How do I think/feel about this and how well did it go?
1.
I think overall the image works. It is quite
busy though, so some may feel it is a bit too much... I hope however that it illustrates abundance of summer fruit and veg though while contrasting with the relative calm of the green and white in the text below which I was trying to use to balance out the business.
2.
I do think that perhaps the image is better
suited to the ‘rectangle’ composition vs. a square in terms of being able to read the word summer immediately, but I think that it still
works as the square image.
What did I learn?
1.
Apart from making sure I READ THE BRIEF, I
became more used to using watercolour paints thanks to this assignment and the
experimentation leading up to the assignment.
2.
I also learnt that a square is very different to
a rectangle! …sounds obvious but trying to space things that fit into a
rectangle into a square is certainly a challenge.
3.
I also discovered that inks actually ‘splat’
better for me then watercolours! (whether this is just me or intrinsic to the
material I am not sure.)
4.
I also decided to do the image to scale i.e.:
18”x18” thinking this would be easy to scan in and get a 12”x12” copy printed
but unfortunately the two local print shops in my area were unable to do this
for me as it was larger then A3 which is their largest flat scanner and I was a
little nervous to put it through their ‘roller scanner’…especially for the
price they were going to charge me for one copy. I guess in a commission
situation I would need to clarify if making things bigger would cause problems
etc.
5.
I learnt that watercolours aren’t as scary or theoretical as I had assumed and so am
more open to use them now as a result of this assignment. I have learnt that
they are NOT a quick medium though.
How have I put theory into practice?’
1.
I have tried to consider all the experiments and
explorations with paints and paper in order to make a considered decision about
the materials I chose to use for this image. i.e.: I chose to use watercolours
for their translucence and bright colours which I feel echo freshness and summertime.
2.
I also chose to have a predominantly white
background again to echo bright summer and keep it fresh.
3.
I used the idea of playing with imagery by using
thyme to stand in for ‘time’ in the image. Although this is not metaphorical
exe 2.11 explored how words and images can be playful and engage viewers to
look more closely when reading or seeing images.
4.
I drew on influences from Guiseppe Archimboldi
after reading about him in ‘food and
painting. I also tried to ensure that the principles of making the fruit
and veg stimulate appetite while also showing abundance that was spoken about
in Food in Painting.
How does my current practice lead to me becoming better at a
skill?
I
feel that this using watercolours in the summer image has opened my eyes to the
versatility of this paint so I will consider using them more in the future now
that I have had a chance to experiment with them
How can I use this to plan for the future?
I
quite enjoyed experimenting with food imagery and may perhaps continue to do
so.
AUTUMN
Autumn unfortunately did not come as naturally and therefore was a little bit of a 'race to the finish-line' and I think the image suffered for this reason.
I think one of the reasons that I struggled with the Autumn image is that unlike Summer which I associate closely with fruit and veg, Autumn I immediately associate with red, orange and yellow falling leaves and, unfortunately the pending winter that comes just after autumn! As a result of this I procrastinated and procrastinated and when push came to shove I had to plan as I went along.
What did I do?
1. I panicked!
2. I wanted to include text into the image but unlike summer, no songs came to me and Google was not much help either!
3.I finally settled on Keats’s poem “ To Autumn” which a friend of mine reminded me of. Whether it needed it in the end is arguable but I stuck to my guns to try and make it a little different. I experimented with painting veg that I associated with Autumn after collecting various images from the internet. Unfortunately it was not as easy to draw from life as there are no autumnal veg in season currently.
4. I experimented with using watercolours but abandoned watercolours as a medium as the translucence that I had wanted for summer, I no longer wanted for autumn. For me autumn symbolizes layering and the introduction of blankets and storing and preparation. I therefore wanted a richer less ‘fresh, juicy’ look and so experimented with collaging marrow and trialed painting on wood with quick-drying oils.
5 . I decided to experiment with painting on wood for the final image as I felt that the textures that the wood created felt organic and cozy and naturally autumnal. I soon learnt that this was probably a mistake on many levels!!!!!!!!! Firstly I only had a cheap piece of pine so there is only one area where the wood becomes part of the image. In all other areas it is largely unnoticeable. Also the wood that I had chosen had a horizontal ridge in the middle of it which initially I thought would add to the image by making it like a wooden fence or something(…..yeah not quite sure why this seemed a good idea at the time) but needless to say the horizontal line separated the background and foreground significantly adding to the disunity and lack of harmony within the image. I only realized this when I placed bits of paper over the line and the background and it immediately worked better. My biggest mistake was that the experiment with the quick drying oils didn’t work but I put this down to the fact that I have no idea how to use oil paints and that the ‘quick drying’ were not quick drying enough thus blaming the paint and my lack of skill completely for the fact that the experiment didn’t work and forgetting that the wood may also have had a role to play in the fact that the experiments didn’t work and were thus abandoned.
6. As mentioned I struggled to generate an idea that I was happy with and as time was running short I had no choice but to just launch into it and see if it worked. Needless to say the first image did not work! In theory I felt it had to work as I was using mixed media and collage and wood and paint and….it was all toooooo much!
7. I took a short break from the image and then after experimenting with placing various papers over the text and the leaves that I had created, I felt that the primary problem lay in the background and that I could salvage the fruit and veg in the foreground.
8. I trailed using some patterned paper that I had, but for fear of not making it another overwhelming busy mess, I decided to go with brown paper for the background. I also felt that brown paper is affiliated with fruit and veg as it is often used to wrap fruit and veg in traditional shops and therefore suggest an earthy, down to earth feeling to autumn. Again, I learnt about background materials the hard way as the brown paper I used, which had in fact been a brown paper bag in its previous life, was not really created to be painted on or have pastels on it or ink on it without simply over emphasizing the horizontal lines within the paper. Needless to say, the integration hat I had hoped to do between the background and the foreground could only be done digitally using my very limited digital skills and program on my mobile phone! This is definitely something I will have to look into
9. After coming to the conclusion that I would just have to put up with the background for lack of time (or inspiration) I experimented with writing a few bits of text to include my lines from Keats and decided I had had enough!
Autumn images:
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Autumn image 1, 12"x12": abandoned
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Autumn trail 1: background covered with "cottagy" blue-grey flower print paper
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Autumn trial 2: background "cottagy' mustard yellow, slightly warmer flower-print background
Autumn trial 3: Brown paper placed on background
Autumn final image: Light ammended using digital Cross process function in pics art on mobile phone
Autumn image final without digital cross process.
How do I think/feel about this? How well did it go?
1.
In the end I am glad that I changed the first
image as I still received mixed feedback regarding it from friends and family.
(Who were probably just trying to appease me!) and I think that the final image
works better then the first attempt.
2.
I would have liked to have been able to
integrate the foreground and background without using my limited digital
software especially as I was told by my local print shops that they could not print a 12”x12” image from a mobile
phone photograph.
What did I learn?
1.
I definitely learnt about the need to plan an
image before launching into it especially if considering using less traditional
materials like wood and brown paper!
2.
On a positive not I learnt that gouache works
quite well on wood…well pine that is!
3.
I also learnt that collage or mixed media
doesn’t always work. It can add to images but in my case it detracted or should
I say distracted the eye when looking at the image.
What and how would I do it differently?
1.
The one thing I was nervous about was trialing
the fruit and veg in collage which I actually would like to do because I think
that the collaged fruit and veg that I experimented worked quite well and it
could be a good way of introducing textures or even symbols of autumn like
leaves or patchwork quilts in smaller doses. It may be disastrous but I think
that unlike the 1st image I created where the collage was too much,
this time the collage would be in the foreground and therefore the focus of
image. I think in my first image the background drew the eye away from the
foreground, which was one reason for the disunited composition.
How have I put theory into practice?
1.
I feel like I have explored! Sometimes
successfully and sometimes not so successfully!
2.
When I photocopied the 1st image in
black and white, it confirmed that the image was too busy without any hierarchy
and therefore too much for the eye to focus on. This confirmed my suspicions
but was easier to put my finger on in black and white.
How does my current practice lead to me becoming better at a
skill?
1.
I think that exploring different materials has
opened my eyes to the importance of choosing the correct surface and medium to
use.
How can I use this to plan for the future?
1.
I will continue to explore different media and surfaces and mixed media.
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