A Change in Project
When entering my second semester, I decided to change my project to look at something that meant more to me.
When studying my A Levels, I had also taken Geography as well as art and at the time geography was as much of a passion of mine as was art. I learnt about how we as humans are the main cause for the planets destruction from deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest, Brazil to pollution in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. This is what has inspired me for this upcoming project, raising awareness through the use of image and colour about the destruction of the planet.
22/01/18
To begin this project, I started to experiment with colour digitally using Francoise Nielly as an influence; this was so I would get a feel for how to use colour and tone. I did three digital drawings on my laptop as studies of sections of Nielly's work. I loved how the colours used were both contrasting and complimentary. To continue, I will do some more studies from the digital prints using colour as the main theme.
As I have never done printing in this year I decided to go down to the printing workshop and do some monoprints. I chose monoprinting because since I'm not used to printing, it was quick and easy to do. Using different coloured sugar paper as well aa contrasting coloured ink. Once I had my paper and ink selected I chose different materials ranging from folks to the tip of my finger in order to create a range of pressure pints and textures. Overall, I feel like the prints have gone fairly well although partially unfinished.
29/01-05/02/18
When having a tutorial with Virginia we were talking about the concept of colour and the difference between a tonal and colourist painting. If there is different tones within the painting (using either white or black to lighten or darken the colour) then the painting is classed as a tonal painting. However, if the colours are on the same 'level' or 'spectrum' as each other (no white or black) then the painting is classed as a colour painting.
After taking a few photos of Emma's eyes I did a free hand painting on my studio wall using only green, yellow ocre and ultramarine. I added the same amount of white to each colour to try and get them the same shade as each other. Once I finished the painting I stepped back and looked at it and felt like it was really flat and was missing something. Therefore, I added a few streaks of black around the eyes and the bridge of the nose. This was to define some of the features. I also added the white to try and make certain areas stand out some more.
12/02/18
After deciding on keeping with the eyes, I got Emma to take a few photos of my eye. With wanting to have some emotion rather than two eyes staring at a camera I let my eyes water to add something else to the photo. When I was happy with my photo, I had it cropped and printed out onto a large piece of paper. I did this so I could experiment with size as well as with different coloured acrylic paint.
19/02/18
When deciding on what colour to use, I went back to my digital prints for reference. Using them as an influence I randomly added the acrylic paint onto the large print out of my eyes. Although I liked the colours I had used they had no reference they were purely to experiment with positioning and layering of the colours. After doing this experiment, it gave me a clear idea of where I was heading with layering paint on the left eye
After my experiment with the right eye, I felt like it was time to combine the idea of habitat destruction, colour and realism. I specifically chose these colours due to the fact they are very natural and people do tend to relate colours such as ocre, green and blue with the globe and nature. I also feel like the connection with the tear and the colours represent the negative impact humans are having on the planet. I kept the lower water line clear of paint as I felt from the right eye, this made the eye look vet closed off and clumpy. I wanted the eye to look simplistic and open which is why I kept the majority of the paint above eye. Paint was added to the nose and brow bone so the paint looked more random rather than thought out.
The overall look of the 2m x 1m paper with the two contrasting themes painted on the eyes.
After my experiment with the right eye, I felt like it was time to combine the idea of habitat destruction, colour and realism. I specifically chose these colours due to the fact they are very natural and people do tend to relate colours such as ocre, green and blue with the globe and nature. I also feel like the connection with the tear and the colours represent the negative impact humans are having on the planet. I kept the lower water line clear of paint as I felt from the right eye, this made the eye look vet closed off and clumpy. I wanted the eye to look simplistic and open which is why I kept the majority of the paint above eye. Paint was added to the nose and brow bone so the paint looked more random rather than thought out.
26/02/18
When having a basic idea of where I was heading with this project I went down to the workshop to make my own stretcher. Once the frame was made I stretched the canvas material around it and prepped the canvas with white emulsion paint. I used this because it was what I painted previous painting on my studio wall with. Then I drew two lines (one horizontal and one vertical) down the middle of the canvas to get a centre point and a reference of where to draw my image. Once the lines were drawn I lightly sketched out my image of the eyes leaving out any great detail.
05/03/18
When beginning to paint the skin tones with the oil paint, I noticed that the oil was soaking into the emulsion on the canvas which made it very difficult to blend colours into each other, which I find is very important when doing areas such as the skin tone. When noticing this I went back to prepping my canvas with the white acrylic which I know works well as a base for oil paint due to its PVA contents. Once this had dried I went back to using the oil paints. Using the turps as a method of thinning the oil paint, I quickly started to define the main contours of the face.
12/03/18
Doing the thin base of the skin took longer than expected and I was quickly becoming tired of the skin tone. I then stepped back and left the canvas alone till the following week. When coming back into my studio, I found that once the oil had completely set the piece began to take formation and the colours had looked better than the previous week. Therefore, once the thinner layer was dried I went over in thicker oil paint to add harsher contours and some details like the skin discolouration under the eyes and eyebrow hairs. As some areas were going to be covered in acrylic paint I left these as the first layer of thin oil paint as it would have just been a waste of oil paint.
26/03/18
When the left side of the painting was completed, I began on the right hand side of the piece. This side however, took longer than the left as there was no reference photo to base the painting off. I knew when beginning the right side I did not want it to be a mirror reflection of the left side. I wanted to add an abstract feel to the work rather than have just a standard mirrored painting. As on the left side the iris was painted in acrylic I knew I wanted to use oil for this area of the canvas. However, knowing where I wanting to place the other areas of acrylic onto the canvas was a harder decision; I knew as soon as the paint was on I would not be able to blend it out or cover it up. Therefore when adding the acrylic I had to use my gut instinct and do little areas at a time, then stepping back to see where I should add the next little but. I didn't want to add too much acrylic at one time as I wouldn't be able to take it off, but I would always be able to add a little more on.
02/04/18
With having the idea of representing the environment in the back of my head, I changed from using my typical material of paper and canvas and used recycled plastic bags as the base for my next painting. Walking around the studios, I asked if anyone was able to donate a range of plastic bags to my ranging in colour, texture and size. With these, I arranged in a random order on my studio wall and using black acrylic painted a thick outline of a hand. As this was freehand the image was slightly distorted and out of proportion. I then added hint of colour to add another layer to the image. I decided to use the image of the hand instead of eyes as the eyes were to represent what we see happening to the environment whereas the hands are what we do. Therefore creating a link between the plastic waste and the hands.
09/04/18
Keeping the theme of using recycled materials, when walking along the beach I noticed a large amount of washed up coal. I then had the idea of using this as a base for my next painting. Using a piece of MDF sized 30cm x 45cm and a hot glue gun I stuck each piece of coal onto the MDF individually, creating a textured collage of coal. Using the image of hands once again, using white acrylic I free hand painted these onto the coal looking at my left hand for reference of light and shape. Although colour was a main theme within this project, I liked how the natural colouring of the coal and the synthetic colour of the white acrylic contrasted against each other.
23/04/18
As sticking the coal to the MDF took longer than expected I haven't been able to do much else within my studio. However, when that piece was finished I began to think about how to get the public involved within my work as well as being able to raise awareness about the environment. Therefore, by using recycled plastic milk bottles and recycled glass jars I planted a range of flowers inside them filling the bottles and cartons a quarter full with clean water. I also had three separate jars coloured in black containing randomly coloured water. The idea behind this piece was to get people to water the flowers using the jars resulting in the coloured water to mix. As more people watered the flowers the more the colours would mix with other creating a different aesthetic each time the flowers are watered. After this piece, I no longer did anymore studio work as I focused on my essay sue on the 4th May.
Summary of project
Throughout my second project I started with he theme of colour and how it can represent the environment in its deteriorating form. Using artists such as Francoise Nielly as influence on how to use colour within my work I began experimenting using colour within my work. As I began to think more about incorporating the environment into my work, this is where I looked at the Venice Bienalle 2017 and the earth pavilion. Through this I was able to see how artists such as Michael Blazy and Michelle Stuart were about to create a correlation between urban influences such as trainers and literature with plant matter. From this I was able to expand my experiments from using canvas as a base to my work to using washed up and recycled materials such as coal, plastic bags and glass bottles. This is when I feel like I fully began to understand how to incorporate aspects of nature and environment into my artwork whilst creating a range of different contexts. Although I feel as the areas of work where I have used recycled materials and plant matter these have been my least favourite works within my project. I feel like my most successful piece was the set of eyes painted on the large canvas with oil and acrylic paint. This is because the colours used within the acrylic paint I feel compliment each other whilst creating a contrast between the realism of the skin tone.
Artists' Quote
"I am neither an expert in design nor am I particularly interested in it. I am interested in all kinds of strategies that that I used from other field that I think can pose interesting questions from the point of view of art" - Tobias Rehberger
To me, this quote says a lot. It shows that you may not need to be interested or the best at one specific form of art to exceed expectations but if you are interested in other aspects you are able to use those as a foundation of your ideas and create a context and meaning around your work.