'Record' Project: Conversation Collage.

I'd been wanting to experiment with collage for a while, and so I thought I'd try to convey the idea of conversation and communication through found imagery. I was using figures I cut out from some old dress patterns, I thought they were perfect as they were quite cartoon like but still aged. I'd drawn up some ideas beforehand and then started working with thread.

My first image using a thinner thread, this works really well. I think the black/white and colour combination is very complimentry. I want to try something busier though and see if I can build it up.

Built up with more characters and thread, I was thinking about old and new conversations. I now wanted to try using coloured figures instead of coloured thread.

I don't think this works as well, you lose the significance of the thread. The textures work quite nicely but I think I'm losing what the image is supposed to represent.

This image was a complete accident, I was trying to begin working with black space, and scanning on top of a piece I did in my sketchbook where I followed conversations as they were happening around me. Instead i got this. I think it's quite interesting and I love that you can see the lettering coming through in all shapes and sizes. It's made me think more about using black space and cut outs instead of the figures themselves, moving forward I think that is what I need to experiment with next.

'Record' Project: Monoprinting

I spent the day working on monoprints, after collecting some words from magazines, I settled for the word 'Going'. I thought it was interesting and open to interpret in different ways. I started creating some images in my sketchbook for possible printing.

I really enjoyed these images, I was working with the lines thinking about paths, or direction. I had some going off the page, to make it seem continuous, quite like the word, it's kind of constant.

Using the word itself, I really liked this idea but I thought it would be quite time consuming. The second image of the legs, I was thinking about journeys again. I eventually settled for this one because the image was so simple but really embodied the word. 

My final print, I'm really happy with how this came out. We were sharing ink prints round the room, and someone else's print came off on mine in the orange, but I quite like how it looks, adds something different I guess! I wish I had the chance to do a few more, but it was fun and a good way to get started on ideas with my project. 

'Make your Mark' Brief: Collagraph Printing.

We got to try out collagraph printing, one of the ways of doing this is cutting into layers of card, and adding layers/materials to alter the depth and texture. We had to use a viewfinder and pick different elements out from our sketchbook to turn into prints. Keeping with the brief, I decided to use parts of the graphic spreads we did earlier in the week. 

I tried to keep the shapes quite blocky and simple, but have lots of altering heights and bits of crossover. I also added some mesh material to give it texture. The actual cutting was okay, it was remembering which bits needed to be higher/lower in order for it to look a certain way that was the more difficult part!

The printing itself was really quick! I love how these came out, I'm glad I stuck to solid shapes and used the mesh material. I like how in some areas of overlap shapes have been isolated and so are completely white against the background. I think I'll definitely use this method of printing again, and maybe experiment with more colour than just black/white. 

I think this one (below) is my favourite, the lines are quite clean and the overlap worked out really well.

Fine Art: Brief Part 4: 2 Items.

As part of the brief we were challenged to find 2 items we could then create multiple things out of. I chose to use string and straws. I felt these items had a lot of potential in terms of shaping and structures. I started out trying out different lengths of the straws and just threading them onto the string to create lines. I thought it was interesting that because of the nature of the objects you could then bend and move these straight lines.

After this, I tried out creating a more structural/3D piece using the same methods.

This worked quite well, and you could change the shape as you wanted, it was a very flexible structure.

After this I wanted to focus more on the string, and decided to loop the string around a number of straws continuously. This would create a larger and much stronger structure. It worked well, and the straws were much harder to bend after being bound together. I liked how the combination can not only change the look of an object but the durability too.

Then I had an idea to cut holes in the sides of the straws, this would provide an alternative way of connecting the straws to the string, but also connecting/crossing straws together. I tried to combine all previous ideas into one here, threading them and creating a structure too, with the added new connections. I think this worked well, and overall as a task I found this quite challenging. Coming up with different ways of utilising everyday objects that are quite limited was hard, but it was great to focus on the different elements and characteristics of materials, and see how you can combine these to create something new.