Sustained Investigation #9

Sustained Investigation #9: “Áki”

Oil Paints on Canvas

12” x 12”

My painting depicts a Scandinavian man, this piece is exploring the deeper roots of my Swedish heritage. My family’s lineage in Sweden traces back to Norse times. Although Nordic heritage has been lost for some time in Scandinavia, there has recently been a movement to restore cultural pride in these regions. This piece hopes to contribute towards the re-awakening of Nordic culture. This piece is titled “Áki”, a word derived from the photo-norse (old nordic) ᚨᚾᚢᛉ (anuz) meaning ancestor. I completed this piece using oil paints on canvas. For this piece, I wanted to focus on changing perspective so I used a generic reference to experiment with a different angle in my portrait. After a granite outline, I mixed the colours for my portrait using scarlet red, ph.blue, raw umber, and mild pale yellow (lacking cadmium and burnt Sienna). I applied base tones to the portrait and built up before applying a base colour for my background. For this portrait I enjoyed the process of working with oils and I hope to continue my process with oil painting, and develop technique as well as improve landscape backgrounds.