Introduction
Welcome to Lightfoot’s Hackney Project, the working title for a new series of paintings by me, the artist Michael Lightfoot. It shall chronicle the evolution of a series of paintings of and about both the landscapes and inhabitants of Hackney, East London in 2012.
This blog is intended to be seen by anyone interested in the project, but in particular for people who have either modelled for these pictures, or may consider doing so. I have not always found it easy to find people willing to model for me in the past, and so as this particular series of pictures will require a variety of people to be depicted in them, I am hoping that by charting the development of the project on-line like this, I can allow people I have asked to consider modelling for one of these pictures to get some idea what they would be getting involved in were they to accept my offer to them to pose for me.
Hopefully, if you are one of those people I’ve asked to pose for a picture and you find the work presented here at all interesting, you will not mind becoming part of a picture yourself. So far, at this early stage of the project, I have mainly put either myself or people I know into the paintings, yet I am hoping that as the project evolves I may be able to convince people whom I have not met before whom I encounter out and about in Hackney to model for a part in one of the pictures. I have several pictures in mind that I want to create that require a number of figures to populate them, and so I am hoping I can paint a good variety of people into these pictures, wearing their own clothes and depicted as themselves within the picture.
It may therefore well be that you who are reading this are one such person whom I have approached in this regard; If so then I hope that what you see herein shall convince you to accept my offer. Generally speaking, your participation would require one or perhaps two sittings; the first need only be half an hour in length- so that I can take the photograph I shall initially work from- and then in some cases a follow up sitting of one or two hours may be required, depending on the complexity of your part in the picture, as I usually need to finish my depiction of a figure from life in order to breath some life into it. Please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss the matter further, and should you know anyone would may like to also take part then if I can find a part for them in a picture too I would be delighted to include them too. In this manner, with the assistance of people whom I both know and don’t know, I am hoping to create a substantial series of paintings that will form an enduring document of this part of London at this particular point in time, in such a way as only be achieved with paint on canvas.
