Shelter work in progress

Ok, so it has been forever since I last posted anything on my blog. So long in fact, that blogger have changed the way you can do things - yay for that (oh but I seem to have lost the spell check)! I've been working on the above project for the past 4 weeks. No small amount of tears have been shed, not to mention all that blood from cutting myself on wire. I dread to think what people at the gym must think on seeing all these cuts on my hands!! The main aim of the project was to convey the idea of shelter being warm, safe and surrounding via a sculpture piece that invited viewers to be active participants. I had a few fellow students who were so cosy and warm they were reluctant to get out - so that must mean success at some level :). Secondary to this was the idea of an outer protective shell protecting an inner being, inspired by Henry Moore's Helmet Head series. So the aim now is to make the outer more shell like and hopefully take photos of people around Leith using the shelter - will see how that goes. I am hoping my sculpture will be in the Leith School of Art Christmas Exhibition on Thursday 17 December (evening private view), Friday 18 December and Saturday 19 December between 10am and 4pm if you're interested.

Brown box boat

Okay, brown box cardboard is not easy to work with (in my view anyway). Pablo Picasso obviously knew what he was doing when he made his cardboard Guitar, needless to say I think his use of cardboard in the piece was very smooth and sophisticated. It's strange, cardboard boxes look quite sturdy but when I started to rip them apart I found them quite fragile, easily rippable, breakable. Anyway, Day 1 was spent drawing a fry pan and a metal/machine like object (the latter Eduardo Paolozzi had found in Leith and donated to the school and I happened to pick off the table unknowingly - how cool is that!) with the aim of integrating them into one object. Day 2 was spent designing and making maquettes, and yes, my maquette did actually look like a fry pan, well, it also kind of looked like something between a sting ray and a craft ready to embark into outer space. Day 3 was "make it big" and as doing the "big sting ray" was not working so smoothly, I modified the design, flipping the base into more of a boat like shape. Somehow, I think I succeeded in making a sculpture akin to Noah's ark. Yes I confess, the likeness to Noah's ark was unintentional, all I can think is that I had been thinking about shelter all week and maybe those thoughts had worked their way subconsciously into the sculpture.

The Shore

On a windy Monday last week, class was spent out at the Shore gathering "information" on co-existence. The days that followed were used to push the ideas further through lino prints and collage (above). For some unknown reason, I was attracted to a set of handles bolted to old wood, overlooking the water. Perhaps it was the contrast of the smoothness of the handles to the rough, graininess of the wood, or these elements co-existing against the ever-changing surface of the water. Trying to capture the quality of the water was difficult to say the least. Sometimes the wind would lap elliptical shapes into it, sometimes peaklike, sometimes short little choppy strokes. We have this saying now in class about woody wood, peoply people, watery water or one of my favourites has been the bootiness of boots. I think I managed to capture the woodiness of the wood and hopefully the wateriness of the water. This week we are looking at Visual Communication further and it's doing my head in a bit. I think the subject I've chosen is a bit troublesome - I'm trying to tie the waxing and waning of a person's life with the crescendo/decrescendo of noise, so I will see how that goes.

Inside/outside

So I think I have finally learnt to do Friday projects on Friday, though because the time I finish is usually around midnight, the projects all seem to have a dark feel about them. The first two projects were spent looking inside my wardrobe, one in pencil (above) and the other in chalk pastels. I initially killed the pastel one by using a heavy blue outline so had to redo, but there is still this slight buzzing blue around it. This Friday, yes, you guessed it, was self-portrait time in the medium I think I find the most difficult to get to grips with, charcoal. I really should have done a head and shoulders shot as by midnight, I had this tiny little bit of charcoal and white chalk trying to figure out my face. I was trying to figure out what makes me, me - what is my distinctive characteristic. What makes the essence of who I am, externally and internally? The day before we were doing portraits of each other in class, and I thought I was getting to grips with capturing people's distinctive characteristics, but when it comes to me, poof. My dad thinks it's difficult because I can't see myself objectively, which makes sense. So any comments on what you think makes me me for future reference would be greatly helpful. I was reading the other day that when Lorenzo Ghiberti was making a sample of his work in order to gain a commission for the doors of San Giovanni, he continuously asked the townspeople and even foreigners what they thought of his

work, which apparently the other sculptors didn't. Vasari is of the view that the advice sought was the reason why Ghiberti executed a model which was very well worked out and without any defect whatsoever. So comments always welcome.

Summer project

Well, managed to finish the summer project (left) just in time for class on Monday. After doing my maquettes I felt I had no choice but to finally overcome my fear of bonding my fingers together and was finally free to discover the magic of superglue. Managed to get superglued to the sculpture only once, that was a bit freaky, but by some miracle managed to free myself with minimal damage. Exhibitions - went to the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art and the Dean Gallery on Monday. Favourite was the Eduardo Paolozzi sculptures (Scottish sculptor and artist born in Leith in 1924). They had a setup of what his studios would have looked like which was interesting. And, very happily, I found Paolozzi's Vulcan just as incredible and inspirational as the last time I saw it. I also realised this time that the Paolozzi sculpture out in the gardens is based on William Blake's print Newton which I had only seen for the first time this week. It was fun to know the art history I'd learnt in the morning had already paid off by the afternoon. Books - I'm currently reading Giorgio Vasari's The Lives of the Artists. Vasari is so animated and bubbling over with enthusiasm about his subjects I cannot help but wish I could have met the man in person and had a conversation with him. I almost wish I could skip ahead to the chapter on Michaelangelo, but I am trying to be a good girl and and read the book in order.

St Anthony's Chapel

Finally, a subject for my summer art project. More than an ornament but perhaps arguably less than a monument as it's in ruins, I'm thinking I may just be able to squeeze St Anthony's Chapel in Edinburgh into the object category. Overlooking the Firth of Forth, it is certainly a gorgeous spot to sketch on a beautiful summer's day. I found a brief description of the Chapel at http://members.fortunecity.com/gillonj/stanthonyschapel/ as follows: "The picturesque ruin of St Anthony's Chapel stands on a flat outcrop of rock, overlooking St Margaret's Loch, on the northern side of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. The Chapel was originally a simple slate-capped building with a 40 foot high tower, and appears in a view of the city as early as 1544. It remains an enigma, however, for neither the date of its construction nor its purpose is known. There is a clear view of the Chapel from Leith and the Firth of Forth, and it is possible that a light was hung in the tower to guide ships so that they could acknowledge the Saint. There was almost certainly a connection between the Chapel and the Knights Hospitallers of St Anthony in Leith. St Anthony was born in 250AD and founded the first monastery in history. His relics were associated with cures for the painful skin disease, erysipelas, which was known as St Anthony's Fire. This disease was a serious problem in Edinburgh in the 15th century and a hospital was established in Leith in 1430 for its treatment. Another tradition says that the Chapel was founded for reasons connected with St Anthony's Well, a spring which rises on the slopes immediately below the Chapel."

Globular masses

At the moment I'm reading a book called Sculpture since 1945 by Andrew Causey. Excellent so far if you ever get the chance to read it. Inspired by Otto Piene's Fire Flower Power and my school's Lunar and Solar theme, I was trying to capture this afternoon some aspects of his flower power machine and the light that it created on the walls. I think I am quite, what's the word, intrigued/absorbed/enamoured by these globular masses that we call the sun and moon. The roundness of them, the weightiness of them. I need to start my summer project soon and it would be good in some way if I could find an object near my house that I could somehow base a spherical sculpture on. Not that that's the right way to go about it perhaps. Hoping to see the Spain Goya to Picasso exhibition at the National Gallery tomorrow. I've found it interesting that Picasso was a bit of a sculptor. I hadn't realised that before, only really being aware of his cubist paintings.

Pushing

Life has been a bit hectic lately, so I haven't done or read as much as I would have liked to as far as art goes. I've been told to push my work further, so in the bottom sketches I started with a blue ink drawing and then pushed it further into a colour study. I still have further ideas on what to do next (in process) but interestingly enough, I seem to be pushed for time. Last week I visited the the Isle of Iona. A tiny but beautiful place. It goes without saying that I saw the Iona Abbey while there. The Abbey Cloisters had some amazing carvings, particularly the above, which I found out today were done by Scottish sculptor, Chris Hall. - http://www.chrishallsculptures.co.uk/index.htm. I was also struck with the care and beauty of the carvings/stonework on some of the tomb lids that have been placed in a building in the Abbey complex (am assuming to protect them from the elements). There are a couple in particular that I don't think I'll forget.

Light/Dark

I've been getting back into the swing of art classes since coming back. Had a great time a couple of weeks back working with oil bar and pencil . The picture on the left is a bit awry but I was told that was part of its charm. As far as exhibitions go, I recently went to the Joseph Turner exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland. Joseph Turner loved Italy and by the look of his work he loved the Italian sun! What I liked most about his work is how the light is pre-eminent, so much so, that one of his Venetian paintings is so bright that the buildings are barely visible. The painting on the right here is Venice: Shipping Moored off the Riva delgi Schiavoni, which I like because of the strong light/dark contrast. Another exhibition I went to recently was David Martin at the The Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh, which was based on his travels in Ethiopia. His work was so vivid, rich with texture and I think done with great skill and energy. I was insanely jealous because he is only a few years older than me!

Rocks at Yass

Inspired by my brother-in-law's lino prints of Japanese style mountains, I travelled the Yass country side with my sister for landscapes I could sketch and then convert into lino cuts. Well, perhaps not travelled so greatly. We only needed to head out to the local watering hole for this rock inspired lino cut and out onto the road to Wee Jasper for some amazing rolling hills, winding roads and tree dotted landscapes. Lino cuts of which I am still to cut.

Last day term 2

And so ended term 2. Looking back over my blog, I think that these are a definite improvement on last term. I think I'm starting to get the drift of flesh tones and how colour is traced through a work to move a person's eye in and through the work. If only my camera could capture the images a bit better, or should I be truthful and say that if only my hands could be steady, I could stop the blur! Off to Oz tomorrow. Unpacked and pretty much unprepared, but by some miracle hopefully all will sort itself out by the time the plane is ready to leave. Looking forward to seeing my wonderful family and Oz friends, together with lots of opportunities to get my visual diary happening once more. Adios Scottish amigos, or should that be au revoir?

Self-portraits

I am currently reading a fascinating book by Frances Borzello titled Seeing Ourselves women's self-portraits. I am only up to the 17th century section but have been utterly inspired already. From women in the 12th century who copied, wrote and illustrated manuscrips and put their own portrait into letters of the alphabet, to Sofonisba Anguissola in the 16th century who depicted herself in self portraits with amazing skill and wit from the age of 12 or so to old age, to Clara Peeters who in the 17th century put distorted reflections of herself at work in the shiny surface of the bowls and jugs in her still-lifes. I was inspired by this and painted a still-life the other day with the aim of putting my reflection in the surface, but got so absorbed, completely forgot to try. Next time! I also really like the self-portrait by Judith Lyester left. Apparently it may have an intellectual programme i.e. the artist is allying herself with the intellectual ideas of her age about the equality of painting to poetry. The author states that Artists claimed that if poetry is a speaking image then painting should be equally respected as mute poetry. The more I get into art, the more I am thinking this may be true. The books also has Self-portrait as 'La Pittura' by Artemisa Gentileschi, the original which I got to see at The Queen's Gallery The Art of Italy The Baroque last week so that was very cool.

Mono prints

Back to class this week. Had a great time with mono prints - rolling ink onto aluminium plates, and tracing onto paper with pastels, pencils and charcoal and then pulling off the paper to see what lay underneath. Sometimes disappointment due to too much ink or not enough, othertimes pleasant surprise at what was revealed. I found myself at one time, for the first time perhaps, lost in the enjoyment of tracing the face of the model and not worrying about the end outcome. This print was done using pastels to trace and I had some comments that it looked like Spring, which was cool.