Unit 2 - Relationships - Artist Research

MFor my first artist I wanted to look at someone who used bright vivid colours in their work, which shows the food we are attracted to, and I found British painter Sarah Graham, born in 1977, in Hitchin. The majority of Sarah Graham's work is produced on canvas. Below shows some of her paintings, I thought she would be a really good first influence as she captures the bold bright colours of sweet packaging, which really draws the consumer in, she also shows the best brands through her paintings, which makes the viewer want to reach out and grab the item, I thought a really good thing I could take from her work is the depth of field, if you look closely at her work, you will realise that in most of her work she uses a soft blur as the background, this is something I could experiment with in my work. 

Mon Cheri Pop
Sarah Graham
Oil on canvas
As you can see in this painting Labeled 'Mon Cheri Pop' by Sarah Graham. I want to take Sarah Graham's use of a soft blur as the background, I want to use this shallow depth of field using my DSLR and a 50mm lens. This short depth of field really makes the foreground sharp and vivid, where as the the background is blurred and soft. If you look towards the stick of the lolly pop you will see that it is completely blurred 

Seventy Sweethearts
Sarah Graham
Oil on canvas
Sarah Graham mainly looks at sweets and ice creams, these tend to be foods with bright colours and that are visually advertising, For my initial shoot I have taken photographs of Harribos, I do not believe these were successful as they are not particularly interesting, but they do relate to Sarah Graham's work as there is a shallow depth of field.  

Sundae Bliss
Sarah Graham
Oil on canvas