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- May 13, 2024
The next stage of my canvas is complete! I decided to use the tree as if it was pulling forward from the comic panels, to suggest the reaching, and growing qualities of nature.
The outer black lines are meant to frame the other parts of the painting, similar to this reference below, painted by artist Jack Kirby.
Originally I had a difficult time painting on the canvas, as I forgot to water down the acrylic to make it more smooth and pliable, as it kept pulling at the brush sides, resulting in jagged and spotty edges. Although for my first time getting back into large-scale painting, I’m quite happy, and will only get better with practice.
For the other panels, I’m painting abstract, nature-inspired elements. I’ll be using a fresh colour palette of light green and pastel pink, which to me, looks like a risograph colour palette. (As the sharp opposites, which create punchy graphics)
I LOVE this green. I think it pairs well with the black. The round sections that aren’t kissing the black line, are fluid extensions of the lines. I’ve tried to create a visual ‘flow’ of shapes that are balanced, but still reflect abstract forms found within nature.
Next, I’m going to continue with the rounded shapes, and draw pastel details into the coloured sections. I enjoy pastels as they have a textural, varying lines with every stroke, and the softness leaves behind residue, which on canvas, creates a raw line that is visually significant of a drawn line.
I’m thinking of making a bodily shape in the right side?…I’ll contemplate some more before making any decisions.
- May 13, 2024
As much as I enjoy the underglaze pencils, I want something thicker, and more raw, like the equivalent of oil pastels, to use on my next ceramic, which will probably be my final pieces. Thankfully I could make some of my own, using ingredients from the ceramics department! We found a recipe online, which was then mixed with the relevant colour powders.
We mixed this with 50ml of water, and whisked until a pourable, play-dough texture. You can see in the video down below. We poured them onto flat plastercasts which were quickly heated in the kiln room, to encourage quicker drying.
The result was rollable dough, that was breakable. But if you mushed it together, it would make a pliable dough ball ready for shaping! We made long, pastel-like shapes that could be broken, depending on they draw.
I used most boxed colours in the cupboard, including a purple, black, blue, orange-yellowed mustard-yellow, and dark green. We fired a first batch at 759 degrees which would mean softer pastels, and could increase hardness with higher temperatures.
I’ll be using these on my next piece. I can’t wait to use them!
- May 13, 2024
Here are my selection of ceramics! Some of them are better glazed than others, but generally, I enjoy their tactile and inconsistent qualities, even if they are mistakes to correct for next time.
The piece above I created from assembling most of the pieces together. The yellow dome at the bottom acts as a volcano, and the long shapes represent spurting molten lava, and billowing smoke.
Each element has a unique shape and represents a different element of the story. The black outline ceramic is the dark smoke coming straight from the volcano, lifting out in an unpredictable manner. Most colours don’t reflect what they’re representing, but reflect the beauty and wonder of the natural world, hence why vivid colours are an adventurous exploration of visual language.
There wasn’t an original reason for the photo angle, but I think it successfully captures the essence of natural disasters, and their chaos in turning the world ‘upside down’.
These two pieces are my favourite, as they look the most polished, and have a good quality of drawing line. The one below has a beautiful fluid line within a line, if you count the ceramic shape as a very thick brush stroke.
I enjoy the varying transparency of the blue lines, having dreamy textures akin to watercolour. I also enjoy how I trailed off the top blue into the side of the ceramic, as I tried to enhance the three-dimensional, illusion idea.
The next piece I enjoy was my favourite post-firing. The green mountain!
I love the complete inconsistency of shape, glaze, and drawing qualities. It makes for a truly unique piece. I think the pencil outline has come out quite well, which I didn’t mark heavily. Perhaps I was just lucky it didn’t smudge which has happened in previous works.
The wiggles on the side represent rising grass or long wheat fields. On the front and back are half-circle illustrations, representing the breeze of grass in the wind, especially as they are drawn at an angle. It’s meant to give the illusion of soft wind gliding through a valley.
These pieces are now completed. I’ve learnt to be more careful with glazing in future, as you need to correctly mix and apply them in a unique way depending on the shape and size of your ceramic.
I like the potential for 3D collage, as I could encourage interactivity by exploring and creating a larger piece from the individual pieces. It would reflect ideas of building your own landscape, like kids building blocks, and encourage child-like play.
For now these will sit to the side, but potentially will go in my final show.