Abstract Matchbox Drawings

    Before i realised the drawings were suppose to be abstract i drew an acorn i found with a HB pencil. I used a messy cross hatching technique to create tones of shaded areas and where the light hit the acorn. I did part of the drawing on a ripped piece of paper from my diary. I quite like the layering and i find my messy notes add a sort of ordered but stressful emotion to the piece. It contrasts with the acorn as it is a reminder of life and peaceful nature, It's a simple form in shape showing less stress with the simple construct of life.
   Underneath i did an abstract version of the top view of the acorn in blue biro. The blue is quite strong and really attracts the attention of the eye onto that area of the page. I began doing scribbles in the middle so it began layering; eventually becoming the darkest area as i moved out. Then i used the biro to create dramatic lines coming out from the middle. I quite like the gradient tones in this as it's quite soft and i enjoy using biro. I used this acorn as i thought about how i use to pick them up when i was younger and also when kids play games with them.

   The other drawing i did non abstract. I used the remaining ripped page from my diary to rip into three pieces and layer on top of each other. This helped it look more chaotic, like the sea which was on the matchbox. I love using backgrounds like this for simple drawings or painting. This time using black biro i simply drew out the outline, the box was done using continuous lines but as i moved on i began focusing more on detail. I added light shading to the sides of the box to highlight the top area. I enjoyed doing the little detail on the ship and i added highlights with blue biro on the boat, sea and shadow underneath the box. I decided to draw this as the imagery on the box was interesting, the idea of ships made me think about all sort of water related myths and stories, additionally the film franchise pirates of the caribbean came to mind which involves these myths and imaginary sea monsters.

    The top drawing was of the ribbon and bell from a chocolate bunny. Using my ink pen i drew lines then smudged them in one direction. When i reached where the bell was attached i started going up and smudging the ink in the other direction. I quite like this effect as it adds light shading and lightens the dark, controlled lines. Overall making the piece more subtle and connected. I chose to put this ribbon in my matchbox as when i was a kid i would always keep the ribbon from the chocolate bunny/reindeer and as my journey is to do with fantasy i thought this worked well with the idea of the easter bunny and santa being apart of a shared society fantasy story told to children.
   The drawing below was of a transparent button. I began using blue biro doing tight scribbles, eventually becoming looser and lighter. I thought it made it look quite fluid like the transparent colour of the button. Around the edge i did the same but with black biro as the edges of the button picked up darker shadows.

Abstract Painting

  I collected these objects in Nuneaton Park and took some photos to contribute to my journey idea, however today i focused on using the objects i collected. I got some different sized, shapes and coloured leaves that grabbed my attention. I  also picked up a piece of bark that i thought would be interesting to use as a scraping tool. Using the sticking page i picked up random dirt from the grass, i did this as i thought it would be quite natural and uncontrolled. Amongst the dirt was the end of a cigarette butt which was quite disgusting but i thought it added to the dirt look and would make people think how we pollute the natural world. Lastly i picked up a dirty string that could be used to spread paint and a broken brick for printing on the page. On a piece of paper i used a pencil to take some rubbing of different textures. Some of these textures were bricks, the ground, bark on trees, scratched on a broken cone and the most interesting to me was the steps in the gazebo as it made some interesting holes/dots on the page.



   Before i started painting i stuck tape on the page, one horizontal and the other vertical to hopefully make an interesting effect when peeled off at the end. Also i stuck down one corner of the page to make the piece have less of a straight border as there is no limit to the imagination. I stuck to a blue/purple colour scheme as the colour connotations are quite calm, peaceful and beneficial fro the body and mind. Additionally purple also has connotations of magic, power, and creativity. I thought using different shades of these colours would work well in layers. For the left top corner i used the brick to print and overlapped it into other sections. The bottom left i used a small leaf branch and a darker blue. The top right was dark purple with a large leaf and the bottom i used a sponge to print and scrape on the page. Then i began layering the colours in the middle in a cross hatch technique, that i think Van Gogh used and i would quite like to work on this technique as i found it quite fun. I haven't finished this yet as there are more colours i need to layer to make it have more of a gradient. I liked using the objects for printing in the background as it shows how reality creates the basis and influences our dreams.
   Once i pulled the tape off, the lines were very powerful in the layered colours. The tape pulled up some of the white paint showing the brown paper, creating a rough cracked look that was ideal when viewing the white lines as reality. It showed how restricted people are, trapped by jobs, societal expectations, etc. The coloured paint therefore are their dreams and creative ideas that are then forgotten as they are never given the chance to be played out. The way the lines fade out around the edges, like the prints do, shows how those people feel empty and lost in life, powerless even. The white is also limitless like how thousands of people are trapped in jobs they don't like instead of the career they wished for because they weren't able to have the same opportunities as others who have more power.
  To improve this piece i would spend more time layering the colours up, more visible brushstrokes and shades that help it fade out from the centre but also appear more bolder in the centre. I would change where the lines are and add smaller lines coming from the main ones, these lines would be thin and short to show when people get close to catching their dreams but for many reasons don't get the chance still.

Journey Beginning

   Using dry mediums i began looking over contextual sources i had collected for my topic in journey. I enjoyed doing this task as it allowed me to view how my contextual sources could be brought together and used. I began by looking at the first page of a child's book that once belonged to my mum, the page contained my mums name and her sisters as they fought over ownership of the book. I found this interesting as it showed how important the book was to the each of them, additionally this was a book i grew up with and it made me think how this was a story we all loved and knew, yet never shared how we imagined it as everyone imagines things differently. To me the first page of a book is very important, it's what grabs the reader's interest but for this instance it was the ink imprinted on the page by two kids that loved the same book. I decided to recreate this with fine liner , pencil and scraped graphite to age the page to be the beginning of my search into the journey of fantasy vs reality.

  For the next section, using shading pencils, i drew out two books that differ a lot in their story and appearance. The bottom book was a hardback kids book called "The Wishing Chair", about wishes and fantasy worlds; the top book was a teen/adult book called "All The Bright Places", about two teens taking a journey, discovering interesting parts in their town whilst also finding a will to live. The second book carried a much more heavy topic that kept things realistic, however the places they visited added a sense of beauty. This book had a sad ending that made me cry but also remember the important relationship that the two teens had. I used graphite and charcoal to add darker sections, and by using a q-tip to fade it all together. Then darkened the background by smudging charcoal with a cotton ball. I used  a rubber to lighten areas then fineliner to add a quote from Alfred Lord Tennyson that i heard in a Tv show. I felt this quote was relevant to both books, the kids book they went on a fantasy journey by wishing. Then the teen book it was almost like their relationship was a dream and it helped them both escape from their problems.


   I took this extract from the first kids book that was called "The Folk Of The Faraway Tree". I redrew a section of the illustration using biro and continuous lines, then used smudged charcoal to add a mist around the drawing to make it look like a fragment someone had remembered from their dream and the rest of it was unclear. I then added a little bit of the dialogue as it reminded me of Alice in Wonderland with the talk of  "a party".  I thought this part of the story fitted quite well with my topic as Connie, the little girl, wanted to leave as she thought the tree with all the fantasy things in it was quite ridiculous. It showed how some people grow up and take a grasp of reality, and for those that don't are seen as childish and ridiculous. However Moonface follows her and she stays anyway. This showed how everyone has a dream that they wish they could follow or how people always say they miss their childhood and wish they could go back to it.




 

  For the next page i stuck a ripped piece of brown paper to the page and used fine liner to draw leaves and branches as if it was coming from the next page over about the faraway tree. The page already contained some pencil shading on the edge from where i continued to draw in the gaps cut into the page. Then i got a leaf from the branches i had brought in and tried placed it on the page, using charcoal i scraped over it to see if i would get an outline. The outline is rough but the charcoal darkened the leaf which i liked as if the fineliner had been drawn on it so i stuck it to the branch.
   On the last page i used fine liner to draw out a butterfly that i had taken a picture of. I began scribbling one wing before closing the gaps more and using charcoal to fade into and darken the rest of the butterfly. This made it appear more sinister or like as if someone is describing the butterfly and that was filling in the gaps in someone's imagination. I included a made up quote that i mixed together from a screenshot of a story written by a murderer in a fiction crime show. In the screenshot you see the words "at night she'd leave" then i added in "and fly south" from a song called fly south by a band called Walking On Cars that make amazing dream like sounds in their music with lyrics that include the dream idea.

Composition

Composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements in a piece of artwork. Its very important in art as it can change the entire meaning/tone of the artwork.

   For instance for this first photo the books are laid out quite messily, some overlapping but all very crowded together. This shows a sense of chaotic order, like when people/animals crowd together in times of danger for protection. When looking directly at the art in the books there is an almost line going through the middle where the darker drawings that fill the page take over. This draws the viewer's attention and they slowly revert out to the outside books. Another thing that i like about this is how the wooden floor is used as a frame for the work it adds another layer of tone overall that adds a soft feeling. 

However this all changes when looking at it from another angle. From this lower angle it takes the images in the books head on, focusing on the closest to the camera. Another thing is that there is no border meaning no safety. At the back you can see people's feet crowding the floor showing no clarity but also changes perspective of the viewer knowing there are others looking at this image from a different angle. It brings the image to life. Additionally, this lower angle shows the shadows and light reflecting in the floor. It exposes the one page that is not flat on the floor, which does not show in image one. This shadow conveys a feeling of mystery as you can not see the work on that page.
                                          

Artists

Jean Michel Basquiat once said "I don't think about art when I'm working. I try to think about life. " He did many graffiti art that showed his views on racial discrimination and lines between poverty and the rich. His work is very erratic and colourful, combining his painting with poetry that expressed his views in politics. His work is very powerful and includes loose lines creating a look as if a child had scribbled on it too. 


 The Guerrilla Girls are a group of female activists that use art and humour to expose gender and racial discrimination. They use words and "outrageous" images to get their messages across. These poster like artwork is very strong and sassy that even surprises me at times as they help educate me on areas that i may not know about. 



Carolee Schneemann was an American artist who used the body to express feminist art. She sticks to a black and white colour scheme which conveys an oppressed feeling. Her work is very interesting as in body position and what she includes in the surroundings. For instance the broken umbrella contrast how she is still standing strong and the leaf in the background makes me think of a new life. 





Kara Walker is a silhouettist, print maker and contemporary painter who explores race, gender, sexuality, violence, and identity in her artwork. I find her images very fascinating as she takes on a historic design in her art but continues to be modern with the bold silhouette work. It creates this interesting complex with how society has/ not changed over the years. 


 Marion Toy is a conceptual artist that combines everyday objects with aesthetic colour schemes. I like her work as it is very pleasing and kind of like pop fun. The bright colours help make a topia like world that seems like constant fun and very quirky with the unusual outcomes in some of her work. 


John Baldessari artwork was very imaginative colliding mundane realism with bright unusual pop art like style. His work creates an interesting concept with the lack of individuality in the world, however how he chooses to add this unique style in, that helps make things stand out, also prevents a sort of individuality as, for instance, these colourful circles cover the faces of the people.  



Tamara de Lempicka was a polish painter in the 1920s and 30s. Her paintings of women are very bright and capture this stylish sense with the block lines incorporated in her work. This painting here was what caught my eye as the style and the girl herself is very beautiful. i've always loved 20s fashion and this piece here really captures the beauty and power within the women. 

Movements

Abstract Expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting. This style of art appeals to me because of the detail and tone created by the brush strokes. Also the wild feeling each painting expresses. The layering and free looking style looks really fun to try.










   Body Art is an interesting movement as it brings the artists/models into the actual piece. This means the art itself can not be hung up on the wall but can create an interesting illusions. Using the body itself as a canvas has always intrigued me as it is a way to bring the art to life.





Colour Field Painting is another abstract style that appeared in New York during the 40s. I love these paintings as they are all so different in pattern, colours and styles. They are usually very colourful which sets a mood for the viewer. This movement is very open for artists to express themselves which is what i like.


Feminist Art is a really important movement that allows women to protest their rights and be viewed equally. This style really exploits what women are like, the more dirtier side that is shunned for being unladylike. This art speaks to many people in the world as well as myself as it brings unity to women power. 



Neo Plasticism is a Dutch artistic movement founded in 1917. This abstract style takes on a more geometric line style with bright colours. The layering and different take ons by different artists always appear unique and colourful. Sometimes the designs remind me of old game designs which brings playful childhood memories when viewing them. 




Nouveau Realisme was an art movement founded in 1960. This style is more collage like but usually ripped and colourful, this rough look makes me think of world war posters pulled together after the war. This style also consist of colourful sculptures put together using random objects almost seen as rubbish when alone.  

Pop Art emerged in the 50s and redefined traditional art by taking on imagery from mass culture, advertising and comic books. This challenged traditional art which i like as it is always bold, colourful and still very detailed. This style always stands out and catches peoples attention as it creates a strong, fun feeling.

Art Deco is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that began in France and became popular in the US. This style is unknowingly all around us and i have always been fascinated by the 1920s style. This has been used in the designing of cars, furniture and fabrics producing an interesting illusion to the eye within in the lines. 




De Blaue Reiter was an art form used in protest in Germany. For me the art is very colourful and bold with dark tones creating deep form/shadows to the work. It also creates a feeling of loss due to the paintings being very full with detail and lines, which could be interpreted as freedom and being able to follow whatever you believe in.


Impressionism began in the 19th century and was done using small brush strokes and bold colours to capture the emotion using little detail. The artworks conveys a sense of being trapped or lost as the surroundings are always unclear. Almost creating a heavy fog look. I find the bold colours incorporated in the work interesting as well as how the details are brought in.