I
originally did this Swan painting onto vintage wallpaper with raised textures. I always seem to choose a texture to work into because it makes it far less daunting than to work onto a flat white surface. I have also been working into rolls of canvas a lot and this is something I want to continue to develop.
I am inspired by the work of Rob Ryan and traditional paper cutting so I thought I would experiment with my love of layering and multimedia through the use of cutting paper away. I have used vintage imagery collected from vintage shops along with old book pages to create a peep-through aspect. It also adds a different dimension when you look at image and spot something new each time. I enjoyed the cutting out of the original textures found on the paper and incorporating them with the overall image.
I was thinking a lot about context when creating this piece. I really like it just as a piece of art. I feel it would be beautiful as a super sized wall mural. I also want to develop the swan theme, I could imagine using a two swans as bespoke wings or a mask/ collar/ head dress. I can see a strong relationship developing between my drawings and my sampling. Literal thing such as the black dots and gold dots relate to circular stitches and sequins and beads.
I went to and Indian wedding in the summer and was memorised by the details of the saris alongside the encrusted embroidery. I think this has really influenced by drawing style of late. I like to make my imagery up of tiny dots and metallic that shimmer. I can also see that the bright colours of the saris tie very much in with my own work...
Today we did a group drawing session which involved trying to work differently to how you normally would or developing your individual style(which I think I have finally found!)
I started by drawing a fairground horse on canvas trying to work in a larger scale than I would normally. I found that the boundaries of the canvas are to rigid so I am going to try and develop extensions of my drawings off of the 'paper'.
Today Grainne said that I can afford for my work to be gestural and a bit crazy with colour and movement. I can see that my work is almost an extension of my personality, my loves and my personal style. This is interesting to consider within the context of my research report where I am looking at makers who use their work as an extension of themselves. I definitely fit into this sort of making category. I find it hard to hold back with colour and detail and I don't think this is something I should try and do anymore, I just need to go with what my hands do!
I really enjoy using bleach within my work because it's a good cure to soften my colours when I sometimes get carried away. It is a wonderful way of illuminating areas of an illustration and therefore creating an ethereal, magical quality.
The bleach sometimes burns through papers and rather than panicking I found that it was best to go with what the material was doing, so if it wanted to rip and curl I incorporated this into the imagery. This texture adds to the collage/layered feel of my work. I find that this then directly relates to the freehand machine stitch and almost sculptural sort of embellishment within my sampling.
