Now my first self initiated project is complete, I can put my whole focus on my Final Major Project. Of course this is what I have be building up to on the course so it is for me to gather what I have learned and applied to my previous projects and create something final.
It is both exciting and daunting but if I keep a positive mind set and manage my time and organisation, I should manage to produce the work in enough time and comfortably present a final outcome.
Location
The location for the FMP is within a church so this will be an interesting location to work in an art project. Having a bay to work with will allow me much opportunity and many possibilities to create something to impress my audience and prove my abilities to manage a space.
The idea of having my work finally up for a public viewing is very exciting, yet daunting so it will be a definite experience throughout this project.
In the end, I positioned my final piece in a composition explored and discussed in this previous post.
I had the larger painting as the focal point, raised to eye level.
I then propped the three other paintings above the large piece. The composition reminded me almost of looking out of window panes.
I included captions, with titles and descriptions alongside the paintings, as well as incorporating my sketchbook and a sheet for feedback.
One of my key development points for myself was a better presentation. I needed to use the table in order to have the painting stood at eye level, but I could not find anything more suited to doing so. As the table was white, I thought it could be possible for it to blend to the wall, but it protruded outwards too much.
In beginning my project looking at Arte Povera, I remembered an artist I had looked at earlier on, Lauren Seiden. She created a piece that grabbed my intrigue, a piece titled The Future is Lost in Yesterday's News, a graphite and mixed medium piece on newspaper.
Lauren Seiden: The Future is Lost in Yesterday's News. Graphite and mixed medium on newspaper.
I had the idea, a little too late into my project, of propping the large painting on a selection of books, inspired by this piece. Of course, I was unable to, but still wanted to consider the idea in my planning, nevertheless.
Cornelia Parker is an artist I have admired for a long while for her installation work and sculpting. While I am not a huge lover of installation, there is something in Parker's work that entices me.
I wanted more knowledge on the artist so gathered a more personal view by watching her episode of What Artists Do All Day.
I found the programme particularly interesting for it let the artist speak for herself. I was intrigued and inspired by all of the work she was producing and displaying within the video. I was introduced to more work by the artist that I was, until now, completely unaware of. I was definitely intrigued by her exhibition "The Maybe" in which she encased found objects in glasses cases and put them all together in the same room. This seemed very relevant to the ideas I was researching within my exploration of Arte Povera.
She used coats, gloves, but the most well known and memorable from the piece was the following:
Certainly not a found artist, but instead a friend asleep in one of the glass cases.
I was also enticed by her work with walls. It was relevant to my project without me even having knowledge of it. Parker had been passing the same wall by her home on numerous occassions and during the filming of the programme had finally got around to photographing it. She had been travelling and had photographed prison walls, sacred walls. This was simply an ordinary wall.
I have seen this sculpture exhibited in The Whitworth Gallery:
I was obviously unaware of all the work behind this project when I saw the piece, but now it is all very relevant.
It would be interesting to explore this oil and milk spills as Parker has done, as opposed to the plain walls I have been working with. I definitely wish to experiment more in Parker's manner, taking inspiration from her travels, but also from the mundane.
"One of the things that we try to do when are making images is to preserve - we are actually capturing things. I hope that over that long period of time of making that some of that concentration and that time spent gets soaked up. And my hope is that other people will share that sensation."
George Shaw. An artist I feel I truly relate to.
Shaw paints realities, he doesn't glorify, doesn't overdo, he simply just paints what he knows.
Estate of mine: Geroge Saw introduces The Sly and Unseen Day at Baltic:
This clip shows Shaw preparing for his exhibition displaying 15 years worth of work. I think one of the exciting things about this exhibition is that time scale, for all the works have been produced at different moments of the artists life. He speaks of a particularly poignant painting of his which holds memories he holds vividly. The piece was fine at art college, he was told "it's a bit sentimental" to which he thought they spoke "as if there was something wrong with that." The sentiment and the atmosphere is part of what makes Shaw's work so delightful.
Furthermore, the moments Shaw has captured must suggest so perfectly what the place is like. The times of day illustrated, paired with what is the subject of each painting make for such atmosphere.
Shaw painted this piece after his father's death and after the pub was closed down after a fire. He says it was a frequented place of his and one of the last places he and his father shared a drink. Again there is a lot of sentiment here and feeling, in when he decided to paint the piece. Shaw did not paint the pubs inside, nor when it was open (even from the outside), he waited until the demise of the pub and his father, painting an outsiders view of a burnt and closed down pub. The idea that it is such a significant piece to the artist makes it all the more interesting, particularly with knowledge of the backstory and more personal knowledge of the artist himself.
I have began work on a large scale, using the photograph selected in the previous post.
Working on this size was initially daunting but also exciting, so I was looking forward to beginning work.
I began with a base layer of terre verte, vermillion
and yellow ochre. I poured used turps directly onto
the board to help spread the colour across the large
surface area. Also, I wanted to use a muddy turps
as I felt it would help create the neutral effect
I was looking for.
I then drew on the outline of the trees using a
thinner brush coated in yellow ochre.
I then built up the shape and structure of the
bin bag wrapped around the tree using burnt
umber.
I began to build up blocks of colour.
The tree trunks eventually got more depth.
(using the same palette of colour as the previous
paintings.)
In working on the plastic bin bag, I used a mix of
ultramarine and burnt umber to create a black. I
wanted an even darker colour to that I could create
the creases in the plastic. I used a true mars black
in order to do this as the mix was more blue.
I feel this worked well.
I began building on the tape wrapped around
this plastic, using white to scraping in with
a palette knife.
It proved a challenge to try and create the
texture of two different plastics against the trees
but I tried my hardest to recreate it (using a number
of reference images.)
This is as far as I got in the 6 hours I was painting
for.
I feel that the painting is going well, although I would like to add more detail where possible in the time I have left, just to complete it and help create more shape and depth. I also need to complete work on a background as the base layer is not all I want to sit behind the focus point.
As I have been experimenting on the smaller A4 scale, I have definitely favoured my first two paintings and feel it would be interesting to explore on a larger scale.
I did take another visit to the woods, the same location as my others, and found even more odd pairings to photograph.
(The previous post shows work on a painting inspired by the photographs of the Christmas decoration, however, I do not have the exact photo here.)
I would like to continue with these, but perhaps work on a larger scale.
My favourite of the photos is the first:
I am happy with the first two paintings and I feel that I could add one more but work very large with it and I feel that this photo would work effectively on such a large scale.
Painting One
I began work on my first two experiments on Monday 14th.
Building up layers
Building up layers and beginning to add detail.
Adding detail. Using colour and also impasto medium (before
adding the red of the traffic cone).
Working on the background and creating depth.
I enjoyed the process of working on this painting and intend to use a similar manner throughout the rest of the works I produce for this project and final piece.
The colours I have used will be repeated: raw umber, yellow ochre and terre verte are the main colours, used on the trees, while ultramarine and raw umber mixes are used in the background and as the base layer ready for the red traffic cone.
I have begun work on my final pieces. I am yet to figure out how I wish to present my works, for I have been experimenting with a number of compositions and layouts. (Even toying with the idea of including a film).
I would like to produce a series but am uncertain on the size and numbers. Too many could overdo it, but too few could look like I began creating a series but got bored and gave up...
I do however feel that I will experiment until I feel I am satisfied. If I find that I only want one final painting then that may just be the outcome. I am willing to see where my experimentation will take me.
I decided that I wanted to explore the idea of film stills in my final piece experimentation. I have been looking at colour symbolism and mies-en-scene, primarily through analysing film stills, so it seems appropriate to continue to include film within the project.
I want to work from the photographs I gathered which are inspired by the film. I found mundane things that I wanted to add beauty to by making them into paintings.
The first two photos I decided to experiment with were the following:
Obviously, I have already used the traffic cone in an experiment so I was excited to take the further into a larger painting.
I have decided to work A4 for the moment. I am considering the idea of a larger piece, to either be the only focus, or to go alongside a series and complete it.
As well as experimenting with the filming, I also began to experiment with working from my photographs (See Thursday 10 March post for these).
I experimented with oil paint on sketch paper. The painting is A5 and did not take much longer than an hour to create so it was a nice easy experiment.
Sketchbook page discussing the photograph and the materials used in the experiment.
I was pleased with this painting, as I feel it portrays the scene, and even creates a sense of perspective with the back and foregrounds.
I built up this painting in layers, building up the trees in raw umber, terre verte and yellow ochre. The traffic cone pictured was built up with a base layer of watered down ultramarine and raw umber mix, and the cadmium red was applied over the top.
I decided I wanted to explore these photos more, working with the idea of a series, inspired by film stills.
I experimented with different songs, trying to find what would work best. I came up with the idea of these two songs: both remixes of originals, meaning the pacing and order is altered.
I like the development in this song and I felt it could add something to the rather bland imagery.
The opening to this song fitted perfectly. The main bulk of the song begins at exactly 48 seconds through, which is the length of the clip. The introduction worked best so I am pleased with how well-fitting this is.
I began experimenting with using sound over the shot. I didn't want to come up with something that would be an attempt to mimic the original, so I experimented with music.
Ben Rivers is an artist and experimental filmmaker. He does not make conventional cinema. Much of his work is documentary and ethnographic. He looks a lot at people and location. ETHNOGRAPHIC:
The systematic study of people and cultures.
Some of the documentary work I find tedious to watch, but oddly enough the silent shots are the ones that interest me the most. They are almost like moving paintings in a way.
Take the Lake scene from Two Years at Sea. Nothing particular exciting happens for the entirety of the 8 minute shot but there is something oddly interesting about it.
Rivers has mentioned before that he likes to use time, "when you slow things down, there's more of an invitation to bring in more of the audiences own mind". There is certainly an element of art here, over an ordinary, 'commercial' film. It may seem like a boring long shot, but it gives you time to ponder.
I am reminded in this scene of The Revenant, a film that is so beautiful to watch. For me, the scenic shots could have gone of forever, while I know others would have found these tiresome to watch. I do believe it is a lot about personal opinion, but also open-mindedness. What can you take and understand from what you are seeing?
[Words taken from sketchbook]
Like American Beauty, I did want to capture something, whether I had to set it up myself or not. I had the idea of filming a balloon, as Ricky films a plastic bag - working here in homage. However, I purchased the balloons on the way to the woods but was only able to blow any up when I got home and used a pump so I need to try this again.
I wanted to keep the idea of the red so I intended on using a red balloon, which I will get around to doing.
I have a wall in my garden with flaking paint and through this white paint the red brick can be seen - I thought I could perhaps work with this.
I slowed the frames down in iMovie. I slowed it by 50% but I feel this works rather well. The concept is rather self explanatory, but I just wanted to introduce the red. I wanted a really mundane subject. When you take away the narrative in American Beauty, what is the scene but a plastic bag floating in the wind? So I took this idea, working with the very bones to make something seemingly significant. Peeling away layers, unveiling a new colour; there are a number of things that could be taken from a simple, very plain video. Like watching paint dry but in reverse... There's no structure. No beginning or end. Just that of scraping away at a wall.
I was more successful in this location. Trusty Weelsby Woods, it always serves me well.
I took some pretty ordinary photos, nothing really catching my eye. I did pick out the red signposts and photographed a couple but, ultimately, nothing really came to mind that could give them a relevance in what I was exploring.
I am not a fan of this photograph, but it included the red signpost.
I much prefer this capturing of a signpost. Previously, it seemed irrelevant,
but in this photo, with the red in the tree, there is a better composition.
I did really like this photo.
I tried to capture the distant play area from between the trees, but again, not
particularly inspiring.
It was when I got to this image that I gathered more inspiration. I simply
photographed the scene but because I had the zoom on, I noticed there was
something in one of the trees that looked like it could be a plastic bag: something that was relevant.
When I took the last photo, the zoom allowed me to look closer and notice that there was something in the tree that looked as though it could be a plastic bag. I also noticed more unexpected colours in this area. I know people tend to set up camps in this back field and leave excessive junk, so I thought that perhaps for once, other people's incompetence could be of use to me.
I got up close and was right, some delightful being had left a plastic bag wrapped around a tree branch. However, it looked oddly satisfying in this setting in the photographs. It is so out of place, yet somehow seems perfectly at home, with the way it is wrapped around the branch.
Further into the "camp" I found bottle caps, bits of fabric that look like they could have been an item of clothing; the typical mess. And of course, what camp is complete without a traffic cone. I mean, when I go camping, the first thing I pack is my trusty traffic cone...
I only made sense of what was hung in the tree when I saw the burnt out base
slung on the ground.
Again, like the plastic bag, it was oddly satisfying, seeing the brilliant (or
should I say, weathered) red tip against the greens and browns.
It seemed rather effective zooming in on this scene, slightly distorting the
ideas of what is really in the scene.
I was definitely intrigued by the traffic cone. What an odd turn of events.
