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.