Sketchbook Development

Hi there friends.

As promised some of my sketchbook experiments that I've been working on over the past weeks.
I have really enjoyed working on this project as I've known from the start which textural experiments I wanted to revisit.  It's now slowly starting to take form in my head about which one's I want to take further and how I want the overall piece/s to look.  I have spent the entire Easter holidays working towards a final decision and I'm pleased that I'm on the right course to what I hopefully will be my best piece of work to date.  Anyway see what you think.  I will add more images over the following weeks so that you can see my projects' progression.

Always good to have your title on the first page; something to refer back to especially if you use it for a mind map too.  I like to prepare my pages with white emulsion paint and then watercolour as it gives some lovely effects, which can be seen throughout this post.  For the main title Sense of Place I used pen and wash to add a sense of looseness.

The image above and below are close-ups of the title page.  You can just make out my mind map ideas.  I find it useful using this method, because if I feel I am losing direction, I can always refer back to it. 

Below I have found some useful ephemera whilst researching for my Final Major Project featuring Castlefield.










Here I've used old train timetables and train tickets, that I may use for further experimentation.  Also whilst researching various layering techniques I have devised a way of incorporating the squares and rectangles from the timetables.  I aim to layer the canvas/s using a variety of textured papers in rectangular and square shapes, which I'll then paint over before image transferring my own images and intaglio prints.  I may use dots to outline a few of these shapes, connecting them to my ephemera and the relationships with the past and the present.   Castlefield was home to the first passenger railway and I may use photographs of Knott Hill Station in my work to keep a connection that people will be able to relate to.                                                              

I want to use the date 1761 because this was the date the the 1st Duke of Bridgewater officially opened the first canal.  This was linked to the River Irwell making it easier for him to transport his goods to what was to become the Industrial heart of Manchester.  I think it will fit well with my project.  What do you think?  Also the number 64 for me is significant as there were 64 turntables from the canal into warehouses along Liverpool Road, which could have originally been part of Castlefield or at least it's close by.  To me this connects Castlefield to the present and also reminds people of where their roots have come from.

To prepare these pages I've used white and sunflower emulsion paint, with a light green watercolour wash over the top.  Again in keeping with some of the themes running through my work I've used the yellow emulsion to loosely represent straight lines crossing over on the timetable structure.

This page represents old maps of Manchester and the Bridgewater Canal.  I used pen and wash to do a rough sketch.

I wanted to use various papers and material, such as scrim to see how the paint picked up the textures.  I particularly like the paper that I've screwed up and the prepared art shop bought paper as this gives the best results.  Not sure these are my best examples but I wanted to give you an idea of what I'm thinking of using an where I'm going.

The page opposite is an experiment with 'frottage' a technique of using oil pastels rubbed over a textured surface, (in this case wood chip wall paper) over and under layers of tissue paper.  I deliberately used the tissue in straight cross-over lines to loosely represent the train timetables and also to vary the tones of the tissue.  I think this is an effective technique, possibly best used on paper and not on canvas unless you are not thinking of painting over the top, so this is possibly not going to feature in future work.

Left and below are a coupe of photo montages I developed with a view to sketching some abstract images that I can transfer onto Intaglio card, ready for printing.  I have had a lot of success with  abstracts from this method of working in past projects, so I knew I wanted to revisit this again.  Watch this space as I will upload these soon.

Left and below are images of my experimentation with a limited colour palette.  I am first and foremost a colourist, but sometimes I like to use a limited colour palette, especially within a city setting, as colours can often be restricted (apart from advertising) dependent on the colour of brick or stone used to construct the buildings.  Victorian brick is a lovely red, so I knew from the outset that I wanted to use earth colours. 
Because I love nature ( wanted to add some greens to my work to see if this would work out.  Manchester has spent millions since the 80's  transforming the city, turning old
dilapidated mills into sort after luxury apartments, that have small oasis's of green gardens and benches for people to relax on.  This transformation of what started out as an industrial busy place, to a derelict area and now into pleasant surroundings was the impetus for my idea for this project.

I particularly like certain colours, such as the burnt sienna, as it naturally granulates when applied to the paper. For this palette I used acrylic, watercolour and gouache paint, so that I would have a balance of mediums.  On one page I painted straight onto virgin paper and the other I panted my palette over white emulsion paint, as I wanted to compare the results.  I got some interesting effects on the prepared page as can be seen in the middle image.

I like the way the gouache and watercolour repels off the emulsion paint forming interesting patterns.

Above left is watercolour and the right is gouache, both with rock salt.  I'm not sure if I will use this technique, but I wanted to try it as I've not had much success in the past.  I think you will agree that it has been successful this time round.

Opposite is a wax resist and watercolour wash experiment.  I think it's fairly effected, but perhaps a little too pale.  Below is another sample where I've applied a slightly stronger wash of burnt sienna.  This shows the wax resist well.  I used a cold wax candle to draw arch shapes over the page.  I want to include a pattern of abstract arches possibly as a background into my work, to link the bridges of Castlefield.

Below I've used a stronger was than above.  I like how the paint settles on the wax and think it makes an interesting effect, which I could use again further into my wok.

On the image to the left I've prepared the page with yellow ochre, then added wax after it was dry.  I then applied black ink.  This experiment wasn't too successful, so below are a further two experiments that turned out just right and look effective.  I may use this technique again.  I have used irregular squares and rectangles from the inspiration of the timetables for this.

Opposite is a wash of burnt sienna with cold wax and oil pastel.  I may need to experiment further.

On these two images the ink has blotted out most of the paint effect, which was deliberate.  I wanted highlight the paint through the wax. To the left image I further added some watercolour undiluted and I think it adds to the effect.

I'm not too sure of these two images.  the left is on paper cold wax and ink and the right is cold wax on cotton with black ink.  I quite like the ghostly effect of the second one.  It reminds me of the smog filled Industrial Manchester.

The left image is cold wax and acrylic burnt sienna on black card.  I don't think I'll be using this again, but it's good to experiment to find out what will work and what won't or what you don't want to use.

 

Above I've used the same technique on scrim, but the effect is too vague for what I want.

This image is burnt sienna acrylic that has been treated with cling film to create a textured effect.  I want to try it again using thicker paint, to get a more defined look that I may use again.

Sgraffito on black card using  the handle of a paint brush.  I think the paint should be thicker and a wider instrument used for a better effect, although it is possible to see what I've done.






Below is large bubble wrap over burnt sienna acrylic held down by a large book to create a textured effect.  It is a bit hit and miss in parts, but I think this adds to the effect.  I may use it again.

My images have been altered on Photoshop into stamp images that resemble lithograph prints.  I particularly like this effect and want to use some of my images on my final pieces after I've done some more experiments with them, using some pale washes or tints before I image transfer them for example.

I love the image above as I feel it is timeless.  It's almost impossible to see 21st century influences.  I will definitely be using this image as part of my mixed media piece/s.  Since I took these photographs I've been back to Castlefield to take some more.  It was bright and sunny when I returned and was a complete contrast to the one when I took theses.  I know I've got a wide range of images to choose from when deciding which ones I will use on my final piece/s that I'm confident will reflect my sub theme of 'relationship with the environment'.   

I split the image above to show how easily it could look in a by gone age, even though at the height of the Industrial Revolution there would have been barges, produce and the busy bustle of many workers would have shown a truer image.

Opposite is more textured experiments with brown screwed up paper and acrylic and emulsion paint.  I will probably use this method again.




Below is a series of my images that I've altered on Photoshop.  I want to age some of my images and have tried several ways of doing so.  On the first on (top left) I used photo filter, but I haven't got the level quite right, so will need to try again.  It's a little too red, instead of sepia.  To the right I have desaturated the image then used box blur, which again I'm not too sure about either.  I do believe that it is good to show experiments that haven't worked out as you had planned to show how you've developed your ideas.  Bottom left has been desaturated and then colour balanced.  Again it didn't turn out as expected, but that's part of the fun of trying different techniques.   The centre image has been desaturated.  I then googled how to make an image look ghosted, so that it will look older.  Following the simple instructions I used motion blur.    To achieve this look I altered the settings to 30 pixels, which is too much, so I've done another one to 20 pixels, which I'm also putting in my Reflective Journal as I couldn't upload the image on here.  It looks more like the effect I was after.  I tried the same effect on the image on the right and although it looks older 30 pixels is too much on this image too.  Again this image will be in my RJ.

Above is my first attempt for this project of an image transfer onto canvas.  I prepared the canvas first with a very light wash of burnt sienna and raw umber acrylic to achieve a tinted look.  Unfortunately it is hard to see on this image because of the flash when taking the photograph.

The small canvas below has had a variety of textured and smooth paper, cut into rectangles and squares and will be covered with acrylic paints.  I like how it looks like this in it's raw state as an abstract piece and it has given me food for thought for future project, but I'm not going to let it distract me from my main objective.  I will also use the results from this small prototype to do a large one that I can add some images to, to see how it works.  I will post those results in the near future.   

Right that's it for now.  Keep looking for more updates in the near future.