The last few weeks of fall semester looked like they were going to end with frustration, not having a solid idea in place, and honestly just not motivated to work on this project anymore. I had a bunch of small ideas but I was just struggling to put it all together and make it be worth something. In the end of the semester I knew that I wanted the pieces I created to be inspired by my relationship that I hold with my mother. I started to look at memories and the interaction that occurred but kept getting stuck. I was unsure of how to illustrate these feelings and memories without creating something really cheesy I guess.
Before the semester was over we had to present our ideas and what we have been working on for this project to a panel of professors. Going into this review I had a lot of experiments to show and some ideas of what I wanted to focus on but I was not exactly sure of where I was going to head next in this entire process. But this review was very helpful. Talking with the professors about my ideas, they were able to give me some advice and other ways to start thinking about it and I think this was probably the best thing that could of helped me at this point.
More specifically they suggested not to focus so much on the specific memories and to start thinking about more abstract objects and the interaction and connection that the objects may have. They wanted me to just start sketching and playing with these ideas to see what came of it all. So after this conversation I started to think about everything in a new light and over winter break I started to do what they suggested. Below are a few of the sketches that came of my studies.
From some of these sketches I started to explore other things with them but cutting them up and putting them back together in different manners to see if anything came from them. Below are some of the things that resulted from these experiments.
Inspired form these experiments I started to think more about how I could incorporate the colors into the pieces so I started to create another image, which you can see below.
This particular image started with a simple drawn image done with colored pencil. I than took the image and cut it out. Underneath the drawn image I started to layer and glue together different pieces of paper, raising the image and creating different levels in the piece. What I like most about this piece is the element of surprise. From straight on the image can be viewed as a simple, flat black and white drawing but when viewed form the side the viewer can be surprised with the layered color. I want to continue experimenting with this method and see how I can make my final prints more dynamic.
So for the next few weeks I will be working on more sketches and exploring the interaction between different shapes. I want to be able to finalize the images and shapes that I will use to create my prints. Along with sketches I will continue to explore this way of cutting into the colored paper to see the different ways I can expose the colors and create new surprises for the viewer. Next I want to maybe explore more with the way I will print these final images so I may try and create a few smaller prints to experiment with. Along with continuing to research artists and find new inspirations the other that I will be working on is is my thesis paper.
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI'm excited about the possibilities here. I think that the value differences in the initial drawings you did right before break were a good element and that you could bring that back (think of the drama of Lee Bontecou's work)Also think about using some of the color principles you learned in color class and think about integrating color into the black and white. And how thick can the structures get? And carving into them?
Janie