Saturday 29 September 2012

Painting Workshop

This weeks workshop is Painting, but here's the catch... 
...without a brush! :/
I decided to try out watercolours and inks, mainly because I don't use them that often and I think using them well can create some lovely art! ;)

Seeing as the aim was to create a painting without using a brush I looked for drippy style ink and watercolour art. That's how I came across Marc Allante! 

Seriously visit his website, he is very talented and creates some beautiful art! www.marcallante.com... I can't even pick a favourite so here are some examples: 

A Portrait of Hong Kong, (2012) Ink.
A Pollock's Point Break, Ink.

Pour Deux, Ink.

And so I used a similar style, I experimented with ink and watercolour by either letting it drip down the page 
with gravity or by directing it by blowing through as straw, or by using a hair dryer. I also used a sponge with the watercolour paints.


Black & Coloured Ink. Black ink was applied using a stick and coloured inks were splashed on, with drawing held vertically.


Final Painting for this workshop. This was based on a photo of my sister. I used a mix of watercolour and inks, the watercolour to paint the face was applied with a sponge and so it was easier to blend and create tone. The inks were applied with a stick and moved by blowing through a straw.

Saturday 22 September 2012

Lens Based Workshop

This weeks project was lens based (human form is still the theme) which meant we could play with Photography and produce a series of photographs or even a single photograph.... orrrrr we could create a Time Laps Animation, by taking many photos and putting them together to create a film. I chose photography mainly because I haven't really experimented with photography before.  

I took most inspiration from 2 famous photographers, Bill Brandt & Tono Stano, (www.tonostano.comboth quite similar in high contrast monochrome style and subject; the female nude. 

I love the strong contrast in both their works, my favourite Brandt is...




... and Stano is...


Sense (1992)
I wanted to create a similar photograph and so high in contrast, black and white and the human form will come from my female model. I chose a female model because I think the female figure has more curves which in my opinion would be nicer to photography especially close-ups. 

Some of my favourite photos... 

And here is my Final Photo...


... my initial idea was to capture the human form through one of the lenses in a pair of glasses and play with focus. But I ended up playing with the shadows created by the female form instead. I had a lot of fun whilst taking the photos and I managed to create some very interesting shapes with the help of different poses and carefully positioned lights. I think my photos are interesting and fun because they are abstract and you can interpret them any way you like, for example to me, my final photo reminds me of a tulip flower. 

I edited my photos slightly by using Photoshop to Desaturate the image to make it black and white and adjusting the Curves and Levels to create more contrast.

Saturday 15 September 2012

Fashion Workshop... My Designs

My design ideas are inspired by Marjorie Schick and African Tribal Neck Pieces:
Design 1.

Design 2.

Design 3.


Design 4.
Design 5.

Design 6.


My Final Design - Front and Back.
My materials were cotton, card circles wrapped in leftover yarn and foam circles wrapped in net fabric tied with a ribbon.

Final Piece!




Fashion Workshop

So as you can see this weeks workshop was fashion, the aim was to produce either a shoe or neck piece, and the item didn't have to be functional, it could be mainly sculptural. It needs to be made from recycled materials and scraps. 


Although I found a few very interesting shoes (like below) I was most drawn to the idea of making a neck piece. 
Shoe by Kobi Levi, plenty more of her creative designs at www.kobilevidesign.com


Shoe by Julian Hakes. More at www.hakes.co.uk
I found lots of very creative designs for neck pieces some, simple silver jewellery but creative in design, others creative in the material choice. 
Sharpening Necklace -  Blue By Victoria Mason.


I Heart Necklace By Victoria Mason.


By Doris Jurzak, she uses coloured PVC sheets. 
But I was mainly influenced by sculptural jewellery designer Marjorie Schick! 
I was drawn to her work because of its exaggerated scale, shapes and her use of bold, bright colours. her main materials are painted wood and paper mache. She also creates headdresses, ringsbracelets, earrings and shoes



My Favourite! 


To see more of her work click here.

Wednesday 12 September 2012

Back to College!

So I have had a pretty amazing summer, spent a month in Italia! And today Term 1 of college has started  and they got us straight back into it. For the next 6 weeks, we will have a different workshop every week all based around the Human Form. :)