Paint experiments

This first image is soon to be part of a series. It was created from a foil scraper kit (You scratch away a pre-printed image to reveal the foil usually creating shiny pandas, lions, etc.) which I scratched away until it was just foil on card. Next I applied paint, which I left to dry for some time. Before completely dry I strategically attacked it with a heat gun (aka death ray), taking care not to peel the paint, but to instead crinkle the foil. Next I gave it a wash with watered down indian ink. At various points during the process it had to be flattened as the foil-card likes to curl when wet, hot, or subjected to pretty much anything. As with most paintings you can see whatever you like in it (to some limit), which leads me nicely on to my paint experiment...

For Christmas Mum got me these. If you are wondering what they are read the description that came with them:

I thought I should use them, for a laugh if nothing else. I soon found them difficult to control (imagine holding 5 brushes and trying to use each one with some independence from the others. That is exactly how it is!) and ended up making a fairly colourful mess. I could almost see a mole in this mess, so I emphasised it with indian ink:

This last painting is more directly in line with my current line of thought, regarding studio work. After having a colour stuck in my head for sometime, and wondering how I could bring it to the real world in a way that wouldn't just leave viewers looking at a single coloured canvas, or even a distortion of Malevich's White on White, I decided to pour a large amount of the colour over a board in a few layers, allowing gravity to draw2 the paint into long drips, and leaving each one to dry before adding another. After a while I sped this up with careful use of the previously mentioned death ray. As the colour in my mind mutated (thoughts have a strange habit of doing this, try remembering a dream from 4 days ago. It is a very different dream now!) I added the final layer of paint. After this layer dried I added an indian ink wash (I like indian ink) in the hope that it would sink into the cracks and emphasise them. It did!

Photo shoot images

Earlier this week me and fellow artist James Phaily (See here) did a photo shoot in the Tithe Barn, Lincoln (chosen because of the amazing, haunting atmosphere and stone walls). We wore my new set of hooded robes, and in some images you can see the drinking horn I got for my 18th birthday (thanks again Mum, still love it nearly 2 years later!). Below are the doctored images that the session produced.

 And, of course, the obligatory hand gesture, given the nature of these images:

I have already begun using these images in other pieces of work which will eventually be uploaded in another post.

Also this week I have finished preparing wood for my imagination box (basically a sensory deprivation tank) and have put together the main body. It's now just a lid and a radio away from being functional!

First post!

Hello world of blogs!

I have recently started a new part of my of my artistic journey. Images of my progression alongside images of artists I learn of will be placed here. There will be a good portion of text, too, of course.