Stage 4, Brief 2 – Necessary Distractions

For my pattern / textured images I used a photo of some leaves, a photo of a fluffy paint roller and a photo of textured glue. All these images are my own.

First I grabbed a piece of plywood and drew 13 shapes on it (later redid and changed to 11), Then I moved to the print lab and printed my leaf image and went onto cover it in oil to make it see through. Then I grabbed a frame for the image and put them in the lightbox to transfer the image to the frame / canvas, I like how my image came out it was very clear. I then stuck the canvas in place ready for use.

Firstly I did a test run with blue paint on paper (top right), which turned out very well. So I went straight on to my wood piece. For the first side I used 2 flat colours, pastel yellow and a pale orange. By moving the wood around and changing angles I managed to fill the page. Personally I wasn’t happy with the outcome, some spots where too empty. So I decided to add more to it later on.

Then we moved to the 3d lab which I then used the bandsaw to cute out all my shapes and I had to make a few a little different to my original ideas because the turns were to sharp for the bandsaw, overall I am pretty happy with how they come out for the little amount of experience I have. After that I then sanded all of the edges down so when I went back to the print lab to finish of the colours the sharp edges wouldn’t tear the canvas, etc.

After that I went back to the print lab and added purple paint to the yellow and orange side but only on the parts that were lacking colour to add some interest and difference. Which I think greatly improved the quality of that side of the plywood . For the other side of the plywood I used a container of paint that had an assortment of colours in it. I also added a few splashes of red paint on the canvas so the colours wouldn’t be flat and plain like the other side but instead more scrambled and filled with many areas of colour gradients, which I like the way it turned out it looks very pretty.

Overall I learnt a lot of new creating techniques through this brief which will help expand my options to create art. I am also happy with how my shapes turned out. I love the way the sides contrast each other with cool colours on one and warm colours on the other (mainly). If I were to do this again I would like to try more crazy colour combinations. I’d also like to try more crazy shapes like the artist Jean Arp, I feel like it would help complement the craziness of the colours. I’d also like to make some shapes that were in the shapes of monsters or animals I feel like it would add another good element to the work.

Artist Research:

Mark Williams: I like the way he uses simples shapes and simple / clean colour palettes for his work and his use of surface, especially cardboard, even though its on carboard he creates very professional looking work which I would like to try and recreate myself.

Jean Arp: Jean’s art usually consists of plain / flat colours and 2d / flat shapes, its impressive how many different but interesting shapes he can create. Although his images seem “simple” its impressive how much depth and structure his pieces hold. I’d like to try and make some simple but effective art pieces like his in the future.

Matthew Browne: Matthews work is similar to Jeans in the way that they both use flat colours and a selection of shapes. The difference being that Matthew uses less abstract shapes and instead more simple ones like squares, lines and shapes with minor amounts of bends/ curves. His Work is very sleek and minimalist.