Dreams Of An Eagle

Last.

2010-04-19T14:51:00.004+01:00

Well, this is my last blog post as my journal is in tomorrow so i guess i best sum things up really.

After the work i was doing in terms of art for blind people i wanted to set up an exhibition in a disused shop or space but alas no one was willing to work with me on that pretty much because of insurance reasons no one was willing to let me use any shops or spaces - which was a big knock back as i wanted to do some installation based work to continue with what i was doing, but i needed the space to do it and with no space i couldnt do the work...
Instead i thought about the seeing part of my work and thought about cataracts and how that blurs and obscures your vision. So what i did was take different types of trees and diamonds, printed them off then stuck frosted plastic over the top in different ways to make some or all or the word blurred - the result is pretty good i think.

Ive done 13 of these, again for the Fibonacci sequence. Well, this is it i guess.

xxx<3

Last few...

2010-04-15T20:08:00.005+01:00

Ok, so ive had this song stuck in my head for ages now - like it appears at such inappropriate times as well...like when im deep in conversation or being told off or something hah. Whatever.

Well, this may be my last blog entry as my journal blog included is in on Tuesday...all i wanted to share was some work id been doing recently but it reminded me of Richard Hamilton whose work i first saw in Barcelona...ohh, abooout 2006/7 maybe? Anyway i really liked it and it reminded me of that - what that is i will either elaborate on later when my camera is charged or tomorrow or whatever - the near future.

xxx<3

Image from:- http://www.nationalgalleries.org/media_collection/6/AR00141.jpg

Spanish Sahara, Pizza Hut and 24 hour rowing marathons.

2010-03-16T18:40:00.004Z

First off, i'll start with the new Foals video as its fucking incredible. Such a great video and song.

Anyway.
Ive been thinking...the whole street art thing was going well, but the shelf life wasnt long enough and going out at like 2 in the morning got a bit annoying after the second time. Im not really sure if i should say what it was i did here incase, but it was a good concept and it worked great...just not practical.
Im currently speaking to the council about letting me and a course mate use a disused Pizza Hut on Oxford Street for an exhibition of some work - heard back from they today and its been forwarded to the correct people so hopefully this should all be a go in a week or so. What im thinking is one room flooded with bottle caps, or at least a decent covering on the floor that can be walked on - im taking it back to the art for blind people thing, work that you dont need to see to be able to appreciate it. Another idea i want to do is an installation that tries to replicate the feeling when you step off the plane in a hot country and the hot hair hits you, somewhat interactive installation again. More details to come - i feel well ill, walking around at 7 in the morning isnt recommended especially watching 24 hour rowing marathons...shit.

xxx<3

Exit Through The Gift Shop

2010-03-07T20:02:00.003Z

I saw the new Banksy film today - it was absolutely brilliant. Ive always liked street art and Banksy. When i first started getting into art, Banksy was one of the first artists i really started liking a lot. He even inspired me to do some of my own graffiti up until the point i realized that its a bit dangerous and the prospects of getting caught were rather high - especially after spending 20 minutes under a car hiding from the Police...What the film has done is get me thinking about my original street art roots, it was the first "public" art i did and defiantly the most ballsy and i did have a lot of fun doing it. Thinking about my project, i feel that i can literally take my work to the streets. Now im not going to openly say what it is on here just incase - i mean its not totally on the right side of the law, but it also isnt that extreme...but i think its going to work. Im glad i had this idea as what i was doing wasnt goin...well it was working, but i was struggling with it. What i wanted to do was make art essentially for blind people in terms of work that could be interacted with that didnt require you seeing it. Like plaster moulds like a big version of braille and also a working installation of bottle caps stuck on the floor much like tactile pavements. Its still that...but better.

The idea i had at first was to attach the bottle caps to plastic sheeting and tile them in a space like tactile pavements.

I made 13 of these plaster moulds - 13 because of the Fibonacci sequence. I didnt want to abandon the golden ratio ideas i had before, so 13 is a number that has links to the golden ration through the Fibonacci sequence being that the 13th and 14th numbers when divided by each other come out to 1.618 - the golden ratio. 13 is also the only number that is prime when reversed also. Good stuff.

I think this is going to work - im excited.

xxx<3

Speechless.

2010-02-21T14:46:00.002Z

Im a little bit speechless, not sure whats up with me - But Tom Ford is one of the most inspiring people i have ever come across.

xxx<3

There was a girl who lived in London toooooown.

2010-02-13T13:36:00.005Z

Got back from a trip to London last night - it was good, had to try and cram a lot of stuff into 2 days but still was interesting, saw a lot of work i liked.

The Decode exhibition at the V&A was exceptional - it was all interactive works that used software and modern computer technology so the viewer can interact with the work, it was excellent.

There are some of the images and works on the slide show - i would talk about each piece, but id actually be here forever! My favorites had to be "Tree" by Simon Heijdens, "Weave Mirror" by Daniel Rozin" and "Oasis" by Hyunwoo Bang and Yunsil Heo. All these works held in them such an excellent level or interaction with the viewer - i really felt part of it.

We went to the Saatchi Gallery on the same day as well - some of it was excellent, so

me was...whatever, didnt really tickle my fancy. Artists i liked were - Hama Malji, Emily Prince, Jia Aili, Kohei Nawa, Boo Ritson and most of all Richard Wilson.

His installation took over the whole of the bottom floor of the gallery with a steel structure that contained a couple of inches of used sump oil - it was bizarre, i had no idea what it was or how to think when i first saw it. I just assumed at first it was a mirror on the floor as when you looked down, all you could see was the ceiling - after a while however i knew i recognized the smell and after reading the card about the work i realized it was oil. The depth of field was unpreciented, the space seemed so much bigger than the last time i saw the gallery floor - speechless.

The second day we went to the Tate Modern, most of which id seen before however there were other exhibitions up stairs that i hadn't - works that stood out where - Gunther Uecker - "White Field" which was nails painted and stuck to the canvas, it reminded me of the work that im doing with the hole making, but almost a reverse but similar process - i really liked it. Jannis Kounellis, Bruce Nauman and Robert Morris also stood out. What i really liked was the works there by Lucio Fontana, Jeff Koons, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Jannis Kounellis.

All in all, the work i saw this week has given me a new drive towards

my work that im looking forward to.

xxx<3

Failed Obelisk, Modern Painters and Anish Kapoor

2010-02-09T15:43:00.006Z

I remember seeing a video about Anish Kapoor on my Foundation last year and he told of one of his first works where he inputted a square and a circle into a computer programe with want to i think merge the 2 together or to make something inbetween - i remember the work being red and on paper, its all rather vague but what im getting at is there was clearly a circle and a square at the end, but the computer made the middle bit up - it reminds me of the way i work a little, i have a beginning (an idea) and an end (outcome) but the middle is never certain and i dont think it really matters what the middle is or how it comes about, its the idea and the end really. I mean the middle isss important, but its not something to dwell on really - i think the viewer should always be guessing and be allowed to think for them selves - almost, the viewer doesnt see the middle, so why should they care? The end is key.

I was introduced yesterday to the Modern Painters Magazine yesterday which i absolutely love. Ive been a long time subscriber to Art Review, but this is miles better - i mean Art Review is great, but this has so much for me. The pictures above are by British born sculptor James Balmforth. I reeeeeally like his work - especially these 2 "Failed Obelisk" and "We dont have drawings, we think and we build" - like the "We dont..." sculpture as its rather how i work, i have ideas, but i never draw them or plan them much, its more of a suck it and see attitude.
His work has made me think - ive never really been that interested in sculpture or even explored it, some stuff i like, some i dont. But maybe i should experiment with some sort of sculpture - i have some ideas in mind.

Blazing xxx<3

Braille, Butterstroke and the Lord himself.

2010-01-28T13:30:00.003Z

Its no mystery that i have massive ambitions - but usually they end up getting the better of me and i dont do much about them. I usually seem to be the one with all the ideas, but never gets round to doing them. It was discussed yesterday in a tutorial i had that i generally seem to have an idea and them immediately set an end point and thus i dont expand and grow naturally, its abit too structured and straight forward.

The idea of using the Golden Ratio is still something im still wanting to explore and the object of holes and the thought of beyond the canvas moving away from the ideals and usual art techniques but in a way still using them? Like the idea i had of the 7 ft x 10ft canvas - its not about the use of the canvas, its about the ratio and the holes. However - i tried using a needle to poke holes in canvas and i soon found out that you couldnt see the holes....even when a shone a light behind it, which was a a bit of a let down, but i guess it gives me some more time to explore the material, the use of the holes, how to apply? the holes and what im actually doing.

"I've always wondered what it is like to be someone else"

Quote taken from my first blog post - i do wonder what its like to be someone else. I saw a few decent things today - went swimming and witness what i could only describe as a creation, it was a cross between butterfly and breast stroke...it was wonderful. I also saw braille on the back of a package...it was there but unless you looked and ran your finger over it then you probably wouldnt notice it...i loved it. What if i could create work that was by me, but not about me, or appears to be by me? What if it was the work of a blind mathematician who wants to explore visual aesthetics? What about instead of holes, what about braille? Practical holes, so almost the destruction of the usual art technique but has a side of practicality and maybe respect for the usual. I like this as a starting point. Yes. I think this is what i need, a starting point and not an end point and trying to go from there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needle_punch

xxx <3

Fontana, Gold and spatial concepts.

2010-01-17T14:54:00.003Z

When thinking of perforation and holes in canvas, i could look no further than Lucio Fontana. His Spatial Concept series dealt with a new age in painting, he wanted to eradicate the art of the easel and paint focusing on the space behind the canvas or paper - he got his ideals and ideas from the Dada movement, it was looked at as an effort to destroy art and move away from the usual techniques and ideals of art, which is just what im doing and want to do. I hate the idea of art being labeled as just painting, or just drawing, or this or that - art is what you make of it, it should make you feel a certain way and its special - it shouldnt be boxed up.

I really want to work with gold, have it be on a large or small scale - theres just something about gold that makes me want to explore it - even gold leaf or gold paint. I liked the idea of maybe gold leafing the frame of a canvas - like Fontana exploring beyond the canvas, the space behind it.

Its gonna be huge

xxx<3

1 million, Tom Ford and Tarantino

2010-01-14T16:44:00.002Z

There is something about numbers that intrigues me - especially a million. It kind of seems like its a number thats thrown about a lot these days, but when you think about it, its huggge. 1000 x 1000...ridiculous. What i want to do is make a canvas in the golden ratio and put 1 million different pin pricks in it for the million decimal places of √5. Now, if that sounds big then...yeah i worked it out that its going to be 2 x 3.236 meters....ambitious, yeah. Now im thinking of either just using canvas or even some sort of gold material, or even gold leaf - but then i realized that would probably cost £1,000,000 hah. Im going to experiment with smaller golden rectangles before i set off on the bigger one.

Another thing im well into is gold...i just love the idea of gold and everything about it really. It is well expensive, but it just looks so good - went out today and bought some more Tom Ford fragrance and - Tobacco Vanille. Not only is it the most beautiful thing i have ever smelled, but it has a solid gold top - its incredible. It did set me back £100, but still, its so worth it. On a side note, i got hit on by the guy at the Tom Ford counter....he said he liked my shirt and went to touch my chest until i moved away. Now, i knew i was irresistible to women, but i didnt know my powers stretched to men...hmmm.

Ive recently rediscovered the magic of Quentin Tarantino - he's an absolute genius - ive never made any sort of films, i wouldnt mind experimenting in this area. Ive always had the idea of making a short film about a Polish bus driver who wants to secretly a taxi driver...hmm, hah.

xxx<3

Turn of the decade, Golden Ratio and the Washington monument.

2010-01-03T16:21:00.003Z

Well, its 2010. The turn of the decade brought with it for me, a new look and new ideas. Before xmas and the turn of the new year, i was thinking of creating a new language or a new alphabet which would appear at first that you wouldnt understand, but if you took the time you could understand it - i was getting at the whole idea ive had from the start, that of things not always being as you first think, but if you look longer and hard enough you may see something different.

After the process of trying to create a new language/alphabet i wasnt sure if it was where i wanted to go - but it was during this time that i had another view on things.

Ive always been interested in the number 5, the 5 times table has always been my favorite, things just seem easier with the number 5 - i have no idea why. During the time i spent looking into hieroglyphs, i also read up on the creation of the pyramids and the golden ratio. The number 5 is the basis of the golden ratio (1+√ 5/2)this magic ratio of 1:1.618 which was the basis for the design of the pyramids, obelisks and even rumored to be the basis of the Washington Monument. Artists and Architects since the Renaissance have been using this ratio for the basis of paintings and buildings believing it to be aesthetically more pleasing - the most famous being Da Vinci's Last Supper.

The golden ratio and the √ 5 got me thinking - is this magical ratio aesthetically more pleasing? Is it the golden ratio that makes us compelled to like such paintings and architecture as the pyramids, The Last Supper and The Mona Lisa? It is this i want to explore - the use of the golden ratio on perception with want of culminating in a large scale project which shall be detailed at a later date.

This is going to be huge.

xxx<3

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

2009-12-22T14:29:00.012Z

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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Day 9 - "accidentally" pulled my splint off/looks like ive been beaten on

2009-12-17T18:54:00.003Z

oops. xxx<3

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Day 8 - Can just taste food/beer REJOICE!

2009-12-17T18:52:00.004Z

REJOICE! xxx<3

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Day 6 - Black eyes developing/cant taste beer.

2009-12-14T15:32:00.002Z

eurrrrgh xxx<3

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Day 4 - still cant taste food....

2009-12-13T12:32:00.003Z

I want to taste food again.... :(

xxx<3

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Day 3 - 24 hours after op.

2009-12-11T16:44:00.003Z

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

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Day 1 - 24 hours before Butterfly.

2009-12-09T13:39:00.004Z

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

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Lies, Flying Cobras and 80's discos.

2009-11-24T15:08:00.003Z

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

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Organic qualities, Egyptian paranoia and Fitzsimmons.

2009-11-18T15:20:00.007Z

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

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Arcimboldo, Original concepts and The holy spirit.

2009-11-17T11:05:00.007Z

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

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MgfBNd2e4us/ScpvAkK1hRI/AAAAAAAADG4/slOJmo_Mq4U/s400/faces+in+places.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_r110FQ2Gad4/SbaSI8HDoyI/AAAAAAAAAKM/kS3BEiU5s1s/s200/jesus_toast.jpg

Image i took myself in Greece 2008.

xxx<3

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Gabrielle, Time lapse and Open bodies of water.

2009-11-16T19:09:00.005Z

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

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Fallout 3, Scripture and Spring water.

2009-11-09T11:29:00.004Z

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

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Cillit Bang, Bicycle chain and Morphological analysis.

2009-11-07T15:41:00.006Z

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

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Eavesdropping, Egypt and Hazelnut Americanos.

2009-11-04T15:06:00.006Z

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

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

2009-11-03T11:45:00.002Z

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

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

xxx<3

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Wild Beasts, Affairs with windmills and Spanish drug lords

2009-11-03T11:30:00.004Z

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

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Straight Edges, Number Generators and Dolphins Wearing Lipstick

2009-10-29T16:55:00.004Z

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

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Rorschach, Davenport and Chance.

2009-10-28T11:02:00.008Z

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

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Colour Field, Ink Blots and Havana

2009-10-27T12:47:00.004Z

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

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Arabic Thinking, Da Vinci Code and Fantastic Mr Fox.

2009-10-26T16:38:00.005Z

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

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REM sleep, Eric Cantona and Quinine.

2009-10-21T16:32:00.007+01:00

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

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Choroid, Shift and Egyptian Pharaohs.

2009-10-20T19:14:00.008+01:00

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

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Phenobarbital, Batteries and brightly coloured paper.

2009-10-19T19:43:00.011+01:00

The world around may or may not be what we think it is. Who am I to say that the jeans I am wearing are blue? They could be black, but my mind tells me they are blue. The use of cameras and photography is not something that I find ideal nor like to use as reference as it ultimately a mechanical view of what I or anyone else sees. I like to think that the world around me is what I think it is, don't get me wrong. But i cant help but feel honed in and forced to believe this mechanical view that a camera produces, I think the world should be how you make it, and you cant really be told your view is wrong as no one will know what you see. I was told by a teacher in my high school that the world may not be all it seems, that maybe we could all be the dream of a 40 year old woman in a coma, and our actual reality is what we dream at night. At first glance most would seemingly brush this off and dismiss this, "I'm here, i know I am, I see my hands, my legs, I feel the wind on my face." But what if this is all a dream, we're not real, we are actually the figment of someone else's imagination.

"The Matrix is 1999 science fiction film, which describes a future in which a reality perceived by humans is actually the Matrix, created by sentient machines in order to pacify and subdue the human population while their bodies heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source."

Taken from Wikipedia about the 1999 cult film "The Matrix".

Could this be a depiction of our lives? Could we be being used as batteries to power machines? To be honest, I'm not sure if we will find out, unless Neo is real...However the concept is something i think could have some weight to it.

Recently i have been writing down my dreams (or the ones i remember) in hope to produce work from them in some way as dreams never seem to conform with reality, stretching to the realms of far fetched. I have decided to use food colouring as a way of staining cloth or canvas in a round about way making random markings and trying to find patterns or shapes amongst that (much like the train seats i saw). Using the dreams i remember and have written down i will select a colour that fits it best and use it to create my pattens, then afterwards trying to find shapes and objects i may have created. As reference i shall look at post WW2 Abstract Expressionist artists such as Clyfford Still as well as the creation of military camouflage.

xxx<3

Image from:- http://dc-mrg.english.ucsb.edu/WarnerTeach/E192/Images/MATRIX.jpg

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False Cobra, staring at clouds and Crème Brule.

2009-10-18T19:26:00.008+01:00

Camouflage is used as a way of concealing colouration as a way for objects or organisms to go undetected in its surrounding environment. The word camouflage is thought to have come from the French camouflet, which loosely translates as “Smoke blown in someone’s face.”

Camouflage and its uses can be broken down into 4 main types, Cryptic, Disruptive, Mimicry and Countershading. As mentioned in my blog I like the idea of finding shapes and patterns amongst large blocks of colour and shapes, much like Military camouflage.

Cryptic camouflage is the most common, where an animal has the same base tones as its surroundings. Take a Great White shark for example, they have a white under belly and a blue shade for the top half meaning they are difficult to spot from both above and below.

Disruptive camouflage, unlike Cryptic is not intended to blend into the environment but usually involves bright eye catching colours, which are used to try and conceal or mask dimensions or features about the camouflaged object.

Mimicry camouflage is a when a organism wishes to appear as something different to potential pray or threats. Examples include the Titan Arum, a plant with the worlds largest unbranched inflorescence, emits the smell of rotting meat to attract Carrion flies for pollination. Also the Hooded Malpolon snake or the “False Cobra” imitates a Cobra when threatened by flaring its neck and hissing.

Countershading, also called “Thayers Law”, is the use of normally light colours on normally dark areas, and the use of normally dark colours and light areas, this removes some of the visual cues towards depth perception and can make the object appear flat.

Creating some form of camouflage pattern have it be thought out or randomised, can un earth wonderful shapes and patterns, similar to watching clouds and seeing Europe, a dog, a light bulb. I think this is an area I want to look into, creating large blocks of colour similar to camouflage and bus seats to highlighting shapes I create. With the topic being under the theme of “Food” I think that using some form of food to stain cloth or canvas is where I shall begin.

Image from:- http://godshammer.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/snake-charmer.jpg

xxx<3

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Arabic numeracy, linguistics and telecommunications.

2009-10-14T18:59:00.005+01:00

Totally forgot that one of my friends does Arabic at Exeter University. I really like the idea of basing some of my project on foreign alphabets, as it's an area that fascinates me. Hopefully I'll be able to go see her soon and quiz her on the ins and outs of Arabic culture and linguistics.

In other news I finally got round to getting an eye test today and found out I'm long sighted in my right eye and I now have glasses. That isn't the interesting part, but what is, is that they took pictures of the back of my eyes and I could see my own blood vessels when they were shining the light in my eyes, it was rather spectacular seeing my own eyes without looking in a mirror. It was such a good experience as I'm really interested in the act of seeing, how eyes work and how everyones eyes are different, so it was a definite helping hand into gaining some sort of inside knowledge on this area of anatomy.

Hopefully I might be able to get some of the pictures they took and use them in my project some how.

xxx<3

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Scorpion doing front crawl

2009-10-12T20:50:00.010+01:00

On the train back from Leeds last night I witnessed the seats and they had some intresting patterns which one even looked like a Scorpion being forced to do front crawl. Alas I didn't take a picture of the actual seats, but i really like the idea of finding patterns amass blocks of colour and other patterns.

Other shapes i witnessed:-

Italy

Snake

Several Bats (winged animal with sonar)

Birds

Pomegranate

xxx<3

Image from:- http://www.busseats.co.uk/t20small.jpg

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King of Saudi Arabia, for a day.

2009-10-10T21:47:00.002+01:00

I don't know who the king of Saudi Arabia is or even if they have one but I rather like the idea of being him for a day, maybe 2. I think it would be great not being me for a day and being someone else (like the king (or not) of Saudi Arabia, a Dutch Prince, Prince, Andy Roddick, Barry Manilow, Charlie from the chocolate factory etc). I quite like the idea of being anonymous, keeping your identity an enigma, not divulging the secrets of your deepest thoughts or exploiting traits of your character, however letting what you know or do best do the talking, kind of like the 1967 experiment by Charles Goetzinger involving no more than university students, a bag and a theory.

xxx<3

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Another Universe

2009-10-05T19:08:00.002+01:00

"And you'll never be last one and you'll never be the first"

Lyric quoted from Golden Silvers song "Another Universe" off their debut 2009 album "True Romance".

It's more than fair to say that music is an influence on how i work.

Even though this lyric isn't about the struggles of modern art, i find it difficult sometimes to be the first when it comes to being creative. It always seems that someone else has had that idea before, or at least something similar. Thinking of something new and creative takes time and I definitely don't want to be the one who rushes things, I want my work to be the first.

xxx<3

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First Post

2009-10-02T12:46:00.003+01:00

I've always wondered what it is like to be someone else. What they see, what they think, and how ultimately you can never fully understand what other people see, or think about.

I've always wanted to know what animals think about, how they feel and what they dream about. Does an Eagle dream? How are those dreams? Beautiful? Melancholy? Drab? I don't think anyone will ever know, as only the Eagle can see the world through its eyes.

There is something beautiful i think about trying to see through an other ones eyes, trying to replicate what they see and envision. Regardless of how hard you try, ultimately what you are facing is the unachievable, the world can only be seen by you.

xxx<3

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