Bob and Roberta Smith

Week 1: Sculpture

Today was my first sculpture, a few weeks ago in one of the lectures I had been really inspired by Robert Indiana and his LOVE sculpture, I love the idea of creating text into a visual sculpture. I really the scale of this sculptures, how a simple object word or quote can create such a bold, exciting and inspiring piece of art. 

 I was really excited to start a project with an idea that had been bouncing round my head for ages. Seeing all the materials and around and learning what they could do was so inspiration.  Using this idea I created my own "LOVE" out of clay in which I placed in the vacuum mould which created a plastic mould of clay letters. 

This is my vacuumed "LOVE" it was great fun doing this however there was not a big enough gab between lines within the "E" resulting in the plastic not being able to fit in between some of the gabs. After scoping my clay out of the mould, I mixed together a mixture of water and cement to pour into the mould to set. I cant wait till next week to see how my sculpture has turned out.

This week I have also done some research into sculpture to help with my project, I was really inspired by the work of Jack Pierson, he uses old shop letters to create new sculptural words.

I really like the use of colour within his work even thought his medium are not bought, only found it still fits together well. He has really considered the use of shape, colour and composition of the letters placed within sculpture.  Also the use of the wording seems to be really important within Pierson's work he has taken into consideration the look of the individual letter. As seen in Fame the letters are lit up with a fancy modern twist to the overall piece much like the word being shown.

Week 4: Print

I didn't get to make it to print this week as I had to go home for a funeral. Therefore I decided to do some printing at home, as I didn't have many resources available to me I went back to the basics of printing potato printing. Using a spoon I carved out my a thistle shape into two potatoes.

Even though this has slightly differed from the brief I really like the effect I have created, I stamped the two colours on top of each other to create a bold looking pattern this work has very much reminded me of the work of Rob Indiana.

Indiana's work looks eye catching and often consists of bold, simple, iconic images, especially numbers and short words like EAT, HUG, and, his best known example, LOVE. I really like the way he has used simple serif text to create a really exciting piece of art, this has made me really want to try and print some text similar to this. Using this idea I tried to create own image using different text on photoshop. Now I really want to try printing some of  my own.

Print

While researching something else I came across this gorgeous line etching by John Urban The Walrus 1969. I thought it really linked in well with my project by using nature and the environment as a theme. I really like the way to create the sea weed and other plants John Urban has used swirls and repeated line. Although the print is far from lifelike the careful detail and use of rubbing has created a really contrasting bold highlighting the life underwater.
Today I also tried to lino print my image at home although I did end up with a disappointing print. Resulting this I think I need to make a trip up to Sion Hill.

I quite like the sketchy feel to this print. The thistles look quite good however the patchy printing really lets the overall image down. I think it would look so much better with a deep block black highlighting the white detailed thistles.

Week 3: Print

This week I felt a little less prepare and inspired for lesson, so I decided to do some research into print making artsist I wanted to carry on the nature theme for my project but felt I needed some inspiration.  Consistently I stubble upon this awesome print by Arthur Boyd 1920 Figure and Flying Beast. (Dry Point). 

I felt great movement within his prints, even thought what seems unintentional of the artist, in the right hand corner of the image I feel looks quite like wildlife I don't really know the print is trying to convey but I quite like the feeling of letting viewing decide for themselves. There are a lot of bold wispy lines throughout which could be seen as grass or vines. I personally feel the image has a feel of freedom and nature however referring to the title I could be wrong. I really want to get this lose relax feel into my own prints.  I decieded to look futher in Arthur Boyd's work as his prints seem to have a strong nature theme running throughout.

Waterhole with birds near Alice Springs

Wimmera, Waterhole with Birds

I really like the lose relaxed feel to Arthur Boyd's work his style of print matches the subject matter of the image the freedom of nature. I really like this work and want to try creating a similar feeling within my own work. After exhausting etching I decided to move onto a different type of print; mono printing and once I started I couldn't stop. 

Using the thistles as a theme I carried on printing them, I really enjoyed mono printing, I thought I would quick fast prints out this however I found the longer I spent drawing out the print the better prints I seemed to produce. 

I even found taking the negative of the print created a great image in itself. However I feel I have really worn out the idea of printing thistles. I found myself wanting to move onto some a little more demanding.

Week 2: Printing

I came into this lesson once again really excited about printing I had already etched out my design into my metal plate, I was still working with a nature theme, over the week I had research and sketched many thistles and plants to which I wanted to print.

Using my favourite image I printed it using the same technique as last week however I found my prints last week to be quite heavy with a lot of ink creating quite dark area in place I didn't want. Therefore this week I wiped my metal quite dry to get more lighter and less and contrasting print. 

With the same technique as last week I printed my etched out design however I was really disappointed with the results, the print came out really faint, this was a result of over rubbing the plate and also I found I had not carved deep enough into my metal plate, even thought this was really disappointing I couldn't wait to try out another print.

Once I had worked into the metal plate a lot more, I found I had printed a much more interesting and defined print I had used my knowledge of the last few prints to establish what areas to rub and which area to leave to create a more high contrast and bold looking print. Overall I am really pleased with the final out come.