Final Piece - Surfaces

My Final Piece idea was actually given to me by my best friend. The concept was to paint a Greek pot, but instead of it conveying a traditional mythological story, I would depict one of our favourites.

This relates to surfaces as, on a first glance it could be perceived as just another ancient  pot, but beneath it, there is that link to present day.

Tada!

This was my design idea. From this, I realised just how much I needed to work on the form and proportions of the pot. I've tried here to link as many sections of my studies and experiments as I could, from the History, to the silhouettes, the storytelling and the Greeks.

This is the double page spread that drawing belonged to, exploring the various different options of finishing for the foot and the lip.

Here, returning to my love of maths, I mapped out all of the precise details and proportions to ratios and measurements so that the image would fit the canvas that I had bought. I planned colours and the symmetry, all so that I could get the curvature and details correct.

This was essentially my 'final draft'. A quick experiment to see where I was going on,and what more I could do to improve it before starting on my canvas.

And here it is! It's only an A2 canvas, which is actually quite small now that I think about it. I spent hours layering for the orange mid section (which is less red in real life) on its own! I used acrylic paint, with a watercolour background, and overall it's quite stylistic.

At the time I remember being very proud of it, but now that I have grown as an artist, I'm not as pleased as I was. I see all of the mistakes, things that I could have done a lot better. It's a very personal piece, and wouldn't be to certain people's taste, and in a way, possibly childish.

But those are just my thoughts. What do you think?

Sgraffito, Silhouettes and Story-telling

I'm realising now that I started to flit around a lot at the end of this sketchbook... This post is a collection of me finishing up all of the ends of the book.

Sgraffito - isn't that a cool word?!
 These here are a selection of studies that I did experimenting in the sgraffito style. Here's how you do it:

1) Paint a block all over the paper. You then leave this to dry until you could essentially sandpaper with it and no paint would transfer (but I would not advise trying that). The best thing to do is to leave it overnight.

2) Then, very quickly, paint another layer of paint over the top,making sure that none of the bottom colour is visible.

3) While that top paint is still wet, use an implement to scratch and take away the top layer, leaving the base exposed.

There we go. Very simple,but a bit time consuming. The effect I created was very similar to the red figure Greek Pottery,and I became particularly fond of the bottom pattern...

Then, at this particular time, silhouette cameo's were in fashion, So I took a look at the history behind them, creating a few examples in different styles of my friends. I used traditional paper, then acrylic paint and oil pastel as well. The pastel one adds more texture, which is very nice, but is not keeping with the tradition of being a plain shape. The paint was the easiest of all,and also had a very good finish to it.


Storytelling was the final idea I took a spin at, inspired by the stories conveyed through the Greek pots. I looked at several more artists, and chose to create my own version, with a more modern story that will and has travelled through decades.

I started off by looking at storytelling in art, being directed to look at Tracy Emin. Once again though, I had extreme problems actually liking the work. I could see how it worked, but I didn't necessarily consider it nice or good. I did however, set up my own version and took photos of my revision.

I then started to look at stories being told through people, by emotions and their body language... taking inspiration from both Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings.

Here is a greater development on the study of the LotR photo, explaining its meanings and my attempts to draw them myself. I did a paper cut out, and a pencil drawing. Unfortunately,with the cut-out, I forgot that if you turn things round,everything will be backwards... so now the Fellowship is walking in the other direction....

Bent backs, faces pointed down; tired, dejected and scared. The body language of the Fellowship says it all. Also, their order shows the rolls of each of the group. Gandalf the Leader, Aragorn the loner to say but two.

These last page was focused on showing how colour can affect the mood of the painting. This is an oil painted study of one of Picasso's Sorrow Paintings. The image is done in various shades of cold, icy blue, depicting a man that the viewer can immediately see is sad.Those colours heighten this, making for a rather depressing picture. My study,however,I was particularly pleased with - I am very proud of the undulating waves of light and shadow on his cloak/blanket.

Well, nearly there! That is most of the prep done, now comes the final piece!

Vase Studies

After exploring the world of Greek Pottery, my teacher urged me to take a look at modern versions, at flower vases and jars, also so that I could experiment in shaping the ellipses and curved surfaces suitably.

Here is the still life drawing I did. The varying differences in height, size and shape make for an interesting composition. As I had previously looked at the warm, earthy tones of the Greek's pottery, I chose to use colder, icier colours such as white, greys and blues for this study. I used oil pastel as my media, as I find they are easier to blend and give a smoother surface.

This picture is of the page in my sketchbook, including an additional study, picking out the highlights in blue across one of the vases. This one grew on me over time.

I also had to look at a modern day clay pot artist, so I was given Grayson Perry to contrast and do some research on

Now.I have this thing about modern art.I hate it.

It's disturbing, it's weird, and it practically never makes any sense and is often quite disgusting.Which is pretty much what I said in my annotation. That, and that my study was thankfully done in charcoal so that I could stop drawing it quicker.

So yes. That is my exploration into modern pottery.

Artist Research: Ancient Greeks

Following on from my earlier studies on a Greek rock, I decided to take a closer look at the various forms of art the Ancient Greeks had, particularly focusing on the pottery....

This is my information page. I compare the different techniques used for making the decorations, either red figure (left),or red figure (right). All the difference is made depending on what sort of clay is used, and in what order it is applied.

I also did a quick artist study  to replicate the technique and image. I, though, instead of using clay, used a pen and a piece of paper. Which, for a sketchbook, is probably the most preferable of the options.

I then took a look at the Greek Alphabet. I chose the letter sigma ∑, as it is also used in maths. I have this strange ability to like Maths and art. It's a toss up between which I like more. Those and physics.... but anyway. Cardboard printing makes a very interesting pattern, and an effective print. However, I get frustrated over its simplicity. Beyond the excitement of cutting out the image with a craft knife,printing is relatively boring.

This is a second information page, this time specifically focusing on the pots, their shapes, and forms of decorations, looking at colour combinations and average proportions.

This would later directly influence my final piece.

Bark Studies

One of the exercises my teacher made us do was to collect a natural object, then experiment in techniques and media that we wouldn't usually have used.

I picked up a piece of bark from our field.

First, I drew it, but not in my usual, photo-realistic style. I used cross hatching to create detail and texture. Personally, I think it strikes a particular resemblance to a whale, but others said it looked ok.

Then, after tracing the image onto a second piece of paper, I used torn bits of sugar paper to collage the image. I hated it. The colours were too bright, it looked too abstract... Then I slid the tracing paper across it accidentally, and realised it actually made it better. It's translucent nature dimmed the colours,and the lines I had used for tracing gave it definition. I offset it, so the sugar paper is still visible, but it gives it more character.

This is a particularly bad photo of the final technique I used. I applied layers and layers of different shades of brown paint to the paper, before using the tip of a blunt pencil to scratch in the details of the bark pattern. This is called sgraffito, and it worked rather well.

Clustered together, I use these three experiments as a reminder to step out of my comfort zone every once in a while, and try something new.

Slate

Finally! Another Art Coursework post! This one refers to the section I spent studying a selection of slate rocks from by garden path...

Tonal Pencils

Slate

Clay

Above are the collections that I created from the slate: A Tonal pencil drawing, then the slate itself, and finally a collection of clay pieces that I shaped into the rocks.

Slate is interesting and difficult to draw because it is a layered rock. The splitting of these layers is easier than trying to break it up perpendicular to the layers because the molecular forces between the layers is weaker. Random Physics thrown in there.... either way, the effect was hard to replicate, as was the texture, in both the clay and the pencil drawing.

I like the pencil drawing. It was the most detailed one that I'd done up until that point, and it took me several hours. The shapes of the pieces themselves were intriguing, and rather complex, something I hadn't really planned for when choosing to study them.

The clay was more tolerable than usual. I detest clay, as it never does what I ask it to, usually. But, as These were smaller objects that I was trying to work with, I think it was easier - which is probably a fluke.

Painting them was fun as well... Instead of using glazes as we usually do in school, I used acrylics to create the dappled grey effect. This was more realistic, I found.

Overall, I'm very pleased with them. They could have been better, ut isn't that always the case?

What I learnt from this was to be realistic when choosing a subject to draw - the slate was difficult. It also depends on what  drawing style you want to use - photorealistic is harder to create than line or crosshatching. I also learnt to tolerate clay. For now.



Greek Rock (how descriptive....)

Sorry! I seem to have neglected my coursework Posts for a while... This one is still following the theme of 'Surfaces'.


This was a double page spread, plus an A3 enlargement painting that I created for my project.
The inspiration came from my visit to Rhodes, the Greek Island, in one of the previous summers. I had found this piece of carved rock, perhaps once a pillar top or part of a cable, and it fascinated me. I loved how intricate the carving was, how intricate and delicate it was. And it made me think of how much history it must have seen, made me dream up all sorts of wonderful stories as to how it had fallen, or who had touch it. I love history.

For this page, I started with a pen and ink study of the painting, which I then photocopied, and worked into with Watercolour.
The result was beautiful, one of the best things I think I've done. It captures light and shadow, and the stone wheel in the background is gorgeous. Everything about this painting, I love completely.
I thin did an acrylic painted study, using heightened colour and a small section of the rock for enlargement. I used the paints 'dry' giving it that stony, scratchy look.

I love these, for their history and how successful the mediums were. This was a good way to continue my Surfaces project.

Richmond Castle : Surfaces

This is another installation for my Art Coursework Archive.

Double page spread

This Coursework Theme was Surfaces, which was very vague and could have led to pretty much anything. I decided to take a walk down the historical route.

My first set of pages focused in Richmond Castle and its ruins, in Yorkshire. I visited there when I was 11, and one of the pictures inspired me.

I completed several studies, in different media, including charcoal, tonal pencil, oil pastel and acrylic paint. My favourite was the charcoal, as it managed to capture fully the rocky nature of the... well, rocks!

This isn't necessarily my proudest drawings or page that I've ever created, but it serves as a grounding to prove to myself just how much I have improved.

Pencil tonal study.

My favourite. A quick Charcoal study, with the addition of the photograph.