Update of the project, "Who Am I?"

After having thought about my project and what I have done so far,  I have decided that I am going to focus on animal cruelty/abuse rather than looking at animals in zoos. I have chosen to do this because it is more easily accessible and I have had the idea of using Cy Twombly's work in the background to show the harshness of animal cruelty and the brutality of it; I will also be able to show my personal feelings about the issue this way. Due to the fact that I was confused as to which medium to use, I tried to make a multi-media piece with the mediums that I liked to work with the most (pen, Indian ink and acrylic paint).





Due to the fact that I really like this technique of using all three mediums, I am going to take some more photos of a cat at different angles and then draw them small scale as multi-media pieces. Therefore, I think in my final piece(s) I am going to use these mediums to draw an animal (most likely a cat).

Printing workshops

Mono-printing workshop.
On Thursday 11th of November, we were taught how to make mono prints. We were told all the different variables that would alter the success of the prints. For example: the type of paper, how moist a surface is and the quantity of printing ink that is used. When I made my prints, I used cartridge paper due to its roughness, I used both dry and damp paper to see which is best and I experimented with different amounts of ink to see what is best.
Equipment:

• Two rollers (one kept clean)
• A printing plate
• Cartridge paper
• Printing ink

There are two types of printing:
Additive - this is when you place the ink onto the printing plate by making marks and then placing the paper onto the plate. A clean roller would then be used to put pressure on the paper that is on the ink.
Subtractive - this is when you cover your printing plate with ink and then use something to take it away so that marks are evident. Then you would use a clean roller to press your paper down onto the printing plate.

Collage of experiments with dry paper:


Collage of experiments with damp paper:


Final print (dry paper)


Polystyrene printing workshop.
We then learnt about how to make prints with polystyrene.
Equipment:

• Printing ink
• 2 rollers (one kept clean)
• Printing plate
• Polystyrene sheet
• Pen/pencil/knife
• cartridge paper

Method:

• Scratch your design into your piece of polystyrene
• Roll out your ink onto the plate and then transfer it to the polystyrene
• Place the inked side of the polystyrene onto the paper and use the clean roller to press the polystyrene down
• finally, lift to reveal your print

Evaluation:

I am happy with the result of these prints as each mark is clear and stands out from the page. I have managed to capture shape and scale accurately. On the other hand, I think that I could try to improve the realism of each drawing by adding more marks to the polystyrene.

One reason why I like the feathers is because I think that I have managed to show texture with accuracy however an improvement could be adding more marks to show more contrast. One reason why I like the second bird is because I think that I have shown a high contrast in mark making however, I think that I could make the prints better by trying to add some more details to the feathers on the bird.

Even though these prints show a good use of mark making, I don't think it links enough to my chosen artist ROA. It does not allow me to get high contrast in tone, whereas in his work, there is a lot of this.

Analysis of my chosen artist, ROA

            ROA, a very famous street artist from Belgium, is most well-known for his fascination in animals and his representations of them. ROA’s work, which is a part of the street art movement, was generally paintings of animals and birds that were in the area that he was in at the time. He got inspiration from the environment and animals around him. In a similar way to how I feel, ROA was deeply affected by the fact that animals were starting to become more endangered than ever. He managed to paint accurate representations of the animals that were becoming endangered in his area, which is something that I am extremely passionate about; I hate the fact that animals are being forgotten and how they are treated unfairly. ROA thinks that animals tell you so much about the world, in comparison with any other living thing, which is why he likes to paint them so much.

            The majority of his work is made with a colour palette that only consists of blacks and whites, however in some pieces he uses a few vibrant colours to get his message across that animals are treat. Moreover, he mostly uses acrylic paint or spray paint on abandoned or desolate walls within the cities that he has visited, however I cannot do this due to the fact that it would be illegal for me to do so. The majority of his work is very expressive and slightly stylised.

ROA

Rabbit

Hackney, London

Acrylic paint and spray paint

2009

                This large scale representation of a rabbit has been painted on the side of a dilapidated building with acrylic paint and spray paint. The fact that he has painted it on a large scale (12 feet tall) allows him to get a lot of detail in the rabbit. Even though he painted the rabbit on a flat background, he was capable of making it look 3-D; there is a high contrast in tone in regards to the darker and lighter areas of the rabbit which makes it look like it is 3 dimensional. He has used line in a more expressive motion which gives an accurate representation of the fur on the rabbit which increases the realism in the painting. The fact that he has only used blacks and whites in this painting means that he managed to get strong contrast in tone as he used more black in the darker areas than he did in the light areas. The fact that he has used a greyscale colour scheme allows him to show the world that he sees things in a different light and that sometimes the most beautiful things are in black and white. ROA used expressive mark making in this piece to give the animal a furry texture; the highly expressive mark making allows the viewer to see a truthful illustration of what a rabbit looks like.

                The fact that ROA has decided to paint the rabbit in an urban environment, yet also paint it next to plants that are taking over the wall, shows that he wants the audience to know that animals can live in both urban and rural environments; this gives me an idea of the context of the piece and the environments that the rabbit would be seen in. He has used the whole of the wall so that the rabbit is all that the spectator sees which is why in my pieces, which I am going to do in the future, I am going to use up all of my chosen background. In my opinion, I think that he has attempted to get a specific message across to the audience that animals can live in both environments and that we shouldn’t try to isolate them. He is trying to tell the story of a rabbit and how they are a natural beauty that shouldn’t be harmed or took for granted. However, overall, I think that he just wanted to simply show his passion for animals and how he thinks that they tell people much more about the world than anything else.

                ROA’s work relates to what I am doing because I I have a passion for animals and I hate the idea of them being mistreated. I want to express how I feel about animals through my artwork and how much I am fascinated by them. I am going to take inspiration from his mark making and how expressive he is in each of his pieces. I also like the amount of contrast in tone that ROA manages to represent in the fur. Although I can’t paint my art onto walls and fences, I am going to still get the same amount of detail in my drawings. I am going to use a limited colour palette of black and white, however I might try and add some vibrant colours to show how I feel about the animals. In a similar way to ROA’s work I am going to try and experiment with acrylic paint to see if I can achieve the same kind of texture and marks as he does.

Half Term Work

Over the half term, I was planning on visiting a local zoo to get a lot of photos and leaflets as well as draw some animals. This would have allowed me to get some more research for my project that would have enabled me to delve deeper into my project. Unfortunately, due to money restrictions, I haven't been able to visit yet, so I am going to go when I can. Because of this I have had to draw some experimentations of animals that are near me: A dog and a bird. 

1st drawing - Black pen (35 minutes)

2nd drawing - Black pen and coffee staining in the darker areas (20 minutes)

3rd drawing - white pen on black paper (20 minutes)

4th drawing - black acrylic paint (15 minutes)

Out of these four drawings, I particularly like the 1st drawing as I think it shows a high contrast in tone when compared with all the other drawings. However I do like the 4th drawing as it does also show contrast; in the future, I would only use this technique on a bigger scale as you can't get a lot of detail with brushstrokes of acrylic paint.

Over the past two weeks, I have been trying to decide on what route I am going to go down regarding my art project, "who am I?". With deep consideration, I have decided to focus on the destruction of animals when they are taken out of their natural environment and put into zoos. After having created a mindmap that consists of everything about me, I realised that I am really interested in the work of ROA. I like how expressive his work is and how detailed it is. He focuses on animals and paints large black and white images of them on walls in the area he is in at the time. These are a few examples of his work:

His work is very large scale, high contrasting, slightly stylised and also slightly expressive. All of these concepts allow ROA to create unique, realistic drawings of animals. He manages to combine the idea of life and death in his illistrations and I can use this to show how animals in zoos are distressed and in danger. In my work, i am going to draw a couple of animals in his style with different materials such as: pencil, pen, ink and acrylic paint; this will allow me to see what material is best when working in his style. The following photos are of the drawings that I have completed in class:

drawing of a whale skull

Reflective diary of my art lessons so far

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been attempting to draw an object that is personal to us; I chose a teddy bear that my Dad passed on to me as my family has always been a traditional family where things get passed down through generations. We have been making a variety of small drawings of small sections of our object and trying to get accurate mark making and tone. I focused on the texture of the fur around the eyes and nose. Here is the transition of my work from the start of the observational drawing process to the end of the observational process:

 

I am really happy with the transition of my work and how it has improved. I can see at the start of this, I was not really understanding how to record observations properly, however I can see that as I have progressed, the quality of work has improved. My work has become more expressive and I have begun to understand the importance of making my work look interesting (for instance, using newspaper as the paper that I draw on. After having used both pencil and pen, I now realise that working with pen can be a lot more interesting and is also better for making expressive work.

After visiting Pitt Rivers, the Ashmolean and the Oxford University Museum, I have begun to think about how I can take the theme of "Who Am I?", and make it my own. I am going to try and use some of the ancient elements of the animal kingdom (for example, I could focus on the reasons to why animals become extinct). However, I still like the idea of focusing on how I hate the fact that animals are kept in zoos - a place that they should never be. I realised that the ancient, traditional side of life is one of the most interesting aspects of history, which is why I could involve some aspect of history within my art project. From now on, I think that I am going to try and visit a lot more museums and galleries to get inspiration so that I can develop my art work further.

Todays lesson - 3rd October 16

In todays lesson, I carried on drawing sections of my bear that I had brought into college in different ways. The bear that I had brought in is special to me as it was passed on down from my Dad to me and when I have children, it will most likely be passed on down to them. The following pictures are of what I have done today:

This first step is when I had to stick pieces of newspaper down into my sketchbook. I had to leave one of them untouched and the other, I had to brush some emulsion on to the top of it. After this, I had to draw the same thing on to each of them so that I would understand the difference between them.

The first drawing in this image was a biro drawing onto the blank piece of newspaper. I focused on the nose of the bear and the fur around it. I found out that the pen is a lot darker on the newspaper than it is on the normal paper. On the other hand, when I drew the nose and fur onto the emulsion newspaper, I immediately found out that it stood out a lot more as it was essentially black on white. I think that the fur was quite precise compared to drawings that I have done in the past. The drawing on the bottom is of the same area on the bear as the others, however in this drawing, I have focused on tone and mark making on the fur. As I was using biro, I could not shade as well as I could with a pencil, so I then added graphite to the drawing in order to improve the tone of the fur.

Next, I drew on top of a strip of newspaper and also on to the blank sketchbook paper. I used biro again and then painted some white emulsion on top of it and then worked into that a little bit. I did not like this method as it hides some of the detail that was previously put into it. After this, I then went on to combining all of the previous techniques to make a final drawing. I first stuck a piece of newspaper down and then started drawing in biro onto it. After this I stuck down a smaller piece of newspaper on top of this layer and then used graphite on top of it. Next I painted on some white emulsion around the edges of the drawing to make it stand out; to add to the drawing, I stuck down individual letters from the newspaper to spell out, 'USED'. I used this word to get the message across that sometimes used toys/objects can often be the best, most special things in life.