Trials and Tribulations

So far this year I have thoroughly enjoyed my practice as it has been more hands on allowing me to be more creative and less restricted.

However by making my practice more hands on I leave myself subject to new challenges which I have not experienced before that I now need to overcome and perfect.

My first challenge has been that of the casts:

Latex: uneven layer and not allowing latex to dry between layers creates a very poor mould. However I have found that by using a cold room the latex drys as you apply meaning you have more control over application! 

Alginate: now I am trying to use the alginate to create a finished piece as opposed to using it for just a mould means I now have to perfect the mix! As I have found it extremely hard to create a smooth mix with no lumps. Lumps for me mean that when my cast drys the lumps start to show!! Again I have foun my mixing it little bit at a time I have more control over the lumps. Also creating a watery mix means I can slowly add more alginate an mix as I go along.

Dodecahedrons: blimey beautiful shape, impossible to get right! The smallest error in creating these shapes results in 12 pieces of pointless materials! Lazer cutting has helped significantly as it allows me to create a perfect shape. Perfect if I get the data import correct, which I have now found rhino to be helpful! 

On a personal level my biggest challenge, has been to stop thinking about a "final peice" as a student you're always pushed to a finished product, exam or project! Learning to loosen myself up and to not think in this way has been hard but my tutorials with Craig have been invaluable! 

Ged Quinn: Raw notes from exhibition

GED Quinn: 1. cakes painted as sculptures, change context of cake a a food but more of a sculptural form.  

Bunker archaeology, 17 years later, indifferent and far from home. 

2. Looks initially as a contemporary still life then you notice the hidden abstract pattern in left hand corner and random flower like object in the middle! Dark but beautiful looks like illustration has escaped from the book!

What's so funny about peace love and understanding. 

I like to know what I'm being shown!! Stunning, almost like a conventional painting if flowers then you are struck my photo like image in the middle, plays on title as you don't know why you are being shown! Modern vs abstract vs traditional painting methods! Faces ghostlike like a memory forgotten! Haunting the painting.

Felix culpa: again abstract vs traditional portrait! Old vs new, history vs present! 

To burn the fleece of a grazing cloud:  at first struck by size, then by the sheer talent almost looks like a constable painting! Then you are drawn to all the beautiful abstract elements and details. Like a Dali you don't know if your in the artists dreams or visions!? Symbols you can't quite explain but feel like you understand! Religious imagery striking and playful. 

What the lark said (death and the maiden) plays with perspective and layout: aspects of composition not possible (illusions)! Bird "hoho" humour: making a joke of death?! 

On making the heart of the forest: beautiful! God: female: creator: artist! 

The book of two ways : see photos 

Ouranophobia! 

Mind to matter

Doll long my interest if the mind and looking at myself I have decided to do a cast of my own face... Not only does this create an exact replicer of me, the process also encaptulates the sensations I feel when suffering with depression:

Trapped, suffocated, blind, voiceless, cold, I felt underwater but able to breathe: drowning but still alive, hidden from reality, strangely calm amongst the chaos, frustrated at not being able to communicate with outside world.