Archive for the Category »Project «

07
Mar

I’ve been working since 7am this morning on my 3D design project, and I think I’m making some headway with it.  At first I was making a headpiece, which was very pretty and I was really looking forward to making it.  However, I was told to change that 3 weeks into the project, so I had to start from scratch.  Why did I have to change it?  Simply because of my university application.  If I want to get into uni then it is better that my design is geared towards a fine art solution which can then go into my portfolio, since I am applying for the Fine Art course.  This has meant me going back to the drawing board, and trying to come up with a 3D piece that fits into what I’m doing on the rest of the course. This also applies to my Creative Textile course.

I got a book on Frank Stella from the library on Friday, which has really helped me.  I was totally stumped as to how to make a 3D piece into something like a painting.  I have been playing about with different things for the past 2 weeks, but without actually seeing some examples, it was really hard to visualise anything.  The book was a godsend, and very inspirational.  Frank Stella’s work is more like construction on canvas.  Here are a few samples of his work:

artwork_images_1112_98705_frank-stella.jpg

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As you can see his work is very colourful and leaps right out of the canvas.  His work has given me lots of ideas. So today the ideas finally started flowing.  I have to create a drawing, and based on those drawing I must create 4 prototypes from the following:

  1. Paper
  2. Card
  3. Wire
  4. Mixed Media

I already have some wire and paper pieces in class, but I managed to create some more at home.  I also created some card pieces today, but first here is a drawing I’ve been playing with:

Preliminary drawing for 3D fine art project

There are lots of overlapping materials here.  First of all I created a sample ‘canvas’.  For this task I took a piece of copper wire woven material.  It’s quite a thick ‘fabric’, but very jaggy and I’ve slashed myself several times on it! I then wove in 12 wire like sticks, then covered with wire mesh.

Canvas created from wire mesh and metal

After that, I placed on several pieces I created to see how they fit together.

Mixed media prototype for 3D design project

Mixed media prototype for 3D design project

Mixed media prototype for 3D design project

These are only basic ideas, but I really like where they are going.  I have lots of accompanying drawings which I hope to get further mileage out of. I think it will be interesting to see where it ends up, when I finally get them onto canvas!

05
Mar

I wanted to show a few more pieces I did yesterday in Creative Textiles.  I had my first assessment for this course yesterday, and thankfully I passed! We had to produce our moodboard, a design plan, and a minimum of 3 paper pieces (using painting and sewing techniques) and 3 textile pieces (dying, batik, devore, etc).

This one I knocked up whilst sitting have a cup of tea in the canteen.  It’s photographic paper which I drew on, then I added coloured ink and ran it under the tap, to let the ink drip off the paper.  I added more ink and repeated the process several times.  I am thinking that some of the patterns can be knitted into a textile piece, such at the chain pattern running through the centre.  That’s very easy to do.  Thankfully, I’ve been knitting since I was a child so it should take me too long to do.  I can add in stitching using the sewing machine to get the branch pattern.  Not sure how that will turn out but I’ll give it a go.

Ink drawing on photographic paper

I showed this piece the day before yesterday, but I added some stitching into it and covered in PVA glue and liquid latex, which will protect the fabric dye.

All seeing eye painted on calico with fabric dye and liquid latex

This piece was created using devore material which I soaked in liquid latex.  I blowed dried it then covered it in layers of fabric dye.  Now it feels like a stretchy latex material, but the patterns on it are quite interesting close up.

Devore fabric soaked in liquid latex and painted with dye

This final piece was made using wallpaper.  Again I used the latex but I thickened it and poured over the underside of the wallpaper, then poured inks over and brushed with some dye. The inks and dyes tend to stick really well to latex and creates interesting patterns. I really like the effect so I have managed to nab some more paper from college to practise on.

Anaglypta wallpaper brushed with liquid latex and painted with inks and fabric dye

30
Jan

This past week has been ridiculously busy! I have managed to get all but one piece done for Creative Composition, and I’m now working on my personal project for the past few days.  Understandably, I have had no time to visit anyone’s blog and I think I have about 90 articles to read! I will get through them all, I promise!

Some of you may remember a painting I created a couple of months ago for my personal project:

Jumped Into The River - A Prelude (Abstract Mixed Media Painting)

This was the final outcome for the first block of my project, and for this block the final outcome is a variation on this piece. The idea was to take this image further and I had taken sections of it and was going to recreate it perhaps in different textures or colours.  Well, I found this incredibly difficult.  I played about with different textures and colours, and none of the pieces I came up with did this painting any justice.

A couple of days ago I was trying out new textural ideas but although I loved the texture, I still couldn’t recreate this image.  This is the texture I came up with:

Wrinkled paper painted on canvas

I achieved this by priming my canvas with white emulsion and whilst it was wet I applied wet paper and emulsioned over it, creating this lovely wrinkled texture.

I then went through my book on Cubism and thought about collaging on top of this but that didn’t work out well either. So I came at the painting from a completely different angle. I thought of Kazimir Malevich, the originator of (Russian) Suprematism, which is the abstract art based on geometric forms.  This piece, also called Suprematism, is what inspired me:

Suprematism by Kazimir Malevich

I sketched out new imagery based on my painting but also inspired by Malevich.  You can see the motifs from my previous painting running through all of the images below. For instance, you will see that there are curved and straight lines.  These represent guitar strings and each image has six lines, except the second image which has twelve lines, because the section I am recreating has twelve guitar strings in it. The circles represent the area around the sound hole in an acoustic guitar.  You can see an inverted treble clef and an abstracted one. The rectangular shapes represent the bridge and pickups on an electric guitar.  The little tiny circles like dots scattered around the image represent the screws on the bridge. There are also six of these on each image. Now these are just rough images to get the composition down, but I really love where these are going:

Abstract sketch

Abstract sketch

Abstract sketch

Abstract sketch

I intend on putting these images onto textured canvasses and using rich colours such as gold, russet, blue, etc.  I have laid the foundations for the four canvasses, and have painted the first layer of watered down acrylic and have left it to dry. I will apply further layers of watered down colour and hopefully build up a rich background.  Here is the first layer:

Textured canvas with first layer of paint

I will have these paintings completed by tomorrow evening, as I want to hand them in on Monday, so I shall post the results when finished.  Sheesh that was a long post!

10
Jan

Here are a few images I created for Contextual Studies.  This piece is a recreation of Picasso’s ‘Woman in an Armchair’ and Dali’s ‘Masochistic Instrument’.  This is very different in style for me but I really like how it turned out. I painted the background with various streaks of paint then laid down the line on top. The female form within the window is from ‘Masochistic Instrument’, whilst the surrounding lines are from ‘Woman in an Armchair’. Painted in acrylic.

Abstract painting with nude female figure

This next piece is a recreation of Picasso’s ‘Woman in a Red Armchair’ and ‘The Studio’ and Dali’s ‘Architectonic Angelus of Millet’ and ‘Face of War’.  As you can see the bottom of the landscape is very dark.  This is the ‘Face of War’ part. I wanted this to be within the soil and therefore, within the darkness, since the original painting is about the Spanish Civil War.  I wanted to show vibrant colour on the left side since this is supposed to be Picasso in the process of painting.  In the original piece ‘The Studio’, Picasso is painting a woman, but I chose to represent him in a red armchair, painting the aggressor on the right side, which is taken from ‘Architectonic Angelus of Millet’. Painted in acrylic.

Abstract painting

This piece is based on Picasso’s Seated Bather and Dali’s Venus and a Sailor.  These elements are very small parts of each painting and I wanted to represent them in some form of seascape.  Painted in acrylic with collage pieces and tissue paper.

Abstract painting

This final piece is taken from Picasso’s ‘Weeping Woman’ and ‘Seated Bather’, and Dali’s ‘Venus and a Sailor’. I wanted to recreate the frenzied colour of ‘Weeping Woman’ but have again portrayed the various elements in a sort of landscape. This was painted on calico with oil pastels, glue, acrylics, quink and bleach.

Abstract mixed media painting

On a final note, I have added Google Friend Connect to my page, making it easy for people to join the site.  It means I can also see who joins, and I can visit their blogs should they wish to join.

18
Dec

Well perhaps I won’t stop washing my hair, but the hideous clothes I can do! I don’t really have hideous clothes but I have those ones that you wouldn’t be seen dead in, outside of your living room! You know the ones I’m talking about? The ones with holes, stained with paint but are the comfiest things since the invention of comfy things. Yep, those. I can’t wait. My three weeks of holidays have now officially started. I do have some things to work on as I said yesterday, but I’m further on than I thought I was, so all is not lost. As you know, I’m doing sculpture. Well last week I got to pour my head, and it was ready to start working on yesterday. I also have a plaster block to practice carving on so that  I don’t destroy my pretty head.  Anyway, I’d like to introduce my model to you:

I haven’t got a name for her yet, but I’m open to ideas. My theme is ‘dismantle’, so I’m trying to make her appear broken, hence the wire sticking out of the eye. I was thinking of perhaps attaching a fake eye to the wires or a RAM stick (you know, the computer chip?). I’m thinking of making her like a broken android, but who knows where it will lead.

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