Project 2: Experiments

Well my first attempt was using granny net curtains, (the ones that are just mesh) with PVA to see if this would stiffen it enough to take the form of the hand.

The single piece would just not stay in any of the contours with the PVA and was just too floppy a fabric, so then I ripped some strips, distressing areas into threads before applying the glue.

 

I did like these stiffened thready bits as this is more along the lines of what I'm after (I think)

Well although it's half term everyone in this household seems to have some sort of lurgy, well apart from me and the dog, so not being able to go anywhere has at least given me time to try some more.  The next material being crepe paper.  This has a kind of subtle crinkled surface which gives it a kind of stretch.  Ideal I thought for taking contours.  Unfortunately it's way too fragile in a single layer as when I tried to brush on a bi of PVA it broke apart so instead I had to use a few layers.

The end result looks a bit too solid and a bit like papier mache but I do like the look when it has light shining through it and I like the unevenness which almost looks like skin and its wrinkles and lines.

Project 2: The begining

I've spent the last couple of days scouring websites and reading up on moulding and casting materials.  It seems there is nothing you can't make providing you can sift through the mountain of information on materials and techniques, oh, and you can afford to buy it all of course.  I find it all very exciting but at the same time I'm quite befuddled by the different types of materials including resins.  I did buy some general purpose polyester resin as polyester stuff is what I was familiar with, having spent some of my childhood encapsulating any unsuspecting bug in the water clear kind.  What a cruel child I was, but I did move on to making polymer clay models and casting them instead.  What does amaze me, with all of the health and safety data included these days, is how it was non existent then.  This was in a kid's craft set back in the 70s and I did this in my parent's kitchen, well, before being sent to play in the garage.  The stuff stinks, in a real toxic kind of way, they recommend masks now and I used to get covered in it.  It would never wash off, instead turning black from all of the fluff and dirt that adhered to its stickiness.  Well what I didn't know then, but do now is that acetone will do the job.  So anyway, this is very much an experimental journey, and not being ready to get plastered or unleash the smelly toxic resin fumes, I thought I would dig out these hand casts I did a couple of years ago with alginate and crystacast, and start by trying to seal them with the idea of then applying test materials, hopefully stiffen them (somehow) with the intention of pulling the material back off and it retaining the cast form.  So far they have had a coat of shellac.

My kitchen that has gradually been morphing into a studio is now going to become a workshop too I'm thinking.  Ah well, eating is overrated.

During my searches I came across this useful site, (for me anyway) and there is an interesting bit on the resin casting of Rachel Whiteread's 'Monument'.

http://www.smooth-on.com/gallery.php?galleryid=173

Project 2: Summary of intent

In this project I will be using sculpture and will be thinking about and exploring ways of indicating the figure, not necessarily in a solid way, by means of experimentation with different materials.  This is a response to my thoughts concerning the nature of reality, or my understanding of reality, which include thoughts on the transient and less physical and material aspect and also thoughts on the figure and the space it occupies.

I intend to experiment with body casts and use these moulds and casts as a means to create human form using other less solid materials that can be applied and later removed.  I will be looking at different materials that could be in some way be laminated over the form or stiffened.  This will be very much a trial and error method of working but despite an unpredictable outcome will be very useful in gaining experience and knowledge for future use.  The materials and methods used will very much be determined by practical issues but I will most likely be using alginate and plaster to created moulds and my experimentation with materials to create form will be a range of fabrics which could be stiffened by some means, perhaps PVA or resin for example.

Project 1: Evaluation and reflection

The Piper painting idea evolved after taking some pictures of a penny whistle player.   During a critiquing session at college it seemed that my intentions by means of a visual representation was overall understood, so in that respect was successful.  It would have been useful to have some constructive criticism as well.

The painting also opened up the idea of doing a series of paintings focusing on people on the outskirts of society in terms of social acceptance and the considered norm.  This is an idea that I could follow up at some point.

I think if I were to do this painting again I would work larger.  I feel that with this type of painting to be understood it needs to be painted in a realistic way and a consequence of working small is that sometimes painting becomes quite fiddly and difficult for me to see, I did resort to the use of a magnifying glass at times.  The size though was partly due to constraints in terms of space and time scale.  The painting took between two and a half to three weeks but the original four-week project time scale didn’t feel comfortable for planning a painting. 

I think every painting is a teacher and a learning curve and during this one I was reminded about the importance of colour temperature as a prominent consideration.  I’m really keen to get more painting practice and learning so although my next project will involve sculpture, to get some continuity with my learning, I intend to also have another, slightly larger painting running alongside my sculpture work. 

Project 1. The Piper painting

This composition was based around the penny whistle player that sometimes sits on Queen’s road.  He looks to be a homeless person as his clothes are grubby and even his shoes appear to have been repaired with glue and hand stitching.

Original reference photo

I liked the idea of making him the focal point as this seems to be the opposite of the reality, where as a rule the public tend to ignore people like this who seem to be on the outskirts of society.  I was looking at the aspect that he is not fully involved in the system and for whatever reason he doesn’t fully participate in a usual or expected role in society.  However, to me he appeared quite content and happy.  He was more than happy for me to take photos, even playing more each time I brought the camera up to my eye.  So in my painting I wanted to portray this, him being quite happy, opting out, content while watching all of the others rushing around.  To further emphasise this point I put a businessman going up some steps to the side of him.  The businessman I purposely made nondescript, as he was representative.  I wanted to make him seem to disappear into greyness and darkness of office world by using flat grey tones with little definition and contrast around the top of him.  In the original reference picture he was carrying a red bag, which I considered too vibrant, so changed this to a more sombre brown one.

Original reference photo

 

I changed the original setting of the piper to coincide with the idea of offices and traditional official type buildings.  I used a picture I had taken locally of what was originally a cinema but is now an evangelical church.

 

I wanted to imply the consumer-focused world by means of the advert on the wall behind.  I wanted something advertising yet another thing we don’t need but work 9 – 5 to buy.  The TV add seemed a good choice in that the TV serves as a means to further impress and condition us.

 

Whilst wanting the piper to look colourful, I had to compromise this in order to incorporate the dirt on his clothes so that he didn’t become just a busker, but also homeless.  I wanted him to appear content as if to point out that you can be happy in other ways, with a more simplistic life that is not about possessions.

 

I’m sure in reality he has quite a personal story and toyed with the idea of making his money collection pot a felt army hat.  (A lot of ex army individuals sadly do end up homeless).  I was originally going to put a bag of chips on the ground with the Financial Times as the wrapper.  Having painted the newspaper though I decided it ironic to make this his money pot and painted some coins in.

The chips and a coffee cup were to symbolise his simple food needs having been met and I still kept the coffee cup.

 

I thought hard about the bag he was sitting on.  For a while thinking ‘Homebase’ would be a good choice in respect of the bag being as good as his home and possibly containing all of his worldly possessions.  The Homebase logo colours were no good though as based on my overall colour scheme I knew I wanted it to incorporate red.  I had already changed his trousers to brown due to the overall colour scheme as well.  I found a M & S bag for life image online with an apt message which I felt tied in with my general message and theme and so used that for reference.

I had intended to paint a fictional band flyer on the wall but before I did I realised it made more sense compositionaly and in meaning to have this on the ground.  The fictional band name ‘The System’ was used to further impress the idea of the system we’re are forced to participate in.  I wanted it to appear that the flyer had just happened to land on the ground and that’s why it was there, yet by having the tip of the piper’s foot on it, it would symbolise his rejection of this system. 

 

 One of my first thoughts had been the possibility of giving the piper a jester’s hat as I liked the idea he was mocking and laughing at the rest of us in the rat race rushing around while he had time to enjoy playing music.  This I decided deviated too much from my original character so instead, more subtly gave him harlequin patterned socks.

Project 1. The piper

I feel I want to call it a day on this painting now.  I put the fictional band flyer in today which was originally going to go on the wall but it had more meaning and was compositionaly better down on the ground I think.  The challenge I find in painting is always the challenge of creating a sense of depth on something that is flat.  I had been thinking along the lines of contrasts and complementaries but eventually remembered what I had learned by trial and error about colour temperature.  It did help and will be more in my consciousness with the next painting. 

Uttaporn Nimmalaikaew

When I saw this guy's work I felt an exciting resonance.  His work incorporates the essence of impermanence.  His beautiful ethereal mixed media paintings are inspired by Buddhism philosophy, birth, aging, sickness and death. 

http://lowegallery.com/artists/uttaporn-nimmalaikaew/bio.htm

http://beautifuldecay.com/2015/01/28/uttaporn-nimmalaikaews-ethereal-paintings-mosquito-nets-shimmer-mid-air/
Not only does this resonate with my own spiritual beliefs but my thoughts and intentions, mostly in terms of sculpture have been to indicate the figure in a less solid way.  I have been thinking about the transient nature of life and the figure and what science tells us about our sense of reality, in that nothing is really solid or material.  I love the idea of layers, layers of time and existence.

I did wonder why it seemed that my painting subject and sculpture ideas seemed very different from each other.  But then it occurred to me that in fact they are all part of the same theme and idea.  In my painting I am focusing on the material facade.  The system that is imposed on us, the consumer focused society.  This is in contrast to what I believe to be the real nature of life, and therefore, maybe it's the need in me to focus on the system that we are conditioned to believe and be part of as a way of pointing out the illusion.