Tuesday 22 December 2009

Hieroglyphs, Chinese and those things off tv quiz shows..

Well, i was thinking right - ive been looking for things amongst my work like faces and shapes, and i realized that there are other things i could look at than making shapes using staining etc. I was thinking of looking into things like Egyptian hieroglyphs, Chinese and Japanese symbols and, those things off tv quiz shows - like where you have pictures and you put them all together to make names of movies and stuff? I know what im talking about.

Now ive looked into this and its almightily confusing trying to learn how to read and write hieroglyphs over the internet, however i do find it interesting so its something i wish to look into as i feel its similar to what ive been looking at - the symbols dont seem like they even relate to clothing or cloth but some how they do...i dont know enough about this yet clearly.

I also had the same idea for Chinese and Japanese
symbols - like when i look at them i dont see obviously what some one whom could read them would see, however i see other things like faces.

ALSO.
i dont know what they are called but ive seen
them on tv quiz shows - example.



+ O


Put it together, and you get Air + O + Plain, Airplane - simple. I was thinking of trying to write stories or phrases in these differing texts - pictures to make words - pictures that look like words - words spelled how they sound - using symbols to demonstrate words etc.

Images from:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs

http://sneakerfiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/nike_air.jpg

http://www.scenicway.com/images/crafts/plainer.jpg


xxx<3



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Sunday 13 December 2009

Friday 11 December 2009

Day 3 - 24 hours after op.

I have no idea what it looks like - all i know is that i cant smell, breathe or taste food. Not a happy bunny.

xxx<3

Wednesday 9 December 2009

Day 1 - 24 hours before Butterfly.

Im going to make this short and sweet - im getting a nose job tomorrow, kind of cosmetic, more medical. But in light of this i am going to post pictures somewhat as a before and after transformation thing. Watch this space.

xxx<3

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Lies, Flying Cobras and 80's discos.

Im not dreaming much. I dont think there is enough going on with my life at the moment to warrant any considerable about of dream time. It seems ive hit a dry spell in my creativity...that or the fact i have about 15 ideas i want to do, i dont know which direction im facing. Love really is no excuse for bad art, so why do i want to get loved up so much? Why do i feel the need to share feelings with someone else? I should have realized that it isnt going to work as relationships never work for me, i ruin everything i touch - circa House S06e7.

Euuuurgh no motivation, no new direction.



Oh, and for those who didnt guess, the theme of this post is melancholy.

xxx<3

Wednesday 18 November 2009

Organic qualities, Egyptian paranoia and Fitzsimmons.











After trying out several ways of staining and marking canvas, i found some interesting approaches that brought with them some good and interesting results. However, some i felt turned out very forced and far to stark. The first ink blot style tests i did seemed far too bright and looked forced and totally not what i wanted. After seeing them i decided to loose the colour and just focus on the shapes. When i was taught to paint, i was always told never to use colours straight from the tube, always mix. So for the second set of ink blot style tests i did, i used paint simply mixed with water to make it more like ink instead of using just paint. I feel the second set of tests worked out really well and are a far more organic looking set of works, apposed to looking forced.

xxx<3

Tuesday 17 November 2009

Arcimboldo, Original concepts and The holy spirit.

Recently i have been trying out loads of different ideas in terms of staining canvas, mark making and colour. When at home the other week, i realised that after not driving for nearly 2 months, the experience of driving was rather different than it usually was. I was looking for spaces, i was looking more at what other people did so i could move accordingly. When i used to drive everyday, i dont remember doing this, it all just flowed into one, spaces became open and i took them, nothing had to be thought about. I think alot of it come from racing. When racing you need to be aware of yourself and the others around you, you have to be spatially aware and know your limits in terms of space. It takes some time, but when over taking someone, you just know that space is big enough, its not going to diminish, im having it. I feel its the same with driving, but it just takes some getting used to after 2 months of inactivity.
So, irrespective of media or medium, i am still looking at space in my work, closing bits off with mark making, but potentially opening others up with the spaces they create, which is just what i was looking at, at the start. I thought of other examples of this, like sand, water, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, foods that look like people, external objects that look like people or things.

Images from :- http://z.about.com/d/arthistory/1/0/j/Y/gaml1007_16.jpg
http://www.free-background-wallpaper.com/images/Wallpapers1280/Beach-Wallpaper/Sand-Dunes-Soft.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNNegfUfccKYdogV82Dgp-JNvoMWDDA71OLNhxD6nFj1sJrKHgH7HjHfcwJUkt30rojlUvU7NADed0553sJBxirQpKzid_Q8Fw-r2bhfHR3mtC0kr_a977ZVlUvSqAaq0Ek4JeB-xRyxY6/s400/faces+in+places.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnUkNIchnG06F0_Hmr5NiAI8JfsZtR1tFak5ZttG9ZgwFPzkc9BftRwVcRNFu2KxwFL5NWnl70l9NL9pN08cy8C26cU8P4zbKsNo88JrbsC798eYkbpaFCEdDrUlzs-3gaBJKYrDgvdDq/s200/jesus_toast.jpg
Image i took myself in Greece 2008.

xxx<3

Monday 16 November 2009

Gabrielle, Time lapse and Open bodies of water.

It has been some time since i last updated my blog. I could have sworn that i updated it a couple of days ago...
Things have been super boring really of recent, nothing has really got me excited. I did however get a new tattoo which i cant stop staring at, i fucking love her. Gabrielle is her name. 4 and a half hours none stop, but it was totally worth it. My favorite addition to my collection without a doubt.

Ive been looking at ways of staining canvas for this food project and have done lots of little tests and different ways of staining, but no real progress in terms of producing anything significant. I really like the way Clyfford Still applied his paint, in an impasto way so that depending on which way look at it, the tones were effected by the light. I see this the same way in bodies of water, and even sand - i think these 2 things could be good to look into - looking at the tonal differences in sand and water.

More on this to come.

xxx<3

Monday 9 November 2009

Fallout 3, Scripture and Spring water.

Recently ive been hearing a lot about Fallout 3 : The Game Of The Year Edition. Dont get me wrong, i dont mind hearing about it, it deserves all the attention it is getting. Fallout 3 has to be at least in my top 3 or 4 best games ever played, its phenomenal. Anyway, im not here to talk of the game, im here to talk about one of the opening bit of the game when you essentially begin your quest. Your father is a scientist who's goal it is to bring fresh water to a war ravaged Washington DC after the future 2077 nuclear holocaust. As a baby he reads to you his wife's (your mother) favorite scripture from the bible which is from the book of Revelations 21:6.

"Revelations 21:6
It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life."

I think its a really beautiful piece of text as is most of what little i have read from the bible. Ive always loved scripture, biblical and old text, theres something about the way people used to write and speak that really excites me. I always like coming across dictionary definitions of words where they have the break down into ancient Greek or French - i like to know where our language and writing style came from - and also where it seems to have gone recently. One i was looking at yesterday was Parthenogenesis which comes from the Greek "Parthenos" - "Virgin" & "Genesis" -"Creation". Parthenogenesis is a type of A sexual reproduction where the female doesnt need the male to fertilize the egg, but is able to do it on her on producing only females - this has been found in sharks, birds, reptiles, plants - but never humans...yet...
I think its something to think about really, is our role as males on this planet limited? Will we be needed come a 2077 nuclear war?

xxx<3

Saturday 7 November 2009

Cillit Bang, Bicycle chain and Morphological analysis.

In a lecture yesterday, i got introduced to something called Morphological Analysis, which is a problem solving technique which aims to explore all the possible solutions to a problem. We had to do one for the project we had, relating it to what we were doing. This was mine, relating to what surface i would paint on, my medium to paint with and the way to apply the paint - i really this, i think it fits in well with the chance and randomisation aspect of things that im looking at. I think using the method and medium section and finding some way of randomising the combinations is a good way to continue with experimentations with the staining and marking i am doing currently.
When thinking of what medium i could use for the diagram, i thought about stain remover - currently i am staining or marking canvas with paint and other mediums - but what about staining, with the purpose of trying to remove it again? Could be something to look into - this leads me into something i got asked about the other day in a crit - i was asked why i was using paint to stain the canvas - the reason i am using paint is because it is irrelevant almost what medium i use as it isnt about that, its more about colour, the marks being made and the staining - it is also the reason why canvas is not integral to my work as its more about the process and the way the work came about - other than the material or medium used. I think for now, i am going to continue working on a small scale until i figure out what i want to do in terms of process and use of medium. An idea i had was using bicycle chain coated in oil and draping it over canvas to stain it. I also liked the use of manipulative verbs - i feel this is something i can use as well. Using different actions and ways of applying paint/medium in my work.

"My painting does not come from the easel. I prefer to tack the unstretched canvas to the hard wall or the floor. I need the resistance of a hard surface. On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting."

"I continue to get further away from the usual painter's tools such as easel, palette, brushes, etc. I prefer sticks, trowels, knives and dripping fluid paint or a heavy impasto with sand, broken glass or other foreign matter added."

Quotes from Wikipedia:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Pollock

The way that Jackson Pollock worked is similar to the way ive been working recently - using unstreached canvas on the floor - using sticks, syringes and the simple act of pouring to create my work - i want almost to stray away from the usual painters tools and step into a realm of different means of applying paint.
More of this to come.

xxx<3

Wednesday 4 November 2009

Eavesdropping, Egypt and Hazelnut Americanos.

Went out last night with some friends and i over heard someone say something which, at first struck me as rather concerning, but overall rather romantic.

"If i wake up tomorrow and ive been sick, passed out and dont remember anything. I'll remember you."

Now, it also sounded rather alarming to me at first, but i kind of like it. Its rather beautiful in a way, makes me want to be in love. Not gonna lie, i am a hopeless romantic, i do like almost exaggerated expressions of love and declarations of love.

I saw an advert on the side of a bus today when flyering for a club night my friends organise, it was about traveling and visiting Egypt. The slogan said something like:-

"The stones talked to me....Egypt - where it all began"

Something like that.
I really really want to go to Egypt, it looks like such an amazing place - that and im well into ancient Egyptian mythology and stuff. They have a webiste devoted to the traveling and experience of Egypt - there is even a LoveEgyptClub (yes i joined) how sweet is that?

In other news, Starbucks have new red Christmas cups in now - really like the look of them. They also have new gingerbread and deep cherry flavor syrup that you can buy - not sure about them, but i think i might have to opt for a gingerbread Americano next time i go rather than my regular hazelnut.


xxx<3

Tuesday 3 November 2009

I love you, but i dont know how to tell you....


Video from: -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vsZXlKYlnU

Esser - I Love You - From his 2009 album - Braveface.

xxx<3

Wild Beasts, Affairs with windmills and Spanish drug lords

I dont think there is much focus or aim in this post, more a general get together of whats been happening.
A while back one Sunday evening i was forced to watch John Tucker Must Die - 2006 film starring Jesse Metcalfe - and one of the girls described John Tucker as being so beautiful he was like "A statue wrapped in a painting". That made me almost like the film as that sounds pretty interesting to me. I mean, i hate the whole cliche of art being just about painting, just about drawing, just about portraits - landscapes blah blah blah, but i think the coming together of 2 ideals or stereotypes to make one unforeseen new element is rather interesting. I think its much like what im trying to do now - working with colour - staining canvas etc has been done before - nothing new here - but im trying to introduce other elements to my work like gravity, chance and randomisation, and this is what i think sets it apart from the regular.
I kind of had a thought the other day about life - i was doodling in my notebook and started drawing like just lines up and down and then it turned into what looked like the lines from a heart rate monitor - and it made me think that, that is a visual, digital representation of life - which i think as an artist is what im doing also - trying to represent life for other people - showing what i feel through my life.

It seems as much as i dont really think about it all the time, im always being influenced by the world around me - usually in the form of dreams. As i mentioned in a previous post about dreaming, our mind takes things you have seen or experienced that day and compares them to other similar things you have felt or experienced, causing you to potentially dream about things you see just before you go to bed or that day. Seeing as i am basing a portion of my work on dreaming, then i am always being influenced by what i see and what emotions i feel - interesting.

I met a girl...
Im not getting my hopes up just yet - love is no excuse for bad art...

Image from:- http://www.vetspecs.com/products/PM4%20Screen-.jpg

xxx<3

Thursday 29 October 2009

Straight Edges, Number Generators and Dolphins Wearing Lipstick

When looking at work by Ian Davenport, i really liked the fact that in a way he used the world around him to create his work, allowing gravity to affect the spread and flow of the paint. I have been thinking of doing the same, using acts of randomness and chance to depict how my work turns out. I had the idea of wrapping paint or ink - food colouring what ever in cling film, suspending it above the canvas or surface and piercing holes in the cling film allowing the medium to drip onto the canvas. Another idea i had was for the ink blot style works i want to create - i would draw a grid out onto canvas or paper and use a number generator to depict where i place my medium then fold the canvas or paper in half creating a pattern.

These are just a couple of ideas i came up with - i think for now these could be a good way of exploring mark making and staining canvas.

xxx<3

Wednesday 28 October 2009

Rorschach, Davenport and Chance.


Ian Davenport is an English born artist, who in 1990 after being included in Damien Hirst's Freeze exhibition, began creating works usually on a large scale allowing gravity to control the spread and movement of the paint.

"His large-scale wall paintings are made using a syringe to pour paint, in vertical stripes, from the top edge to the floor. The painting process is formal and repetitive, like a scientific experiment, but the final image contains irregularities, where the paint is diverted by the wall surface, and surprises, where particular colour combinations create unexpected visual results"

Quote from Wikipedia.

I really like the fact that Davenport creates work with the use of gravity, almost allowing the world around him to participate in the work he is creating. I remember on Monday in the talk with Michael Howard that he said about chance and luck being the secret laws of the universe - i really like that. Rather than mechanically applying a medium with your hands, paint brush pallet knife, what ever, how about letting gravity, chance, luck, randomisation take control over the painting - let fate so it be decide the outcome of the way the work should look.

Ancient Greek Philosophy had 2 concepts of chance.

  • Tyche - or luck - operates in the mind.
  • Automaton - or chance - operates in the realm of nature.
To many early Greek Philosophers chance did not exist and the world was completely deterministic (events are determined by a chain of unbroken prior events). However, to Aristotle Tyche and Automaton where everyday occurrences, and that chance events were the effect of 2 casual events.
So if to create work using chance then i must concur 2 casual events right? I think i need to look into this more later on.

The Rorschach test, or Ink Blot test was devised in 1921 by Hermann Rorschach to examine subjects personality and emotional functioning. I remember as a child in school creating ink blot style paintings by simply applying paint or ink to paper, card what have you and then simply folding it in half creating wonderful symmetrical patterns. I think this could be a great way of creating patterns that are open to analysis as they were not created by hand so to speak - created more by the acts of folding paper and letting the ink or paint spread and disperse as it may.

More of this to come.

Image from:- http://www.waddington-galleries.com/img/cat/127.jpg

xxx<3


Tuesday 27 October 2009

Colour Field, Ink Blots and Havana


When working from the subject of dreams i wanted to look into artists that used emotion or tried to convey emotion in their work.
The Colour Field move ment was a branch from Abstract Expressionism which emerged from New York City in the 1940's and 50's. Colour Field dealt with large block of usually unbroken colour spread or stained onto canvas with less emphasis on brush strokes and gesture, more on form and process. Artists like Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still used reduced forms and a highly psychological use of colour to provoke emotion and even a meditational response in the viewer.

Clyfford Still is seen as one of the foremost Colour Field movement. His flashes of colour give the impression that parts of the colour have been torn off, revealing others underneath. Unlike others in the Colour Field movement, Still did not apply paint in a flat uniform manner, however he
applied his paint impasto in a thick almost unregimented way causing different tones to appear in
different lighting situations and angles.

"I never wanted color to be color. I never wanted texture to be texture, or images to become shapes. I wanted them all to fuse together into a living spirit." - Clyfford Still

"It's intolerable to be stopped by a frame's edge." - Clyfford Still

Quotes from Wikipedia.

I think this is how i want to work. I dont want my work to be a mechanical process, i want it to be spontaneous and free, not having boundaries and limits. Its for this reason why i used a syringe to create the previous works i did, not wanting to be limited purely by what my hands wanted to create and what my brain wanted to see, but adding a surprise random element to things. When i look at Stills work i see sometimes see shapes and patterns much like i do in my own work, shapes and patterns that were maybe not intentionally put there, yet have emerged due to the combination of colours.
As well as the use of large blocks of colour to create shapes and patterns, i also want to look into ink blot tests as they are also shapes and or patterns by somewhat mistake that can be seen in many different ways.

Image from:-http://www.tigtail.org/TIG/L_View/TVM/B/NAmerican/b.%20post%20WW%20II/still-clyfford/X/still-clyfford_1947-y.jpg

xxx<3

Monday 26 October 2009

Arabic Thinking, Da Vinci Code and Fantastic Mr Fox.

I had a talk today from Michael Howard, who took a lecture a while back on how we see the world and about looking. Seriously some of the most interesting stuff i've heard in a while, really enjoyed that. Had him again today for a thing about a show on about Leonardo Da Vinci at the Manchester Museum of Science andddd Technology? I cant remember, but honestly fascinating, absolutely amazing. Im a Da Vinci fan as it i...well i say fan but i dont actually know a whole deal about him, but i learnt an awful lot today. There is a project that we have to do involving an idea/drawing/machine that Da Vinci never got round to making - YES! I love that kind of thing, im soooo into it. I have a few initial ideas like, the automatic sun cream applicator - Dont you hate having to apply sun cream all the time on holiday? Automatic sun cream applicator does it for you - or even a sun cream that lasts all week? The automated guitar smasher for the aged rock star - seems every band under the sun is reforming these days, but they're all getting on a bit, so to make it easier for them to end with a bang - automated guitar smashing and or fire lighting as an optional extra.
Oh my im so into this.
I started to think during the lecture about something that i've wondered for a while actually. The sea - ocean - body of water - lake what ever. Is it always the same water that is always on the top? Like does it rotate and the water say 100 meters down in the ocean eventually come to the top and be the water we see? Or is that water always going to be down there, never for us to see? I want to find out.

I also went to the library today to try and find some books on Da Vinci, seems they're all being rented out as i couldnt find any...but i did get a book on mad inventions and a book on Arabic folklore and fairy tales - looks like a good read. Im so excited for this invention ideas thing - cant wait to get really started on it.

Now i should have posted some stuff on Clyfford Still that i did the other day, but i was far too excited about this so i chose to do this instead. Along with Clyfford Still and the work im doing, i really like the idea of looking at ink blot tests as its rather similar to what im doing now in terms of seeing shapes and patterns amongst other things. That'll come tomorrow or soon, as for now im going to be reading Arabic fairy tales and trying to invent machines never seen by man. UH-HUUUUUUUUUUUUU.

xxx<3

Wednesday 21 October 2009

REM sleep, Eric Cantona and Quinine.

When in the library the other day I picked up a book on dreaming and what the mind does when its a sleep. I wanted to find out why we dream, how we dream and why dreams are often easily forgotten, this is what i found out.According to Freud, we are all aware that dreams may be forgotten and therefore are liable to forget about dreams the morning after, and that there is so much that can happen in one dream, it is impossible to remember it all, if at all. The average person goes through about 2 hours of REM sleep a night, thus a person can collect a lot of information and can only be recalled if the subject has awakened just as the dream finis
hes or mid way through.
In essence, it is difficult for us to even remember parts of a dream unless we wake during or straight afte
r as, as little as a few minutes after may cause us to forget what we just dreamt.

The most recent evaluations of dream
s are that they are the "garbage dump" of the mind. As your mind seeks to make sense of all that has happened to it during the day, it pulls out similarities to other things that you have experienced. Sometimes these are just vaguely related,
which is why you ask, why did I think of X, when Y? The answer is that something that day t
riggered a "possible match" in the memory.

So. Dreams it would seem are fairly useless, just our minds trying to make sense of the days events and things pas
sed.

I started producing work from my dreams involving patterns and shapes amongst other patterns and sha
pes. I picked up some off cuts of canvas from an art shop and set about randomly displaying my dreams by using food colouring and a syringe. I picked the main theme from the dream
and used a colour to represent it.


After creating my patterns I then set out to try and find shapes or objects amongst them.
Some shapes i found:-

  • Teddy Bear
  • Letter "A"
  • Number "6" or "9"
  • A Fish
  • A Toothbrush
  • A Candle
  • A Starfish

xxx<3

Tuesday 20 October 2009

Choroid, Shift and Egyptian Pharaohs.

I went to the library today and picked up some books on all sorts, Clyfford Still, dreaming, sight and vision, Greek and Egyptian mythology and the history of the automobile.
As mentioned before I am interested in sight and how we all look at the world. So i think to fully understand sight and vision, I need to do some research.
The eyes basic function is to capture light and focus it onto a layer of cells at the back of the eye and then onto the brain to be processed via the optic nerve. So in essence, witness the world through our own minds, we see what our brian tells us, or at least how our brian understands the signals it is being sent. It's for this reason i feel it is difficult to fully understand an others point of view as their brain works differently that yours and what they see may not be what you see necessarily. However, recently a game created by EA Games called Need For Speed: Shift, captured what I see and how I feel. The game is all about the true drivers experience, trying to put you firmly in the seat of the driver, making you feel as if you are the one driving, not some mechanical process like games of previous generations. I've grown up always loving racing and started racing motorbikes when i was 12 up until the age of 17, and recently i have taken up racing Go Karts. The game truly captures how I feel when I race. The screen blurs leaving a small strip of focus at high speeds, the cockpit becomes blurred while the road ahead stays clear. The colours start to drain and become muted at high speeds, the sound dips as the concentration becomes higher. The camera reacts to all the G forces that would be felt under braking, acceleration, traveling over bumps on the track, cornering etc. The screen blurs, colours drain to black and white when you crash, the sound is numbed, your heart beats faster, your breathing picks up. This is how i feel when racing. I always find it hard to explain to people what its like to race, what I feel at 90 mph an inch or so off the ground, what its like to crash and feel G forces. I find it difficult...but they captured what I see and feel, they took my vision and made it real, well..made it into a game, but, it feels real. I never thought I would be able to fully understand what I feel when I race and feel the way I do, but they captured it. This somewhat makes me question my own beliefs on what we see, but for now I'm going to enjoy it.



Video from:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN2s-DK2jHo

Image from:- http://www.dougmedley.com/eye/eye_diagram.gif

xxx<3