BA1b Fine Art - Reflective Journal & Project Research

I decided to move onto mixed media collages from the painting. I first painted out flowers within the shape and size of my woodcut, paying close attention to detail and the shading. Once it dried, I photocopied it so I had multiples to experiment with. The first mixed media collage I did involved printing on top of the painting and then adding text from the magazines that I had lying around. I specifically chose to use the words 'Stay Pretty, Stay You'  as I was inspired by a song that I was listening to at the time called 'Stay Pretty', and liked how powerful and motivational the words were and added my own words to make it my own.  For the second mixed media collage, I decided to cut up one of the photocopies into strips, and chose an image from one of magazines which I found quite artistic and also cut that into strips. I then alternated the strips - painting/magazine image/painting and so on to form this interrupted image. I then added text on top of this - ...

I wanted to try and incorporate painting into my project, especially after doing the painting workshop. I decided to use the design that I had used for my latest wood cut, which was the female face, side profile. I went and drew it out in my sketchbook, and started to paint it in a realistic way, completely contrasting the actual outlines and cartoonish proportions and design of the actual image. I used acrylics rather than oils as I prefer the quickness of acrylics, the ease of them over oils, however, I might try and use oils in the future. I tried to be as realistic as possible, using different tones for the skin and outlining the eyes and paying close attention to the highlights and shadows of the face.  Once I had done the face and hair, I opted to do add some flowers on the bottom, going back to this idea of feminine imagery and I liked the idea of the face coming out of the flowers, so to speak. I used outlines of different flowers for reference and again, paid attention...

After looking at the idea of female power and feminism, I decided to create a woodcut based off of the collages I had done in regards to censorship. I chose to go with a face design, carving out a female face, keeping it in side profile and the eyes closed as I liked the idea of the her not 'seeing any evil' and so one.  I did multiple prints with this design, a couple simple prints, showing the design, then I decided to incorporate different imagery - the feminism collage, adding text and images on top of the print and the eyes/mouths collages. I really liked how the different imagery added something different each time. In regards to the text, I wanted to incorporate the idea of being silenced as many women are whether it be in politics or in the work place or even at home. I wanted to channel this in this collage. I chose to use the same flowers as I did in one of my collages in my sketchbook as I liked how it looked, and softened this otherwise quite aggressive statement...

I decided to carry on with collage, and introduce imagery which relates to female power, something that I've started to look at through my first exploration into censorship and from my recent prints. I had been inspired recently by the women's march in America and across the world and I wanted to somehow incorporate these themes into my work so I chose images directly related to this event.  From here I played around with composition and tried to fill in the space with the imagery. I also decided to add some patterns as well, and used some adhesive floral fabric to do so, I wanted to specifically add some feminine patterns to help establish this feminine theme. I also added some text over the floral patterns to further emphasise the theme. Once I was happy with the design I decided to photocopy it so I had multiples to play around with and decided to print on top of it.  I chose to use the 'POWER' woodcut and my most recent face woodcut to print on top of this c...

This week, I decided to introduce new elements to my prints, or reintroduce them. I bought some patterned papers and fabrics and printed on top of them. I've had this idea for a while and acted on it this week. I liked the idea of combining feminine, delicate patterns and bold statements together. I really find this contrast of ideas interesting and worth exploring. I also like how it's combing both traditional prints and modern prints with the wood cuts and the patterned paper.  I used my most recent woodcut- 'Power (with a fist)' and the 'SEE NO EVIL' wood cut on top of these patterns. I used floral patterns and bold, geometric patterns. I used wrapping paper - shiny surface, patterned craft paper, matte finish, and fabrics. I liked the different effect of each print on the material - the boldness and glossiness of the print on the shiny wrapping paper, the more subdued effect on the craft paper, and the subtle imprint on the fabric. Each are effective in th...

After doing these collages I wanted to create a wood cut print which encompassed this theme of female power and courage, and decided to use the symbol of a fist in air with the word power on the top. I used an outline as reference and I really liked how this came out as a print. There was something about it that made it powerful. I first experimented with a double print - I printed a block of colour first, then printed the cut image in the complimentary colour afterwards. I really liked how striking these were and how they reminded me of a type of propaganda, like the 'We Need You!' WWI posters. I think the purple/yellow print looked the most effective out of the two. The yellow really makes the fist stand out. I then decided to print on top of feminist imagery, such as photographs from the women's march, as I felt this imagery would work well with the message behind the woodcut; the power of women, the strength of women etc. I also printed on top of the eyes collage, th...

After doing the collages, I looked back at the cutouts, and realised that they could make interesting pieces as I had cut out a gap where the eyes and mouths were. I suddenly got the idea of sticking the leftover image down and painting inside the cut out gap. I liked how it looked like a block-aid over their eyes and mouth and further added to the idea of censorship and women's portrayal in society.   At first I used different colours, but I felt they were too bright and decided to try using black acrylic paint to block out the features. I felt this was a better colour choice as it was dark and not too in your face and not too pop arty.  I then decided to take this idea one step further, by collaging images over the gaps. I really liked the idea of blocking out parts of the images of women from the magazines as it was playing with the idea of what is acceptable to view and also links to how censored the female body is, and how manipulated images of women are in magazines an...

I wanted to take a break from printing and experiment with collage, I had an idea of cutting out the eyes of models from the magazines which I had left over from previous workshops. I carefully selected eyes which were clear enough to see and started to collage them together. Before I started cutting I drew around one of the wood blocks that I grabbed for printing to make sure the collage was the same shape and size as my woodcut prints. As I was collaging these together, I realised that I was only using eyes from women as it was women's magazines that I was cutting from, however I preferred this, as I felt with the current issues surrounding women in today's society and current events like the Women's March, I felt it was empowering to use only females and it made it a strong point when I added the text - 'See No Evil'. I also added the evil eye print to this as well, I chose the print which I felt didn't look as effective as the others and cut it to fit this c...

This week was the second half of the paint workshop. This week we used oil paints and made paintings based on the shapes we were given, I was given a square, a square with a diamond cut out, and an arc. We were given canvas fabric for these paintings and I cut mine in half to allow me to do two paintings.  We first did an acrylic painting using black and white paint, and using the shapes in whatever way we wanted, we created an image which we would base our oil paintings on. I wanted to create this really neat, clean, painting using the shapes, and then distort them by stamping the shape on top of the clean shapes and creating this collision of chaos and order. I really liked how this came out, and I really liked the texture of the paint when it was stamped on with the paper cutout.  My first oil painting was closely based on the acrylic painting - first carefully painting out the shapes and then going over it with paint marks and I decided to paint outlines of squares...