Really not clear

It's not just the photography it's the subject that isn't clear! Was something I had seen on Pinterest, using tinfoil to capture a facial impression. But think I need to perfect it better than the above. Maybe working on someone else's face would work better too

Dates

I Was reviewing the box idea and felt was lacking some detail. All well and good just being black and white boxes symbolic of the good times and bad times, but when were those times? 

So I constructed a list of dates 

It would need concentrating though, I'm not going to use them all! 

Needed to test what would work on the box. Found a very large stencil I will use to uniform the boxes, keeping it very stark and plain. Very matter-of-fact. 

I had tried paint previously on the black cardboard but with the waterproof black paint underneath it would adhere to the surface. So it's spray paint I will be using and had black, silver and a metallic shiny silver. I will point out it was a tester and would most definitely need to mask carefully when putting on the boxes themselves. 

Black on black sadly doesn't work and I prefer the silver over the metallic shiny silver. 

I do think this idea is an improvement. As for the White boxes just going to use black.

 I will look to see if I can find white spray paint though as maybe just need to stick to white and black? 

 

Handprint 2

Another video sketch of a handprint. Using black paper this time and just water. Not just totally happy with it yet. The handprint dries quickly to begin with but the last impressions never completely fade until quite some time later and it's not exciting to be staring at one tiny blob. But that's one factor I dont have total control over, how it dries!

Somehow there is a shadow which appears, which I think must have been me opening a cupboard. So next time I will just leave it completely alone.

I experimented a bit with speed and reversing the clip for the handprint to re-appear which I think works quite well. Would be good to see this on a larger format - i.e. a projector, but I have no access to the one in the textile room at the college just now due to quite a lot of boxes, table etc piled up in front of the screen and the one in the main studio now has no computer attached! So will just have to be an idea for another time.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmFdlwUwdvM

Fading presence

Here is a link to the video sketch I was working on with the tripods set up in the kitchen last night.

The flashes you can see in the video are from the camera so not exactly perfect and still would have liked the speed to have been quicker but iMovie is only capable of 2000 increase in speed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6LJ9eiKgTo

Art students are odd creatures

It's only when I stopped to look what I was doing that I really realised how odd this looks...

2 tripods set up, in my kitchen- one for video the other for still- focused on a handprint drying on a bit of paper towel pinned against the wall... This seemed perfectly normal in my head. I can't stop laughing now! 

Playing around with my iPhone camera. Capturing me at my desk in college while everyone else is on summer holidays. 

Here is some more captures...

It's a see-saw act

With updating the blog it is very much a review and reflect act. I've just been puttering about these past 2 days in the studio just going with whatever naturally occurred but I always need to stop and reflect after so much so I can actually see what I have been doing. I know that may sound very strange, as surely I have been looking at what I have been doing these past few days? Well no, not really! You become that fixated on experimenting you are not really aware of what is going on. 

Happy with the work these past 2 days can see potential, which does ease the pressure. 

But also with this burst of creativity does mean energy and focus has been diverted away from sketchbooks. It's a see-saw act of either being on top of sketchbook stuff or being a roll with creative work! 

I have many bits of paper and notes to be added, so it's organised chaos really! 

1 month to go and the real experimenation has begun

Yes, 1 month until this creative practice 4 module has to be completed. I am making some progress now but I am still not convinced I really know which direction I am going in!

With having a studio to myself it has it's bonuses of not having to restrict myself in any way for space, as the days have gone on I have managed to spread further and further out.

Few snaps of what I have been up to....

 

 

 

The idea of the boxes came up when thinking about all that has happened just in these past 7 months alone. It has been a constant stream of one problem/issue to the next; straight after dealing with one another would come along with no let up. I wanted to replicate this idea of things piling up, being overwhelmed, trying to organise life. 

Original sketches (who would have thought I was practicing art!) were of using a gradation of white to black, but with the choice of black paint which is actually a waterproof paint for outside uses combined with standard matte white paint it mixed to a murky brown colour. 

But I prefer the stark white and black combination. White representative of normal everyday life clashed with the black which is very symbolic of those exhausting days of worry, anger and frustration, with the ratio to be very much in favour of black. 

Just been playing about with composition of the boxes. Have a mixture within one stack or two seperate stacks of white and black with the black towering far ahead of the white. Prefering the one stack just now anyway. 

I have another stack of cardboard boxes I have managed to get but have yet to paint, as if I am to follow this idea I need to have many more boxes to create this tower, which looks very unstable and could topple over at any point. But so far I have not continued this, well it's only been 2 days since I really kicked all this off, and have been experimenting with other things....

I had been thinking to use resin to explore the theme of preservation - but realistically not going to be enough time for this module but something to carry forward - but been experimenting with silicone instead, which is the most fowl smelling thing!! This very aged page is from a book found in an abandoned house. I wanted to 'seal' the moulding page to capture it's decay. Also the title of that page caught my eye. Using a silcone layer has turned a once fragile piece of paper into rubber, it's a fantastic tactile thing now. But it now has a shiny translucent cover too. 

These paint 'pieces' was using some of the left over black paint I had from pouring some out when painting boxes and wanted to use up. I love the glossy finish against the paper. 

Following on from the hand 'print' from previous - where I have since learnt that perhaps a disposable plastic glove would be better for cleaning up! - experimented with different mediums - sealant and paint - continuing this idea of present absence. 

Also something which stuck with me that Billy Connolly had said within a standup performance I was watching on DVD the other day (I've said it before and I will say it again, inspiration comes from everywhere!) "I am closer to death, than I am to birth." 

I'm not saying this is not just fully applicable to myself, as I not quite 23 yet and ideally have many years ahead of me yet. But life simply doesn't work out like that, you have no idea what day will be your last. 

This grim reality is something I was trying to convey in the repeating handprints, where there I 'inked' up my hand only once and continued handprinting, with the outline fading each time becoming more ghostly. However, I go slightly carried away with myself and wanting to create a complete series, did 24 handprints where 23 was enough! 

7/7 10 year anniversary

Listening to the radio today, every news report has been about the 10 year anniversary of the 7/7 bombings in London. 

There is a monument within Hyde Park erected in memory of those who died in 2005. 

52 stainless steel columns representing each life lost, within 4 clusters. Each cluster is symbolic of the 4 explosions which occurred. 

The winning design was that of Carmody Groake. 

White walls to black and white visuals

Studio space all to myself. Had to get rid of the white Walls 

I feel more aware of what I'm focusing on when I am surrounded by visuals. 

Cards out for sale

I have my spun wool cards out for sale in a few outlets: Peedie Hansel, For Arts Sake and Lynnfield Hotel. 

Research methods

Done. Fin. No more. Handed in all 3 parts to the Research Methods module yesterday. Leaving only Creative Practice to do. 

Now it's well overdue to have some fun as this assignment has basically sucked the social life from me- definitely an indication of what the dissertation writing will be like!!! So this weekend having a get together with Jenny and Norna, to of course, exchange creative ideas!