Photography.

To create a joiner photograph you firstly get a model you wish to use. You then pick a location whether it be in a studio or on location. You take a separate photograph of each section of the body, making sure they are all roughly the same composition and taking more than one of the same section so you can then later choose which photographs work better. When you have a good range of photos you then use the programme Photoshop to manipulate and join the photos together.

Kevin Meredith is a British photographer that uses this method in his work.

This is an example of Kevin Merdith's work.

Rene Magritte.

Rene Magritte was born in 1898 in Lessines. Some of his earliest paintings from roughly 1915 were very impressionistic style. His paintings from 1918-1924 were more influenced by Futurism and occasionally Cubism. He created his first surreal oil painting, 'The Lost Jockey' in 1927. When he was a child his mother committed suicide by drowning herself in a river, and when her body was found her dress was supposedly covering her face. This image has been suggested as the source of many of his paintings between 1927 and 1928 of people with cloth disguising their face, such as in the piece 'Les Amants'. During World War 2 he was living in Brussels. For a short time he used a painterly style known as his 'Renoir Period', and this was a reaction to his emotions of abandonment that came with living in Germany when it was occupied by Belgium. During 1947-1948 he went through a period painting very provocative images. He became involved in the production of fake painting during the postwar period and this is how he supported himself at this time. At the end of 1948 he went back to his style of his prewar surrealistic art. In his work he uses ordinary objects but places them in an unusual composition such as in his piece 'The Listening Room' he places an apple in a room but enlarges it so it is the size of the room itself. Also in his piece 'Golconda' he places males in suits floating around houses. His constant use mash up of reality and illusion is known to have come from his mothers death reflecting his shifting from what he wishes which is his mother to be alive, to what he knows which is his mother is dead.

This is his piece 'Golconda'.

This is his piece 'The Listening Room'

This is his piece 'The False Mirror'

Ben Heine.

Ben Heine born in 1983 is a Belgian artist. He has produced many pieces of artwork and some of his best known pieces are 'Pencil Vs Camera', 'Digital Circlism and 'Flesh and Acrylic'. He is interested in a variety of art movements such as Surrealism, Pop Art, Geometric Abstraction, Expressionism and Social Realism. He has exhibited his work in many countries such as; South Korea, UK, Brazil, Romania, The Netherlands, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, US and Turkey.

'Pencil Vs Camera was invented by Ben himself. It is his trademark and one of the most creative art concepts which has influenced many other artists. The style combines drawing and photography in a unique and unusual way. You can always see his hand in his pieces because it represents the connection between the viewer, artist and the piece itself. His pieces he tells a story using imagination, illusion, poetry and Surrealism.

'Flesh and Acrylic' was a project started in 2011. In this he creates abstract paintings on wooden panels using acrylic paint. He then uses a living model to blend into the background by painting them as well, he does this because he wants the model to become invisible. The unusual fact about this project is that a living person is incorporated into the piece itself and becomes part of the composition, this makes it more intriguing to look at because it almost becomes and illusion.

'Digital Circlism' was a project started in 2010. With this project he created portraits of celebrities digitally using only circles. The style of the pieces take elements from the art styles of Pop Art and Pointillism. He recreates iconic faces from history and pop culture with circles in a range of colours and sizes which gives them a 3D look.

This is an example of one of the pieces from his 'Pencil Vs Camera' series.

This is an example of one of the pieces from his 'Flesh and Acrylic' series.

This is an example of one of the pieces from his 'Digital Circlism' series.

The pieces of his work that most interest me are his photography and illustration pieces because he makes his own interpretations and stories from the photographs he uses. This adds interest to the piece and may lead to the viewer having to look twice as the subject of the illustration of the piece is unexpected. Ben Heine has influenced my own multi-disciplinary outcome because I have used the same technique using my own photograph and illustration. I have used a different style of photograph because I have used a portrait of an animal whereas Heine usually used landscapes in his pieces, however I have still used the idea of imagery you would not normally see together which is linked to the theme of exquisite corpse.

 

Oil painting.

When creating a detailed oil painting it is important to plan it out properly for reasons such as; it makes it easier, you have to give time as oil takes a while to dry, it will save unnecessary work, it will help cut down on mistakes and the correct layering will add depth. Creating a ground is the first step to the painting, this helps cut out a lot of work as it gives you an all over mid tone to work from, it will also help bring all the colours together. With oil paintings you have to work from dark to light and pure whites are saved until last so they stand out. I had to create an oil painting from observation.

This shows my piece with the ground of green painted on, also the branch and the darkest areas of shade on the squirrel.

This is my piece when I had added the rest of the tone and detail. As you can see the colours blend together quite well to create shading and it also gives the piece texture. I am happy with the overall outcome of my piece however I believe I could have blended in the lighter areas more.

3D work.

We were asked to create a 3D model of part of our chosen animal. To create this I used earthenware clay. I started off with a ball and moulded it to the accurate shape of the birds head. To create the beak I had to use a separate piece of clay and attach it on. I then used modelling tools to create the texture.

My piece relates to the work of Nicola Hicks. Nicola Hicks is an English sculptor born in 1960, London. The subject of her pieces are primarily animals and she usually sculpts them in straw or plaster. As well as sculptures she creates large scale drawings using charcoal on big pieces of brown paper. My work is similar to her work as I created the drawings of the animal first and then developed these drawings into larger scale clay sculptures.

These are examples of Nicola Hicks's work. As you can see on the left is an example of her large scale drawings and the image beneath shows an example of one of her sculptures.



























Wire and String foot:

To create this I had to work from observation and create an accurate representation of the birds foot. To create it I first made the basic shape out of wire. I then built this up using string to add texture and make it look thicker. I used wax on the ends to represent the smooth texture of the claws.

Hot textiles.

There are many different techniques you can use to create hot textiles such as;

• Heat moulding.
• Melting.
• Shibori.
• Painted bondaweb.
• Dyeing.
• Stich.

The materials that can be used to create hot textile samples are; tyvek, lutradur, plastics, fusible film, bondaweb, fabric, foil, organza, paint, disperse dyes, threads and kunin felt.


These are my examples of using hot textiles and using a range of techniques and materials.

 

The health and safety to consider when using hot textiles are;

• Work in a well ventilated room.
• Hold heat gun 25mm away from materials.
• When distressing materials using a heat gun make sure you work on a till of piece of glass.
• Keep hands away from materials when using the heat gun.                                                   
• Use a metal tool to hold the material when working with the heat gun.                                   
• Take care when using hot irons.                                                                                                
• When distressing material use an iron, make sure the material is placed between two sheets of parchment paper.
• Let materials cool before handling.                                                                                          

Wrapping and Coiling.

Coiling is an established basketry process in which the material forms the foundation is stitched together with a flexible element called a binder. Coiling strengthens the fabric so it can be twisted and manipulated to produce 3D forms.

Wrapping fabric with thread:

• Cut a length of fabric.
• Choose a thread that is not too fine.
• Lay about 30mm of the wrapping thread along the end of the fabric and begin wrapping it firmly over the fabric.
• To finish off tie the end of the wrapping thread to secure.

There are different methods when wrapping such as:

• Thread beads on to the wrapping thread before starting to wrap.
• Place beads at the intervals as you wrap the fabric.
• Wrap fabric with fine coloured wire.
• Wrap with a contrast thread.
• Wrap several times to blend colour.
• As you wrap include bands of contrasting or textured fabrics.

Coiling as a method of construction is simple. Wrapped lengths are bound together in a continuous coil, starting at the base.

Monoprinting.

Monoprinting is a form of printing that you can only create once. There are three different types of monoprints; positive/additive, reductive/subtractive and painterly. With a positive monoprint ink is rolled onto a plastic sheet, paper is then placed on top of the ink. A drawing tool is then used to apply pressure which transfers the ink onto the opposite side of the paper. With a reductive monoprint the plate is covered entirely with ink and then worked into removing the ink partially or wholly using different tools such as; brushes, toothpicks, cotton buds, foam, fingers and many other tools. When the desired image is finished the plate is then run through a printing press with a dampened piece of paper. To create a painterly print ink is directly applied to the plate using paintbrushes, fingers and rags. A sheet of paper is then placed on the top of the ink and it is either put through a press or a roller is used to transfer the image.

This is an example of a reductive monoprint from the artist Val McCann.

This is an example of a painterly print from the artist Cori Solomon.

This is an example of a positive monoprint from the artist Philippa Randles.