After my experiments with using verbs to create art, I have found that I have been really interested in using thicker paint and looking at the impasto style of painting. I have been looking at Jason martin’s work for inspiration as I like how he uses paint to create texture and looking at how the paint has been moved around the canvas. I also like the range of bright colours that he uses, This is an aspect that I would like to use in my works as I find that I am drawn to the vibrant colours.
For this piece, I started by dolloping paint around my paper. I then used a palette knife to spread the paint around. I wanted to get a range of the flat colours along with the colours that had been mixed together. I also wanted to try to keep some of the texture of the thick paint dollops to add more dimension. I would like to make more works with this technique however I would like to focus more on keeping the thick parts of the paint and having more texture.
Dilute, dab, soak, and dot
In these pieces, I started by soaking sections of my paper with water and used two different techniques of applying the watercolour. The first technique was dotting the watercolour around the paper. I found that I had to go over and do two layers of dots as the watercolour started to bleed and didn’t hold the shapes I was hoping to create. On the pink one, I decided to dot the watercolour around the soaked paper to see the difference between the dots with and without the water. The other technique I used was to put the watercolour all over the page and dab another page onto it to transfer and duplicate the image. I think this technique may have worked a little better if I had used darker colours as the result I got was quite light.
Stamp, press, and tracing
for this work, I started looking at tracing and my original idea was to do a rubbing work of the leaves however I decided that I wanted to try something different that I hadn’t tried before. Instead, I painted the leaves and used them as a stamp. I also tried painting around the edge of the leaves as I was stamping them to make the shape/ edges of the leaves stand out.
pour, drip, and scrape
for these works, I mixed together glue and paint to create a shiny effect. For my first work, I used a combination of the glue mixed with paint and dripped it onto the paper. From there I used a palette knife and scraped the mix in upwards and sideways to create the gridded pattern. In my other work, I poured the glue over the paper and then mixed the paint into some parts of the glue. I liked the shiny effect that I got from using the glue and I would like to use this more in my future works however I would have to experiment more as the glue dried with some air bubbles in it.
for my first verb paintings, I decided to fill up spray bottles with different dilutions of water and ink. I then sprayed each paper using a different technique, I sprayed one from a distance and only used the most diluted ink. On the next one I sprayed three layers of ink all with different dilutions however I dont think I had the right ratios as the two lighter colours turned out very similar. The last test I only sprayed the paper from up close and along the top to get the ink to drip down the paper. I really liked the effect that this created and found it interesting seeing the different shades bleed together as I added each layer.
Scrape, smear and curve
In these works I experemented with using different tools to scrape patterns and lines into paint, I used the end of a paintbrush, palette knives, my hands and a card that I cut pieces out of. My favorite method was the using the card to scrape away a layer of the paint into wavy lines. I also like how this effect worked with using a different contrasting colour underneath to really make the lines stand out.
Dollop, push and smear
I really enjoyed making these two works as I liked not knowing how the work was going to turn out until you open up the paper. Before folding the paper I dolloped paint around the paper and drew different shapes with the paint, once folded I would push the dollops of paint around the paper in order to mix colours together and make new shapes. I also really liked the texture created when opening the paper and how the paint would form small peaks and raised lines.
spray
As I had spray paint around the house I decided that I could use it for these works. I have tried two different techniques when experimenting with the spray paint, the one with the silver I was experimenting with layering different shapes and lines over eachother. The other work I only held down the nozzle of the spray paint partially so the paint created this speckled effect on the paper. I like how this effect turned out and I think it could make a good background for some of my future works.
when I first started planning ideas for these shoots I started coming up with a list of leisurely activities to do. The main idea that I had was going on walks, this ended up working out with the lockdown as I was still able to go out and take photos on walks. I went on both day and night walks all around different parts of my neighborhood. I have been going out on walks almost every day with my family and we have started walking around a track that we used to walk a lot when my brother and I were young. I really like how bright and vibrant the colours are from the day walk photos.
After taking photos on some of our leisurely walks I started to think about the title In praise of laziness, I have decided that I don’t feel as though my photos are showing this idea. When I think of laziness the first things that come to my mind are sitting or lying down and relaxing and not really doing much. I’ve started to look at technology and how especially while we are currently stuck at home a lot of people are using technology more than they possibly normally would.
overall I am happy with the work I have produced throughout this topic however I think I could have extended my ideas more as I feel as though they are still very basic. If I were to continue with this theme I would like to try out more animation or video for my works as I haven’t really worked with either before this topic and I was pretty happy with my results.
I have found the animations a little bit tricky to pick up. I think the main problem I encountered was having too bigger gaps between photos so my animations always came out very choppy. I have tried to work on this in order to get them a little smoother. of my three animations, I am most happy with the wheelbarrow one as this is the one I experimented the most with the placements of the camera. Although the plant coming over the front of the screen is out of focus I still like this placement as I think it is more interesting to look at.
An artist that I have been influenced by is Pablo Zutleta Zahr I really like the way he uses series of photos to create one work. I also like the bright coloured shirts that he puts together in a particular way to make interesting patterns.
I have really enjoyed looking at artists that take multiple photos and put them in a series to show changes or progressions. This is an idea that I wanted to explore in my photos. my first idea for this task was to go down to the ferry building, set up a tripod, and take a photo every half hour. I was hoping to show time passing through the lighting and colour of the sky however the colours didn’t change as much as I would have hoped. I also thought that the ferries coming in and out would help show the passing of time. I think a better time to go could have been in the evening as it is getting dark as I think this time would have the most guaranteed change in lighting. The other image I have is of the ferry coming in, my plan was to make the layers translucent to see how the ferry has moved but this hasn’t turned out how I was hoping as I found it tricky to get the right balance between being translucent enough to see the layers without being too faint.
Becca and I were working on this task together and we decided that we would both film getting on or off our different modes of public transport. I really liked Becca’s video as it had a bit more mystery to it and had more interactions between people. For my video, I decided to film it a few times to try out different perspectives but I found this one to be my most successful. I filmed this video from about hip height and showed people getting off the ferry in the city.
As I have work most evenings after uni, I decided that I would take advantage of this and take some photos of the task I do at work that relate to labour. For me, the first thing that came to mind when thinking about labour at work was cleaning at the end of the night. for these two sequences, I tried to look at different angles. In the sweeping sequence, I took these photos from right on the ground tilted upwards as I thought that it might give an interesting effect and viewpoint. In the table cleaning sequence, I decided to go with more of a straight-on viewpoint but if I were to go back and take more photos I would like to try also using high angles. I really liked how you could see the movements and the blur of my arm and I would like to try using this again in future photos. My other sequence is stacking chairs on top of a table, I have found that this is another task that I do quite regularly. my original plan was to take these photos at work as well however I was not able to use the area for taking photos. instead, I decided to do the same task just at home with my table and chairs in my back garden. I am not as happy with how this sequence turned out and I think that I could have experimented better with angles and how that affects the look of the objects in the frame.
I found this task really enjoyable. I liked the collaborative aspect and going back and watching my videos though. My favorite parts of the videos are when we are passing the items around the circle, I decided to take a photo every time I saw people mid-way between passing and swapping objects. I really liked this method as you can see the movements of each person. I also thought it was interesting to look at it as a transaction between people as to me this relates to the idea labour and time. I was only really able to use one of my videos as I hadn’t chosen the placement of my phone well and I often had people blocking the view of the stacking. If I were to do this task again I would definitely look more carefully at the placement and angles in order the get a more successful video.
