interested me: landscapes and portraits. Every project brought me to experiment with something new, bringing to the development of my initial ideas. Works I am proud of include my first chiaroscuro self-portrait, along with the expressionist painting of the sunset over the mountains. I am also proud of my original character portrait and the expressionist painting of my shoe with a butterfly on it, which I produced for my art mock examination.

My outcomes are all linked by a general theme of nature, either being expressed in a landscape or a person’s face. I am personally very interested in the study of the human face, and I believe that humans and nature should always remain linked.

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