Welcome to the project of FUN...du du du du du

I neeeeeeeeeeeed something to do next week while I'm back in Birmingham for work, so I'm giving myself a fun drawing project (well, two):

Project 1:
To do some cute little stickmen drawings. I love drawing stick men, I love incorporating text in my work...so I'm going to combine to two! I think I'm going to call it something like 'Stickmen Doing Stuff, With Words'. It'll literally be that. A drawing of some stickmen doing something, with a caption to match their action. What fun!

Project 2:
I've started to think about what I want to use as inspiration for my next project at uni. After a recent trip to the coast I found myself interested in the formations of barnacles. I like how these forms are built up from lots of one similar shape. The result being something almost quite grotesque to look at, yet simultaneously intriguing.

I'm going to draw from the photos I took on the beach, and maybe try to create my o

wn similar formations.

I'm reminded of these rings by Maud Traon when I think about the shapes I'd like to make.

www.maudtraon.net

EXCITING TIMES

What to do....

Well, I'm on my Easter break at the moment. The first week's pretty much been and gone and I've done very little with it. It's been nice to have a break though. I've caught up with friends and had a nice slob! But now my creative mind needs some form of stimulus. I've had a few ideas of things to do with my limited free time. I've already said that I'd do some public art with my cork people, so that's one thing. Also, whilst in Camden the other day I saw some mirrors with interesting vintage photo collages around their frames. I thought I might have a go at making something like this myself. I thought I'd buy a framed mirror and create my own collage on the frame using cut outs of anything I like, then sealing the design with glue/varnish. It should work. Well, I don't see how it wouldn't!

Frills, Thrills but no Automobiles

So I had to think of alternative connections did I?
I had to make my piece bigger did I?
FINE!

Ha, no, I didn't mind at all. In fact, I much prefer the work that I produced after the critique to the work that I did before it.

I kept the outside component how it was before, but just changed the inside bits from flat sheets to frilly, puffy, protruding things!

I then started to think about other materials that I could add into the piece. A friend was using some latex and I liked the effects she was getting from it, so I gave it a go and incorporated it into my own work in my own way.

I made sheet pieces of dyed latex which I wedged in between the fabric and the metal before riveting them all together.
I quite liked these pieces. It was nice to add a contemporary and intriguing material into my work. But I still had more experiments to do.
I tried dipping the ends of the ruffs into wax. This meant that the fabric was stiffened into a set position, and, despite looking soft and flexible, the fabric would be hard and solid. I then combined the wax with acrylic paint to add some colour.

My next thought was if the latex would work in the same way and the acrylic paint. I saw no reason why it wouldn't, and thought it might have a nicer texture than the paint.



Now, the problem with the latex was that, even though I mixed a dye into it before applying it to the fabric, the natural pigment of the latex seemed to grow through the thinner parts of the latex over time, producing this vomit-like colour. Who wouldn't wan't to wear that? YUMMY!


I was also trying to think of alternative connections. Trying, and failing.
I sort of overcame the pigmentation problem though. I just added more dye!

People in paper houses....

So, I've been trying to get a move on with my Design for Production project, but I've finding it hard. As I said, we're looking at repetitive forms, and Ive picked houses. So I decided to make some paper chain houses. I'm no Rob Ryan, but I'm trying!

Obviously this one's not finished yet, but I was keen to blog them because I think they're really cute.

A very literal walk down Memory Lane

I've decided (for now) to look at houses for my latest project. As I wanted to inject a healthy dose of nostalgia into this project I decided to return to places I felt would help me to achieve this feeling.
My first port of call was Burns Street, the street that I spent the first 8 or so years of my life attempting to grow up on. I've driven past it a few times since we moved out, but I don't think I'd walked down the street since we left. Everything had shrunken, that's for sure. It used to be at least twice the size that it is now. Especially No.8, the house we used to live in. I had a little spy through the window (yes, I must have looked completely normal peeking through people's front windows with a camera around my neck), the back wall looked like it had jumped a few feet closer to the window too. What horrible disaster could possibly have occurred here? I took my photos and quickly left. Fortunately the street was virtually empty in terms of cars and people (probably another effect of the disaster), so my photos weren't too littered with unwanted obstacles. UNfortunately my mother (who was posing as my chauffeur for the day) managed to park right in the way. Cheers mother!
Here's our old family home, although, when we lived there the front door was brown, not blue, and the windowsills and side gate were a colour halfway between Lime and Aubergine:

The street looks more like part of the East Is East set that I remember.

Where to next? I decided to head over to the roads around my primary school next. I knew there were beautiful houses around there. As we pulled up next to the school I felt slightly nervous. It was lunch time. There were visible children. I had a camera around my next. "Erm, lets go somewhere else mum". So we zoomed off to the road that my old best friend lived on and I got happy snapping along there instead.
I think the session was a success. I've got enough to be getting on with now and it was lovely to go back to these places.