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. 

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.

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.

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.

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!

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....

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.