Colour me bad...

MONO is a free paper which has visual essays. I picked up Issue #3 last week, featuring 18 Unassisted Readymades by John Stezaker. These were unmanipulated images from the golden age of Hollywood. I couldn't help but give them a revamp, not by cutting and pasting like many of Stezaker's pieces, but by adding a little colour.
A bad case of 'red eye' there!

Rage against the history machine

Long ago I went to Powell's. Powell's is a maze of rooms stacked high with books, situated in an entire block in Portland. You can (and we did) spend hours in Powells, justifying any excess baggage allowance that we may face. One of my purchases there was The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. A perfect introduction to UWA (albeit one that isn't on the syllabus).
Women have been largely written out of art history, so it was great to read a book that actually celebrates women who have pushed boundaries within art. The book has some jarring quotations, such as the following from Renoir: "The woman artist is merely ridiculous, but I am in favour of the female singer and dancer". Check out the Guerrilla Girls website for how to get involved. Reading these horrors made me quite angry. I used a page in my sketchbook as an outlet for my rage.

Post frenzy???

Second post in one day - wow, I wonder what has come over me! This afternoon I have been making a mess, I flicked watercolour masking fluid on to paper, slowly layering on progressively darker layers of watercolour paint.
Is the outcome a picture of a distant galaxy? When not flicking paintbrushes on the dining table (I do have a desk - but that is another story) I have been cutting and ripping papers to make a collage. There is something very pleasing about collage, it reminds me of applique fuzzy felt shapes. When creating collage I'm always slightly tempted to stick on a pasta shell!
This flower reminds me of the yellow submarine. It's not all play here, as I have just finished reading Ways of Seeing by John Berger. If you are interested, someone has kindly added the original TV series to Youtube.

Back to the birdies...

At the last local craft fair there was a haberdashery stall. I had to resist the urge to spend all my pennies on more craft supplies. Some yarn managed to slip through! The ball (unlabelled) is of blue textured yarn with brown thread running along. Using a variety of crochet stitches I created a frame with it to weave embroidery threads through, trying to recreate the colours found on a kingfisher.

I have also been playing around with blue organza & cottons, using crayon coloured bondaweb or angelina fibres as glue, finished off with rough feather finger shapes on the sewing machine. I like the richness of combining the layers and the ghostly fibres trapped between.
I also tried to bleach a selection of blue fabrics I had. However they all resisted the bleach to a more or lesser extent. So I painted the samples with acrylics, trying to show feather movement.
Next, I have brought some beautiful Indian silk dupion which I hope to use for my final piece, though I better first check how it takes colour!

A milestone!

So 15 years ago I used to really enjoy painting, especially with acrylics. That 15 year old me decided to follow a science path and ditched the brushes. Fast-forward some years, some pretty major life experiences, and a fair amount of 9-5 working, and I'm back on the art trail. I've been doing textiles 1 with the OCA for almost two years (my deadline is looming), and all the way along blank paper has intimidated me. Empty white sheets of A3 or A4 (and even A5!) taunt me, so I fill them in bite-sized chunks, not wanting to commit to doing one large thing over all the space. That is until now.

I have achieved my first A4 (got to start somewhere!) acrylic painting, with paint to the edges and everything! It is certainly not the best painting known to man, and won't be winning any prizes, but I'm happy that I persevered (as I was so tempted to throw it away a few times!). Hopefully will be the start of a new way of working with blank spaces! So here it is, my kingfisher...

An easygoing Easter...

Lazy bank holiday scribbles in biro & pencil...
A rather tubby wood pigeon.
A disapproving blue tit - who looks like he is wearing a blue curly wig!
And a skinny looking kingfisher. I then attempted to create kingfisher feather patterns, using acrylic paints, brushes, sponges & the polystyrene pizza packaging! Messy & fun.
And finally ironed iridescent paper and plastic carrier bags, trying to capture the proportions of colour on a kingfishers coat.

Kingfishers & knitted hearts

I've found myself drawn to Kingfishers, these distinctive birds have beautiful vibrant blue and orange markings. Luckily for me they are this months coverstars on BBC Wildlife magazine, so many pictures to gaze over!
I've been trying to match their colours using a variety of materials...
Watercolours - not quite catching the vivid orange.
Drawing Inks, including adding a silver, to see if that would help with the shimmer.
And Promaker pens, quick and fun to use.

I have also finished one of my many ongoing knitting projects! An art student is attempting to cover a disused building in Limerick with 3,000 knitted A4 patches. Once the project is completed it will be turned into blankets for a local charity project. See here for more info. Any excuse to attempt to use up some of my wool stash. In lurid brights I made three patches for the project. Including one very cute heart taken from Stitch 'n Bitch.

Beaks & Bills...

Charles Darwin noted that bird beaks (or bills) have evolved to suit the ecological niche they fill. This has resulted in a great variety of different shapes and colours. Use of the term beak or bill seems to be associated with some confusion! Using some watercolour pencils I attempted to draw a few birdies.
The Arctic Tern, a strong seabird with a dark red beak, which dips down to the surface of the water to catch prey close to the surface.
The Common Teal, a dabbling duck which feeds on the surface without diving.
And the beautiful Kingfisher, with its long pointed bill for swooping to to water to get its prey.

Birds Birds Birds...

This week I have been mostly drawing birdies...
A rather proud bullfinch in watercolour.
Charcoal and pastel birdies - I like the greedy gannet and the cute penguin belly myself.
Penguin cut outs, are they happy or sinister shapes?
Using charcoal and a wet brush to create a bird in water.
And finally a little blue tit resting on some cherry blossom.

Tyvek trials

As I work my way through the various exercises in the Fabric Manipulation module, I find myself trying new techniques and materials. I brought some Tyvek to have a play around with. This curious material is used within the building industry, and looks like a heavy white paper. It can be painted, printed or sewn upon. When heat is added it creates interesting and unique effects. I painted a sheet with acrylic paint and then ironed on a low heat (and a sheet of greaseproof paper to protect!). Initially the Tyvek had subtle changes and then all of a sudden... a complete distortion of shape and texture! I'm sure using a heat gun may allow a better control of the changes. I then added a few stitches to the Tyvek using embroidery thread.
How do other people find using Tyvek? Any tips for use?

Peony Flower

I saw this picture in a magazine, and really liked the colours and shapes of the flower. I though it was a great starting point for some work. I used gouache paints to create the image below. I consciously tried to focus on the colours seen rather than the shapes. Overall I think this gives an impressionist effect.
I then created this mixed media piece; using felt, threads, papers and beads. It was quite fun to make. I think some parts of this are more successful than others, I particularly like the centre of the flower.

Copydex resist

I saw a great idea on craftster (a website that I am possibly addicted to) using masking fluid and watercolours to create portraits. Impressed by the end result and the simplicity of the method, I decided to give it a try. I only had copydex to hand, which I attempted to apply with an old paint brush. I soon learnt it was much easier to apply to the opposite end of the brush as the bristles soon stuck together! Anyways, behold the Montagu's Harrier...

Necklace Sketching

Hello, I have been busy drawing, everything & anything. I am starting to see real improvements in the quality of my drawing (and so modest too!). Here are some preliminary sketches, notes & even some mocked up paper beads I made on based three necklaces.
I then worked up a few larger pictures in different media. The picture above is using watercolour paints, coloured pencils and oil pastels.
And here is a collage I made based on one of the necklaces. This is probably my favorite recent piece, though excuse the dodgy camera work! It is made from coloured paper, tissue paper and oil pastels. Still lots more to do before the next posting (as ever!), am looking forward to playing (and getting very messy) with textile paints in the next week of two!