a new painting!

Using some old board I found in a skip at uni, I started using my photographs and collages to draw out a vague landscape in charcoal. I then automatically chose my colours of oil pastel and oil paint to bring life to the drawing. This is currently a series of sketches - I want to refine my technique before I start on larger paintings.

the finished sketches! Seen next A4 paper for scale

sketches/experimentation for final project

As I get more stuck into the project, following on from the Hockney-inspired photo collages http://rosieminney.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/hockney-inspired-photo-manipulations.html, I was then interested in further combining the idea of technology and nature. 

I am intrigued by how our generation is so de-sensitised by the Internet; how we can easily recognise anything, pixelated or not, because more likely than not we have seen it online. However, how much have we seen in real life? From this, I would like to culminate in an abstract painting, which vaguely resembles the natural world - we have to get up close to recognise even our own environment.

a sketchbook excerpt - a study of fragmentation I created using my photo collages. We know what it is, yet it does not look as it is meant to --> we are desensitised by the Internet as we regularly do not see things in real life

 some mono prints based on photographs

I drew into the mono prints with oil pastel to bring colour and life into the experiments

I then began collaging some of my photographs together. I wanted to create something that from afar seemed recognisable, but one has to get up close to realise that everything is not what it seems - again, how we seemingly immediately recognise something we have not originally seen in person, over Internet. I then edited the colours on my iPhone to further bring into use the idea of technology

I then began collaging together my prints, my photographs, and my charcoal drawings. The idea here was to take original artwork, emphasise scale, and to bring in the use of technology to create one large collage which was made purely from print outs - no first source artwork. This is to represent how data and images are manipulated and spread through the Internet, whilst we remain oblivious to how things have been altered. 

A close up, showing how the print can sometimes seamlessly blend into the photograph

Essay published for Vane Gallery!

I recently had an essay discussing Sheyda Porter's Idea Generating Machines published on the Vane Gallery website!

Read it here, or follow this link: http://vane.org.uk/essays/idea-generating-machines
Sheyda Porter's exhibition page: http://vane.org.uk/exhibitions/idea-generating-machines

Hockney inspired photo manipulations

As I move into semester two, I am interested in continuing some landscape artwork I made during my artists' residency last summer. As a starting point, I ventured into Leazes Park, Newcastle, with just a digital camera (its cheaper to experiment on than film!) and was inspired by Hockney's photo collages. I took many photographs from slightly differing viewpoints which I could then collage together to make a fuller picture. 

taken on a sunny day. I love the accidental flare on the middle picture. I think I could work well with the colours shown in this collage


a wider view of the landscape, however this was taken on a cloudier day and the colours aren't as vibrant. I do however quite enjoy the slightly jarring feeling of how the trees appear to never end or begin


sadly taken on a very cloudy day, the beautiful yellows and reds did not show up with any vibrancy. However, the beauty of Photoshop allowed me to manipulate the colours to something more appealing for me to work from

semester one - painting strand

As the final section of our three-part induction into university, we were told to create up to 20 paintings - completely from our imagination, no observational material to be used. This for me is incredibly difficult, as I find it a lot more stimulating working from life or from photographs, so I know where my end point shall be.

my studios

We were generously given unlimited paint and canvas, and were also encouraged to employ other materials, used in a painterly way, such as string, poly-filler, tape, etc...

oil paint on canvas

oil paint on canvas

oil paint on canvas

oil paint on canvas. I tried to push myself out my comfort zone with this piece by moving away from my usual bright palette and using earthier tones

oil paint on canvas

oil paint on canvas. 

as you can see on the two paintings on the left, I also experimented with layering, using fluid washes and heavier lines and curves to build depth in the paintings, as well as juxtapose harsh edges with looser ones.

                       

(top) oil paint on board (below) oil paint on aluminium

oil paint on aluminium

oil paint on aluminium. This one was achieved by layering paint thickly then scratching back into the surface to create features using a pencil or pen nib

The following pieces were inspired largely by Robert Rauschenberg's 'Combines' series. Using found scraps of wood or various bits of discarded items around the studios, I assembled the pieces in a painterly fashion to create these works.

A mixture of board, poly-filler, bubble wrap, tin foil, oil paint, electric tape, magazine collage and polystyrene 

Oil paint, paint tube lids, sticks of wood, magazine collage, newspaper, string, canvas, flannel, electric tape, bubble wrap and a jam jar lid mounted on cardboard

 cardboard, string, electric tape, magazine collage, bottle top, egg cup holder and oil paint on canvas

oil paint, scraps of wood and electric tape on cardboard

oil paint, electric tape, cardboard, magazine collage, poly-filler, tin foil, polystyrene and board