Deceased Fly.

All in the name of art...

Not only did I have the new experience of working with oil paint, I also worked with a dear little dead fly. This came about after moving my work from my studio space to the area I wanted to exhibit it in. I held the piece by the top as high as I could and walked along with it, not being the tallest person, the bottom dragged along the floor. I didn't realise the fly was there until stepping back from it after it had been stapled up.

I grew to love it over night and thought he was a welcomed addition. The next day was the time for setting up for the end of the warm up project exhibition (even though I had already set up - thanks to Uncle Clive). After helping to clear the spaces and we all started arranging where people would go, I had to move it again and unfortunately my new friend fell off. I had to have him as a part of my work, after all I have never worked with dead flies before, so I got some pva and covered the little fellow with it. I had to rest it up on the table because the fly would slip down and I didn't want him to fall off again. Eventually the glue dried and the deceased was securely in place.

Oxford: Take 2.

Last week we successfully visited the Ashmolean Museum, to see the 'Francis Bacon / Henry Moore: Flesh and Bone' exhibition. I should point out now that I advise you to go see it, whether or not you are a fan of their work. We learnt from our last attempt that Oxford is not like London. There are things that are not open on a Monday and this time we made sure to check before going again. Although it was an early start (for me anyway), it was worth it. I didn't realise until after leaving the building, that the experience walking through the rooms was an enjoyable one. We spent around 2 hours in there. I wasn't filled with a saddening eagerness to leave and get out as fast as I could, or blinded by shining lights and bright white walls. I'm surprised at how oblivious I was. There aren't many exhibitions that I can say that I have wanted to go to, other than the 'Litchenstein: A Retrospective' show at Tate Modern.

As well as visiting Modern Art Oxford...

(I'll get round to finishing this post at some point - maybe?)

New Project: SEENK.

'A painting to show colours made from cobalt blue, yellow ochre, crimson and white.'

New project called 'SEENK'.

Last Thursday, we began our journeys in a new project. We had a list of themes we could choose and then pick a medium or an aspect of a medium that we are unfamiliar with. The word I chose was 'knees'; because in my work I tend to avoid anything that is figure/body related. My chosen medium is oil paints; simply because I have never used them before - ever! I am both extremely nervous and excited about it.

That Friday, I asked good ol' Uncle Clive to teach me the wonderful world of oil painting. He gave me a list of things I would need and off I popped to the art shop. Armed with oil paint, paper and an eagerness to get going (plus a few other bits that I got given or already had) we started. Clive said I should get to know what I can get out of the colouirs I had (cobalt blue, yellow ochre, crimson and white). So I did, I mixed colours together to get new colours and mixed them together to get more colours. It went on for a while with a lunch break in between. I also learnt that mixing all the colours I had made together would then make a shade of grey, depending on which starting colour was the more dominant.

After this I stapled paper to the wall and just went for it with palette knives. I didn't necessarily think too much about where to put the colour. I occassionally look at a reference photo of a 'dinosaur' skull, but it looks nothing like that. The painting isn't meant to look like anything, it's purpose is 'to show colours made from cobalt blue, yellow ochre, crimson and white.' Which is exactly what it does. I had a lot of fun making a mess and learning something new, I definitely enjoyed myself. The next stage is to work with brushes and see how that ends up.

On another note, today, I found out I have ugly knees...

New Baby.

Everyone, meet my new baby! (And yes, that is a dinosaur you can see).

Last night, I got home to find something very exciting waiting on my bed for me... My new camera!!! I felt like a little child at christmas. I dropped everything, sat on my bed and unpacked it all. Packaging was sprawled all over the place! It had to be charged straight away, of course, I was so happy!

It's my early birthday and christmas present and thankfully I got it in time before I go back to uni next week. I even got a tripod, which will be interesting, never used one before. I have it now, which means I must use it... Maybe it'll come in handy to take level pictures of work hanging in the studio. We shall see. I'm looking forward to having better quality photos because of the number of mega pixels (there's still doubt in my ability to take 'good' photos though), hopefully I'll get out more and capture the outside world. Admittedly, I mainly wanted it due to it being a lovely looking piece of equipment, but I was reassured that other aspects were good too haha!

Oooo, I'm unbelievably excited! Just looking at it makes me smile like a cheshire cat - you can tell not much happens in my life...

Befriend A Whale.

“This is where I reblog things that inspire me and anything that puts a smile on my face.”

That sentence is literally what it is. I finally decided to create another Tumblr blog called 'Befriend A Whale' (I like whales), so I could put the things that I like, make me smile, are just plain awesome etc there. It will contain art, but there is a high chance that there will be cats, lots of cats too and just animals in general. I haven’t decided if I will post anything up myself as yet, could I count as my own inspiration? I suppose when I work, I tend to use what I have created to then learn from it and move on to make something else, for example, what did or didn't work well. I am now able to reblog things and show people what I like. Just thinking about it makes me grin. Before, in my art work Tumblr, I would occasionally put up things and talk about them a bit, but that has slowly died out. Anyway, it’s still early days and looking very bare, even so, I am quite excited about it!

Feel free to check it out: www.befriendingwhale.tumblr.com

Latest From Me.

Hello good people, yes, yes I know, it has been a very long time. Over a year in fact, but alas, I may be back. A lot has changed since I last posted on here. I am now a Fine Art student in my first year at University. I have had several projects so far and like with everything else, I probably should had done this sooner. I thought I would say a little about my current project before I post anything up.

This project is still developing and I’m not a 100% sure where it is going (which isn’t helpful for you guys or my tutors haha). I started off by just creating work because I had to. I initially wanted to carry on with something that I had started in college and create my own God/Icon (this is partly to do with the work posted on here in December 2011, from my Contemporary workshop, which you can have a nosey at if you wish).  Although I was told I should not work as much from my imagination. So I have now moved on to owls. Just owls. My idea is that they have meaning and possibly different meanings to certain people. They can be something that a person can look to for whatever it is that they need.

Well, it has been nice to do this blogging-malarkey. I have a feeling I could be slightly addicted haha! Hopefully I will be able to keep this up.