Portrait Practise

I draw this a couple of weeks ago - it's a portrait of a model I saw on my Tumblr dashboard that caught my eye. Her hair is originally a bit darker and her eyes were brown, however I wanted to play with a little more colour. I haven't really drawn anything as well as this before so I'm pretty happy with it!

It isn't part of any projects of mine, it was just a way of keeping me occupied this holiday and building up my personal portfolio.

Disney Sketches

This week I've been having fun drawing Disney characters (well, Peter Pan and Alice) as part of my art project. I'm aware that Alice in Wonderland is over abused so I probably wont use my entire collection of drawings of her in my project but some may be useful. It's been a good way to try out my new set of Faber-Castell pencils I was given especially!

Summer Update

Seeing as I apologise frequently about my lack of consistent updates, I feel no need to start this post with yet another one. (though I do feel slightly guilty for not posting!)

I've finally finished my first year of my foundation degree! It's been an awesome year studying my favourite subject and I'm actually rather excited to start my second. I've achieved satisfying results, though I know I could have worked harder and received higher grades. I guess that's motivation to work even harder when I return in September, especially since it will be the year that counts.

Since my last post I've been to Kurt Schwitters exhibition at the Tate Britain and Ellen Gallagher's at the Tate Modern - I'll have posts on those to follow.

I've also started my fine art project for my second and final year of my foundation degree (a little early, I know) as I wish to keep myself occupied this summer. I only have a few cartoon sketches at the moment but I shall post those also.

And if that's not enough, I have pictures to post of Jonny Craig at The Underworld from just over a month ago.

Easter Holidays

I guess this is a formal apology to anyone who follows my blog about my lack of posts in the past week or so. I've had a lot of written modules to complete and submit recently and so I've been concentrating more on those than any art work that I have planned.

Just as an update; I haven't made any additions to my Fine Art collages since my last post (which was towards the end of March, whoops) but once I have completed my WBL report I should get back to working towards an outcome with them. However, I am currently working on a painting for my SPT module involving symbols. Naturally my fascination with Oriental culture has taken over - I don't want to give too much away before I can post an image of the final piece, but it involves Chinese dragons.

I'll stop being a terrible Fine Artist soon and post some more of my work.

Odd Collages 2

Continuing my experiments with collage, I've created a series using photographs from my childhood that explore memory distortion (my fine art project). Some of them are particularly odd, though I feel the majority of them work and convey my idea well. I paired one photograph I cut up with others - all of this should be apparent, if not, whoops.

These ones are from my "forest collection" which are less scary than the ones I made from my photos of Disneyland. The one below is my most favourite, whether it works well as part of my art project I'm unsure.

Odd Collages

If you have seen my previous posts then you may be aware that I have been experimenting with collage involving my own photographs and images from magazines. I've also been toying with composition, textures, line and materials as a way to incorporate something different to them.

Though simple, I thought that this collage using two of my own photographs (from inside my bedroom window and my front door, both taken accidentally and a very long time ago) was effective in man different ways. I liked the colour combination the photos created together for one element, but I particularly liked the way I positioned the image of the door over the windows and in the centre. The torn effect almost looks like the door is being revealed through the image of the windows, yet this cannot be possible as in the photograph, there is nothing directly outside the window. I like how this plays with the dimensions in images and asks the mind to consider ways that this can or cannot be possible.

This was a spontaneous collage I created to experiment with a lack of colour and what would happen if I added a section of bold colour, in this case, the holographic gold card. I then tried to reflect the angles created in the images I had taken from magazines by outlining them spontaneously in graphite crayon and black marker pen.

Roy Lichtenstein

Today I attended the Roy Lichtenstein exhibition at the Tate Modern in London. I'm an avid believer that it can never be a bad thing to experience things you are unsure of or may not particularly enjoy (at least, when it comes to art any way) as I like to keep an open mind and don't "knock it" before I try whatever it is. "It" in this case, Lichtenstein's art, did not originally appeal to me as his graphic-like canvases are - in texture and technique - simpler than the art I tend to enjoy.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to see such a variety of his work displayed throughout the exhibition. Ceramics dotted in primary colour and glamorous brass sculptures - two things I was most definitely not expecting. And in addition to this, the size of the canvases he produced was just spectacular. 'Interior with Waterlilies' was particularly illuminating; it was such a large canvas and incredibly bright, I actually had to squint a little when I saw it.

Some of Lichtenstein's experimentation with brush strokes and line drawings were also displayed, which I loved instantly. Quite a few of his paintings resembled Cubism (Lichtenstein openly admired Picasso as an artist) which I was instantly drawn to. 'Reflections on Interior with a Girl Drawing' I liked especially, but was most disappointed when I couldn't find a postcard of it. 

Lichtenstein's black and white collection was rather interesting as the form of the compositions became prominent and I thought his take on Chinese art was lovely. 

I didn't think I would be as drawn into the exhibition as I was; needless to say, I am glad I went. Details on the exhibition here for anyone who might be interested.

Experimenting with Collage

As part of my Skills, Process and Technologies workshops I've been experimenting with collage involving images of my own and general ones from magazines that take my fancy. These three practises were taken from a collage I created of images from Elle magazine - the background in the original is plain white, but silly me has forgotten to take photographs of it.

I made many photo copies of my original collage in both colour and black and white and experimented with extra layers, textures, colours and changes to the background. In the first image I cut the entire collage away from paper and applied it to holographic green card. The lighting on the card changes when you view the collage from different angles, making it look as if it has been places on a moving screen. In the second image above, I experimented mainly with drawing and overlay of other collages. This one with in black and white.

In this third image, I cut out simple shapes from a magazine displaying pastel colours and then placed them over shapes previously created in the colour to manipulate its colour. I then highlighted these areas with gold pen.

Ink Studies

I haven't worked in quink ink in so long and I don't believe I realised how much I'd missed it. It's so much more fun to work in as it gives off quite a spontaneous and uncontrollable effect, which I happen to like. These pieces will be used for my fine art project.

Aces & Eights

My most recent outing was to the Aces & Eights in Tufnell Park in London. It's a great little saloon bar with collaged walls, red lighting and a music venue in the basement. I only stayed to watch Viaheart and Thousand Autumns play who were great as always, despite having their set cut short which was a real shame. But overall it was a good night.

Horoscopes and Milestones

I'm going to start this post with a quote taken from my horoscope this month (courtesy of Elle magazine if you must know the source). "The New Moon on the 10th is a lucky time to start new projects, especially involving writing. On the 25th, the Full Moon in your career zone promises to reward the previous six months' hard work."

I'm not one to take my horoscope literally but in the past it has proven particularly accurate, much to my surprise. With this in mind, I spent today (the 25th February) pondering over what I could potentially be rewarded as I started both my degree and my current job six months ago.

I had prepared in advance for a presentation that I was to present this afternoon at college, which already had me jittery as I'm not the best of all speakers. However this was not an issue as I did not have to present to as many people as I initially thought and actually came out with some good feedback. I also received feedback from my tutors about my first semester, along with my dreaded module grades, which I was in no way excited to look at. But to my relief I had passed them all. I wasn't particularly impressed with the grades that I had received, though I know that I could have done better if I had made more effort.

I started to think that maybe I had been rewarded with the relief of passing my first semester after six months of balancing four varying modules all at once and struggling with the transition from A levels to FDA degree.

However, at work this evening (I currently work in an art and crafts store) I discovered that my temporary contract has ended and been replaced with a permanent one, something I have been anticipating for a good few months now. I need no longer stress myself with the thoughts of potentially losing the most fun job in retail - with a considerably good discount when you're an art student. The only downside (and it is quite a steep one) is that my hours have had to be dramatically cut in order for me to keep my job. They've been cut down to less than half to what I work now, which is is worrying, but still better than having no job at all. On a positive level, I will be given overtime when it's available, which is quite often so there is always a chance of earning a little extra money.

And so in many ways my past six months of hard work and energy have been rewarded - on different levels, but still rewarded. I feel this is a milestone that I have successfully reached, now all there is to do is keep going.

Composition Practise

I've been studying my own dreams as part of my fine art project and have been trying to record them visually, which isn't particularly easy. As my dreams are not always vivid, I've been practising drawing them in a way that reflects how vague aspects of them appear to me, whilst other elements are clear and recognisable.

Sketches done in free hand watercolour. Experiments with layering, something I think may be interesting to use in later work.

Life Drawing

Since the start of my foundation degree I have been practising my life drawing skills in workshops and have built up a body of large studies in pencil, ink and oil pastel. I thought it was time to share some of my favourite pieces. 

 

I feel that my most successful studies are the ones I experimented in media with and with composition. Just click the images to see a larger view.

Juergen Teller

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the ICA in London where Juergen Teller's exhibition is currently being held. It was extremely interesting - his collection of photographs displayed on the walls in the "reading room" were strange, graphic, unexpected, yet humanly natural. I highly recommend giving it a visit.

On the same day I also went to the Photographer's Gallery, currently host to the works of many collage artists. I was particularly excited by Peggy Franck and Laura Letinsky's work, both of which have given me inspiration (something I seem to lack recently) for my own art projects. I think I'll be taking another visit soon as I attended both galleries in a group and feel I did not pay the exhibitions as much attention as I could.