Week 1: Printing

Today was my first printing lesson, I started off by trying to get inspired, I did some research in print makers and came across this awesome piece of work by Tom Hammick, Motorway Trees, monotype.

I loved the use of nature and the mix of collage and print. I partially liked the simple look to image, and the composition of the tress placed behind the fence.
I starting etching a dried thistle I had pervious sketched in my sketch book. I found this experience was really interesting. I had never done etching before, although I think I picked up the method quite quickly using a vary of different materials to make a mark. Below I placed my etched out metal plate. 

To create this image I used a  fine sheet of aluminium, using with some sharp tool like shovels to cut out my image onto the plate. The curved out image will area that will be printed onto paper.

Before printing I had to soak my paper in water, and inked up my sheet. Using small piece of card I scraped the ink onto my sheet of aluminium and  applied it into the groves of the metal. Then  whipped of the excess ink to apply in the cuts of the metal even more. Lastly clean scrum is then used to clean off the edges of the plate and the areas that are wanted white. Below I have placed my final print of the thistle

I used a heavy etching press to enable produce a nice looking print. The heavy pressure forced  the paper into the metal groves and inked the marks onto the paper. Overall I was really pleased with the final print I tried maybe different dry point with different amounts or ink and pressure

Lectures

Over the past two weeks I have had many lectures on Abstraction, Art Povera, Text an Image, and painting. I really enjoyed these lectures especially my lecture on abstraction, over the past few week I have researched many artist shown throughout the lectures which I found really inspired me.   
Matisse

Matisse's work is made up of colour, pattern, shape and balance evoking a mood of excitement and interest. Matisse gets his message across by stripping paint down to the bare minimum.
Robyn Denny

Above is an image by Robyn Denny, one of his most famous and popular painting is "Three Short Days in May". His work is about mapping an documenting events in space. His work has almost become a mix between figurative and abstraction. 

Jackson Pollock 

Pollocks paintings are made up of his own journeys, they are very instructive I feel his passions and ideas are worked into his paintings. He has an amense sense of colour and space. Each painting seems to have its own narrative. Expressing great energy, space and time within each piece of Pollocks work.   

Pietro Manzoni

Manzoni is a very experimental artist, he is seen as very direct and upbeat one of his most popular piece's is a "can of shit". His work is simple but full of expression. Another of his piece's is "Magic Base" He used a real person within an exhibition, he believed it took art back to the bare basics.
Cornelia Parker

Parker is inspired by the world around her. Her work has become very unique and universal, she believes her work is very powerful to the spectator and echo's great movement. Another of her most famous pieces is "At the bottom of this lake lies a fragment of the moon".

Tracey Emin

Tracey Emin has highly influenced many artist of today. She uses traditional materials, and sometimes has a poetic natural within her work. She is a very visual and experimental Artist. 

Richard Long

Richard Long art expresses the meaning on many people's lips; what is art? His work is made of natural products placed in a landscape and sometimes uses a lot of text.

Robert Indian

Robert Indian turns flat text into 3D letters, standing proud within cities and towns. His letters are carefully crafted and become greatly ascetically pleasing pieces of land art. A clever mix of text and sculpture.

Susan Hiller

Susan Hiller found lost language within art. Hiller created and made a shift from painting into a text base gallery.

Ghada Amer

Amer paints with a western narrative and uses images from pornography to draw paint or college into this work. He believes he is reclaiming romans sexuality. There is always a lot of action within his pieces.

Joanne Greenbaum

Greenbaum produces a mixture of drawings and paintings within his work. Greenbaum doesn't know her final outcome or idea until she is painting the finally piece. The artwork is almost seen as uncertain and sometimes unbalanced.

Chris Ofili

Ofifi is a previous turner prize winner! Ofifi has changed our sense of what a painting is and can be. The artwork is seen as quite carefully crafted and very detailed.

Week 4: Painting

Today was my last painting lesson. Today we were told to just experiment and develop our chosen subject.  Over the weekend I had really expanded my painting of a bracelet therefore I during this workshop I was to experiment with some other ideas. I decided to work back into my Ipod idea. Using my blind drawing I decided to try and copy the drawing into paint using many different types. I started just using the primary colours to paint in however as I got deeper into the image I found I needed to mix more colours to create a more powerful image. However I found my image was drawn off the paper, this created great composition.
Therefore I carried my painting on to another sheet of paper. This become quite an exciting piece. I liked the over finished painting however in places it looked scratchy and rushed. I think this may have been the brush I painted with. To give the image more imapact I used a fine line pen to engrave and work into the painting I found this created a more detailed and interesting drawing. It become quite assetically pleasing to create and look at. 

Art: Life Drawing

Today, I decided to go to a life drawing class. I felt that my Figurative drawing could be better. Therefore when I seen one available I thought why not?? Although I didn't stay to long I felt this experience quite valuable. Heres a few of the sketches I did throughout the day.

Although this didn't relate to my course I felt it quite an useful experience. I was able to try out my many different media's when drawing from life, my favourite was pen. I feel it defines and adds structure to the body. I feel this experience will help within my art work as it has helped me to relax a little bit within my drawing and give me more freedom, a day well spend!!

Week 3: Painting

Today was the third paining section. A little disappointing thinking its to be one of my last sessions. After the first two lessons, I had felt I have really developed my ideas, and I was buzzing to experiment further. After doing a lot of work over the weekend I had ideas flying all over the place. I decided to pin point an idea down so I started with some graph paper doing a few blind drawings of a bracelet I was wearing I loved the effect of a backdrop of graph paper. I did these drawing in thin pen and felt tip. They look quite unique but to simple on there own.  
 I wanted to take this idea of blind drawing further. I really liked the overall finish of the drawing the bracelet looks quite quirky but simple almost losing its look as bracelet.
I wanted to take this idea further therefore decided to work on it in different textured paint. Within the colours of the bracelet red, brown and yellow, after finish it it off with a dab of textured paint to add a nice finish and depth to the painting.  I was really excited to start developing my  ideas in paint this became a real exciting opportunity.

This is the image I came out with I used red, blue and yellow paint and to create this bracelet. I added texture paint, to add slight detail to the painting. Once it was dry I added ripped graph paper to add highlights to painting. To finish the image off I outlined the bracelet in black ink pen and added a wash. Overall I am really pleased with painting. The painting has lost its bracelet looks the image almost becomes landscape like. After doing a few more different scamps and ideas with the bracelet I wanted to try something different I decided to move back onto the idea of the blind Ipod drawing I had created. 

This was what became my final painting. This is only a section of the drawing. I used my blind drawing to recreate a painting in the three primary colours. Overall I was really pleased with my final painting. I was so pleased and inspired by this piece I ended up doing a larger version of this painting. 

Art: Research

Today I have been working on my research file. Throughout the drawing and painting workshops I have been jotting down different artists and pieces of work that have inspired or interested me. However today I decide to research much further into this. I was unaware how excitng this would become. I coulda help but share some of the gorgous pieces I found throughout my research.

Devendra Banhart

I adore Devendra Banharts work, I was really drawn into his childlike little drawings. His work is very much inspired from when he is travelling on tour with his bands. He creates many different eccentric characters within his work. His passion for music works parallel within his art work.

Marcel Dzama

Dzama also works extensively in sculpture, painting, collage, and film. Dzama's work has been used on the covers of a number of albums, notably The Else by They Might Be Giants, Guero by Beck and Reconstruction Site by The Weakerthans. His work looks very childish with bold block colours, very illustrative. At a glance his work looks fun and exciting however look deeper in to the image and he has a more darker side with characters holding guns and smoking. 

Ghada Amer

She is seen as a bit of a feminist. Her work is very contemporary. She is living and working in New York City. Much of her work deals with issues of gender and sexuality, particularly the representation of female nudes in art history as ideal objects rather than human beings with a sexuality and eroticism of their own.

Peter Doig

Peter Doig is a very contemporary artist. Themes running threw his work are that of magical realism stream, capturing timeless moments of perfect tranquillity, where photo-album memory flits in and out of waking dream. Many of Doig's pictures are landscapes, very abstract, with a number harking back to the snowy scenes of his childhood in Canada. Doig’s landscapes are splendidly layered formally and conceptually, and draw on assorted artists from art history, including Edvard Munch and Klimt.

Week 2: Painting

Today was my second day of painting. To be honest I had not enjoyed the last painting lesson so much, therefore was not looking forward to this lesson very much. However I came to be suprised. I started the day by exploring the different types of paint in my book. Such as the retardant, this didn't effect the paints look. But slowed down the drying process which abled me to work into the paint and explore its properties. I also used opaque paint by mixing it with the paint and placing it on top and underneath different coloured paint. I liked the shinny glaze it added to the paint. I also explored matt paint, I found this really dulled down the image and give it quite pastel look.  Lastly my favourite type of paint of the texture painted. I mixed it with many colours. I used it to thicken paint and add a different dimensions to my image. I also had fun making the paint into little peeks on my page. Almost reminding me of a mini little landscape crawling across my page. Overall I had really enjoyed experimenting with paint. I found it really inspired me for the rest of the session.

This was another experimental piece.. using red paint I slightly mixed it with a glaze to add a shine to image. I also added the retardant to the paint. This slowed down the drying process of the paint, which abled me to work an image into it. I really like this image. It works well with the contrasting blue of the graph paper. The carved out drawing adds real interest the painting, with a slight glaze just finished the painting off.

This was my final outcome of the day. Using a mixture of paints (opaque and texture) in different tones of orange and yellow. This added more dimensions to painting and lots interest. It has created quite a interesting background for my painting. Looking back I think I should of toned down the background slightly, as it is quite overpowering. I used blue and red paint to paint onto of my adventuous background. The painting was of a previous blind drawing drawn in the pervious week. I wasn't to pleased with the painting. It looked quite exciting to look at but sections didn't look quite right. However when carrying the painting home, many passers by commented on it. One even said "wouldn't look out of place in the Tate Modern". What a nice man?! 


While painting the pictures, I couldn't help be reminded of the work of Jackson Pollock. With the layers of paint carefully placed upon each other. However the meaning and process of his paintings and mine couldn't differ more.