Ideas to Form VIIII - Glass - Fusing and slumping

An opportunity to work with glass arose and I decided I wanted to explore it as a potential material to work with in the future. Could I combine glass with other mediums I have been experimenting with?
1. Fusing glass  

Using materials such as copper wire, oxides and coloured glass sandwiched between two compatible layers of clear glass - the heating process melts the glass fusing everything sandwiched between but the heat also reacts with the materials and creates interesting and unexpected marks and imagery. It definitely played to my abstract approach to imagery - It felt quite playful placing various objects between glass and waiting to see the outcome of the heat and fusing process. I did enjoy learning about this process but couldn't see myself developing further along this line as for me its not gestural enough, I enjoy the physicality of creating art and this was a bit small scale and fiddly. An interesting exercise but not for me moving forward.

2. Glass slumping

Biscuit fired
white clay moulds

This was an unexpected turn of events and came about by thinking about ideas for end of year show. I wanted to bridge the gap between the stone carving I had been developing outside of the studio into my Uni work - I would deconstruct sections of the 'Drift' stone sculpture - recreating these sections by slumping glass over pre prepared clay and alginate moulds.  Not as easy as it looks, at the first attempt the kiln was too hot and the glass melted creating overhangs and subsequently most of the pieces cracked and broke on cooling  -  lots of learnings but I will have another go.
I enjoyed the physicality of making the clay moulds and the concept of deconstructing a piece of my work to create smaller, it could be argued, more meaningful and interesting work.

Alginate applied
to surface of sculpture

The question I need to answer is what am I really trying to achieve over and above learning a new technique - is it to create a 'final piece' for the end of year show, something that the audience will consider 'beautiful '(whatever that means) or is it really about experimentation and my exploration of glass and how I might be able to use it in my future work. Will I be able to combine it with other mediums to create something quite extraordinary as my practice develops.

Strips of glass 

1 sheet of glass

Again I seem to keep coming back to colour and light and how the two interplay to create a sense of space - will glass play a role in my work next year - as yet I can't answer that question, maybe. What will the end of year show look like for me? well I have decided Im not aiming to produce something beautiful for the audience. The point of me working with glass is to experiment, so what I exhibit will be a snapshot, just one part of my experimentation from this year  - this is not straight forward, if it was easy everyone would be doing it!

Slumped blue glass
over plaster mould.

Ideas to Form VI - 'to be, or not to be. 'Experimentation' - painting on perspex

Red acrylic, green spray paint behind

The decision to paint on perspex has come from wanting to experiment with paint effects on different surfaces. The objective for me is playing with colour and light. By using the transparency of perspex I can play with layering the colours and also vary thickness of paint which allows light to permeate the colours in different intensities giving an amazingly spontaneous, interesting and sometimes quirky effect.







Its been huge fun experimenting and fundimentally playing with mark making. Varying sized brushes with different thickness of paint. Sgraffitto with the end of my brush, adding acyilic medium to thin the paint so I can do drips and dob paint on. Flicking white spirit onto the paint disperses the it leaving room to overpaint in a different colour making the imagery more dynamic. 

 

Im loving the spray paint and its effect on wet acrylic - crackling the surfaces  - the technique of effectively painting backwards on a surface is fab, the painted side of the perspex in theory is the back of the artwork if its to be hung on the wall - alternatively what I find interesting is being able to see the work from both sides, they are both standalone art works.


This work forms the basis of my research for the upcoming 'Movement' exhibition at Centrespace Gallery in Bristol. 
Time is running short so time to get on with the show piece!!!

Ideas to Form V - Impact of light

Printing onto acetate to experiment on the influence of changing light on the image.
Suspended across the front of the light-box set to transitional coloured lighting (fibre optic) I have made this short film to demonstrate the visual illusion and how colour can transform and change what we see. 

'present tense'
James Turrell

'a retrospective'
James Turrell 

Playing with light, colour and visual perception is fascinating, my inspiration comes from studying the light sculpture works of James Turrell, yes I love to set my sights and ambition high!!!!!  (see exhibitions). 

'the wolfsberg project'
James Turrell

His mastery of the scientific theory of how colour and intensity of light interacts with our rods and cones. The interplay between both plays with our powers of perception result - breathtaking. His ability to sculpt with light takes his work to such a high level of genius, Im in awe!.

What I need to decide is how good can I been at this lighting ? Is this something I want to pursue further - if I do it I need to do it well......




With an exhibition looming I need to concentrate on developing and exploring imagery - strip things back a bit, and not try to over complicate my work. Decision made that unless the lighting can be seamless and uber professional Im not going down that path at the moment but its most definitely something Im going to pick up later.

Ideas to Form IV - Let there be light! .......the light box........

1 x wooden frame

1 x white box

4 x strips of fibre optic lighting

1 x electronic gizmo to intermittently transition colour

Ideas into Form III - Developing imagery

Lots more playing with images as well as inverting colour and saturation levels. A few examples how the imagery can transform by altering the colour hues, saturation. Im aiming for interesting transitions between the colors. Providing a a depth yet vibrancy to the overall effect.

Ideas to Form II

'red on green'

Using the iPad to play in the technological world of colour interaction. 
I guess this approach is not for the 'art purist' but using the app 'Brushes Redux' you can technologically alter the saturation, contrast and achieve some fantastic definition. 
I especially love when two colours crash into each other achieving that amazing tingle of contrast - for me Im after a 'zing' from my work. Im not interested in the flat and dull, I want my work to be of interest to the viewer, make them look harder at the piece and question themselves as to what it is they are interested by.

'why not?'

'overlay'

'Drums'

   
How to reproduce this luminosity is the question? My next idea takes me to working with acrylic perspex. Ive never attempted this before but what if I take a digital image and print it onto perspex - not only will I get the vivid luminosity Im after, (some purists would suggest 'artificially' created colour). but I can go big as well!

My thoughts on technology assisted art: I think its a great asset to be able to embrace and use technology to push boundaries and build on ideas. I believe it is still art, even if it is artificially created as some would argue. Pure technology or embrace both approaches to bounce and ignite off each other - for me, embracing technology is the way to really make sure Im not missing anything - its all about stretching the boundaries and imagination to progress thinking and ultimately your work. 

Take Chuck Elliott, International contemporary artist who starts with sketches and ideas, progresses to digital to create the imagery and colour - 'liquid geometry' then either digitally prints or manually prints.http://www.chuckelliott.com


Now my mind is on overdrive what if I then build on this colour sensation and add intermitant coloured fibre optic lighting ...... off to the workshop ..... this is soooo exciting!!!

'inversion'

'simplicity'

Ideas into Form I

New term and time to get creative !  Having returned from New Zealand Im full of sunshine and bright colours so time to go fluro !

Have started to play with the colours and looking at complementary colours - am I looking for this or do I want loud??!!

Not sure where this is going at the moment but some test colours to get the imagination triggered - think this is going to be fun !

The Magic of the iPad!

Drawing with the iPad - genius!

'Why not?'

A relatively new dimension to the art world, David Hockney probably the most famous artist to successfully bring this technology into the ever critical art world!

I have to say I think this is the breakthrough in drawing I have been searching for. Its immediate, portable, colours abundant, and prints can be enlarged without pixelation unlike your standard photography... 

Experimentation with tonal qualities and mark making. I have sketched in the exhibition space, capturing its atmosphere and essence, sat on a long coach journey and allowed my creative abstract self develop designs. The beauty is you draw with your finger, choosing the thickness of the lines and of course a barrage of different colours to layer as many times as you like, develop the tonal and textural qualities. Im completely sold on this approach to drawing.

'JH as Brunel - Edwardian Cloakrooms'

'Starting with the light'
iPad approach

Light fitting

Oxford arches

'Dogs go wild in toilet block'

'Because'

Dinosaur I

Dinosaur II

What worked well

Its immediate and has endless capabilities. As Im not into detailed images there is a total sense of freedom and expansiveness about how you can approach a subject. I enjoyed capturing the essence of the space in a loose, gestural style without having to have tonnes of artists material to hand.  I love the quality of the image and the fact it can be printed to any scale without pixelation. Playing at inverting colours - its a fabulous education in colour blending and matching and its so simple!

Its certainly a medium I will be developing further in my future art practice. 

What didn’t work so well

I just need more practice... working out how to take these drawings to the next level - watch out David Hockney... Im coming!!! :O) (joke!)


www.telegraph.co.uk/culturevideo/artvideo/10408677/David-Hockney-unveils-his-iPad-art.html
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a3283/drawing-from-life-0914

Drawing - Textural experimentation

White emulsion paint, watercolour paper, instruments to mark make & soft charcoal

Really enjoyed this technique. It felt slightly Jackson Pollockish!  Total freedom of movement, yes I could go mad with the looseness and randomness of markmaking.Played with textures by splattering large quanities of paint on the paper. Once it dried, smearing, rubbing in and rubbing out the black charcoal. Really allowed you to highlight certain areas, this is when you could start to build the image. Layering and rubbing out.

Whats next?  I plan to experiment on canvas and go large! – will need to place a block under the canvas to prevent stretching but Im interested how if I load the canvas with thick paint I can use various implements to create a variety of marks, with the intention of making the final drawing even more interesting.I think Im going to need vast quantities of charcoal :O)