Sampling

This week after I have dedicated my time to drawing I am going to sample some of the drawings I have done. I was also inducted on a few of the sewing machines in university so I’m going to make full use of them this week, I want to do portraits and I am going to do some straight from some images I have not drawn yet. The sample below is the first sample I have done this week, it is a bit rough round the edges but I think its ok considering it’s the first free hand sample I have ever done! I like the contrast on the beard and the scale of it, I would really like to test my skills and do a big one that’s really detailed.

The other sample is from an image I painted last week and I really like how the colours of the flowers he is holding pop out and it’s the first thing you see when you look at it.

This unit has been exciting for me as I have bee inducted in many different machines, I have been able to try new ways of drawing e.g. with a needle and thread like some of the artists I mention on my mood boards, for instance Deborah Reich and Samantha Cotterill. I have also been able to dedicate a whole week to drawing, which is something I am very passionate about. In the next unit I hope to show more skills and learn a lot more as well, as I have previously said this unit I am focusing on new skills and coming out of my comfort zone and this will not be stopping here. I am thinking about a live brief that will compliment my work as I am going to carry on with this subject. 

Drawing

This week I need to get completely stuck into my drawing from the visual research I collected last week. My visual research is very strong as it really shows the things that people have to do in order to live, what also struck me was the age of some of these people. Some looked quite old and other relatively young so it really opened my eyes and showed that anyone an end up on the streets at anytime.

The image below is a picture of the busker I photographed in the centre of Manchester, I don’t want to make any presumptions as he may just enjoy busking in his spare time but more often than not people do it in order to raise money as they live on the streets. I really loved this image, not only because of the meaning but also all the different colours it really showed that an awful situation has a bit of joy in it.

With my drawings I am very illustrative and I feel I succeed with them so drawing from my visual research in this way will create paintings with feelings and say everything I want to say.  The image below is one I have done this week and as much as I do like the details I also would like to see what an abstract painting would look like with no lines, just the colour.

I want to use colour a lot more and this painting is the start of attempting to use colour freely in my work as at the moment I find it over whelming.

Illustrative drawings and paintings are usually the pathway I go down but this painting was extremely different and I think its one of my best ones. The freeness of the strokes, not thinking too much into it and spending too much time on it has paid off and created an abstract painting that really works well.

Visual Research

This week I am going to take pictures around Manchester. My chosen topic is extremely current and can be seen everywhere, especially with the homeless people taking residency under the mancunian way near Manchester Metropolitan University.  I tend to take pictures anywhere I am so some were taken on the bus and some were taken walking around the centre of Manchester.

The pictures below are my own photographs, looking at these it is extremely sad that people have to live like this and makes me more determined to raise awareness. The man with the red instrument seems to be in his own world and this has to be my favourite image, he seems so old and so frail yet he is still there playing and raising money, he is either very passionate about his music or he needs money to live and this is for people to decide as they walk by him or view this photograph.

Lee Jeffries work is mesmerising, his street art collection is fantastic. These are photographs he has taken and made them into art, you can see the pain in these people’s eyes and the loss of hope, they look so sad. This is just two of the images from this collection there are many more and all have strong, deep messages. As soon as I view any of them it brings me into a sad pitiful mind frame. I want to create something beautiful from a bad situation and hopefully I shall succeed.

 During my visual research I have looked into the buildings that are made into homeless shelters. Manchester United players Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville are turning Manchester’s former stock exchange into a boutique hotel but during winter they were allowing 15 homeless people to take shelter there.  

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/28/inside-neville-giggs-manchester-hotel-not-average-homeless-hostel

Third Year - Practice Unit Launch

During summer I have been observing people in public places and the interaction with others or lack of. With 90% of the poorest areas being in the northwest, the homeless situation in Manchester is a big problem at the moment. Surely in the 21st century homelessness should be a distant memory and a thing of the past. This is the inspiration I have for this unit and project, to bring awareness to people that there are still people out there living on the streets and subject to violence every single night.  

In preparation for my third year I have put together three mood boards pictured below, Inspirations, Media and Process and Audience. These show what I want to achieve and where my work would be in the industry.

This year I would like to engage with embroidery as well as print, making embroidered portraits, embroidered images and prints from pictures and paintings I create. I would also like to work with scale zooming in and out on certain areas, seeing what I can create with this and also experimenting with colour.

I believe the work I do will be at the level that can easily be repeated at an industrial scale, using materials that are low cost and quick. However, I also would like to produce something that is high end and luxurious to represent the vast amounts of money some individuals and small amounts others have. Some people spend in a week what others will have their whole lifetime and I want to show these two extremes.