Studio - Looking at colour

Friday 24^th February, 2017

Looking at colour.

This week we had critiques and mine went quite well. The response to my paintings was a positive one and I got a few ideas from it. I want to start looking at colour within paintings as well as the shapes within them.

I really wanted to paint my board black and then painting on top of that so that when the masking tape was peeled off, it would reveal a black background instead of the previous white ones. I didn’t initially intend on this being just a two-tone piece but as soon as I begun to sponge on the copper paint I knew it would look great with the black and I was thankfully right. Although the paint bled through the tape in a few parts I think this is a successful; piece because to me it is aesthetically pleasing. There is a nice contrast between the dark matte black and the metallic copper. The black definitely makes for a different mood to the painting than the white, it makes for a more sombre attitude. 

It was suggested in the critique that I try using the same colour but with added black and white as to create different shades throughout a single piece. I consider this piece my most successful this semester, as I love the aesthetics of it. This was a depiction of my orangery roof at home and because of the line running down the middle, it seems to cut the painting in two, letting the eye run across the top, leading to the bottom layer. Using the same colour in different tones make, the shapes form together nicely although they have these expanses of white between them.

Studio - Masking tape painting

Monday 20^th February, 2017.

Masking tape painting.

Instead of using a pencil to mark out the lines of the shapes I wanted to create, I used masking tape instead so that it would make bold white lines across the board. I tried this technique first on a small A4 board with only five colours. I did this because I didn’t want to over-complicate the piece with the element of colour so I didn’t think too much about that at this stage. 

I think using the masking tape makes the painting very successful. The bold white lines make the shapes clearer and frame them. I also sponged white with the colour as I didn’t want the painting to look too dark and I think it looks light and aesthetically pleasing while still having interest in its perception.

I tried the same technique on a bigger scale and on canvas instead of a board. The masking tape still made the same visual aesthetic however, I think I tried to fit too many objects into this painting so some of the simplicity of the first is lost within the busyness of this piece. The sponged –on white paint still gives the painting a soft look and is a technique I want to carry on using in my painting because of the interesting texture it also gives the painting.

Studio - Knowing what i'm doing finally

Friday 17^th February, 2017.

Knowing what I’m doing.

After a lot of deliberation and tears, I know what work I’m producing for my studio module this term. Before, I was just putting geometric shapes on a canvas and hoping they worked. Through the help of my tutors, I have found a much better way of working.

My strategy for making my work now is to draw little observational drawings of a place or object in a space and then to disfigure and manipulate it into geometric forms on a canvas or board. This has worked really well because it isn’t guess work as to what I’m trying to manipulate.

This was the first piece I produces for this module and I disliked it so much I didn’t finish it. There was no organisation to where I was placing the shapes or what colours I was using. Because of the dis-organisation the colours and shapes don’t look like they belong in the same painting. The only aspect that I liked about this painting was it’s background. I applied metallic paint to a piece of crumpled paper and dabbed it onto the board. I also did this with the silver in the circle.

After taking my tutors advice of using observational drawings to form my painting I produced this painting. This was of objects in the studios that I had manipulated into my perception of them. There are elements of it that I like such as the complimentary colours and each colour has a partnering colour. However, the overall aesthetic is messy and unorganised. The white lines do not match up correctly and the shapes are not emphasised enough. 

Studio - Personal art history

9^th February 2017

Personal art history

Practice - The start of second term

9^th February 2017

Initial ideas.

For this semester, we have to do group exhibition on our own. We have to find the place, do the fundraising and they work to put into it. In our group we decided to exhibit at Hartsholme Country Park in Lincoln. It’s a beautiful place full of nature and opportunities to work from.

We have to create site-spersific work and we have decided to call our exhibition ‘The Elements’, each member will be responding to a different element (earth, fire, wind and water).

I have chosen to look at earth as my element and my initial idea is to create sculptures in a geometric form either covered in images from the park or mirrors. My reason for this is that I want people to see a plinth but not what is on it so they are intrigued, come, look at the piece, and see the detail close-up. 

Studio - Artists and topics which has inspired and under-pin my work

1^st February 2017

Artists and topics which has inspired and under-pin my work.

Within my work, I can see that there has been three main topics running through my work in the past few years: nature, distortion and geometry. Nature has been in my work since I did A-levels and has continued to influence my work with effects from looking at Andy Goldworthy and Anya Gallaccio. However, last semester I took a step back from nature and decided to look at autobiographical work instead. I didn’t feel enthused about this work and I think is predominantly why I do not wish to carry on this line of work.

When I was at school struggling with maths, my teacher told me that everything in the world is made up of triangles and ever since, I have looked at objects differently. I see them as shapes instead of their use. Geometry first came into my work when I discovered Wassily Kandinsky during my foundation degree. I fell in love with his idea of automatic drawing and just drawing whatever come to mind. His bold geometric shapes and colour drew me to his work originally. I later drew images in a much more clinical way in geometric patterns. I also started using collage as a main medium in my work during my foundation degree. I combined all three topics within them to create distorted images of flowers in geometric patterns. I will revisit this for my practice module this semester.

Abigail Reynolds work with collage and distortion had great effects on my work last semester in my practice module and I intend to cross that over into my studio module this year by creating 3D collages.

Reflection

I was successful last semester and got a 2:1 overall. This semester again there is two modules running side-by-side; practice and studio. I intend on progressing from my practice module ideas of 3D collages but not with my autobiographical work from studio. I was a lot more passionate about physically making things than digitally.

Over the Christmas holidays, I have been painting more than anything else has and I want to include more painting into my work this semester within collage. My work has been driven by geometry in my most successful projects so I am going to aim for this to be at the forefront of my work this semester as it is a design and style that has interested me for years.

Also over the Christmas period, I have been reading Grayson Perry’s ‘Playing to the gallery’, which I have found very insightful. I agree with him that art can still be beautiful and that it doesn’t all need to be shocking but how the ‘just beautiful’ artwork is overlooked in today’s society. Id really like to explore this topic in my dissertation because I feel it is something that features in my own work; I do not make art to shock and to make a statement, I make art for it to be enjoyed.