Monday 17 December 2012

Collagraph...

Recently I made a collagraph as an experimentation of lines and dept.
I covered MDF with polli-filla, cardboard, strips of wallpaper and strips of paper. I pushed wires into the polli-filla to get lines and i also drew free hand onto it.

I talked to my tutor Mary who suggested I talk to Des about it and how to print it. So off I went to find him, and find him I did! Des suggested I come down to the print workshop the following day to see how to go about printing it.
At the workshop I was shown how to ink a collagraph which is done very differently to other types of printing. Des told me that the whole board itself would take over an hour and a half to ink and it might not work so I was sent to the materials store to get it cut up into 6 small pieces to make the process quicker.

 When I came back I inked up one of the pieces which unfortunately was an incredibly slow process.
Finally I had one inked and off I went to get Des. He had to use a presser and press is several times to get the print to come out. Because the collagraph was deep a lot of it wouldn't print so I was told not to print the rest of them and that the board itself was effective enough.
This is the print I was left with:
I really like this print and even though it doesn't really relate to my cats eyes it does give an effect of lines that aren't defined. 

Monday 3 December 2012

Electrical Tape on a Wall... Exciting Stuff!

This was a project I did last week and the week before but because my memory card broke I'm only putting up pictures now.
First I put two A1 sheets together and stuck electrical tape vertically on it but as it progressed I started to put a slight curve and wiggle into the lines almost like an illusion. 

After that I put it on the wall outside my studio and continued to work with the tape on the wall continuing on the lines into a curve.

At the end of the curve I overlapped the tape to create texture and a contrast to the smooth lines. It ended with black tape meeting at a point. I did this to create the idea that the tape had faded and was lifeless, something filled with movement, illusion, colour and line was now dead and ordinary. 

The overall piece: 

I loved making this piece! Its based off the pictures I took on the motorway of the blurred cats eyes.. how the lines go from straight and smooth, to curving, to overlapping and tension and then to fade into the distance.

Friday 30 November 2012

Plaster Cast

I spent most of this week in the casting room trying to make casts of lines using wool, cardboard and stripped cardboard. Unfortunately it took me the majority of the week to eventually get the hang of how to cast. But, I did get some pretty cool lines with the cast cardboard.
I dripped ink down along the hollows to emphasis the lines a bit more. I think it's interesting how the ink took its own path and spread out into little veins along the high ridge.


 The coloured ink cast from behind. I really liked the shades of them and how they came through onto the other side.

Thursday 29 November 2012

Discipline Talks.. AH DECISIONS!

On Tuesday and Thursday we had fine art and design talks and how each subject works as the years progress. At first I had an idea of what I wanted to do but now after going to all the talks, I have no idea. All subjects grabbed my interest and now I'm completely lost in what to pick for my three electives after Christmas! Great! It doesn't help that I'm the most indecisive person ever.

Design is the area I think would suit me better but I did like what some of the fine art subjects had to offer like sculpture and print. Ah! I'm so lost. I know that the two weeks are only a trail run to get a taste for the subject but I just hope I can pick three that will give me a thrill.

Its going to be a long weekend deciding what three I'll pick. I hope I'll pick the right three and don't waste two weeks of a subject that I'm going to hate.

Monday 19 November 2012

Line instillation... sure what else is a stairs for?

I had a very productive weekend this week! I built a HUGE instillation (14ft  x 12ft) across a staircase and a balcony using coloured wool and wrapping them around the banisters.
The instillation is based on the cats eyes on the motorway and the lines created. 









I loved making this piece, even though after 5 hours of throwing wool up and down a stairs and over the balcony I started to get a bit sick of it! But I'm so happy with the result!

Thursday 15 November 2012

HERAKUT

 I came across Herakut by chance and was completely blown away by their work. A German duo made up of Akut (male) and Hera (female), hence the name. 

They're graffiti artists with a kick. They paint on walls like other urban artists but they also like to use wood, cardboard, sketchbooks, drawings and sculpture which sometimes reflects their graphic design backgrounds. They have released books show casing their works. 

I love their works! The animal heads and limps in the majority of the pieces are so unique compared to any artist I've seen that, when I first saw the work I couldn't help but think WOW! Even the detail and messiness of it is organised in a manner that it becomes part of the work. 
I like how the proportions of the characters are out of shape and thin with exaggerated lines and limps. 
The texture of the animal fur is interesting to look at and the way that in nearly all the pictures, the animals head is pulled over the persons head like a hood. Personally I think this creates symbolism. 

I suppose the main reason why I love Herakut so much is because I'm a huge animal lover and seeing these animated pictures really captured me. 

Unfortunately, I can't use Herakut in my contextual notebook or draw inspiration for my project from them because they have no relevance to my idea. 
I would love love LOVE to incorporate something like this into my idea but I honestly can't see a way in which I can :( 
Even though graffiti does use space, almost invading it... maybe I'll find a way around my dilemma.... maybe, just maybe....




Monday 12 November 2012

So much for the weekend

I had planned to get to a lot of work done over the weekend with regards to my project by gathering some primary research and coming up with a plan for a 3D piece but unfortunately my body had other plans. I spent the entire weekend with a tummy bug which meant I was confined to my bed! NOT FUN! However, I did manage to get some photos before the bug took full effect.










Thursday 8 November 2012

Tutor crit.

Today I talked to my tutors, Sylvia and Mary and I have to say it was a good insight into where I need to go.  I told them I'm looking at blurred light movement and they loved the photographs I had of the cats eyes on the motorway which I showed in a previous blog entry. Mary and Sylvia suggested I take more photos of light movement to expand my primary research. Sylvia suggested I should draw with a light and a camera which was an idea that interests me quiet a bit.

The cats eyes inspired me to do a few line drawings with colouring pencil, electrical tape and wire. My tutors thought the pieces I did where really good and said that I should do loads more pieces like those except to explore materials and come up with linear drawings. They also told me to make more 3D pieces and that it would be interesting for me to make a large scale 3D model based on lights and lines.

One thing that the tutors keep repeating to me is my time management.. I myself know that its a massive issue and its something I am trying to work on but somehow I just can't manage my time efficiently no matter what I try. I do get distracted easily so I'm trying to combat that with working with my headphones in when I'm at my desk to stop me from talking to people and looking around. I've been doing this all week and its safe to say that its working to some extent!
My tutors suggested I plan out my day and have a to do list and as I complete things I need to tick them off.
I'm not lying when I say that my time management is starting to really impact my work and progress, I need to knuckle down and work!

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Print making demo

Yesterday, I went to a  print demo with Des. He showed us around the studio and then talked us through the  different types of print making. I did lino print in secondary school and I loved it! Ever since then I had an interest in it. Print was one of the electives I was considering choosing after Christmas and after seeing how things work I am really looking into it i enjoyed the workshop a lot and Des' funny sense of humor livened up the studio space.

The first workshop starts next Tuesday and I honestly cannot wait!! The only problem is.. coming up with an idea to make a print from. It does look like it would have an impact with what I'm trying to achieve with blurred vision and blurred lights.

Monday 5 November 2012

Light movement.. on the MOTORWAY!

On the way home from college the other night, I had my camera at hand in my bag and the moon was full so I thought to myself "why not get a picture of the moon? it looks beautiful." Out came my camera and I snapped a few shots, I didn't manage to get a still image of the moon.. instead I ended up with these..













These images were created by the cats eyes on the road and the movement of the car. I love these pictures and they are so relevant to my project! I want to turn my attention to light movement.

Friday 2 November 2012

Light videos

I was on Youtube looking up videos to give me ideas for my project and I came across a few videos that involved light movement. It was interesting to see that when light moves it creates a blur of luminous colour. This has inspired me to look at light blurred movement as a section of my project. 


Tuesday 30 October 2012

Glow sticks they said.. be grand I said...

Its Halloween so what the heck, lets go a bit crazy with my project!
I got a crazy notion into my head when looking at blurred motion and lights. Why not use glow sticks to create a blurred light movement! So off I went and got myself some glow stick.
At first I just moved them around a black page to get motion:
One glow stick.
 Two glow sticks.

Then I cut them up to draw with the liquid:
 Drawing with the liquid from the stick.
 Held up against a window to get the glow effect.

 When a piece of paper is held behind it, the lines glow. 

I loved the movement created in the drawing and the light created. Even though I would love the cut open more tubes and make a massive piece like I had planned, but the smell from just one stick was enough to make me open every single window in the house and still feel drowsy after it. When I cut it open the tube burst and I destroyed the kitchen table, thankfully my mother wasn't at home to see her table almost radioactive.
 Safe to say I won't be cutting up anymore of those smelly chemical tubes! I want to keep my nose away from that smell.