Week 2-4 (Pre-Collage Explorations)

Acrylic paint on paper - A2

Acrylic paint on paper - A2

Acrylic paint on paper - A6

Collage

Acrylic paint on paper - A4

Acrylic paint on paper - A4

Collage

Collage

Book autopsy

Altered book (book, acrylic, black and silver pen) - Bee Bearding

Reflection

I have found it really difficult to work rapidly on these pieces, although monoprint has proven to be very good for this being limited because of the ink's drying time. I have had the overwhelming urge to work into the prints on canvas, which I will probably still do, but I felt it was important to record them at this stage as Angela and I discussed the importance of unfinished work. The drawing on these is particularly ugly due to the lack of control as I wasn't able to lean on the drawing surface. It is really uncomfortable for me to expose work at this stage but one of my rules is that I won't 'hide' anything...so here they are. I prefer the appearance of the watery acrylic on paper although the the largest piece doesn't link the two figures in the way I intended - the older woman looks more like a tattoo rather than growing out of the other woman's arm. The other paintings are moving towards exploring conjoined twins or deformity, but I'm only in the early stages of practically responding to my research in this area. I have begun to work with collage which is fantastic at this stage as it allows me to be really playful - (24 collages was made after this initial work). I am trying to respond to create extremely ugly faces which the decapitated head moves towards. My books are quite successful as the autopsy has allowed me to work with images from inside the book to explore composition - in this case how figure relate to each other within a limited space. The bee book responds to work started in Barnsley. I was investigating the spectacle of bee bearding and how the workers gather around the queen. I really enjoyed carving the books and drawing into the pages, and will definitely develop this, perhaps with acetate insets in the next few weeks of the project. I'm finding it very challenging and difficult to complete the work that I have set for myself in my project plan, however it is very satisfying to have a high turnover of work to stimulate new thinking.

24 Collages

This is a double portrait composition. I wanted to create the impression of the figures being unaware they were being observed.

Playing with scale and mismatched body parts - this reminds me of the man from the freaks who has no legs and walks around on his hands.

Think this works well because of the imposed but unconnected shadow behind.

This collage does not work well for me as there is no main focus and the figures don't seem to fit well in the space.

I like the way the inverted reflection behaves as a coloured shadow or alterego

Not my favourite due to the cropping of the head (I have learned that some figure is better) but I love the way the figure inside the eye becomes part of the face.

I have used a copy from my altered book in the background, I like the way the fox looks like he is staggering forwards or chasing some one - rather like Fantastic Mr Fox.

I have again be seduced by the pre-raphelite flowers - chose the girls because they kind of look like twins, and appear to be fused at the head.

This collage was inspired by the tree man. I wanted to show that the girl was being absorbed by the tree, or turning into one.

I think this is one of the most successful, I like the superimposed animal head and the contorted slightly sexualised figure gazing at the women in the image.

Hybrid zebra with an extra set of stripey human legs. This was made in response to the 4 legged girl from the human marvels site.

Another hybrid - this one reminds me of a knight from a chess set. I like the awkward angle of the body, like the head is too heavy.

This is an exploration of sameness. The rigid mannekin bodies are designed to reinforce the artificial nature of the figures.

I think this is too busy with the large, dark print in the background. However, I like the way the animals watch one another over the woman who sees unaware of the impending danger.

Playing with more muted images and profile. This could be underwater or in the shadows at night.

This was supposed to show a tiger joined with the woman but looks more like the tiger is jumping from behind the figure. It has a certain circus or sideshow quality.

I like the graphic nature of this image, but I think the head size might be a bit too large.

Compositionally, I don't think this is particularly successful, but I wanted to draw parallels between the colours and the necklace/collar.

Layers and disguise/costume element is working well in this collage. It reminds me of the Doppelganger images.

I love the decapitated body carried by the bird, a pairing with the creature become dominant (like the swan in The Magic Toyshop)

I found it much more difficult to find a human head to add to this animal body. It reminds me of a Narnian centaur.

This one of my favourites - I love the playfulness of this image and the play on scale.

I was imagining a creature costume shop when I was makeing this collage. Again I think the play with scale works well.

This is quite successful because of the contorted body, texture on the clothing (slightly animal or tree) and made up face.

I set myself the challenge of making a large number of small (A5) collages from found imagery in one sitting. These are the product of five hours in the studio. It was hard work and the results are varied, but working rapidly and instinctively has helped me to create a number of compositions which I can take forward and develop (hopefully towards painting larger after the ban of 15 weeks is up!) I made them on ready folded A4 paper so that I can bind them into a book to counterbalance my sketchbook hatred. 
The most successful pieces seemed to be the one which actively used an animal or another element with the figure/s to give context or dialogue between the components of the image. I tried to use a combination of sources for the 'found' imagery, rather than just photos of children and fashion magazines. Some of the collages also have a sense of unease which gives more weight to the image.  These are the final pieces from Weeks 2-4 but I will continue to work with collage and develop these images in the next stage of the exploratory project.

Most successful: