Butterfly Flutter By

This wasn't quite the order I did things in, but let's just pretend it was...

After I'd done some printing and stencil work with the butterfly shapes my tutor suggested it might be a good idea to add in some detailed drawings and patterns within the shapes of the butterflies. Not wanting, to get behind on my work and not knowing if I'd get the extension I'd applied for I decided to do some other timetabled work and then go back to this if I had time at the end.

I drew the first designs with sharpie marker pens and then added in a chalk outline to make the shape more obvious.

On the second page of designs, I used three different techniques. I had planned to do a detailed pencil drawing but the print was on the wrong paper for this, so the pencil didn't blend too well and I couldn't get it to a really dark tone as it was on pink sugar paper. I went over the pencil in black sharpie pen and ended up creating a silver colour, which was a pleasant surprise. In the second butterfly I drew a detailed design using a combination of black fineliner pen and black sharpie pen and in the last butterfly, I drew in some patterns with black marker pen and then added in some colour with sharpie pens.

Too Hot to Handle

I began my research work into fire with an experimental mixed media piece of art that included the materials of wax, wood, wallpaper, card and paint. Firstly, using one of my images from the original visual research to inspire me I drew a bonfire onto wallpaper which I'd stuck onto cardboard for support. Next I drew out the log areas and used a variety of wooden materials, such as matches and bamboo skewers I glued them down and built them up on the page to create a raised log effect. One of the more unusual things I've done in this project is using wax to create low relief surface texture on my painting. I melted candles on the saucepan and then poured and molded the wax into the desired flame shapes. Once this had dried I painted a fire over it using oil paints.

End Result

Whilst I'm really pleased with the outcome of this piece of work, it's really fragile and difficult to find somewhere to keep it as I'm scared it will break if I put it in my portfolio!!

First Ventures into Spray Painting

Following on from my previous post, I wanted to continue to incorporate the bird silhouette into my work, but wanted to explore it in an innovative and exploratory media, so seeing as I had never used spray paints they seemed apt. Furthermore, the fact that they are aerosols and therefore work my using air to release the paint, relates them to the element of air and my theme of the elements.

Using the bubblewrap from the previous activity, I printed the last bit of paint onto a blank page in my sketchbook in order to use the same shaped silhouette from printing as in my spray painting. To test the stencils I firstly used diluted paint and an old paint brush to flick it onto the page - I think this gives a similar effect to either blow paints (which I had originally planned to use) or messy spray painting.

Before removing the stencil

Result

The Stencil

Using some spray paint I had at home already I did a spray painting using the stencil next. The paint had nearly finished, but I think this gives the end result an interesting air like quality, in the way that the colour is slightly faded. 

Before removing the stencil

Result

The stencil

I really like how the stencil looks here before it is removed and after I have spray painted it as I think the black splatters on it from the previous piece of work give it more definition and make it art in its own right. My favourite of these 3 is how the stencil looks afterwards once it had been laid out on a white background as the red paint is very fine and air-like and the black splatters outline the birds well.

The last activity I did using this silhouette was a large A2 spray painting where I used new spray paints in colours of red, black and white and covered the page in birds. It turned out a bit messier than I would have liked, possibly because it was the first time I had spray painted properly and also possibly something to do with the fact that it was windy when I was doing it. I did each bird in red and black and then gave them all a shadow using the white and black spray paint.  I also used the stencil to create some prints, and again as art in its own right.

Bird Spray Painting

Bird Stencil (don't know how to rotate)

Stencil Used to Print