12fp(s) - painting 16

When I was asked to extend my painting exhibition at the Filmhouse for an extra month (until the end of 2009), I decided to create some new Film-inspired Paintings for the display.


There were three film stills at that moment that I was particularly keen to paint, and in a flurry of creativity, I kinda ended up working on all three of them simultaneously; however the first of my three new paintings was a still from Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008).
I have not yet seen the film, but I was aware of this particular still, and really liked its colourful composition of Penelope Cruz' character posing against what looks like a graffitied garage door.

The painting itself looks more like a portrait than a film still (so it doesn't seem to easily fit with the rest of my Film-inspired Painting Series), and in my opinion there are weaknesses regarding the quality of the portrait: For example the image looks rather two-dimensional, yet the texture of the paint is a bit blotchy, which I find to distract from the subject of the painting.
Despite that issue, I still enjoy this painting simply for its softness and the almost pastel-like colour palette. It doesn't try to shout out or draw attention to itself, it just sits peacefully in the background.

12fp(s) - painting 15

After two months, the exhibition of my Film-inspired Painting Series came to a close this evening, which means that I can finally upload the following painting (cos I had forgotten to scan it before putting it on display at the Filmhouse!)


This was a strange little painting that I was inspired to do at the beginning of November thanks to Halloween.
I really liked the original film still: it had a vintage aesthetic to it, and in a kind of Beauty And The Beast moment, the interaction between Frankenstein's monster and the little girl illustrates the tenderness that hides underneath his grotesque appearance.

The painting would probably have looked more appealing if painted in the same Burnt Umber [brown] colour as my Bande a Part painting, however I wanted to do something a bit different from both that painting and my Hamlet Goes Business painting (which used blue), so green seemed like an intriguing choice...

I now think the green and white aesthetic looks too cold to convey the warmth of the relationship between the two characters, however it was an interesting challenge to work on.

12fp(s) - painting 14 [SOLD]

This was the first of many 'new' Film-inspired Paintings that I created as potential replacements for any paintings that sold during my solo exhibition (which ran from November 5th 2009 until January 4th 2010) at the Filmhouse cinema in Edinburgh.

I had been fascinated by the cinematography in Jean-Luc Godard's La Mepris [Contempt] for quite some time, and there were several stills featuring Brigitte Bardot that I thought would make interesting paintings (the still below for example).

...However I wasn't keen on using those stills for this painting series because, as with Painting 2 (from Aki Kaurismäki's Shadows In Paradise), I didn't like how those kinds of stills looked more like a portrait than a still image from a film. But after a bit of time researching I eventually found a pleasant Mediterranean-based film still that had an intriguing composition vaguely similar to my North By Northwest painting, and which loosely evoked a mood similar to the paintings of Edward Hopper, who is one of my favourite painters.

This was the first painting I had done in a few weeks, and I wasn't entirely sure what kind of aesthetic I wanted to achieve with it. I was changing my mind about various aspects of the painting as I went along, and I kept rushing things unnecessarily, which is rarely a good idea.
In the end I wasn't too pleased with the quality of the finished painting, however the addition of some dark ink over Bardot's character helped to draw attention away from the blotchy background (which had been really bugging me); and I think the strong aesthetic of the source film still also helped to mitigate any other issues I had.

It may not have been one of my stronger paintings (in my opinion), but apparently you learn from every mistake...

Pigment of Imagination: film now online in full!

BEFORE WATCHING: Please use headphones to get the best audio experience (built-in laptop speakers will not play any of the important low frequency bass & synth sounds, which ruins the atmosphere of the film!)



Pigment of Imagination is my short animated graduation film, which premiered on Monday 15 June 2009.
It is a 3 minute suspense story inspired by the films of Alfred Hitchcock and Jean-Luc Godard, along with an eclectic range of other influences in order to try and create something new and interesting that doesn't conform to the usual animation storylines and commercial restraints.

CREDITS:
- Written & Animated by: Andy Macpherson
- Script consultation by: Alan Mason
- Sound Design by: Chris Bathgate
- Woman performed by: Darryl Ryznar
- Woman filmed in Edinburgh by: Andy Macpherson
- Woman's voice by: Moira Paton
- Painter performed by: Andy Macpherson
- Painter filmed in Edinburgh by: Klodya Menting
- Dog performed by: Snoopy
- Dog (Snoopy the beagle) filmed in Budapest by: Annalise Wimmer
- Dog noises by: Sofi
- Thanks to ECA staff: Alan Mason, Marianne Gallagher, Morten Jonmark, Neil Kempsell, Madevi Dailly, Donald Holwill.
- Thanks to: Julia Petitperrin, Alison Cross, Aaron Johnston, Jessica Cope, Natasha Harrison, Lora Jensen, Ewan Green, Owen Rixon, Paul Morris, Chris Gough, Michael Oliver.
- ..."And Thanks to my parents for providing me with food and shelter; and for putting up with my equipment taking over the living room (for the past 12 months!)"
- Special Thanks to: Erica Weiste, Marianne Gallagher, Johanna Wagner.
- Edinburgh College of Art, MCMIX


Lots more information about the development of the film is available by clicking here and then scrolling down the page to access older articles about the development of the film].

The full film can be watched by anyone from my profiles on both Vimeo and YouTube