Dear Inspector Smart,
I accept your request in helping you get the safe return of the art work titled “Self-Portrait” by Julie Dowling. I have attached important information regarding details on the portrait to help you in your case of returning it.
Now Inspector, I want to paint my own picture in your mind on what the painting really looks like. Firstly the painting was completed in 2002 and is a synthetic polymer paint, oil and red ochre on a 120 x 100cm canvas.
The artist”s painting is both historical and modern in the way Julie Dowling brings her Australian Aboriginal heritage and modern Australia together. Julie does this by painting her self in the center of the painting with how she is in today’s Australia and then in side her, she drew a painting of her ancestors from the time of the dreaming.
Inspector, the image in your mind may still be foggy but do not worry I have included much more information. You may not see it yet, but this painting has a huge degree of symbolism and is very representational in the way Julie painted her ancestors before the white invasion, full of freedom, happiness and crowed by family and friends, and then you see Julie herself alone with a barren landscape behind her. All though she painted the same desert landscape behind her in her today’s portrait and her ancestors one, she’s trying to make the point that it’s not the land that has changed it is the people.
In the presentation of her work, Julie painted the art work in portrait mode not landscape, for a traditional affect.
Inspector Smart, as you may know most artists use there art to explain what they are thinking or how they are feeling, and in Julie’s case that’s exactly what she did. The reason Julie painted the image of her family inside of her was to represent that she has not forgotten what used to be and that, which will always remain in her heart.
Inspector Smart, here is just a brief outline of the basic looks; in the foreground there is an image of a women with images of people on her shirt. In the background there is a barren desert landscape matching the one behind the images on her shirt with very few signs of grass or animal life.
Once the painting has been returned, I ask you should take some time to have a look at this piece of history.
Julie was very detailed in her work making the end result complete with high definition.
Inspector, In Julies work she different types of media to get different affects across. Julie used lines to recreate the rough landscape of the desert, the horizon and the clouds in the sky. Also line was used mainly to create the images and smaller details such as facial features.
Another aspect was the way Julie used shadow, you see Inspector with out shadow the image would not look 3D and would look flat and unrealistic.
Julie used shadows and tones to raze mounds or small hills, or to show age under eyes or lines on the face or even just to show where on the image the sun would hit the painting. In this painting Inspector color was not taking for granted. Julie used a dark tonal brown for her family and a lighter cream brown for her self to show black out breeding and the stolen generation. Color was used also to show the harshness of the desert around them and the light clouds in the sky to signal there wasn’t going to be rain anytime soon.
Julie used shape and size in her painting to show a rock from a small shrub, the nose from the eye, the shirt from the back landscape and Inspector without this there would We would not be able to tell one object from another.
The texture in the painting is as similar in importance as shape and size, in the fact that Julie used texture to show the roughness in the landscape, her straw like hair and ageing of the skin. With out this, the image would not be able to give of the harsh expression Julie was aiming for.
Inspector, you may start seeing a small image in your mind, well Julies painting is rough and jagged to show the hurt and loneness from the stolen happiness that was left behind when the white invaders took over. Julie put so much detail into the painting to make it seem more like a memory or a photo in which you can see right through her, rather than a painting on canvas.
Julie used space and placing to determine the on where about the focus of the painting was to be and the rest are smaller details to set the scene.
As you would guess Inspector, Julie herself is the largest image on the canvas making her the focus of the painting then following down to her family hidden inside her shirt.
Julie made her painting symmetrical to give even balance, the boldness and basic principles of her art.
Inspector, Julie made sure she painted the art for it to look like you were looking inside her and seeing what she feels, for example the way that she wishes in her heart that things were back like the dream crowed by friends and family, but on the out side she is a lone and sad.
Movement was used very little in Julie’s art, she used a bit on her hair to give the affect that the wind was passing through but did not use much because Julie wanted to create a form of stillness and silence to make people think about what she is trying to get you, Inspector to see.
