Progression Of Images

After experimenting with using the speakers to draw from, I played with the images to try and inform my embroidery. I played around with enlarging sections of the images to find the most interesting parts and documented this process in my sketchbook so I have a lot of inspiration to work from.

I like how the gouche creates a surface that seems to change with time. Using ink, makes the print bleed out in another colour. This is an interesting quality that I want to take further.

These are prints from the pieces of cling film that I allowed to dry. I am interested to investigate what I can do with these in terms of embroidery. They each have interesting qualities that I would like to explore. The last image is from the photocopier. It was originally all red, but the colours became obscured. I love this effect, even though I'm not quite sure how it happened.

Using Music to Draw

I have been really keen to experiment with using the music to create the drawings. I want to do this method to experiment the differences in marks that two different songs will create.

I have chosen to do this with Boom Bip and Daft Punk songs.

I created my own contraption for creating this mark. I began by layering cling film over the speaker and photographing the paint move around on the surface.

This produced an interesting effect that I want to turn into animations if I have enough time to document the process fully.

I also did an experiment using rice to see how it could move with the music.

I like what is happening here but I want to create prints with the songs so I layered a piece of paper over the top. As the music causes the speakers to vibrate, the paint bounces up and creates a drawing. The marks I got were really interesting. I was really pleased with the differences in marks between the two songs.

Roads Must Roll - Boom Bip

The Game Has Changed - Daft Punk

I love how the two different songs create such different splatter patterns. The marks vary from materials, but the basic shapes are individual to the song. This is something that I want to investigate further through materials. 

I am going to compare the differences in marks between the music.

Next I want to play around with printing on to fabric and see where that can take me.

Seba Kurtis

A few months ago, I visited the Cornerhouse for a show and tell workshop. This involved various artists from around the world coming in and having a brief chat, telling the audience about their current projects ideas. I went along mainly for something interesting to do on a Saturday afternoon and to get out of the rain, but was filled with surprise and knowledge and brilliant references for the future and my work.

One of the artists was named Seba Kurtis. He is a photographer from Argentina. He chooses to focus his work on immigration and particularly illegal immigration and what length people will go to to find a better life for themselves and family. 

The images that he showed to us interested me from how abstract they were. He explained his reasons for not showing figurative images is because, he can shoot a roll of film, and every image can be seen and shown to the world. However, most the subjects of his photographs don't make it to the next country, they don't find salvage and therefore his whole roll of film misrepresents the subjects. He chooses to damage the roll of film after he has shot it, and in that way few or little images will be seen reflecting upon the hardship of many people in the world finding refuge. 

Here is a link to a video which shows the ways in which film was distressed.

Drowned from seba kurtis on Vimeo.

Here are two images that came were produced from the project, both enhanced in photoshop after.

I feel like these images are similar to the ones I am trying to create. I love how the subject is distorted, and merely suggested to. I also love the thought process and the artists research to get to this stage. I want to experiment with this idea of distortion and loss, within my work. I want to use this type of distortion and mark making within my visual research.

Second Tutorial

Feedback that I have gained from todays tutorial has helped me to think further about how I can move the project further.

• Film myself drawing
• Think about a more personal response to the music (in terms of colour and scale)
• Possibility of using wax, mark that is reflected in the drawings.

This week I want to play around with using the music to create drawings. I will layer ink and paint and other wet materials over a speaker and see what marks could bounce upon to a piece of paper layered on top.

I am looking forward to this experiment I am keen to see the hopefully interesting marks that could appear.

Manipulation

I love the effect that has happened here when the Boom Bip sketch was enlarged. Although this wasn't what I intended to happen, the grainy distorted colours that have appeared really reflect the mood of the song and the nature of the image that I wanted to produce. 

I found this was less successful on my sketch of The Game Has Changed. Although some areas of solid paint came out well, I do not like the image as a whole. However I feel like this is helping me think into the future about materials that I could use. This one reminds me of a velvet or other pile fabric. The smooth nature and blend of colours remind me of the qualities of velvet. 

Bigger Drawings

These are more enlargements of some of the larger drawings that I did in response to the music. I wanted to get out of my sketchbook in the hope that I would be able to create more detailed drawings that weren't limited by size. I am happy with my results and especially the enlargements. I can see some delicate areas coming through within my work and am starting to visualise compositions and how I can translate these drawings into embroidery.

After creating an order and organisation within my drawings, I have edited down some of my images. I noticed that I liked the cut off areas arranged on the table. I wanted to document this serendipity and repetition as I feel like I can use this for inspiration for a sample later.

Adding Colour

When flicking through my sketchbook I found myself to be sad about the lack of colour. I want to introduce colour before I start using the sound to create drawings. I decided to line up all my colours inks and paints and then freely pick up the colours I felt were relevant to the music. I have narrowed down my choice of music to two songs now, Boom Bip and Daft Punk. I want to compare these two songs to see how colour, line, tone and shape will differ with different music.

I produced these sketches as a starting point for including colour

Left - Daft Punk, The Game Has Changed

I find the Daft Punk song to be very dark and scary. I wanted to use colour to create a mood as well as tell the story of the song. I found that using long brush strokes and blending the colours created the right effect.

Right - Boom Bip, Roads Must Roll

This song is more static, I see lots of negative space within the song as well as bright tones and harsh movements.

I have also produced some larger sketches to help me get out of my sketchbook.

Boom Bip. I am happy with this sketch, I like a mixture of tones within the piece. This is the colour pallet that I want to take forward for this song.

Daft Punk. I think the colour pallet for this one needs more work, the yellow is too strong here.

I am happy with these results so far. I want to experiment further using the photocopier at enlarging the images and creating compositions from the areas I like the most. I feel like this method is helping reduce   and consolidate my ideas. 

First Tutorial

Feedback from todays tutorial,

• Think about using 3D, make things bigger - work out of the sketchbook
• Put paper on walls?
• Incorporate the music to create the drawings?
• Don't forget to document everything 
• Film and photograph all stages of development

I really like the idea of actually using the music to create to visuals. In the summer I watched a documentary 'When Bjork Met Attenborough' via Channel 4. In this Bjork was investigating different ways in which she could use nature to create sound. I like this idea of using a certain methodology in which to create the drawings. I want to play around with using vibrations from sound to draw with. This will help me develop larger drawings, 3D and progress my research. 

I really like this video and how the sound creates an image through the vibrations. I want to investigate this method of working and see how I can experiment with making the sound into a visual.

I have also watched this music video by Bjork. She used nature to create the music and then used the music to inspire the video. I love the crazy visual element to this that move in time to the song.