Water Drawings

I am really interested in the texture and shapes that appeared through my underwater camera. I wanted to try and draw these shapes out and experiment with materials. I used acrylic, ink, gouache and water. I paid particular attention to colour and trying to take away my ideas about what water looks like. These drawings are a starting point, but I feel that once uni starts up again, I can further this project and think about what are the different ways water can be represented. I am also interested in how I can incorporate embroidery through these preliminary ideas.

Swimming With Manatees

During my summer holiday, i was lucky enough to visit Florida with my family. During our stay we opted for an excursion where we spent a morning swimming with Manatees! This was an amazing experiance to get up close and personal with these wild giants. I was slightly afraid at first but once I was more comfortable in the water, I really enjoyed the experiance and came to understand how calm and harmless these creatures look although they are big and scary at first.
To document the experience I took an underwater camera with me. As I expected a lot of the photographs came out badly from the point of view of documenting my day out, but some of the colours and shapes and tones that came through were fascinating.

I love the light and reflection of the water in these images

This is the best photo that I got of what I was trying to photograph. Makes me smile every time. 

Cartoon Museum - Ralf Steadman

I visited the Cartoon Museum just off Russell Square in London for the Ralf Steadman exhibition. I didn't know much about Steadman's work before but was fascinated by the vast drawings and detail to his paintings. His approach to drawing involved accuracy and photorealism until he met Hunter S Thompson. The two of them partied and experimented with a life of hallucinogenic substances. This gave a new dimension to Steadman's drawings which allowed him to be much more expressive. I love the splatters of paint, the creepy figures and inconsistency of reality. I feel like the expression and loose nature of these drawings is something that I can use for inspiration. 

White Rabbit & Steadman on Thompson.

Both images courtesy of Google Images.