Enlargement

After doing lots of drawing over the last few week, I didn't want to just leave it there, I wanted to keep drawing, this evening I had a spare few hours so I began to continue expanding my drawings. I started by enlarging them and reworking the originals in new drawings on paper and within my sketchbook. These photographs show the progression through this process. 

I really like this final large drawing. I feel it pulls my project together, and helps me establish the end point. I feel like I could carry on, as nothing is ever over, howeverI am happy with what I have produced so far and I feel like I have taken this project as far as I can within my current deadline. After I completed this, I realised that this style reflects expressionism and Kandinsky's work in particular. 

Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VIII, 1923

Teach Yourself Sign Language

Drawings based upon various videos of sign language via Youtube. This is the best way to look at sign language without having a physical person in front of me.
I can watch the video and instantly respond to the movements that I see on paper. I want to try and get in contact with someone whom I can sketch straight from because this will be more effective and beneficial as I can interact with the person.

Sign Language Alphabet. I like this video because it is a zoomed in image of the actual hands moving as opposed to seeing someone standing acting out the movements. This is a more accurate image therefore shows the the data better.

Sign Language

Suddenly, a revalation!
I was doing some large scale drawings of a lecturer whom I had begun to draw. The unamed individual I was sketching was moving their hands a lot and being very expressive so I became fixated more on what they were doing rather than saying. As I was re visiting this drawing, I suddenly thought.. hands, movement, data, sign language!

I have since been sketching more large and small scale and thinking about getting in touch with a friend of a friend who I've been told can sign. I like the idea of sketching this is real life and also videoing them.

In the mean time I watched this video on Youtube of someone signing Bohemian Rapsody. Wait for the guitar solos....

Hand Embroidery Week 3

VERBS

Richard Serra uses verbs to describe his work, and here I have collected materials and used verbs to decide the way in which I use them.

In poundland I bought, 160 filter tips and 20 Brillo pads

To Reassemble

To Gather

To Wrap

To Disorganise

Hand Embroidery Week 2

This week I thought more about using the techniques to link to my drawings and ideas from my sketchbook. I enjoyed experimenting with fabrics and threads. Using the same stitch on slightly different fabrics really makes a difference. Using netting as opposed to denim is a very different experience.

As this sample was created using netting, it became translucent and almost text like. I liked how  it looked when placed on white, but the contrast to a busy background made  the sample more exciting!

Show and Tell

Last week, I had a spontaneous moment and decided to the monthly meeting at The Cornerhouse named Show and Tell.
This is a series of meetings in which local and international artists and creatives come together to tell each other about what projects they are currently undertaking.
I found this a brilliant way to spend an afternoon and I even bumped into my Tutorial tutor, Hannah Boyce, who happened to be presenting.

I found every artist who spoke highly inspirational. Their ideas filled me with inspiration about how I can improve my own practise and also helped me to realise just how much there is going on around me that I have been blind to so far.

I really enjoyed Matthew Kendall's presentation of his work, Allez Wiggo!
I love how his work went from a small sketch on a mudane evening to become a sensation all over the internet. He innocently posted his design on twitter and almost immediately had orders for prints, t-shirts and even car stickers rushing in. His design got so big that someone even started making fake copies at a reduced price. I love the progression from his idea to sensation through the power of the internet.

Thoughts from Tutorials.

After having a few tutorials over the last few days I am becoming clearer in my mind about where my project is going and what I need to do to improve.

Firstly I have decided, because I am feeling vague about certain themes and the embroidery aspect, that I want to keep my project in monochrome. Colour is something I adore, but at the moment I feel that adding colour to my samples will change a lot of what I am trying to portray and through everything out of context. I want to focus on the techniques and producing quality samples and I feel that using  colour could distract me from that.

Secondly, I want to get bigger and use different shapes. I don't want my samples to continue being squares and I want to get out of my sketchbook a bit more. Large scale drawings and different shaped materials I think will help me to achieve this.

Pattern and movement. I want to explore these ideas more in my last two weeks of embroidery sampling. I want to start thinking about the sample as a whole, and where the end result is taking me. The project is coming to a close now so I would like to think further about pulling everything together to a natural finishing point.

Hand Embroidery Week 1

For the first week in hand embroidery I wanted to concentrate upon getting the techniques. I have never done hand embroidery more than just playing around before so I was keen to learn the proper techniques for my samples. I really like the two samples below, partly due to the simplicity involved in creating these samples. I found it quite relaxing to sit down with a needle in thread rather than worrying over a noisy machine. 

 French Knots

Ladder Stitch

Blow up

To expand upon my sketchbook research I did more first hand drawings, then blew them up. I really like these images because the lines have become more abstract. These images still represent the data of the movement, but I feel like these lines are easier to translate within embroidery.

Machine Embroidery Week 3

This week we learnt how to use the pin tuck foot. This quickly became my favourite foot to use and I used it for the remainder of my time in the machine room. 

I really like the effect it gave on the back and front of the material when threads are passed underneath the fabric. It gives the fabric weight, strength and when alternated a movement. The fabric began to scrunch up even after pressing. I experimented with this technique a lot using different threads underneath and different fabrics.

I really like this sample because as I found that moving the fabric around the foot I could reflect my drawings more than the straight lines above. I then went back to fill in some of the open spaces with the tailor tacking foot. I'm really pleased with this final sample and my experiential approach to using the sewing machine.

John Piper

The Whitworth Gallery, Manchester.

This exhibition brought together all of John Pipers drawings and paintings from time he spent in Wales. I loved his mark making and the technique he used for his landscapes. Using paint and then ink over the top has a nice effect that I want to bring into my own work. He has documented most of his time spent in Wales, and in turn, shows the data of the beautiful countryside around him.

I used these technical skills in my practise this week to create drawings that I could use not just as sketches, but for drawn examples of work. I started in my sketchbook.