Figural Artists of Note

Bethan Hamilton.

Image from WeAreOCA, October 2016.

Today I read the interview written up as In conversation with Bethan Hamilton by Joanne, 20 September WeAreOCA. As I contemplate the nature of this final section of Drawing 1, I am seeking inspiration and direction for my continued practice. One path I am considering is to continue to explore portraiture; maybe self-portraiture in particular. According to Bethan Hamilton, “self portraits grant you a lot more freedom than portraits do”
What inspired me about reading the interview with Bethan Hamilton is that she takes everyday occasions, like eating a bowl of spaghetti and turns it into a quirky and intriguing pencil sketch. She also harps on break the stereotypic feminine body image that is portrayed in the media, by deliberately sourcing images of people with obesity problems.

One portrait series that appeals to me is her Splosh Series in which she obstructs part of her face with flowing liquid. I really find it appealing when a contrast of this nature break up the regular appearance of the image, adding intrigue to the image.

Cyclists. Vasko Lipovac.

Another artist who focusses on rather obese figural forms, and who recently was on exhibition in Cetnje, Montenegro, is Vasko Lipovac. Lipovac's work might appear whimsical and humorous, but he desires to mirror the “numerous social changes he witnessed”, and provide ‘critique of the people and circumstances which made him feel indirectly responsible and prompted him to at least try to draw attention to certain injustices” that he is unable to change personally. (Montenegrin Art Gallery Miodrag Dado Duric, October 2016, p. 20) After a period of working with dark colours and abstraction he returned to figural works. He was fascinated with the role of “sculpture in public space through the introduction of new materials – plastic, concrete, stainless steel, aluminum, asbestos”, which allowed for “modular solutions in public spaces”. (Montenegrin Art Gallery Miodrag Dado Duric, October 2016, p. 23) His intent was to encourage people to commune with space as he felt that this would make them better people. He would often corroborate with architects in designing living spaces. 

He became fascinated by the muscular form of athletes competing in varying physical activities from cycling, swimming, rowing, gymnastics etc. He depersonalized their forms to create harmonious balanced proportions which he executed in paintings, wooden sculptures and highly reflective polished brass sculptures in which the viewer can view their own mirrored image. His Cyclist series was featured as part of the exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of cycling in the world at the Split Waterfront in Lausanne, 2000, Olympic Museum, as well as part of exhibitions at the commencement of the Tour de France, 2014. (Montenegrin Art Gallery Miodrag Dado Duric, October 2016, p. 24) Like the figures in The Burghers of Calais, each figure in the sculpture seems intent on completing a race which they are not physically or emotionally prepared for. Their rotund physiques indicate that they are not the supremely refined forms of seriously committed cyclists. “Serious and reticent, they focused upon the track in front of them, as if saying: it won’t be easy to win the race, but let me be noticed at least.” (Montenegrin Art Gallery Miodrag Dado Duric, October 2016, p. 25)

His figures are a blend of the appearance of naïve folk art in their negation of academic bodily proportions. This leaves them more intriguing and mystifying at the same time. One wants to ask questions as to why he chose to portray figures in this manner. “My works are mild erotica. Erotica is something that attracts humans, if they are normal. Both when they are young, and when they are 75 or 85…” (quoted in Montenegrin Art Gallery Miodrag Dado Duric, October 2016, p.27)
He is known to have used color as an escapism from the bleakness of the Balkans during this period. He often used primary colors; with a blue reminiscent of Klein’s blue. This represented for him “truth, wisdom, peace, contemplation, the unity of the sky and the sea, the colour of infinite space, which is vast and can contain everything.” (quoted in Montenegrin Art Gallery Miodrag Dado Duric, October 2016, p.29)

His art is reminiscent of the ironical and intriguing simplicity of forms of works such as Alexander Calder and Joan Miró. However, he endeavors to imbue his work with the “vibrant urban fabric of a typical Mediterranean everyday life.” (Montenegrin Art Gallery Miodrag Dado Duric, October 2016, p. 64) 

Works Cited

Montenegrian Art Gallery Miodrag Dado Duric, October 2016. Lipovac. Cetnje: National Museum of Montenegro.

WeAreOCA, 20 September, 2016. In conversation with Bethan Hamilton by Joanne

Tuesday, 6 September 2011

Reflections on Introduction to Graphic Design

Important concepts covered in materials:

The A sizes (mm) A0 841 x 1189 AI 594 x 841 A2 420 x594 A3 297 x 420 A4 210 x297 45 148x 210 A6 105 x 148 A7 74 x 105 A8 52x74

 “A sizes describe paper.  B sizes are larger and used for printing as they include a trim and C sizes are for envelopes which contain A sizes.”
v  In ISO sizes each paper size works on the ratio of 1: .
v  Paper is either mechanically or chemically produced. Chemicals such as calcium and chlorine free, non-toxic bleach are added to increase the quality of the paper for printing.
v  The weight of the paper helps to describe its thickness. Weights are worked out by weighing reams of 500 sheets each a metre square to get a grams per square metre reading (gsm). Photocopy paper is normally 80gsm.
v  Professional printing is done on white paper stock.
v  Before getting something printed one needs to check the paper stock options available with the printer and discuss these with your client, as well as keep these on file for future reference.

Getting started

Graphic design uses the essential elements of typography, color, images, composition, signs and symbols to creatively solve the problem of getting the target audience to interact with the visual material in the way directed by the client. This phrase helps to sum it up for me, “to try to direct the eye and help mediate the experience of looking at, reading and absorbing all this visual material.”

What I find encouraging is that graphic designers need to be highly observant individuals who are able to analyze and use the preferences of the visual language of a culture. As I have lived in totally divergent cultural settings this aspect of visual communication is very interesting to me.

Wednesday, 28 October 2009 Urban Planning

The circuit board I managed to get did not scan properly. However, the photograph I took was large enough to manipulate to my purpose. The tricky step in preparing the circuit boards for use was in getting the image of the circuit board to be aligned in accordance to the layout of the writing. Once I had played with the orientation of the image, I thoroughly enjoyed manipulating the resulting images to create my final choice. I found that in this final image I had a great freedom in being able to use the layers precisely as I wanted. I experienced a greater capacity to be able to erase without unnecessary mistakes and manipulate the blending techniques.

In my final choice, I decided that the image needed a plain strip of pink diagonally behind the top of the image, as well as down the left-side. In order to create this effect I duplicated the circuit board layer and the glove/cloth layer, and pasted them at a different orientation to the original. Then by erasing the unnecessary areas – in some cases most of the image – I was able to create the effect I required. This ability to control my image to create what I desired has proved to me that I have learnt a lot from my struggles during this assignment. I felt as if the “penny had finally dropped”.

Before commencing this course I tried many tutorials on Photoshop; and yet never felt that I had made a breakthrough towards understanding what I was doing. I now feel as if I have gained a greater freedom in being able to explore the creation of digital imagery. What I find particularly thrilling about this image is that I commenced this whole assignment with the desire to express my new appreciation for the urban environment. In a sense I went through a whole circle, eventually moving further and further away from an image related to a cityscape. Through the gift of a t-shirt, I was once again inspired to use the city as a theme for imagery. As Almaty is undergoing a dramatic urban renewal program in preparation for the upcoming Asian Winter Olympics, the image of a distorted, moving pair of scissors is very appropriate. The city is literally being cut up and reorganized at an unprecedented rate. The scissors on top of the simulated overhead view of a city or city planners blue print is an interesting comment on urban planning.

Urban Imaging

I decided to pick a scanned image of a single object which I felt held the greatest potential for exploration. I chose the moving image of a pair of orange scissors. Although an everyday object, the distortion of this tool has an eerie effect. Scissors are predictably similar in shape and appearance, with the idea promoted by le Corbusier that “Form follows function”. However, in this case, the scissors have been removed from their eveyday use as their distortion gives an indication of movement and a morphing in functioning. While playing with ideas, I laid eyes on a Korean t-shirt I had just been given. As the shirt had an image of a city on the front, with metallic sparkles and attractive writing, I decided to scan it. In trying to get as much of the image as possible on the screen I set it at an angle. The resulting image started a spurt of ideas. Its angle worked perfectly with the flow of the lines of the scissors placed on the layer on top of it. The rest of the evening was spent playing with different textures and patterns in the background of the two images – the scissors and the cityscape. In this image I have newspaper, rubber gloves and fabric forming the texture of the background. On seeing this image, my husband suggested using computer circuit boards as a background to correlate with the grid-like arrangement of city streets, as mentioned in the writing on the t-shirt.

A Struggle for Clarity

Tuesday, 27 October 2009 A Struggle for Clarity Today I feel as if I have had a major breakthrough. The image that I have finally settled on not only expresses my grasp of the concepts taught during this chapter, but seems to be more refined and less cluttered than the images that lead up to its creation.

At the outset of this assignment I researched Digital Art images on the internet and was drawn to Shards by Annette Weintraub with her reflections of the cityscape (see previous entry). I was fascinated by the fragments of images she used to create an almost stained glass window effect out of images from a city at night – neon signs, billboards and street lights fracture the surface of her image. I desired to try to celebrate the urban cityscape in my own images. Initially, on moving to Almaty, I detested the high rise apartment blocks and found its sights repulsive. However, over the years I have learnt to see beauty in my surroundings and I wished to show my growing appreciation for urban life. With this in mind I sought to depict images of the people and everyday images that frequent my life. As I relish the diversity of faces I am surrounded by in Central Asia, I decided to take my sketches of people as a starting point. I then chose images that I see every day in my kitchen as the textures and patterns to use in the various layers. As I manipulate these images, however, I became increasingly boxed into a certain way of developing my ideas. In my effort to create a theme to my collage, I found that my composition was predominantly figurative and literal. The images appeared forced and contrived, and did not appear to reflect the topic “collage”. I found it hard to break out of the mode of wanting to illustrate my ideas of city life, as in a storybook style narrative. All of my attempts at arriving at an image resulted in cluttered and overworked images. Each layer I was using was highly complex and the resulting images conflicted with each other. In each case I tried to start with images that I was personally drawn to and which I felt could be thematically linked into a narrative. Interestingly, these images were already too well developed to be able to function as layers without becoming too labored and chaotic. After revisiting the works of fellow students, e.g. the work of “Vixart’s”, and after writing to my tutor, Ayssar Ghassan, I realized that my images were far too crowded to be effective. I needed to stretch myself further to develop a picture which crystallized its use of imagery. I also saw that the blending techniques used here, were applied with greater subtlety. On studying Vixart’s Assignment #3’s image was deceptively simple and yet used layering in a way which I had not yet explored completely. These reflections were to precipitate my “AA-HA” moment, which was to lead to an image which I feel has the clarity and quality I was striving for.

Further steps

After contemplating the need to have a narrative to enable my images to not appear merely random, I revisited the work of Annette Weintraub. What impressed my about her work was the fact that she uses images from the urban environment and yet presents it in such a stunningly beautiful way so that it almost looks like the refections of a stained glass window in a Gothic cathedral. I started to consider where I find my solice and a chance to contemplate. As my week unwinds, it is often standing in my kitchen washing hours of mindless dishes that I find my time to reflect on the day and the path my life is taking. If I were to calculate how long I spend in each area of the apartment, this is the region where my life often centers.

Working with this idea, I realised that I could use images from the kitchen to feature in my next collage project. Some of which I have already scanned. As I started to play with ideas I started to think about that fact that without the chance to centre myself and reflect, I would not have the energy and focus to fulfill the role I play in the expatriate community here. When I hit days which are a furl of activity and stress - it is the time spent in my kitchen, praying through my issues that helps to keep going. To keep in touch with those whose lives I encounter - particulalry the students I teach. I am indebted to the fact that my kitchen is actually a safe-haven.

As I was playing with kitchen images, I decided to try to incorporate a portrait of a child I sketched last year. As I explained, I am able to reach out to children on a continual basis because I have ''down-time" in my kitchen, re-energizing.

What I descovered during the creation of this image was that each layer can be "nudged" to shift it to a more appropriate spot. This can radically effect the image moving images away from positions which are distracting.

I also played with using the eraser function to remove sections of the orginal drawing so that images underneath could show through. What I enjoyed playing with was the fact that the white areas of the boys face and collar are actually alive with other images including teabag labels. I love my cup of tea! So the inclusion of teabags represents how I enjoy the solice of a well brewed cup of tea.

During my expermentaion I found that the warmer appearance of the red - brown colour combinations brought about by

Inspiration needed

Today I have endeavored to get beyond my Digital Art block. I spent a considerable amount of time on the internet researching various sites related to Digital Art. A few artists that caught my attention have works which could be described as Surrealistic.

The work of Kevin Saunders, Flow, is reminiscent of Salivador Dali. I find the way in which the fish is taken to a new dimension through the simple rickety ladder which climbs into its tail section, intriguing. The color combination is also particularly stunning. The apparent erosion of the fish is reminiscent of the way in which metal erodes at the seaside, and yet the fish is propped up out of water - in dry docks as it were.

This exquisite artwork, Blumen by Vanessa Meideros, shows the potential of using layers to highlight the designs found in composite images. The colors seem to indicate that she used color dodge features to create the almost bubble colors of the images.

Digital Art Discoveries

Today while researching Digital Art for my Art History Classes I stumbled across the work of Annette Weintraub. In reading the article explaining how she arrives at her images I was excited to hear that she uses multi-layering techniques, which is the section I am trying to get to understand. Her images are incredibly rich in saturated colors and strong contrast. I really find the image Shards particularly appealing through its inclusion of architectural elements, urban signs and optical illusion of crystal-like shards. Her color balancing within the image is superb in the way that it facitilates movement within the image.

Reference:

Annette Weintraub. "Shards". 1996. Techno Seduction. 25 August 2009

Layers of Layers Project #11

Last night and this afternoon I worked through the instructions for layering. It took me a while to figure out how to resize a batch of images at the same time as my version of Photo Elements does not have the sequence File>Automate>Batch. However, I did get it right eventually.

I am finding with increased exposure to working with Photoshop Elements I am starting to be able to repeat procedures without having to consult the manual. I am also understanding what I am doing. Previously when I played with Photoshop, it was really hit and miss whether I got the procedure correct or not. But, having worked systematically through the material presented I feel as if I have a better understanding of the processes involved.

The various Blending Modes are very interesting to play with. At first it was hard to see how each different type changed things. My daughter who has had a lot more experience at creating Digital Art, showed me the various Blend Modes she used in various pictures she created in order to enhance her images and create special effects. She said that with time I will be able to assess beforehand what the effect is likely to be. At present it is rather hit and miss.

I did enjoy playing with the Colour Dodge Mode. This creates a dynamic image, enhancing the color contrast.

It is interesting, my tutor told me the other day that I should try to push more towards images that are "signature" images. Yesterday whil reading a workbook on Color, I came across a whole section that talks about learning to recognise your signature colors. I even had my students use magazines to pick out their 10 signature colors to create a signature color palette. As I played with the various Blend Modes today, I was very aware of the fact that my signature color scheme is definitely towards the bold range with oranges and deep blues.

Kazakh photographs

While researching material for my Art History lessons today, I stumbled across a site recommended by OCA containing photographs of Kazakh life in Mongolia http://reportage.co.uk/features/eagle-hunters/.

Project#9 Painting and tools

I am really excited by the progress that was made during this project. I have periodically played around with Photoshop Tutorials, but as they were not following a sequential learning style, I found that what I learnt was hit and miss. Today, however, I have a far greater understanding of the variety of tools, how to change their pixel size and opacity. There are some really interesting brushes available and it has been fun just having the permission to play without needing a set outcome.

I found the brush grid background very useful in being able to size freehand letters. I know that I will make use of this grid.

It has been great being able to practice my Genius drawing pad. I bought this a while ago but have found it frustrating to use. However, today I feel I have a better handle on how to use it. It is definitely more controllable than a traditional mouse, so this is also an area in which I feel I have made progress.

I tried to draw a sphere using a variety of brushes and found that I was starting to develop ways of creating the chiaroscuro achievable through traditional media.

Assignment #2

Task #1

As I liked Christopher Nolasco's idea of using drawn images in a composite artwork (see previous blog), I decided to commence my image preparations by doing an observational drawing of myself. My husband took a photo of me which I used as my source. Once I had completed the drawing I scanned it into the computer.

My husband and children are an essential part of my life and have defined to a large degree who I have become. For this reason, I scanned in photographs of us. The size of the photographs varied somewhat, which I realised would effect my compositions. I also included 2 images of greeting cards which are published by the school I am now teaching at in Kazakhstan.

Task #2

This was a section I particularly enjoyed as I selected images that would sum up aspects of my character and identity. As I love the sea, having spent a good portion of my life living in cities next to the sea, I scanned in a wire fish, star fish and seashells. I am also very fond of plants and interesting wooden stalks, so I scanned in some rushes I found near the lake, with some interesting roots.

The keyrings and keys represent the countries which I have lived in or have an allegiance to. The South African flag, the Kazakhstan national emblem and a Scottish design decorate the keyrings.

A few years ago all of my jewelry was stolen. As a result the jewelry I have now collected is particularly meaningful to me as my husband and friends have specifically selected them to replace the items stolen. The necklace I have included is my personal favorite. The day after my robbery my friend left a little package on my desk containing this necklace with a note saying that for a long time she had felt that God was telling her to give this necklace to me. Following my robbery, she knew that the necklace was meant for me. Not only is this necklace Celtic in design -a style I love - but it also includes my birthstone, Topaz. I am fond of Kazakh designs, so the ear rings selected are my favorite Kazakh pieces.

I decided to scan my foot, partly because I wanted to do something I had not seen others do, and partly as I see myself to be a "down-to-earth" kind of person. Living in Kazakhstan has also taught me to immediately take off my shoes on entering someones home - in summer this means that you go around barefoot, something I always did as a child growing up in Zimbabwe. Taking your shoes off is a sign of respect for the other person's carpets and the cleanliness of their house. One of the characters I am trying to develop is to have a respect for all individuals, regardless of their status and lifestyle, and to be prepared to adjust my mannerisms to ensure that my ways do not offend others.

The belt is just a fun accessory that through its use of natural looking materials and its repetition of circular shapes, seemed to have compositional potential.

Task #3

I found it hard to crystallise my ideas down to a single image that I felt summed up my personality and communicated some of my interests. Before trying to assemble any compositions, I drew four thumbnails sketches. These sketches helped to clarify for me compositional starting points.

Seeing that I had spent time doing the self-portrait sketch, I started with this image. Despite my intentions to use this sketch in my collage, I found that it was fairly limiting through its stark black and white image. It also came across as being too somber for the more hearty mood I wished to convey. This image I have included here was the best composition that I experimented with, but I felt that it was not as unified as I desired it to be.

As I liked the general layout of the other objects, I decided to place my foot in the area where the sketch was positioned. This composition seemed to have lots of potential, so I commenced playing with the layout of these objects.

Task #4

This phase of the process was probably the most intellectually fascinating. I have always been taught and read about how a single element within an artwork can totally change the resulting dynamics of an artwork. This has never been as dramatically demonstrated to me as in this exercise.

As part of my picture I wanted an original scan of my foot - I wanted the image to be clear and direct. This posed for some problems as it meant that I had to position all of the objects on the scanner bed in their positions, allowing for the size and direction of my foot. I then had to climb onto the table in such a way that I could place my foot carefully on the scanner and still access my lap top to scan the images.

What was particularly difficult was that despite my having cleaned off the scanner glass before commencing each arrangement, the slightest bump or nudge of the arrangement by my placement of my foot on the scanner caused the delicate star fish to crumble leaving smatterings of star fish on the screen. I also found that the least bit of shifting caused the chain to cover over sections of the photographs. Because I was having to thrown the orange cloth down over my foot after everything was in place, the lines of the cloth, with its tassels, were also hard to dictate.

Despite all of these challenges and the fact that I had to become a contortionist to do any minuscule adjustments to the arrangement, I was pleased with the overall composition of the final piece. I feel that the eye is carefully lead in a swirl around the artwork, sweeping up the starfish in the centre and coming to focus on the photographs. The belt serves to frame the left hand side and top of the frame, leading your eye along the chain. It is then lead down the foot and earrings. The movement is held by the sweep of the keys and then directed up the star fish staggered formation of the star fish towards the photos.

Unity is achieved through the overall warm color scheme of orange and brown; as well as the repetition of similar angles and circular motifs. As I explained earlier in a blog entry, I have had a number of people associate me with orange. So I chose an orange scarf along with a brown belt to communicate my love for warmth, nature, forests and Africa. It is interesting that 2 of the photographs have a wooden fence in the background, connecting them to the belt frame.

After achieving this particular image, I continued to experiment with arrangements. One of my concerns was that the composition was fairly empty in places. However the more I adjusted the compositions and added items, the more cluttered the image felt. The more I thought about myself, the more I realised that an uncluttered composition is a better representation of me than a cluttered image. I hate clutter and spend a good deal of time pruning our "clutter" to ensure that what we have stored is functional and not extraneous. So interestingly enough the simpler composition is the more accurate portrayal of me.

This assignment was challenging, as I sought to create a self-portrait which was not hackneyed. As spin off from the process was that I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how the smallest shift in the objects caused the focal point and resulting message of the artwork to change completely.

Preparation for Assignment #2 Self-portrait

As I desire to create a self-portrait that portrays images directly and indirectly associated with me, I decided to explore the works of a cross-section of artists. My desire is to go beyond what I have normally come to associate with the idea of "self-portrait". The idea of having to develop a self-portrait from images scanned into the computer is rather daunting at this stage.

In commencing my internet search I started by researching works by Audrey Flack. This painter often used a wide variety of objects and possessions in order to convey the personality, interests and obsessions of the person she had based her painting on, e.g. Marilyn (Vanitas). Although her works are filled with so many images, she is able to achieve unity through her clever use of color balancing. In this case the gaudy red color is repeated in such a way that it forms almost an oval frame around the centre of the picture. Unity is also achieved by repeating items of similar shape, e.g. the cylindrical forms of the candle, lipstick, hour glass. The work of Christopher Nolasco RFK Towards Understanding is an intriguing piece. I thought that his use of an old photograph, a quotation and sketched images is something that is adaptable to the Digital media I am exploring.

At this stage I started scanning a variety of objects that hold specific connotations to me. I found that the more I scanned the more ideas came to mind. Eventually I decided to complete a brain storm to try to prioritise and organise my thinking. What was interesting about completing the brainstorm was to see how diverse my list was and to be able to focus on what were some of the main areas I wish to convey.

Website Images:

Audrey Flack. Marilyn (Vanitas), 1977. 15 January 1999. 31 July 2009 <http://www.audreyflack.com/AF/index.php?name=photorealism&directory=.&currentPic=6>

Christopher Nolasco. RFK Towards Understanding. 2008. 31 July 2009 <http://www.nolascoart.com/>

Ideas Please!

I spent sometime trying to get my bearings for this next Assignment #2. I revisited the profile of Yiannitsa for some ideas http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3145153813214070897&postID=3812886524642275852. I liked the way in which she used black and white to unify the composition. Her use of roses reminded me of the work of Audrey Flack. What did intrigue me was how she could have combined those images together in a single scan. My conclusion is that she printed out some of the images she had created, cut them out and combined them with real objects to create this image. I also studied the work of Claudine. The image found at URL site http://www.oca-uk.com/portfolio/claudinenf/folder-692/3493 is informative giving a diverse arrangement of items which cause you to question their significance and their associations. Both of these students made use of a limited color scheme which has served to unify the compositions. I have been contemplating what color scheme I would like to use to convey my personality. Today, when I cleared off my desk, I found a scarf that I used in some of my intial scans. The richness of the burgandies and oranges really sum up a color scheme which people associate with me. This scarf is not actually mine, but my colleague had assumed it was because these are the colors that she associates with me. So as a starting off point I am going to use this scarf to draw the colors together.

Simple Collage Project #7

It was really exciting getting a favorable assessment of my first assignment. This gives me the motivation to keep rolling forward. For days I kept looking at the interesting way in which the color seeps from a teabag after its been soaking. This inspired me to commence my collage exploration with a selection of tea bags and various package labels. The diversity of tea bag packaging available makes for a fun mix of designs. My final picture was certainly colorful and playful. The next idea I tried to follow was an image I saw in a magazine of this women with layers of flowing red lightweight fabric being blown by the wind. It had the appearance of delicate long flower petals. So I started to cut out the image along the lines of the drapery allowing the section to remain connected at selected points. I then played with combining this image with magazine picture of flowers. I did not feel totally happy with the depth of image achieved from the flat 2-dimensional images. I then started to add textures in the background. This still did not give the image the kind of impact that I thought it needed. Eventually I took a half-finished oil painting of mine and place a section of it in the background. The resulting images were very abstract but had an appeal that I was satisfied with. Somehow the image is still reminiscent of flowers but has a more intriguing abstract quality to it than previously. Still not totally satisfied with my results, I decided to collect items while ona walk with my husband. The papers that are often stuck around lampposts and on fences with tear off contact numbers attracted my attention. Like the tea bags they have rust weathered stains which help to animate an otherwise boring piece of advertising. The variety of grasses along the paths caught my attention through the dynamic patterns their seed heads create. The final item I collected was a totally squashed NEXTEA tin. So my next task was to combine these items in an interesting way with an ink wash drawing I had completed using a quote from a movie I had watched. I played for a considerable amount of time with these images, trying them in various combinations. I like the way that the ink washes of my drawing correlate with the washed out staining of the advertisements. The rugged ragged appearance of the shami cloth I used behind the grass provide an interesting difference in textures. In my final set of images I played with an orange plastic bag as the background. The color of the packet changes totally when subjected to minimal light and I really like its texture. The crisp white "Thank You" not adds a contrast and a slight quisical element to the collection of scrap items. As can be seen by these pictures I added frames by changing the size of the canvas settings. For the remainder of the time I read through the information on printers. Printers are truly amazing pieces of electrictronic equipment. I use them regularly in my professsion and rarely give their workings any thought.

Still-lives with a difference Project #6

I must admit that after being an art student for many years and now an art teacher, the idea of still life did not appeal to me particularly - especially seeing that it involved vegetables and kitchen towels. When at school my still lives always consisted of these items. However, I am please to say that I actually enjoyed this project. What was particularly good was the chance to put aside my own prescribed recipes for a "good composition" and just enjoy playing with different arrangements. I found the composition with the focal point in the centre a bit difficult to pull off. What I particularly enjoyed playing with was having a mathematical structure behind my composition which was almost grid-like, but broken by the organic shapes of some of the vegetables and fruit used. Often when painting or drawing I have used green peppers as a starting point for a composition. Interestingly enough in this Digital Medium, I found them hard to work with compositionally. Even when I sliced them into interesting looking slices, they just did not appear dynamic enough. Part of it was that the color saturation was lost in the scanning. Of course in a few lessons time I will be able to alter this, so there is probably a lot of potential for further use of the green peppers, but apart from the last image which I included in this blog, I was disappointed by how they interpreted into the scan. The images that I enjoyed playing with the most were the ones where I organised the vegetables into bands of repeating images. What I like about this arrangement was that it set up an appreciation for repetition as well as emphasized the slight deviations that each unique fruit brought to the composition. Although I thought that I would prefer a more asymmetrical compositional arrangement I was amazed to find that this was not the case. I actually preferred compositions which were more symmetrically balance with an underlying mathematical gridded arrangement.

Project #5 Experimentation with scanning movement

Today I worked through the instructions of Project #5. I found it hard to move my hand slow enough so that the scanned image did not develop streaks and yet smoothly enough that the image did truly distort. I tried to scan my hand so that the back of my hand was shown in the scan. It took me a number of tries before I was able to get a clear scan as it was harder to position my hand this way than palm side down. Eventually I was able to get a range of differing effects. Where I had the most success was in scanning kitchen implements by holding them with the fabric background and then sliding them across the scanner plate as the image was being scanned. Out of interest I tried using my son's clown headdress as the background of a number of these shots. Interestingly enough the scanner inverted the clown's headdress color scheme. Instead of being red and orange it appears as yellow and green. This is strange seeing that none of the other colors were distorted in their rendition. It made for an interesting backdrop though!

The Development of Assignment #1

In order to help precipitate my creativity, I read through the magazine article mentioned previously on how to create a “Mood Board”. I decided to spend some time contemplating what emotions are often deeply embedded in my psyche and surface when I least expect it. As I have lived as an expatriate for the past 18 years of my life, away from my home country, and have come to consider three foreign countries on totally different continents as my “home”, nostalgia is often a deep seated emotion that I cannot evade. In preparation for selecting images, I spent the next few minutes doing a brainstorm around the theme of nostalgia concentrating on the physical images and colors I associate with those places/countries. The resulting ideas were ones which I explored when commencing Task #1 of the Assignment. After some experimentation, I decided that due to my predominantly South African and Zimbabwean background and heritage, I feel particularly nostalgic about the warm color scheme associated with an African sunset. For this reason I decided to base most of my images around these warm earthy colors. Initially my selection of images was too disparate allowing for a rather haptic combination. Through a gradual process of elimination, I decided within the Task #2 phase to stream-line my subject matter. I opted to pick two cultures that I wished to represent and to try to show them as being unique and rich in their diversity. For this purpose I chose to juxtapose images related to South Africa and Korea. Although I have never lived in Korea, I have had the privilege of teaching Korean children/students for the past 11 years. I have been invited into their community as a friend and have come to really value their different viewpoint on life and culture. Many of my favorite memories of special times with Koreans have been associated with their preparation of amazing meals in our honor. For this reason I chose to use Korean chopsticks as the focal point of my collage of scanned images. The soft pastel colors of the chopstick holders provide a slight contrast with the warm earthy tones of the collection of African items. I also see a contrast between the neat precision of the little butterfly badges of the chopstick holders (a reminder of their value for precision) and the organic random markings of the porcupine quills, cheetah spots and guinea fowl feathers. Something that was a pleasant surprise was the way in which the African print cloth in the background scanned. This fabric is not naturally shimmery, but with the lights of the scanner, it mimics the texture of snake skin. This provides a comical touch of nostalgia: one of my most vivid memories of my life in Venezuela was that of coming face to face with an anaconda in my classroom. The way this cloth scanned, brings back some of my most poignant memories, helping to complete this selection of images.

Scanning using a dark room

As I had not experimented with scanning 3D objects in a dark room, I decided to experiment with this first. This developed into quite a comedy show as I sought to scan the objects without the light from my laptop affecting the scan. Our bathroom does not have a window, so it was the ideal place to try a dark room scan. Eventually I ended up with my laptop being on the floor outside the bathroom and the scanner inside.Quite a juggle, especially because I was trying to photograph strelitzias with long stems.

In the end I found that the images I took using this method were not as succesful as ones that I had taken with a combination of cloth and large box. We have just recently moved apartments. I discovered that the huge black plastic containers, were a great way of using the box methdo of scanning for 3D objects which extend beyond the dimensions of the scanner.

Inspiration

I have always loved looking through Home Decorating magazines. I realized today that one of the main reasons I enjoy them is the fresh approach that designers often bring to the conglomeration of styles, textures, patterns, colors and furnishings which can be used to create the atmosphere of the room. Ideal Home, June 2004, has an article on "Decorate with Confidence". Within this article they talk about creating a Mood Board which puts "together real samples or pictures of the possible paint shades, carpet, fabrics and other items" so that you can see what they are going to look like. In trying to work on this first assignment, I wonder about approaching it from the idea of a Mood Board. What are the objects, images, textures and patterns in my life that help to determine my personality - my overarching mood?