W6 - Textiles Week

I didn't know what to expect from Textiles, but it began well by focusing on drawing loosely, using drawing techniques like not looking at the page when drawing, drawing with your left hand, trying to memorise the object and drawing with your eyes closed. It was similar to the drawing exercises that we'd done before, but we had to place an emphasis one creating a good composition and looking at shapes and we got to draw from multiple still life objects on a table which was a nice change.

 We used materials like pastel, felt pen and graphite, which injected colour and different textures into the drawings.

As we were focusing on composition and shapes to extend on these themes we used viewfinders and looking through them at the still life items on the table, we drew 2 compositions, including negative space lines.

I quite liked using a viewfinder as it helped to isolate an area, making it easier to find a good composition. Including the negative space as well helped to fill the image out so that the composition didn't look empty.

The aim was to move onto large paintings that used similar loose working methods, but looked compositionally good. This included using a set colour scheme and a range of materials, like different coloured inks, pastels, felt pen and ink coloured emulsion paint. To test our colour scheme we tried out the materials on a page to see if they did work together. Below is my scheme.

I thought that this was a great idea as it took away the pressure of trying to get a good colour combination on the finished images as you could try it out here.

Then using these materials we did the same process of drawing still life objects using different loose methods, except to make the focus on shape and composition we had to move the paper around at points so lines merged and overlapped. I thought this was quite effective as it stopped forms becoming literal and by using different materials you could achieve different levels to the image. At first the composition wasn't working but we had to continually work on our 3 images, adding and sometimes taking sections away. Although the process was quite intense, fast paced and I wasn't convinced by my images to begin with, I think it showed how just working with an image can make it look good eventually.

Below are the images in progress and finished.

In progress

The finished image

On this image I really liked the use of bleach, which weakened the strength of the ink lines and how much the shapes and lines overlap to create interesting cross-sections, but it doesn't look too busy.

In progress

Finished image

On this image and the one below we stuck together envelopes to form a collage sheet to work on top of, which provided an interesting background and different patterns. For the image above I kept the design quite simple as I didn't want to over complicate it. I think this one of the biggest challenges - of knowing when to stop and when to keep working on an area as you could ruin it or make it better.

In progress

In progress

Finished image

This was my favourite of the images because of the overlapping blocks of colour and lines and the colour scheme of blue, orange, grey and yellow, which works in this balance really well, mixing warm and cold tones.

Although I found aspects of it difficult because the images required working loosely and later refining them, I did like how building the images up created a layered image with intersecting lines that meant the focus was on shapes, rather than the objects. This proved really useful for the textile strips that we made later in the week.

Before making those though we first tried mono printing. I'd never even heard of it before, but I loved the effect of it. It involved covering plates with oil based ink, thinly rolled out and placing your paper on top, before drawing your design into the back of the paper. The ink transfers onto the paper where you've pressed into it, giving you your printed design. This could be done multiple times on the same piece of paper using different coloured inks, like orange, red, blue, light grey and dark grey. It was quite easy to do, but the look the printing gave was great as it actually transferred the pressure and type of line that you created. It has quite a distinctive look as well, creating a stylised appearance that allows line prints as well as blocks of colour. 

For our prints we had to select shapes and composition from our bigger paintings, experimenting with the process to see what different effects we could achieve.

Below are my attempts.

I liked the blocks of colour, but not the sketchy style of the line as it looks a bit messy. There's a bit too much white space as well.

 

I liked the mix of strong block colour and line. I used collage pieces here as well, laying them between the paper and the plate so that when the red layer was added, I couldn't be sure where blank gaps would appear, which was quite exciting. Still a bit too much white space for me though.

Loved this effect of the red and orange colour scheme, as because of the block background it's really bold, but subtle with the line design.

As it worked well before I did another using the same colour scheme. The mottled effect was accidental, but it's really interesting, creating different layers to it. I tried using a rectangle plate as well so that the line design extends over the background, which I really like as it makes it more prominent.

I tried using the rectangle plate again, except at different angles, which makes the print more exciting. But I also tried the light grey ink, which I didn't like as the line drawing in it hardly shows up against the blue background.

I really like the solid block colour in this one as it's really bold. Plus the use of red creates another layer, but it doesn't overwhelm the original blue lines.

I loved just being able to investigate the process and find out what worked and what didn't. This left room for mistakes to happen, which often improved my work, and there wasn't any pressure to make them perfect. I really want to try mono printing again.

Next we moved onto making two A2 textile strips that combined everything that we had practiced so far with a new emphasis on using textile materials like thread, different types of stitching and fabric. We had to make the strips using compositions found on our bigger paintings that we had completed earlier in the week, still focusing on getting a good composition and on shapes, rather than literal objects. Except that they had to form a sort of pair, working together. Personally, I don't think that I accomplished this very well as mine look a bit too separate. I tried to make them similar through the colour scheme and use of materials/ stitch method, but I had two interesting compositions that I wanted to try out rather than focusing on one, so they do look quite different. Still I really enjoyed making them as as we had to work on them both at the same time, they gradually built up as we worked on them more and more. This was like before, where it took a while for the composition to look good and it took a lot of adding, but the effort was worth it as the strips have a lot of different layers and textures because of this method. Usually I'm not a fan of mixed media as well as I find it difficult to balance the 3D and 2D materials sometimes, but I liked adding and experimenting with the textiles. Especially the different types of stitch as because we didn't have a lot of time, we didn't have to be perfect or know how to stitch, we could do anything. Generally, I think that they turned out well.

I really liked how everything that we had learnt accumulated on Friday with the textile strips, so you could see how techniques, like the works themselves, can be built up. Although we'd already practiced the drawing exercises before in other weeks, I've still learnt a lot this week and found another way of working that mixes quick looses drawing technique, with a persistence to just keep working and perfecting a piece. 

I really enjoyed the homework this week as well which was to find 3 textile/ pattern artists' works and write about what we liked about their work. We could also do our own interpretation of their work, which I loved doing as the works that I chose were quite illustrative in their style, so I got to experiment with this in really fun ways. Below are the pages from my sketchbook containing my interpretations as well.

I loved creating my own character for the Donna Wilson interpretation as it was just fun to think of a distinctive vegetable and the feasibility of it having arms and a face and creating a personality for it. As well as making him slightly ugly and quite surly looking.