"Spirit of Autumn, 2014" by Peter Corr
“I love the landscape and the changing weather conditions that we all experience in the UK and I wanted to somehow represent the changing seasons in my work, but perhaps through less traditional means and iconography. The idea of 'personifying' nature through the image of the female face seemed perfect for this subject. Although the series of paintings I produced don't employ the same level of intensely observed detail, I was clearly influenced by the style and work of the Pre-Raphaelite painters, Edward Burne Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. I particularly like this work because it uses a a number of different methods and techniques to model form and to create texture and detail; the detail of the girl's hair is achieved by using a sgraffito technique, scratching through layers of paint to give the illusion of an incised, tactile, almost tangible surface. In the foreground, the falling leaves and flowers rely on translucent layers of glaze to suggest movement and depth. The girl herself, modelled in light and shade, is not copied from a photograph or indeed any other painting, she is an invention, a personification of the beauty of Autumn.”
