I found this workshop very useful, it helped to jog my memory of lost skills. however, i found it quite hard to produce something i had pictured in my head, it took a while to find the right tool, or use the right process in order to achieve what i set out to do. i decided to take a collage approach because i could use cut and resizing tools well, it allowed me to alter my painting in ways that would take ages without photoshop. from there, i played around with the saturation, contrast, and overlays to intensify colours. i like the many layers produced, and the ease of realising a piece of work before actually making it, i think in the future i will use this tool to sketch out ideas before making them by hand.
i had used video editing programs before but only to cut down projects, i learned many more techniques that i can take further. this video is made up of videos found on Pexel, i searched for clips that create anticipation- watching a train journey, writhing patterns and jellyfish. the sounds accompanying it provide an eerie atmosphere, no defined sounds just white noise. The lack of climax holds you in, keeps you waiting for something, i felt it was a lot easier to adhere to a theme with moving image because it is so immediate, it allows you to picture something in your head and produce it in minutes and if it doesn’t work out you can redo anything; very low risk. i feel this video is still i bit rough but with more spent on it i could consider more development.
I planned to carry on the worm like patterns in the prints but use paint to create them on a piece of wood instead. I learned from the weeks prior that my most effective ay of working was to not have a plan and just let it happen, i picked oil colours for this one as i could work into them for longer. i let this piece be influenced by all of the development, using parts of my favourite outcomes. Overall i like this piece however it lacks depth and feels quite design like and obvious instead of hold that mystery that im searching for.
The next piece i decided to plan out a bit more.
Inspired by Mathais Weischer i wanted to involve the illusion of turning a corner, i didnt want it to distract or be the main focus, however. the best way to do this was simplify it using a blocked out section, i did this with oil bar because i like the slightly rougher texture and that you can see the dark colour form underneath pulling through. i feel this section strengthens the composition. the next step was adding the squirming eels, i felt like if i just painted on top it would look flat so i scratched into and dragged out the oil bar. the next step was to incorporate the patterns ive used throughout because i feel they tie to a variety of imagery that fits my theme. i started painting in yellow acrylic but its didn’t stand out enough and looked to still and print like.
Ive chosen this Piece as my resolved work , i feel it is compositionally the strongest, it has depth and draws the eyes easily. i also feel it still displays the ideas and atmosphere i was trying to achieve. the dark background creates a space of nothingness, an eerie feeling, like something could be hidden by the blanked out corner. The flesh tones with yellow peeking through suggest something gory or gross, like veins, intestines or parasites. The eel like shapes tangled in, posses a confusion, your eyes try to follow the lines of each around getting tangled whilst trying to make sense of it. I am pleased that this work achieves the goal of not attaching itself like anything to specific whilst still sparking familiarity, you can recognise the shapes but they are placed in an unfamiliar setting. It is unsettling and requires you to take a few looks before deciding what it could be.
Collage allowed me to manipulate the context of an image which can produce confusion about what its is you are looking at. The red blobs are melting sorbet but when placed in a different setting it looks more alien like something emerging and taking over the space, the slimey red image creates a feeling of discomfort and need to figure out what is going on. I juxtaposed this with quite calm environments which emphasises the feeling that the red blob takes over.
i decided to use one of the print bases i had made to incorporate print together with collage. The collaged shapes are made up of a sponge cake, this triggered my fear of small holes so felt it was perfect, i know that often people with out the fear still feel uneasy looking at that kind of pattern. i aimed to replicate the accidental shapes in the print which ended up tying the two together well.
Continuing the patterns and drawings i have used before, if found this holey shape in a magazine that replicated what i had done before. it furthers the alien look of the first collage, a peaceful scene interjected by colours of fear and an unidentifiable shape. i particularly like the rubbed out picture with red lines running through, i did this by accident not expecting the picture to rub out but it ended up tying together well because i often stay away from the blockiness of collage.
Overall i am pleased by the outcomes of collage, however i will aim to be less precious in the future as i feel i took too long thinking it over instead of making full use of the freedoms collage can give. i prefer the idea of combing collage with other mediums so i plan to carry it on in the future.
Print week began with screen printing, using the photo emulsion technique. My work lends itself well to printing as the imagery is quite blocky so easy to recreate onto the screen. I decided to use my initial drawings to transfer as the were delicate so I thought it would look good combining it with other mediums. It took quite a few attempts to print the drawings the right way so I have lots of excess starting points to work with.
I decide to thicken the lines a little with pen as I was worries it would pick up well enough.
The first attempt didn’t work out how I expected, the lines aren’t strong enough and I didn’t mask off the edges, hence the mark on the right. After discussing with the lecturer I started to see how actually the disappearing lines could be a positive thing when combining it with other mediums or strengthened in other ways. We also talked about how the accidental mark could add to the piece compositionally. lots to think about and developments to be made.
Feelings disheartened by my failed? Attempts I used the time to prepare surfaces instead.
The first one accidentally produced some parasite like shapes which I intend to work into later. In all of these prints there are slight imperfections which I think are quite strong and with support other mediums well.
I moved onto Lino printing, I picked the eels coming out of water as the first one to cut into Lino.
I felt the first print was to illustrative and lacked depth or even any resemblance to eels in water. I decided to break them up by folding and scrunching the paper I printed them on to. I feel this look fits the theme well as the broken pieces reminds me of piecing together bits of information like a jigsaw. i moved on to the imagery from my original drawings.
Again i wasn’t fond of the blockiness of the print and wanted to break it up so decided to paint on the ink. This outcome had no mystery to it so i moved on to mono-printing.
i much preferred the look of monoprint, its a lot more subtle and leaves more to be discovered. the red ink looked creepy and speckled which holds connotations of fear and the unknown. i also noticed in the picture above that there was a slight print of what i had previously scratched into the ink plate, this gave me the idea to use the lino cut to pick up another layer.
This produced the feeling i was going for, the monoprint breaks up the lino print, forcing your mind to piece the rest together. i could perhaps create a series of these slightly changing to create a squirming, pulsating movement.
I began by exploring how easily people can be convinced so easily by something that may turn out to be illogical or false. It lead me to the need we have for an answer, how we don’t feel comfortable leaving something as a mystery. I looked into the psychology behind beliefs and came up with a mind map of research to feed into a feeling I want to portray.
Summed up, this mind map realises that it is our natural instinct as a way of protecting ourselves to search for patterns, learn by imitation and infer intentions. Our subconscious tells us to constantly make observations and fixate on the negative or dangerous as they pose the threat that we could avoid or fix. The unknown is the most natural fear, so we turn towards it and dig to reduce the threat. I plan to reproduce that feeling through the work I make so came up with a (still growing) mind map to discover how to do so.
The word ‘Writhing’ particularly popped out, it motivated to think more visually about the movements of 2d work. I produced two drawings of what I feel that would look like.
These drawings reminded me of blood vessels/nerves/bodily tissues, something verging on grotesque. I plan to use these style of drawings further into the project. As well as I feel they represent the word writhing well, I don’t feel like I have any supporting imagery to branch off from; these images were more like doodles form my head rather than something of substance. I began to look fro imagery to work from.
Eels are one of my fears yet I find them oddly endearing and beautiful, so I thought it would help fuel the concept. I think the way they squirm over each other is mesmerising, it reminds me of how people can get tangled up in knots trying to make sense of something inexplicable. I began with drawings of the subject.
We received a workshop on stretching paper, priming and using wet materials eg. bleach, ink, paint. I used the eel imagery to carry further as a starting point.
I noticed that a lot of my work just feels like a background or pattern and not much thought has gone into composition, I’m struggling to find objects for focus. Playing with the wet materials helped me gain a feel for them however, I don’t particularly like any of the pieces, they seem incoherent and irrelevant to my theme. it was perhaps limited due the time it took to stretch the paper which made me precious about it. I started painting on cardboard instead.
i like the textures created by ink and bleach to replicate the patterns of eels. I was particularly by the last one, i used wet emulsion and scratched into it with different tools, it reminds me of looking through a microscope to subtly squirming organisms. Starting to like my work, I felt motivated to relax and produce a larger piece.
I like the subtlety of the oil bar being dragged to the right and strengthened by the red pencil. however the outline could be bolder. I feel it really represents the word writhing but it is a bit too gentle to look at, there is no question of what it is or reluctancy to look at it. the composition is a little confused, I can’t see any strong focal point. there is lots to work off but it has successfully fuelled me further.
Two pieces of stretched paper failed so i decided to use them for excess paint and material i had, to see what comes of it.
The composition of both are a mess however they could be useful as prepared textured surfaces or as a practice for techniques. i like the cracking on the left one, its seems to be in the process of revealing something, presenting a mystery.
We then learnt a new technique, using the printers various settings to alter the colours or print onto alternative surfaces. i ad a couple attempts at this but am yet to use it to full potential.
i attempted to combine techniques iv’e learnt throughout this week onto one piece. i carried on the idea of scratching/peeling away paint to reveal i picture printed on acetate.
the composition needs a bit of work, but i like the idea of the peeled away areas, as well as the texture of the oil bar.
Abigail yeats CAP 