Weds 15th february - Life Drawing

I attended a life drawing class in order to infrom my Subject matter further. It helped expand my observational drawing and knowledge of the differences within skin. It gave me a wider view of  the varying ages of skin. The life model was a female round 28 years. I am really pleased with some of my longer drawings completed. Towards the end of the session we did two thirty minute drawings, these are the most succesful becasue i could focus more and turn my attention to the areas of the body where the skin was meeting and beginning to distort itself, creating amazing enveloping shapes, closing resembing the way fabric moves and holds itself.

asatate image weaved into warp, using a weft of wire.

ill

At  beginning of workshop four,  I came down with a bad bout of flu and tonsililtis, setting me back a fair amount in the set up of my loom for weave. Having come back feeling a lot better and coming in everyday for 2 weeks 9.30 to 4.30, I have caught up.

Im really pleased with the weaving i have done, although a slow process the result are great. I have found it hard interlinking my subject with the workshop of weave, and machine embroidery flows much better with it. Although i feel that my subject has allowed me to 'think outside the box' within weave. I havent stuck to the ordinary. I feel my most succesful sample is where i have printed one of my images onto asatate, cut it up and weaved it in to my warp. Using a weft of wire, it has allowed me to manipulate my image further. I used the young face within this sample and the warp threads running across the face almost disguise it as being old. I have tried to create an opposite and play around with the face, and identity.

Moving on

At this stage i felt it was really important to source my own images of the subject of age. I needed to classify the opposites i was looking at, and gain some observational images first hand. I used photoshop to manipulate the images i took. Working with a monochromatic colour palette, has really helped me identify contrast and line. I desperatly needed to focus on this in order to start sampling, and working with the lines of the face. The two faces i chose i feel represent a vast difference, not only are they 45 years apart the skin, the neck, the way the eyes are held in the sockets are beautiful on both parts. I have started sourcing materials that I wish to work with in order to sample in response to my images.
Muslin, Jersey, Scolatta cotton and Silk cotton Jemima are some of the fabrics that I feel will work well. The light and grainy textures will work as a good base and the jersey will be easily manipulated.

Project 2. Brief

I wanted project one and two to flow within my sketchbook. So the transition would be more of a thought process rather then a change in direction or task. Having decided to redirect myself and refine my colour palette i decided my brief would be

'Fully hone in my ideas and focus on key elements of the opposites within age of the facial features. Refine Colour Palette and strictly stick to it on order to show maturity and growth within sampling.'

Evaluation of Sampling so far.....

When initially being given the brief I did think it was rather broad, it allowed us to choose an area to explore freely. However looking back, if it was more specific I probably would have found it easier. Then again, this would not have been quite so much of a challenge.

I initially started with three opposites, ‘Delicacy: Crude’, ‘Tiny: Massive’, ‘Deliberate: Coincidence’. A mistake I made in the beginning was sourcing a lot of my visuals and inspiration from books, I chose images I like because of the juxtaposition they held when put together, however when Christmas came I still was hanging onto these images and I have found it hard to move on with my own work. Admittedly I should of thrown myself into my work at Christmas and not put it to one side, I sort of ‘fell out’ of the flow and this term I have found it hard to get back into it.

Within the project, so far I feel that I have managed to experiment with more of the university’s facilities. Within ‘Sleuths, Spies and Lies’ being new to Manchester and the university I wasn’t confident in the space or place I was living. This project however I have expanded my knowledge, I rented an SLR camera from the AV store, worked out printing onto tracing paper and acetate, discovered the Whitworth gallery and the Manchester Museum. I also have been better at gathering relevant materials. I have put to use the practices I have learnt in the embroidery workshop making relevant samples to my work. I do need to be more conscious and aware of time, I feel I have let myself down by not throwing myself into my project over Christmas, I would feel stronger within it if I had done so.

Selecting intermediate embroidery has allowed me to use the machine as a tool for drawing. In my project, it is incredibly important that I explore the detailing and opposites within the face, enlarging these and working with the machine has been crucial. I have also been able to explore further areas of embroidery such as, the princess pleater which has only strengthened my project.

I have come to a particular sticky area within my project, I have needed to hone in my ideas and edit my workings. Within my sketchbook, you can see my progression, but sometimes I feel my mind is moving much faster than my sketchbook, and I get lost. I have managed to move on from my original opposites and I have narrowed down my focus to just the opposites within the face.  I felt that my colour palette was not working; I needed to eliminate the reds and oranges and just stick to neutrals, as my work was much stronger. I also need to collect my sampling, really focus on the best qualities, and push forward with those. Elimination and direction is key now.

Gathering all my samples I can tell the qualities that are relevant and that I have been looking for within my project. I have been much more selective with materials and meticulous with processes within the second project. If I were to start again I would have been more focused on what the project was actually about, I would have pinpointed a topic rather than chosen such a broad outlook. I thought it would create more options of sampling but it has only made it harder to focus.

I have really realised the need to throw myself into a project and not forget about it for a period, I made that mistake over Christmas, it has set me back but I will not make it again.

Briefing

Having been given the very wide brief of choosing between opposites, it allows a lot of diversity.
It has given me a massive chance to explore what i really want to. I started off by brainstorming areas i am interested in, and techniques i have always wanted to try.

I was particularly interested in working with 'tiny:massive'. i have always worked from a more large scale and challenging myself with working with the opposite could be really good for me. I decided these three opposites i would explore 'Delicacy : Crude', 'Tiny : Massive' and 'Deliberate : Coincidence'.

I want the juxtaposition and contradiction of intimate detailing versus bold images to really show through within my work, i want to explore the delicacy of materials opposite the crudeness of colour and other surfaces and techniques.

To begin my work i went to the library to source material, after looking through journals and books i had acquired a mixture of contradictory images that inspired me within my ideas. Laying them out like a mood board i could visualise areas i wanted to look into, i want to use ink and bleach and enlarging photos, taking my own images, layering images on top of material, i want my embroidery workshop to hold a strong part of the delicate side to my work, working on detailing and intimate marking.

I noticed within my research that the face was a prominant subject, having used work from marlene dumas and jenny saville it was obvious that these iconic and strong images i was interetsted in. They have a shock factor, they use colour and abnormal sizes to grab the viewers attention, using this type of method against the delicacy of some other work that i have sourced provides an interesting and contraditory view.