So far I have produced 3 A1 images all being based on Trinidad and Tobago carnival folklore each image being a different character using symbolism to show what his story tells.
Image 1 Papa Bois;
Papa bois live in the forest being a father to the animals, casting spells on bad hunters. He can change himself into a deer to be unseen carrying around a cow horn.
Image 2 Soucouyant;
A Soucouyant is a supernatural being who made a pact with the devil. She sheds her skin at night changing into either a ball of fire or an animal of the forest. she turns people she comes across also into animals. If she doesn't change back to her human figure before dawn it is said she would lose her powers.
Image 3 Gang Gang Sara;
Gang Gang Sara is a witch who lived to a great age. She once lived in africa getting blown over to trinidad in a storm many years ago. Since then she has been in search for her family. She is known for her wisdom and Kindness.
For my final 2 images I have decided I wanted to base them on the folklore characters;
1. Mama Glow;
Having long beautiful hair she combs constantly she is half women half snake known as the mother of the water. She is often found singing silent songs at the waters edge in the sunlight, a flash of green and she would be gone. Men that cause crime or hurt to the forest and animals find them selfs married to her for this life and the next.
2. Fairy maid;
Fairy maids are said to be beautiful women with loverly long hair but have one small foot as a deers hoof. She uses her power to attract men, turning their heads leading them to lose their shadows. Fairy maids are often found in caves, waterfalls or bridges. to discontinue a relationship with a fairy queen she must be offered with two pairs of shoes one to be burnt and the second to be thrown into the waves
Wednesday 11 May 2011
Ahhh No A1
After my meeting with Peter I went into town to look for the best deal for scanning and printing in the local print operators. After visiting 4 different printers i found this wasn't that successful an idea. I found that I can get my work printed onto acetate but the biggest size available to me was A3.
O no i was stuck with what I wanted to do now! I really liked the idea of printing on to A1 or A2 acetate I thought that if I was to scale down my images to A3 they would come out too small and not as good.
After much consideration I decided I would go ahead and attempt to get my images scanned in so I had them on the computer ready to touch up or print of at different scales to experiment with. I also decided to get the images scaled down to A3 and printed on acetate costing me a great £35 pounds for the scanning and printing and for only 2 images!!
Once I had received the acetate images back I decided they was small but I quite liked them so would go ahead and attempt to add colour and see what i get.
O no i was stuck with what I wanted to do now! I really liked the idea of printing on to A1 or A2 acetate I thought that if I was to scale down my images to A3 they would come out too small and not as good.
After much consideration I decided I would go ahead and attempt to get my images scanned in so I had them on the computer ready to touch up or print of at different scales to experiment with. I also decided to get the images scaled down to A3 and printed on acetate costing me a great £35 pounds for the scanning and printing and for only 2 images!!
Once I had received the acetate images back I decided they was small but I quite liked them so would go ahead and attempt to add colour and see what i get.
my work needs colour!
At the beginning of this week I had a meeting with Peter Lloyd to find out how my work was coming along, to get help with how I would add colour to my images and which was the best way for me to go for my final images.
I found out this week where in the Bargate gallery my space will be in. I have a wall space in the far corner which should fit roughly 5-6 A1 images. I am still to think about how I am going to hang these.
When showing Peter my work he told me I should stick to one style either the black and white images I was producing, working in acrylic or working in collage as up to now I had been working in all three. I felt that I wasn't skilled enough to produced more acrylic images at a good standard as I find this quite messy and I am pretty bad at adding detail in acrylic. I like the idea of collage but I felt this process wasn't as effective as the black and white images I was producing and i didn't get the same detail. I wasn't as keen on the collage images.
I choose to stick to the black and white A1 images I had been producing but I felt that they could of done with some colour I just didn't know how to go about this as I had attempted a design in pastels and it wasn't a great turnout.
Peter suggested several ways of adding colour to my images each having good and bad points;
1. Scan images and add colour on photoshop, but this wouldn't give a very textured effect it would be very solid colour.
2. Use the light box or a window and paint each section of colour onto a different sheet of paper, scan each piece in and using photoshop layer them onto the black and white image. this would give a nice textured effect like it had been painted but would be a lot of work to do in such a short space of time.
3. Get the images printed onto acetate and paint on the other side of the acetate. This would give a nice textured effect, blending colours well and leave me with a nice gloss final finish.
I decided the 3rd idea was the most suitable for me.
I found out this week where in the Bargate gallery my space will be in. I have a wall space in the far corner which should fit roughly 5-6 A1 images. I am still to think about how I am going to hang these.
When showing Peter my work he told me I should stick to one style either the black and white images I was producing, working in acrylic or working in collage as up to now I had been working in all three. I felt that I wasn't skilled enough to produced more acrylic images at a good standard as I find this quite messy and I am pretty bad at adding detail in acrylic. I like the idea of collage but I felt this process wasn't as effective as the black and white images I was producing and i didn't get the same detail. I wasn't as keen on the collage images.
I choose to stick to the black and white A1 images I had been producing but I felt that they could of done with some colour I just didn't know how to go about this as I had attempted a design in pastels and it wasn't a great turnout.
Peter suggested several ways of adding colour to my images each having good and bad points;
1. Scan images and add colour on photoshop, but this wouldn't give a very textured effect it would be very solid colour.
2. Use the light box or a window and paint each section of colour onto a different sheet of paper, scan each piece in and using photoshop layer them onto the black and white image. this would give a nice textured effect like it had been painted but would be a lot of work to do in such a short space of time.
3. Get the images printed onto acetate and paint on the other side of the acetate. This would give a nice textured effect, blending colours well and leave me with a nice gloss final finish.
I decided the 3rd idea was the most suitable for me.
Saturday 9 April 2011
Tutorial with Derek and Peter...
After talking to Derek a few days before we decided it was a good idea for us to have another meeting before easter half term where Peter was present to include his opinion in my current work and what route to take.
After looking through my sketch book and telling Peter the ideas and research me and Derek had came up with he said this was a good route to take but I wouldn't have much time to do the screen printing so I was to stick with my collage and painting experiments for the moment but get myself prepared to spend a couple of days in the studio when I came back after easter.
He also said that going down the symbolism route was a great idea and that I could tell stories through their outfits or even make images of personalised outfits to express the person wearing them. I thought this was a good idea and he gave me a book to get influence from over easter. This book was all about western wear and how they wore outfits and had these outfits personally made to express their interests and life experiences.
After these meetings it was a great weight of my shoulders as i now know more of where im going with my work and what to work towards. Peter told me to stop working in my sketch book and gave me A3 and A2 paper to work with so that i could produce larger, more detailed and different processes into my work and work towards producing final images for the degree show.
After looking through my sketch book and telling Peter the ideas and research me and Derek had came up with he said this was a good route to take but I wouldn't have much time to do the screen printing so I was to stick with my collage and painting experiments for the moment but get myself prepared to spend a couple of days in the studio when I came back after easter.
He also said that going down the symbolism route was a great idea and that I could tell stories through their outfits or even make images of personalised outfits to express the person wearing them. I thought this was a good idea and he gave me a book to get influence from over easter. This book was all about western wear and how they wore outfits and had these outfits personally made to express their interests and life experiences.
After these meetings it was a great weight of my shoulders as i now know more of where im going with my work and what to work towards. Peter told me to stop working in my sketch book and gave me A3 and A2 paper to work with so that i could produce larger, more detailed and different processes into my work and work towards producing final images for the degree show.
Peter Blake...
Below are some of the images I found and where influenced by that had been produced by Peter Blake that involve symbolism.
Tutorial with Derek...
Ive been pretty bad at updating my blog but I'm going to try blog the last few weeks as best as I can now. So here goes...
After slacking quite a bit with my attendance at uni I thought it was about time to sort myself out and arrange meetings with tutors about my work. Firstly I arranged to have a tutorial with Derek Rogers.
I hadn't done quite as much work as I should of by this point but I wasn't sure where my work was actually going and what kind of outcome I would end up producing. Im still a little stuck with my final out come but after this meeting I now have more of a rough idea of what the project will entail.
Whilst looking at my painted images of women in carnival dress Derek suggested looking a lot more into the work of another one of our lecturers Peter Lloyd and working along side him in the print studio as he had specialised in screen printing. The effect I had got from my paintings would work well and look very similar to the effect I would get from the screen printing process. He also suggested looking into the work of Peter Blake who had done images of tattooed women and mexican wrestlers that involved symbolism in their outfits.
While looking through the rest of my sketch book we decided a good way to go about my work was to add symbolism into the outfits as my images at the moment had potential but they were just drawings they didn't do anything or give the viewer anything interesting to look at.
Me and Derek then went on to have a conversation about how I can incorporate this symbolism by looking into hidden meanings, stories, folklore of the carnival and caribbean into my work. He suggested researching carnival in more detail looking at the characters and stories, looking at the bad and the good sides of carnival and the culture. He also suggested looking into notting hill carnival, how, when and why it started, looking into this would produce a good idea of trying to subvert the cultures into my images.
I thought this was a good idea and I am going to spend my easter half term experimenting with different processes seeing what outcomes i can achieve.
After slacking quite a bit with my attendance at uni I thought it was about time to sort myself out and arrange meetings with tutors about my work. Firstly I arranged to have a tutorial with Derek Rogers.
I hadn't done quite as much work as I should of by this point but I wasn't sure where my work was actually going and what kind of outcome I would end up producing. Im still a little stuck with my final out come but after this meeting I now have more of a rough idea of what the project will entail.
Whilst looking at my painted images of women in carnival dress Derek suggested looking a lot more into the work of another one of our lecturers Peter Lloyd and working along side him in the print studio as he had specialised in screen printing. The effect I had got from my paintings would work well and look very similar to the effect I would get from the screen printing process. He also suggested looking into the work of Peter Blake who had done images of tattooed women and mexican wrestlers that involved symbolism in their outfits.
While looking through the rest of my sketch book we decided a good way to go about my work was to add symbolism into the outfits as my images at the moment had potential but they were just drawings they didn't do anything or give the viewer anything interesting to look at.
Me and Derek then went on to have a conversation about how I can incorporate this symbolism by looking into hidden meanings, stories, folklore of the carnival and caribbean into my work. He suggested researching carnival in more detail looking at the characters and stories, looking at the bad and the good sides of carnival and the culture. He also suggested looking into notting hill carnival, how, when and why it started, looking into this would produce a good idea of trying to subvert the cultures into my images.
I thought this was a good idea and I am going to spend my easter half term experimenting with different processes seeing what outcomes i can achieve.
Thursday 24 March 2011
stencils attempt 1
As i said before i would upload some of the stencil images i had produced. These are the first few I've done, I plan on developing this idea further experimenting more with different media.
Thursday 17 March 2011
west indian poems/poets
Today ive mainly been looking into west indian poetry in a lot more detail, picking apart the poems I had found and researching into the poets background. I found poems from such well known west indian poets as Kamau Brathwaite, Derek Walcott and Kendel Hippolyte.
At first a I found it a struggle trying to find poetry by west indians that related to carnival but I managed to find a few in the end that i can work with for the time being. I also found a book on amazon called The Heinemann Book of Caribbean Poetry that i am looking to invest in for my fmp.
At first a I found it a struggle trying to find poetry by west indians that related to carnival but I managed to find a few in the end that i can work with for the time being. I also found a book on amazon called The Heinemann Book of Caribbean Poetry that i am looking to invest in for my fmp.
Monday 14 March 2011
Finally motivation...
Ive been a bit distant from the blogging and the FMP lately as I had a retake to do from last year but thats all done, dusted and handed in. Am actually quite proud of myself I worked much harder then I have on any other projects in the last 3 years off uni. lets just hope I pass and this routine of work keeps up for my final major project.
I had done some sketches and a bit more research into carnival, the characters, folklore and a photo shoot whilst producing my other project but I hadn't really spent much of my time producing proper artwork. So after handing that project in, instead of having a rest which I would love to do I stuck at in and got on my kitchen table working through the evening again. I even went to town at the weekend just gone and filled up on paints, sequins, glitter and paper.
Ive done quite a few pencil sketches at this point but i was worried if I kept up with this style I would get bored as I normally do. So I thought to myself what do I enjoy with art?
Getting messy was one thing that came to mind so straight away I started splodging paint, glitter and and little bits I could find to paper expressing the bright colours of the carnival I had researched.
In my time working on my other project I spent a few very boring days at work on the computer and found myself looking into graffiti and stencils a lot.
Ive always loved Banksy but instead of looking at through his work for inspiration I looked just into the style of using stencils and focusing on the female form. So on my first proper night back to my fmp I decided I wanted to try something like this myself , stocking up on black paper i drew a basic outline for a women wearing carnival costume and I slowly cut my way through.
As this was my first attempt I wanted to see what else I could get from the remaining paper so put my imagination to use working with both positive and negative. I need to sort out a memory card for my camera but as soon as I do I will upload some pictures of my experimenting so far.
Below are some images i found that had inspired me.
I had done some sketches and a bit more research into carnival, the characters, folklore and a photo shoot whilst producing my other project but I hadn't really spent much of my time producing proper artwork. So after handing that project in, instead of having a rest which I would love to do I stuck at in and got on my kitchen table working through the evening again. I even went to town at the weekend just gone and filled up on paints, sequins, glitter and paper.
Ive done quite a few pencil sketches at this point but i was worried if I kept up with this style I would get bored as I normally do. So I thought to myself what do I enjoy with art?
Getting messy was one thing that came to mind so straight away I started splodging paint, glitter and and little bits I could find to paper expressing the bright colours of the carnival I had researched.
In my time working on my other project I spent a few very boring days at work on the computer and found myself looking into graffiti and stencils a lot.
Ive always loved Banksy but instead of looking at through his work for inspiration I looked just into the style of using stencils and focusing on the female form. So on my first proper night back to my fmp I decided I wanted to try something like this myself , stocking up on black paper i drew a basic outline for a women wearing carnival costume and I slowly cut my way through.
As this was my first attempt I wanted to see what else I could get from the remaining paper so put my imagination to use working with both positive and negative. I need to sort out a memory card for my camera but as soon as I do I will upload some pictures of my experimenting so far.
Below are some images i found that had inspired me.
Monday 21 February 2011
thinking about my own photo shoot
For a while now Ive wanted to produce my own photo shoot and a portfolio of images and i now feel this is the right time.
Ive spent a lot of time this week researching into what I would have to undergo and routes i can take. After talking to friends on Make up and photography courses at solent Ive started planning my shoot step by step. I will also use these images to incorporate my sketches and final images.
I plan to take the photos and touch them up on photoshop my self but for the make up and to help with the whole experience i have got the help from 3rd year hair and make up student Sarah Louise Parkes who has numerous past experience in this area.
A link to her website and previous work can be found below;
Ive spent a lot of time this week researching into what I would have to undergo and routes i can take. After talking to friends on Make up and photography courses at solent Ive started planning my shoot step by step. I will also use these images to incorporate my sketches and final images.
I plan to take the photos and touch them up on photoshop my self but for the make up and to help with the whole experience i have got the help from 3rd year hair and make up student Sarah Louise Parkes who has numerous past experience in this area.
A link to her website and previous work can be found below;
www.sarahlouiseparkes-mua.biz
Monday 7 February 2011
FMP Meeting no1 with Peter
I really needed this meeting my mind and ideas are so much clearer in my head now. I was so unsure about what my final outcome would be.
Firstly we talked about my last project "options" and the potential their was in my collages with drawings over the top, we came to the conclusion that reinforcing this into my next project would be a great style and technique to use as i enjoyed this experimenting with different materials. I also need to make sure that i produce alot more design and evelopment back up work as that was my main downfall in the options project.
secondly we spoke about my fmp and the ideas i had at the moment, peter suggested in creating a series of images for a book you find free in a newspaper or magazine for example a tourism guide. i liked this idea and i also spoke to him about the poets and poems i had found from the Caribbean which he is keen to see and help me fit these into my work.
Peter has scheduled another appointment for me to see him 10am Thursday with a finished research proposal, timetable of the coming weeks and examples of the West Indian poems i had found, he has said that i am to make more contact this year seeing a tutor at least once a week and finding me a work space in the studio. This is one aspect i am very aware that i am slacking in so time to improve..
Firstly we talked about my last project "options" and the potential their was in my collages with drawings over the top, we came to the conclusion that reinforcing this into my next project would be a great style and technique to use as i enjoyed this experimenting with different materials. I also need to make sure that i produce alot more design and evelopment back up work as that was my main downfall in the options project.
secondly we spoke about my fmp and the ideas i had at the moment, peter suggested in creating a series of images for a book you find free in a newspaper or magazine for example a tourism guide. i liked this idea and i also spoke to him about the poets and poems i had found from the Caribbean which he is keen to see and help me fit these into my work.
Peter has scheduled another appointment for me to see him 10am Thursday with a finished research proposal, timetable of the coming weeks and examples of the West Indian poems i had found, he has said that i am to make more contact this year seeing a tutor at least once a week and finding me a work space in the studio. This is one aspect i am very aware that i am slacking in so time to improve..
Friday 28 January 2011
Researching Carnival
I find the outfits and vibrant colours of carnival outfits and tradition so invigorating and amazing to look at. During carnival everyone taking part looks as if they are enjoying them selves, dancing, singing just generally celebrating life. Im hoping during my FMP that i can transfer this vibrance and sense of excitement into my work.
Thursday 27 January 2011
where to start...
At first i was a bit lost for ideas for my FMP i new roughly that i wanted to relate my work to the female body and try to relate to fashion illustration as best as i could but the only idea i could think of was to relate my work to sexuality and the burlesque scene.
After some research i discovered the vibrant, outrageous colours and women that would take part in carnivals. I am already interested into different cultures in my life in particular the caribbean one as it being a part of my family. looking into this subject with more details the beautiful designs and styles got my imagination flowing.
Once i had my theme i started to look more into detail of caribbean artists, poetry and folklore.
Below is an image that belongs to a west indian artist; Alison Chapman-Andrews. I found myself very drawn to the colours and technique of her art.
Image taken from her website; http://www.alisonchapmanandrews.net/index.htm
After some research i discovered the vibrant, outrageous colours and women that would take part in carnivals. I am already interested into different cultures in my life in particular the caribbean one as it being a part of my family. looking into this subject with more details the beautiful designs and styles got my imagination flowing.
Once i had my theme i started to look more into detail of caribbean artists, poetry and folklore.
Below is an image that belongs to a west indian artist; Alison Chapman-Andrews. I found myself very drawn to the colours and technique of her art.
Tuesday 25 January 2011
Email from Peter - Presentation document blog example
We all received an email from Peter yesterday as seen below, i found looking at this blog very useful when creating mine.
Attached below is a link to a good example of a Presentation Document in the blog format.
The Student is Jon Rupesh Clark and he graduated last year. Check out how simple, yet informative/reflective it is- really well illustrated as well, you get a clear overview of how he's progressed and what he's encountered on the way;
http://jonclarkdesign.blogspot.com/
Attached below is a link to a good example of a Presentation Document in the blog format.
The Student is Jon Rupesh Clark and he graduated last year. Check out how simple, yet informative/reflective it is- really well illustrated as well, you get a clear overview of how he's progressed and what he's encountered on the way;
http://jonclarkdesign.blogspot.com/
What should of been my project launch..
Got to be honest not a great start to the year!
Just got over flu and to top it of i missed the launch of my final majpr project....ops.
I've started doing a little research and have asked around about what i should be doing so i started with this my first ever blog :) This will be as part of my presentation document along with supporting work such as lecture notes, handouts and planning etc
The weeks getting on a bit so i guess i had better arrange a meeting with Peter Lloyd (course leader) as putting it off wont get me anywhere.
This is it time to sort it out and get motivated,
FINAL MAJOR PROJECT STARTS HERE.....
Just got over flu and to top it of i missed the launch of my final majpr project....ops.
I've started doing a little research and have asked around about what i should be doing so i started with this my first ever blog :) This will be as part of my presentation document along with supporting work such as lecture notes, handouts and planning etc
The weeks getting on a bit so i guess i had better arrange a meeting with Peter Lloyd (course leader) as putting it off wont get me anywhere.
This is it time to sort it out and get motivated,
FINAL MAJOR PROJECT STARTS HERE.....
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