The brief for this project was for us to further our experiments and to encourage us to take our ideas further. Possible outcomes that I would like to produce would be of landscape images, as I tend to use the same theme within my photographs, however I feel this is the perfect opportunity for me to really take them further and try something out of my comfort zone.
I started off the project with some handmade experiments inspired by Robert Rauschenburg with photographs I took of a cemetery and a castle I visited. I really enjoyed these experiments as there seemed to be no right or wrong answer in terms of what to do. I started off creating a collage with the photographs I took, then using acrylic paint I splattered sections of colour in various places on the collage. I watered the paint down quite a lot to allow it to drip when I stood my book upright. I didn't want the paint to look perfectly placed because I thought this would loose the overall spontaneity, therefore I kept my movements flowing. I applied bits of masking tape to add another layer of texture to the collage which I thought worked well. When creating the collage, some of the images i cut with scissors to create sharp edges, and some I ripped to create a more jagged look. I used contrasting colours of paint to stand out, and tried various paintbrush techniques such as stippling to create further textures and patterns.
I then did handmade experiments on Leslie David, and this technique I found more difficult. Again using acrylic paint I placed the paint on a glass palette, and once the paint was slightly dry, I placed it on top of the chosen picture. This experiment didn't work so well for me as I didn't apply enough paint therefore the pattern looked patchy and not obvious enough. I used similar coloured paint as to the colours in the picture therefore there wasn't much contrast and the paint didn't stand out. I tried painting onto tracing paper which resulted in my painted patch looking like a river. I thought was was quite successful because it showed two different variations of the same image. Again I tried a freestyle version of splatting paint over my images however I used watercolours instead because they were easier to use as they were of a thinner consistency. The only problem was that the paper isn't very thick, therefore the pain didn't soak in, it just stayed on the surface looking patchy.
For more digital techniques, I did some dodging and burning on photoshop to allow the image to have more depth. The first image I did this experiment on was of the house, and I held back slightly because I was worried I would do too much to the image so it wouldn't look as natural. By the time I moved onto my last attempt, I was more confident with the two tools and found a balance of doing it bit by bit so it was easier to notice any mistakes.
Another artist I looked into was Maurizio Anzeri, who's artwork consists of sewing over the top of photography. Naturally I was quite concerned about this style of work, however I took it slowly and started quite basic to get a rough idea. I used two secondary, complimentary colours that would stand out together. I wanted the grave to remain the focus therefore I stitched shapes around it to make it the centre of attention. I feel the shapes I used worked feel because they looked quite abstract and aztec which juxtaposed with the content in the photograph.
Nina Chakrabarti was a further artist I evaluated, and her work was something I had never seen before. Scary, disturbing and creative is how I would describe her style in three words. My images were not of portraits, therefore I used a landscape image to interpret her work. The image of my house was my first choice to design, however I found it quite difficult to think of any designs that would work well with it. The designs ended up random and didn't go very well with the image, therefore I wasn't very satisfied. My second attempt I chose the image of gravestones. I found these shapes a lot easier to work with because it felt like there were empty spaces for me to draw on. I kept the shapes quite geometrical to create a theme within the image. Overall I was very happy with my second attempt, however I don't think either experiments related back to the artist as they wasn't to the same standard. My designs were fairly basic compared to hers.
Andy Potts is a very experimental, out-there artists, who's work inspires me because it screams so much creativity and passion. I again used the image of the house because I feel it is the most variable. Using the photo gallery on photoshop, I applied different effects on the image. Some were purely based on a more textual look, others were for the pattern. One of my favourite effects that I thought suited Andy Potts work was the "Halftone Pattern". I thought this worked well because it both looked textual and was visually pleasing. It gave the house a haunting and tragic atmosphere that made me fell uneasy.
Miles Donovan's work was similar to Andy Potts, however I took these experiments to the next level by experimenting with the layers on photoshop. I applied different colours filters and effects to show different textures and to empathises the different layers. After I started, I told myself that the intention I wanted to show from this experiment that this was a warning poster about this house. This allowed me to stick to a theme and not use anything irrelevant. Overall I was happy because I thought all my layers were successful and my use of composition allowed each element to stand out. My use of colours were bold and this highlighted the sense of emergency.
I then went on to using a film camera, and based my images upon my local church. I loved the landscape and the tranquil feeling from the area, therefore I wanted to show this in m images. My first experiment with the images involved me cutting a strips of black paper and placing them over the image to create a stencil pattern. I thought these worked very well as the contrast in the colours really showed the different shapes. I then took these stencils further by using two A4 pieces of black card to cover parts of the images that I didn't want to show. I thought all these experiments worked well as I created shapes that complimented the picture. The stencils also exaggerated the focal points in the images which highlighted my theme.
I also tried experimenting with different ways of applying the developer. Using a paintbrush created splattered effects which I loved, and dripping the developer down the paper created a haunting, mystical and almost creepy effect which looked like raindrops. I thought these experiments worked well because they really stood out. If I were to do them again I would try to create a higher contrast between the different layers.
I also experimented with cutting out the images to create different shapes, and this is loved because it created a geometrical final look. I thought all the images worked well together, and this is why i would like to take these experiments further as an outcome. I thought the content in the images really shone through with these experiments.
If I had more time I would go back to experimenting further with the sewing experiments. I thought these could have a lot of potential however I didn't have enough time to try them out. I could have tried different thickness of threads, different colours and different patterns.
