Staff Portraits

The Year 13 Art students worked on a series of teacher portraits earlier in the year before lock-down. They each selected a teacher and an artist who inspired them to create the painting. The process involved interviewing their teacher and photographing them in different positions before embarking on the final portrait. We think the results are spectacular and wanted to showcase the work on the web site because they have unfortunately missed out on a real-life exhibition.

Ms Davies

Mrs Malpass	by Stacey Spellman
	My acrylic painting of Mrs Malpass was inspired by Silvio Porzianto, a figurative painter . I chose this artist as my inspiration who prefers to use oil paint on large canvases. I was drawn to Porzianto's work because I liked the use of the dry brushstrokes and mark-making made in the painting alongside the paint splatters. I felt that the background in the painting made it more interesting. I chose Mrs Malpass as the subject of my painting as she has dark brown hair which I felt would contrast to the bright dry brush strokes and background. I chose to paint her side profile as it would be more similar to my artist copy and side profiles tend to look more 3D.

Mrs Malpass

by Stacey Spellman

My acrylic painting of Mrs Malpass was inspired by Silvio Porzianto, a figurative painter . I chose this artist as my inspiration who prefers to use oil paint on large canvases. I was drawn to Porzianto's work because I liked the use of the dry brushstrokes and mark-making made in the painting alongside the paint splatters. I felt that the background in the painting made it more interesting. I chose Mrs Malpass as the subject of my painting as she has dark brown hair which I felt would contrast to the bright dry brush strokes and background. I chose to paint her side profile as it would be more similar to my artist copy and side profiles tend to look more 3D.

Mr Owusu	by James Oliver
	For my painting I decided to choose an artist named Duncan Shoosmith. I chose this artist because he usually does portraits of people which went well with what I was painting, I really liked his technique when painting as he can use really bold colours which causes his portraits to stand out as well as layering his colours. This made his work really defined and quite rough which had a nice effect, this worked especially with faces as it exaggerated the features of the face such as the eyes and skin. I choose Mr Owusu as my teacher because I thought he’d be really interesting to paint and would work well with my artists style, Overall I think that my teacher painting turned out very well and I did the best I could to try and imitate my artists style. If I were to improve it I would’ve tried to make my brush strokes more distinct so that it was more like my artists and would’ve spent more time trying to get his skin colour right as it’s something I struggled with throughout.

Mr Owusu

by James Oliver

For my painting I decided to choose an artist named Duncan Shoosmith. I chose this artist because he usually does portraits of people which went well with what I was painting, I really liked his technique when painting as he can use really bold colours which causes his portraits to stand out as well as layering his colours. This made his work really defined and quite rough which had a nice effect, this worked especially with faces as it exaggerated the features of the face such as the eyes and skin. I choose Mr Owusu as my teacher because I thought he’d be really interesting to paint and would work well with my artists style, Overall I think that my teacher painting turned out very well and I did the best I could to try and imitate my artists style. If I were to improve it I would’ve tried to make my brush strokes more distinct so that it was more like my artists and would’ve spent more time trying to get his skin colour right as it’s something I struggled with throughout.

Mrs Brooker	by Charlotte Smith
	For my portrait project I chose to paint Mrs Brooker in the artist style of Collin Davidson; Their style consists of layers of free formed wide paint strokes and small details in the face. I chose Davidson to be my inspiration as I wanted to be more free and leisurely in my style on a wider scale to capture Mrs. Brooker's friendly and approachable nature through my years at Shenley.

Miss Anderson	by Zara Riaz
	For my painting, Miss Anderson was my focus as she was my maths teacher for a few years. Miss Anderson was always there to help me, and is the reason why I got the grades that I did for my maths GCSE. She made a subject I struggled with seem tolerable and interesting. Throughout my school life, Miss was constantly there for us, always giving advice when we needed it, and helping us develop a positive attitude towards our final months in year 11. These are the reasons why I have chosen Miss Anderson for my painting; she is one of the best teachers I ever had, and I will always be grateful to have been taught by her. My inspiration for the painting has come greatly from Paula Rego’s work. I believed that Rego’s style of realism and paint strokes would fit perfectly with my painting. I decided to go with an almost full body portrait instead of just a face as it is more of a challenge, especially working with different shades within the dress and background. Much like Rego’s work, I used oil paint, and in order to get her messy, blended style I used thicker sable brushes, except working with small details such as the face. I have kept most colours as cool toned, as they complement each other and bring the painting together as a whole.

Miss Anderson

by Zara Riaz

For my painting, Miss Anderson was my focus as she was my maths teacher for a few years. Miss Anderson was always there to help me, and is the reason why I got the grades that I did for my maths GCSE. She made a subject I struggled with seem tolerable and interesting. Throughout my school life, Miss was constantly there for us, always giving advice when we needed it, and helping us develop a positive attitude towards our final months in year 11. These are the reasons why I have chosen Miss Anderson for my painting; she is one of the best teachers I ever had, and I will always be grateful to have been taught by her.
My inspiration for the painting has come greatly from Paula Rego’s work. I believed that Rego’s style of realism and paint strokes would fit perfectly with my painting. I decided to go with an almost full body portrait instead of just a face as it is more of a challenge, especially working with different shades within the dress and background. Much like Rego’s work, I used oil paint, and in order to get her messy, blended style I used thicker sable brushes, except working with small details such as the face. I have kept most colours as cool toned, as they complement each other and bring the painting together as a whole.

Mr Seddon	by Kiran Charles
	For my Teacher portrait painting, I chose my English teacher Mr Seddon. Mr Seddon being one of my favourite teachers, made it was very interesting to paint and portray someone I would see often in school and be able to recognise them as they are visually, in a painting. I worked on my painting making use of acrylic paint and a photo-realistic painting style, which allowed me to capture all the tiny details that make Mr Seddon. It was also a very interesting experience because it had been the first time, I had painted someone with facial hair, which was quite out of my comfort zone, although I didn’t struggle and I found this to be my favourite part.

Mr Seddon

by Kiran Charles

For my Teacher portrait painting, I chose my English teacher Mr Seddon. Mr Seddon being one of my favourite teachers, made it was very interesting to paint and portray someone I would see often in school and be able to recognise them as they are visually, in a painting. I worked on my painting making use of acrylic paint and a photo-realistic painting style, which allowed me to capture all the tiny details that make Mr Seddon. It was also a very interesting experience because it had been the first time, I had painted someone with facial hair, which was quite out of my comfort zone, although I didn’t struggle and I found this to be my favourite part.

Mr Greenhalgh	by Hazel Phanchang-Basra
	Inspired by Malcolm T Liepke's loose painting style, my portrait of Mr Greenhalgh which focuses on expressing his figure as a role model but also as friendly and approachable. Due to my late application to the school, Mr Greenhalgh was the first member of staff who I met and have proceeded to look up to due to his enthusiasm and passion for the students at this school.

Mr West	by Paul Parmen
	For my teacher portrait I chose my biology teacher Mr West. This choice was refreshing for me as prior to choosing my model I had only had experience painting female models with soft facial structures that lacked strong definition and instead introduced me to rougher textures and shadows as well as the property of facial hair -a feature I had dreaded the thought of pursuing in paint. Besides being the only male teacher that I have for my A level topics, choosing a member of staff that I personally knew allowed the process of taking photographs to be a more casual and easy-going experience and allowed me to better explain my demands so that I could obtain images of the desired characteristics of my teacher that I wished to present in my painting.

Mr West

by Paul Parmen

For my teacher portrait I chose my biology teacher Mr West. This choice was refreshing for me as prior to choosing my model I had only had experience painting female models with soft facial structures that lacked strong definition and instead introduced me to rougher textures and shadows as well as the property of facial hair -a feature I had dreaded the thought of pursuing in paint. Besides being the only male teacher that I have for my A level topics, choosing a member of staff that I personally knew allowed the process of taking photographs to be a more casual and easy-going experience and allowed me to better explain my demands so that I could obtain images of the desired characteristics of my teacher that I wished to present in my painting.

Mrs Bradshaw	by Hollie-Jasmine Wills
	Christian Hook is a contemporary artist who uses a variety of vibrant colour to create his portraits. I took an interest in his various brushstroke patterns that are overlapped and complimented with drips and splatters of paint. His technique builds up a patch or block style, which is abstract and intriguing. I also took inspiration from Christian Hooks style for my teacher portrait because of the vibrant colours in his work. Specifically a portrait of Ian Mckellen, which is heavily dominated by vivid colours. I feel that Hook's bold use of colour in his sitters faces and backgrounds could possibly reflect the sitters inner-beauty or personality- the use of colour showcasing the vibrancy of the sitter as a person.

Mrs Bradshaw

by Hollie-Jasmine Wills

Christian Hook is a contemporary artist who uses a variety of vibrant colour to create his portraits. I took an interest in his various brushstroke patterns that are overlapped and complimented with drips and splatters of paint. His technique builds up a patch or block style, which is abstract and intriguing.

I also took inspiration from Christian Hooks style for my teacher portrait because of the vibrant colours in his work. Specifically a portrait of Ian Mckellen, which is heavily dominated by vivid colours. I feel that Hook's bold use of colour in his sitters faces and backgrounds could possibly reflect the sitters inner-beauty or personality- the use of colour showcasing the vibrancy of the sitter as a person.

Mr Doyle	by Milla Thomson
	I chose to paint Mr Doyle as my staff portrait because at the time I didn’t know many teachers and so I decided I wanted to paint him. As he is a PE teacher I chose the background to be out on the field. The artist I chose to do was Jeremy Lipking as I like the style as its very realistic but you can still see the brush strokes. In the end I think the painting resembled Mr Doyle and the artist I chose.

Mr Doyle

by Milla Thomson

I chose to paint Mr Doyle as my staff portrait because at the time I didn’t know many teachers and so I decided I wanted to paint him. As he is a PE teacher I chose the background to be out on the field. The artist I chose to do was Jeremy Lipking as I like the style as its very realistic but you can still see the brush strokes. In the end I think the painting resembled Mr Doyle and the artist I chose.

Mr Cross	by Isabel Cross
	This painting of Mr Cross was inspired by Jimmy Law’s work. I chose Law as my artist as I liked how he drew portraits but added splashes of colour to make it stand out. He uses a mixture of large, dry brushstrokes and wet strokes for a translucent effect. I used this is my painting and added a combination of warm and cool tones along with paint drips. Law also draws his subjects in a posed and serious manner, as well as mainly blending the skintone. Similarly, in my painting I told Mr Cross to ‘smoulder’ and I blended lots of colours to give his skin a smoother look.

Mr Cross

by Isabel Cross

This painting of Mr Cross was inspired by Jimmy Law’s work. I chose Law as my artist as I liked how he drew portraits but added splashes of colour to make it stand out. He uses a mixture of large, dry brushstrokes and wet strokes for a translucent effect. I used this is my painting and added a combination of warm and cool tones along with paint drips. Law also draws his subjects in a posed and serious manner, as well as mainly blending the skintone. Similarly, in my painting I told Mr Cross to ‘smoulder’ and I blended lots of colours to give his skin a smoother look.

Mrs Smith	by Katie Allen
	For my teacher portrait, I have chosen my music teacher - Mrs Smith. She is an inspiration to me, as I want to be a music teacher once I get the qualifications in University. I chose her because I felt that with the artist I chose (Joshua Miels), I could express her personality and how I saw her as my inspiration. I chose specific colours to use as my personal influence, these colours include blue (specifically french navy) and red as a complementary colour. I used specifically french navy as it is Mrs Smith’s favourite colour. Another influence in the choice of these colours is that blue and red are colours I associate with classical music, which the topic that Mrs Smith is teaching my class.

Mrs Smith

by Katie Allen

For my teacher portrait, I have chosen my music teacher - Mrs Smith. She is an inspiration to me, as I want to be a music teacher once I get the qualifications in University. I chose her because I felt that with the artist I chose (Joshua Miels), I could express her personality and how I saw her as my inspiration. I chose specific colours to use as my personal influence, these colours include blue (specifically french navy) and red as a complementary colour. I used specifically french navy as it is Mrs Smith’s favourite colour. Another influence in the choice of these colours is that blue and red are colours I associate with classical music, which the topic that Mrs Smith is teaching my class.

Mrs Sykes	by Lucy Stevens
	I chose to paint Mrs Sykes for my teacher portrait as she is my form tutor in Sixth Form. I chose her artistically as she has an interesting depth about her eyes and facial features that make the portrait stimulating. The pink undertones of her skin make her warmer and more pigmented, so her skin is nicer to paint. I painted Mrs Sykes in the style of Davide Cambria. His style is purely based on the exploration of identity and the destruction of colour on the human face. It was interesting to explore the hidden colours of her face and take apart the underlying fleshy tones to bring them into view. Cambria was appealing to me because of how captivating his pieces are and how, to some extent, how abstract they are. His meticulous placement of paint and brushstrokes are aesthetically pleasing to me along with the vibrancy and blocks of colour added to small area of the skin to liven his artwork up and make it more appealing. I’m really happy with how this piece came out and how I added my own twist to Cambria’s technique by leaving gaps of the canvas behind within the fingers to merge the colours together to accentuate her face as the main subject rather than her hand and hair.

Mrs Sykes

by Lucy Stevens

I chose to paint Mrs Sykes for my teacher portrait as she is my form tutor in Sixth Form. I chose her artistically as she has an interesting depth about her eyes and facial features that make the portrait stimulating. The pink undertones of her skin make her warmer and more pigmented, so her skin is nicer to paint. I painted Mrs Sykes in the style of Davide Cambria. His style is purely based on the exploration of identity and the destruction of colour on the human face.
It was interesting to explore the hidden colours of her face and take apart the underlying fleshy tones to bring them into view. Cambria was appealing to me because of how captivating his pieces are and how, to some extent, how abstract they are. His meticulous placement of paint and brushstrokes are aesthetically pleasing to me along with the vibrancy and blocks of colour added to small area of the skin to liven his artwork up and make it more appealing. I’m really happy with how this piece came out and how I added my own twist to Cambria’s technique by leaving gaps of the canvas behind within the fingers to merge the colours together to accentuate her face as the main subject rather than her hand and hair.

Shenley Brook End School

Staff Portraits

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