Child Action Northwest

Our group went to Blackburn Orphanage due to an optional project Jo and Jamie had set for us. The project was to produce a book cover for a biography about the Orphanage owner, James Dixon. We could use any media we desired. Although it was a good project to do and would produce a lot of work for my sketchbook and portfolio, I don't think my other work and projects would benefit from it and I would rather concentrate on making those stronger. Therefore, I am not going to carry on with this project. 

Link: more information/photographs about the orphanage/pound day

Frank Auerbach

Quote from the John Tusa interview: 

'the thick paint, the gashes of colour, the bold gestures of the painting. It's very recognisable, as indeed Auerbach's pictures are - they're only in oil or charcoal, occasionally acrylic now, only portraits of a very limited number of sitters, or of landscapes around Camden Town in north London. For 50 years since leaving Art College , Auerbach has ploughed the deepest of furrows - some say too narrowly perhaps - with an obsessive intensity. He seeks to capture reality, to create something new, create something living as he puts it, to add something to the world. Frank Auerbach belongs to no school though he has been linked to his friend Leon Kossoff, to Lucien Freud, to Francis Bacon. He has followed no -isms, belonged to no active coterie. He works intensively, slowly and doggedly to achieve that rawness that he seeks.'


http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/johntusainterview/auerbach_transcript.shtml

'Self Portrait' 1958 Charcoal on paper collage laid down on card 

'Nude' 1954 Charcoal on paper 

'Study for Mornington Crescent' 1970 Charcoal on paper 

Unlike his drawings, I have come to recognize that what I appreciate about his paintings is the think application of paint, not the aesthetic, but the free movement of the process.

'Head of J.Y.M No.1' 1981 Oil on canvas

Robert Rauschenberg

Overpainted Photographs

Referring to the work I did on the first roundabout week with Richard, I can see some similarity with the over-painted photographs and these paintings by Robert Rauschenberg.

'Retroactive 1' 1964 Oil and silkscreen ink on canvas

'Creek' 1964 Oil on canvas

Texture/Mixed Media

Whilst studying the works of Trevor Sutton, the colours also reminded me of those used in Rauschenberg's work. Although Sutton's work is quite flat compared to Rauschenberg's, I think the mix of styles I plan to incorporate appeals to me and would work well together.
I aim to include influences from Rauschenberg's work in relevance to color, texture/layers, composition and the use and range of media.

I came across this interview a couple of years ago, and it has come to mind now when trying to explain Rauschenberg's work and thought.  

'A Conversation with artist Robert Rauschenberg' - http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/5065

'Gossip' 2000 Screenprint

'Rhyme' 1956 Mixed media

'Winner Spinner' 2000 Screenprint

'I think a painting is more like the real world if it's made out of the real world.' -Robert Rauschenberg 

Photograph to evidence the surface quality of Rauschenberg's paintings.

'Combines' :at the Met 2005-06

Trevor Sutton

Richard looked at my blog and the work I have done for Blackburn Museum. He recommended an artist (Trevor Sutton) that  he thought could progress the studies I have done involving the beetles. 

I can see the relationship between the colour of the beetles and Trevor Sutton's work. Watercolour isn't something I have particularly worked with in the past but after researching Trevor Sutton's artwork it has inspired me to do this.   Quote from www.trevorsutton.com :

'Their character lies captured between layer upon layer of semi-transparent oil based glazes that build up a visible history of colour and brush marks. This process gives the work a physical and atmospheric quality  buit does now provide specific pictorial or geographic detail.'

'May E Ireland' 2008 Watercolour on paper

'Ireland-London1 13' 2003-2007 Watercolour on paper

'London March 1' 2005 Watercolour on paper

'May F Ireland' 2008 Watercolour on paper

John Virtue

John Virtue was born in Accrington, Lancashire in 1947. He specialises in monochrome landscapes.

I enjoy John Virtue's paintings because of the way he creates mood and tone by using only black and white monochrome. I have some interest in using the media that John Virtue has used in his paintings in my own work because I think the style creates emotion which is something I am interested in. Virtue's work relates to mine because of townscape drawings I have done, but I hope to create more in time. 

White acrylic paint, black ink and shellac on canvas

'London No. 29' Monotype

Euan Uglow

Euan Ernest Richard Uglow (1932–2000) was a painter born in London, England. He is famous for his nude and still life paintings.

“Most people who have the opportunity to look for hours at one painting by Uglow find their eyes traveling over the surface, perplexed that marks, shadows and forms so limpid could crystalize conflicted emotions.” From Catherine Lampert Uglow in his earthly observatory.

'I take measurements so that the subject has a real link to the rectangle; it also gives me freedom to make a whole surface… I’m painting an idea not an ideal. Basically I’m trying to paint a structured painting full of controlled, and therefore potent, emotion.'

'I don’t do wristy paintings because I want the brain to intervene between the observation and the mark.' 

'Sometimes I like a painting to be like [the keys off] a typewriter going across the whole surface.' From Catherine Lampert Uglow in his earthly observatory.

'Set up for Nuria'

'Study for Nuria'

Paintings

'Nuria' 1998-2000 Oil on canvas laid on panel

'Zagi' 1981-82 Oil paint on canvas

'Nude' 1962-63 Oil paint on canvas

'Self Portrait' 1964 Oil paint on board

Gerhard Richter

Drawings

Upon researching Gerhard Richter's drawings, I found that the techniques Richard had shown us in class (expressive drawing) had been influenced by Richter's work because of the building up of mark-making and layers, erasing them and re-layering using drawing media such as charcoal and pencil. Additionally, I have noticed that the expressive lines and energy of the drawings that Richard has mentioned in class, has again, been influenced by Richter.

'Electric Tramway' 1965 Graphite on paper.

'23.12.1985'

I also found drawing's by Richter using the sight size point and line method we used in the first drawing class.

Study for '4 glass panes' 1965 Ball point pen and felt-tip marker on paper.

Overpainted Photographs

'Golden Gate' 1989 Oil on photograph

'Untitled' 1991 Oil on photograph

Roundabout Week 3- Light Photography and Media

AM- Carlton, Photography.
Brief- Produce a selection of photographic imagery that explores the themes and techniques of painting with light.

At first, I was sceptical if I would enjoy this task because I don't particularly like neon or bright colours used in solid lines, which I thought this would be a lot like because of artists works and adverts I have discovered in the past. However, after experimenting, I found ways and techniques to produce images I enjoyed- I like the look of the over-exposed, blurry abstract images. In the future, I would perhaps like to go back into the studio and produce more photography using light. 

Some images reminded me of Tracey Emin's work because I experimented slightly with text. Even though I love Tracey Emin's work as a whole, I only enjoy the confessional aspect of her 'neon sign/photographic light' work.

Tracey Emin, "Her Soft Lips Touched Mine And Every Thing Became Hard" (2008)

PM- Jamie, Media.

Examples of early-mid 20th-Century film:

Len Lye, Kaleidoscope, 1935 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF_ehWEL0Wc

Stan Brakhage, Mothlight, 1963-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt3nDgnC7M8

This title sequence from the 1995 film, 'Se7en' (Title Sequence Se7en) was influenced by Stan Brakhage's 'Cat's Cradle' 1959 (Stan Brakhage Cat's Cradle)


After watching these examples in class, we were then asked to create some film strips of our own. I edited the 16mm film by working directly onto the film using ink and markers and applying it with my fingerprints and bubble wrap. Every 25 perferations creates one second of footage; so I had to repeat the mark I'd made 25 times.