Comparison- Jean Haines

Jean Haines has a unique style, she is a watercolour artist who has lived and travelled in many different countries which has allowed her to gradually develop her style. Living in China had a massive impact on Haines’ style; here is where she studied brush control. Haines later worked with artists from India and Pakistan which inspired her to create more colourful pieces compared to the pieces she created while living in Europe.

I began by looking at the techniques that Haines uses, and created studies using the same techniques. I didn’t create studies exactly like Haines but kept them more simple and didn’t add backgrounds; this is because I wanted to experiment with the studies I created. I took photos of the studies and ripped them up. This is unlike Haines’ work but I used watercolour and dripped it over the photos, the dripping technique is a technique that Haines uses. I ripped up the photos because Haines doesn’t add much detail to some of her work and instead only adds enough detail to be able to tell what the animal is. I wanted to achieve this same effect in a different way. I also think ripping up the photos adds a darker message which is what I wanted to achieve.

After ripping the photos, I began to experiment with different materials but I felt I was straying too far from Haines’ style so went back to using watercolour, I have begun layering photos on top of each other to obscure the animal further and make it less obvious of what animal I am using. I was inspired to do this with how Haines only paints the necessary details to create the animal.

I created a study which I wanted to look more similar to Haines’ style than the paintings that I had already done. I don’t feel as though it was successful because in many of Haines’ pieces, she uses bright colours and I want to portray a darker message in my work so using bright colours only made my message more confusing. I also found it difficult to mimic her style completely as to be able to take a photo of my study and manipulate it I need to have a certain amount of detail in the study beforehand. Painting with less detail would just mean that it would be impossible to decipher what I had created after being ripped up.

 I think the main difference between my work and Haines’ is that I am trying to convey a dark message of animal abuse whereas Haines’ work uses bright colours and portrays a happier message. In terms of style, I have created pieces that are more figurative than Haines, I have also mainly used watercolour drips on top of ripped up photos whereas Haines incorporates drips into her paintings.