26/09/2012 Dolphinholme day two...

Day two was much more interesting for me. The found items that I collected the first day had dried out a little and I was able to use them to create a garment. Danielle (textiles teacher) had brought mannequins and fabrics with her so that we could get stuck straight in. I decided to create a dress based not only on the environment but country living as well. The fabric that I selected is typical of that used for a farmers topcap and was very appropriate for country theme. I experimented with the fabric, draping and tying it and had to figure out a way of attaching it all together. Noticing there were knitting needles I took them and tried piercing the fabric with them to keep it all together, surprisingly it worked well.
The dress I made was solely attached together with knitting needles and  rope.

25/09/2012 Dolphinholme...

Art...
We were sent off to collect plant and bits from the environment that we thought we could use to create work. The first pieces we did were ink and dye drawings using the items as our inspiration. We were supposed to be imaginative and not just do a straight forward drawing. Ive included the pictures of my work below...

 This was the first drawing I did, it was created using dye and bleach to try and draw the leaf I found below. Considering I never thought I would be a fine artist, I have done pretty well in my first attempt. I was quite proud of the effects that the bleach made. The bleach bled into the dye and created a unique look.

Another ink drawing. I don't consider this one to be as successful as the first but I uploaded it anyway. It is based upon many different plants and is a very abstract drawing.

Susi Bancroft - http://boostitch.wordpress.com

Susi Bancroft's work inspired me, she uses ink and water colours to create abstract drawings of flowers and leaves. Her work is very experimental and she just follows the outlines of the shapes.
This work is very similar to my drawing of a leaf, I have used dye in a similar way to how she has used watercolours.

Christine Alfery - http://christinealfery.com

Christine Alfery uses watercolours and blends them together using water to soften the edges. She has used water to wash away the colour in places, instead of using water I used bleach and it bled into the dyes, creating a washed away effect. The colours have been used in an effective way, she has used different shades of blue and purple that all compliment each other well. The oranges and reds that I have used were all created from the same dyes by mixing and diluting them to create different shades.

25/09/2012 Dolphinholme...

Day one at Dolphinholme..
A little intro with pictures..

 GOATS! The farm we went to had lots of goats and there was a petting zoo where you could go and see them (intended for children, but amused me). Nothing to do with art but couldnt resist these cuties.

 Yurt! We stayed in Yurts, which were a little rustic, but very sweet, this is one of the several love heart cut outs in the wood. It was a lovely place to stay for an art trip, if you ignored the cold September night!

 The Main part of the Yurt, main feature being the amazing wood burning stove which kept us all warm at night.

18/09/2012 Second day of pathways...

Whoops! Missed a date

Morning...
In the morning I tried out doing photography, we did light photographs in the dark, this is when you draw with lights. I tried some more experimental things and then had a go at actually drawing objects. I really enjoyed it, but havnt got the photos back yet and will post more when I receive these.

Afternoon...
Now this was my ideal, textiles. I really threw myself into this and didnt want to leave when it came to the end, I didnt get to finish my work and still have some work to do on it. I was allowed to delve into old magazine cuttings and template patters. There were some from the 1980's and different decades. I decided to create a collage using these found items and it was based on vintage fashion. I then added free stitching to highlight certain areas of the collage and used the machine as my drawing tool. I really enjoyed myself, I was in my element, and really want to finish what I have started. There are some pictures of my working progress below...

19/09/2012 Liverpool Trip...

College took us to Liverpool and we could choose what we wanted to go and see. There are many galleries in Liverpool and the art culture is huge. I chose to visit the Tate gallery on the docks, it has a wide variety of art (most of which is modern). I've been before and the previous time I went there were more floors open. This time two of the floors were closed off for 'special' exhibitions, which was a little disappointing.
The art displayed at the Tate wasn't of a particular interest to me, however, there was one display where images were in complete darkness and the only way you could see them was to use flash photography.

Later in the day I decided I wanted to look at the architecture in Liverpool. The ventilation building was stunning, there was so much thought that had gone into the design of a buildings thats main purpose was to ventilate the underground tunnel. It displayed many Art Deco features and I found it to be quite modern for its time. I am later going to attempt to use some of the shapes to create some inspirational pieces of my own.

12/09/2012 Blackburn Art Gallery

Today we visited the art gallery that sits on our doorstep. Our breif was to take inspiration and create a piece that reflected one or two items from the museum/gallery. These two items of Blackburn's history particularly interested me, they are about the working classes living in Blackburn during the cotton industry. Lancashire was a key hotspot for cotton mills and the working classes lives evolved around this. Not only did they eveolved around this but they evolved around beer and drinking. In the information at the museum it said Blackburn was considered the 'beeriest town in England'. Mrs Lewis' Temperance Mission tried to reduce drinking in the area with some success.

The second item I looked at was a machine from the mills in the area. I mixed the history of the working class in the area to create my interpretation shown in the picture below. I used free stitch and random fabrics to create this worn down look, with the wheel being the eye catching part of it.
The found fabrics reflect the conditions that the working class would live in, they are run down. The working class would use whatever they could find as they were living in a very poor way.

11/09/2012 Afternoon...

The afternoon pathway I took part in was Fine Art. It was daunting as I dont consider myself to be a wonderful drawer, and I thought fine art was just going to be drawing. We were presented with a selection of photographs which we had to overpaint, there were a selection of animal photographs that interested me and I decided to work with these. The idea of the afternoon was to create your own art by using someone else's and we were encouraged to use only rulers to paint with. It turned out to be a very fun and very messy afternoon and I was impressed at the way my pictures turned out.

 Elephant and Parrot

 This was my favourite that I made, I liked the texture created by using the ruler. The grass has a 3D effect and feels rough.

This shows the texture of the grass closer up. I used two colours of green and overlapped them to create this realistic effect.

Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter used animal based photographs of his own and then overpainted them to create 'new art' out of existing art. His image, in a similar way to mine, shows the animal with a feeling that they are becoming extinct. He hasnt used the paint in the same way that I have but his work relates well to mine.

If I tried this again, I could use images that I have taken and work into them instead.