Drawing session- Monday 14th November

We were taken to the Holden gallery to see The “Drawing the Line” exhibition. I thought this was very interesting and some of the work was really inspirational. I loved the use of mark makings relating to my own work as I enjoy using mark making techniques in my drawings. I also loved the use of pattern and scale. I saw there were a lot of aboriginal patterns which were interesting. When we got back to the studio we had to create a collage drawing. It could be something that we developed from our sketchbook or something that relates to something we had already drawn. It was all about having a starting point and following through on it in development. I chose to draw a map as I have done drawings and samples of maps and journeys in my sketchbook. I liked the 3D style I have used, creating texture. I started cutting segments out and building on top of them to build up a surface.

Knit

I have thoroughly enjoyed doing "knit" for my second workshop. At the start I didn’t really get the hang of it, things just kept going wrong and breaking off. To overcome this I spent a lot of time in the knit room to improve on my skills and eventually got it right. I have done several knit samples over the four weeks, some for my technical file and some just for practice. After learning the techniques I wanted to expand and see how I could link knit with my own project. I felt this was a struggle at the start as knit wasn’t really what I wanted to do as my second workshop. I would have preferred machine embroidery as that would have linked better but I feel after a while I was able to link the knits in. I did this by looking at distressing the knits in a purposeful way which would link in with the distressing I have done with my photographs and samples in my sketchbooks. I also started to e-wrap to build up threads to create a textured surface. I have used a variety of colours and threads, some worked well but some didn’t as they don’t really connect to my project. I then started to build up layers and use a variety of threads and tensions in one sample. I feel these worked well and really show how I’m interpreting my project in to my knits. They look very manipulated and distressed and I have used several techniques combined together. I also started thinking about how I could bring the idea of a journey, linking back to my project of following a journey through Ian Brown's life by trying to create maps of threads, colours and tensions.

        Building up layers of yarns and using different strengths,

tensions and

techniques to create layered samples.

Deconstruction of big drawing

Today in our drawing session we had to deconstruct our big drawings. Change and challenge them and see how far we could go with them. We were told "don't be too precious" and that there is no finished outcome. Initially I worried about taking mine apart and demolishing it, as I didn't want to ruin what I had spent 3 days doing. We were given a list of words to think about when doing this. They were things like to pierce, roll, edge, multiply, condense, shatter, decompose and crumple. The word that really stood out to me straight away was shatter. I thought about how I could do this to my drawing. I started by cutting out rectangles and then binding the insides together using thread to create this effect....

I then started slicing bits out but not taking them out completely to create a 3D effect and weaving strips of my drawing together.

After doing the weaving I wanted to start adding other materials on top of my drawing. I started adding bits of coloured rags and bits of video tape to create more of a textured surface. I felt that adding colour was slightly daring.

I also joined up bits of threads and ribbons.

I felt like I was demolishing the inside of the drawing and being too scared to chop away at the whole thing by keeping the frame of the drawing very structure. I think this was because my drawing was already very textile and had a lot of things coming off it which made it hard to chop into bits. From this I decided to work on the edges breaking them apart and making them completely abstract. I cut a lot into the edges and started plating the strands I had to make a pattern.

I then thought about dangling bits of the drawing that had been cut out to create that never ending effect.

This almost bought the drawing to life and gave it a 3D feel. I also think it linked well with the word shatter, as they were little bits of the drawing, that had been shattered away from the original.

I felt at the end I was trying to reconstruct the drawing back together in some ways as I still wanted to keep it one piece and not lots of little ones as I felt it was abstract enough, this was my final outcome....

It felt like we were almost peeling away at what we had done but in reverse so starting with the last thing that completed the drawing and going back to when it was just a blank piece of paper. It really showed me what thought processes go in to drawing and how a drawing doesn't always have to be a finished piece with a final outcome.

Sleuths Spies and Lies..

For this project I chose to look at Ian Brown. I was drawn to him from the list as he is iconic and I like his music. I did a lot of research on him and his music. He was influenced strongly by the Mod era. I looked into Mod fashion and the colours that were used in this era. I also looked at how Ian Brown dresses and how this may influence fans, he wears a lot of leather and Adidas.

 I wanted to be a bit more detective and really dig deep, so I decided to go to where he is from, Warrington. Whilst at Warrington I took lots of photographs and did lots of observational drawings to back these up.

I used several types of media when doing these drawings and was slightly abstract and loose when doing them.

After looking closely around Warrington I started to imagine Ian Brown walking these streets and what journeys this place took him on. This got me looking closely at the buildings and how time has changed them- how they have eroded. I played on this idea and looked at how I could portray the ideas of weathering away and how different these buildings would have looked when Ian Brown was here.

Whilst on my visit to Warrington I came across this red telephone box. I really liked this because I feel its very iconic as its old fashioned, it relates to time again as once these telephone boxes would have been hi-tech, it also relates to Ian Brown being iconic.

I started doing samples using colours relating to the eroded buildings. I did these using threads and embroidery techniques learnt in hand processes.

After I did these samples I wanted to make this project more personal to me, I was trying to see how Ian Brown would have lived and what journeys he went on. So I came up with the idea of me putting my own mark on his life. I started working into photographs I had taken from Warrington and manipulating and distressing them to add my mark on them. I also used a lot of sewing in them to create textures.

Whilst doing this project I came across a textile designer called Mireille Gourbin.

  Her work is colourful and textural and I found it particularly inspiring. Her colour range is very specific. Her work looks distressed in a purposeful way.

I also found designer Tara Donovan. I love her use of mark makings in her work and I'm really inspired by them.

This relates to my own work in the use of line.

Big drawing

When starting my big drawing I didn't really know where to start. I did several experiments using different medias such as, oil bars, charcoal, pastels, pencils and graphite on a smaller scale to see what worked well and what didn't.

I started by mark making using splats of ink and flicking ink on to the page. This made the big white piece of paper seem easier to start working on as it wasn't as daunting.

I then starting to think about what I was actually going to draw and how it was going to relate to my project, so I started drawing around Cd's and doing lots of mark makings, making the drawing abstract.

Adding video tape to my drawing gave it textile quality and made it almost 3D in areas.

I continued doing mark makings which were very expressive and angry. This relates to how the fans of the Stone Roses would have felt when the band first split. I also added manipulated and broken up Cd's to show the same feelings.

I added Ian Brown's lyrics into the drawing and thought of ways of combining them into my drawing.

I wanted to bring stitch into my work to make it more interesting and create more textures.

This is an image of the final drawing. I'm pleased with the final outcome and I like the way its abstract but areas of it are very obvious so its a mix of both. I also liked working with black and white medias. Adding  resources and materials to it gives it a slight 3D style which I think is interesting.

Lecture

When in last week's lecture challenging preconceptions: time (Friday 5th November)  we had to think about the concepts of time. Whilst in this lecture I was very interested and excited by this:
Geramine Koh- knit work ongoing project since 1992.

Its a life-long piece made by unravelling used garments and re knitting them back together into a continuously growing object. It records the passage of time and effort and there will never be a final outcome as it just keeps going and going. Its a real measurement of time.

I also loved Martin Margiela installation which was held at

    Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1997.

He impregnated the garments with all sorts of moulds and watched how the garments changed throughout time. This is something I may write about for my assignment.

sketchbook blog

Starting a sketchbook can be quite a scary thing. That first crisp white page, unsure where to start. I feel I started my first one in an abstract and exciting way, using something that links to my chosen subject but not making it too obvious. I jumped straight into it. In my second sketchbook I took an alternative approach. I have been much more obvious and clearly shown what I’m looking at. When looking at other sketchbooks I noticed a lot of people start with observational drawings. As drawing isn’t my favourite aspect of my work it was too scary to start it with them. I have done a lot of expressive mark making in my sketchbooks and my work is expressive and free. This is shown through the distressing and manipulating I have done creating surface textures. I have also done several drawings, some observational, some more abstract. I have worked with several types of media such as, pencils, pens, inks, charcoal, graphite and oil bars. I have also used colour in some of the drawings and have really thought about the colour combinations relating to my subject. I have taken a lot of photographs clearly showing where I have done the drawings from and what I have been inspired by whilst at these places. I think clear development is shown throughout my sketchbook; however in parts it feels slightly scattered. I think this is because I am an expressive worker and when doing my sketchbook I don’t like having things in order, I like to show my inspirations and interests in an abstract way. I have done small descriptions explaining my experiments and drawings: how I did it and what I did. As my sketchbook goes on the processes develops. I have worked into several of my photographs using the skills I gained in my first workshop: hand processes, which show how I have interpreted my subject. I feel I need to do more observational drawings as other sketchbooks had much more in them and perhaps be more descriptive and write more about my work and my subject. I also need to explain my progression more clearly. I hadn’t added any research about artists and designers I have been looking at which still needs to be done as it is important for me to show how I am developing my ideas and what I am inspired by. I have added some of my knit samples into my sketchbook as they really relate to how I have interpreted my subject. I have clearly shown my starting points at the start of the project and done a lot of research. I then followed it onto me being more “detective”, not looking at the obvious, which got me thinking outside the box. This is shown when looking at how my subject is progressing. I have developed my ideas with drawings, photographs, colour and stitching samples.