Painting:

These are some progress photos of my fluro paint and PVA glue skin. I am trialling different coloured paints eg. normal, fluro, and black and white to see which one I feel has the most imapct on the viewer and supports the materiality of the skins.
These works have been influenced heavily by Helen Calder's paint skins and how she is trying to expose the material qualities of the paint skins in relation to gravity and time. I am interested to   continue experimenting with these skins and how to present them in a way that will expose their materiality in a simple way.



Another decision that I want to make is whether to present the glossy side or the matt side.

                                                       

      

Untitled (25.5cm x 24cm)
PVA glue, fluro paint, copper wire




     Untitled (32cm x 44cm)
     PVA glue, fluro paint, copper wire



  
 Untitled (25cm x 25.5 cm)
 PVA glue, fluro paint, copper wire





Painting:

In my painting I have been working with paint skins of PVA glue and fluro paint. One idea was to make the skins into more of an object and show their flexibility using copper wire to mold them into a shape agans the wall. After atempting to do this In found that the copper wire was distracting to the true materiality of the paint and I felt that the copper wire over did it. I want to continue making paint skins as I am ver interested in their materiailty but I want to focus on being true to the materials and try presenting and exposing them in their simplest forms as to get a true sense of their characterisitics and strenghts.

Drawing:

After a meeting with Simon about my drawing practice I did some further research on an artist he mentioned named Jonathan Lasker. I am very interesting in the patterns and images that I am making to work over my chosen materials PVA glue and nylon.

Jonathan Lasker: Hidden Identity, oil on linen, 40.6 x 30.5cm, 2009

Good website on Jonathan Lasker:
http://www.speronewestwater.com/cgi-bin/iowa/artists/record.html?record=5

Essay: Jonathan Lasker: the dialectics of touch
http://www.speronewestwater.com/cgi-bin/iowa/articles/record.html?record=135

Quotes form this essay that I think will help me with my image making and where I may find inspiration for my image making. I am still unsure if I want to go by the process of looking at doodling or create images/doodles that reference objects, my surroundings, or things I am interested in.

"According to Lasker, this doodling creates 'a cat;s cradle of black lines, a little like knitting that's come unstitched'. 'It comes from the sketches which I make and from which the paintings are copied more or less verbatim. It's like frenetic drawing, subconscious doodling. I use it as a space-filler...I reference the subconscious doodling. I use it as a space-filler---I reference the subconscious in a very conscious way. I take something from the subconscious and reprocess it. I go from direct subconscious mark-making to graphic reproduction."

"Doodling is pleasurable: we do it in secret, for our indulgence. It is irresponsible, not loaded with spiritual or psychological expectations, unless we claim we are exercising the unconscious."


http://vimeo.com/2802249 - This is a youtube video of Lasker talking about his practice (most interesting after the first 2mins)

http://www.waikatomuseum.co.nz/news/pageid/2145846886

"THE GOOD THING ABOUT ART IS… IT’S GOOD TO TRY OUT THIS KIND OF EXPERIMENT BECAUSE IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT HAPPENS ,  IT’S NOT DANGEROUS, IT’S NOT LIFE,  IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT YOU CAN SWITCH IT OFF, OR RENT ANOTHER DVD. ART IS SOMETHING WE DELIBERATELY LET OURSELVES ENTER INTO BECAUSE WE KNOW WE CAN TAKE SOME MILD PSYCHIC RISK."

'ART TALKS TO YOU. 
ART CREATES CONVERSATIONS. 
ART ASKS YOU TO CONVERSE BEFORE YOU LEAVE TO RENT YOUR NEXT DVD.' 

In this document the artists that I am particularly interested in are: 

Helen Calder (paint skins and its materiality)

James Robinson (range of different media and accumulation of media)

Justine Walker (her approach to the work and her allowing chance to generate certain aspects of her work)

Shelley Norton (her use of line and materials to create a constructed form)

Katherine Day (allowing for the strengths of the material to show, showing the lightness and materiality of the plastic)

Deborah Erueti(three dimensional paintings, painterly marks and color based on everyday objects, opaque and transparent qualities,paint as a two sided surface)

Maree Wilson (questioning when a painting becomes a sculpture) 

Update on plan: (note home computer is not uploading photos so they will be up shortly)

Drawing:

Currently I have been making a number of small detailed drawinjgs using nilon and glue. I think that these works are looking successful in a series as they are really workign with my interest in mark making, pattern, repetition, and looking at the materiality of the PVA glue.

Possible ways to present my work:

1. Have them against a black background to higlight the texture and translucency of the PVA glue. I will either pin them against a black background on my wall, or have them on a black table and allow the viewer to touch them and interact witht the materials.
2. Present them in a pile next to a light box so the viewer can interact with them and place each one on the light box which will emphasise the materiality and translucency. (I may also try using the light box for some coloured glue shins that I made and etched dots around the natural lines that my hands made in the glue when spreading it around before it dried.

Painting:

1. I am still interested in the righthandedness idea and will continue to experiment with that idea and I plan to make a number of works this week to see whether I can go further with this idea or if my other ideas may have more potential.
2. I have also made a few works using paint and glue, creating layers and mixing colours then placing these paint/glue skins on the wall and working with them. One lecturer mentioned that I could try introducing copper or wire to the skins to play around and make them into more of an object. I really like this idea so I am going to experiment with it more this week to explore the flexibility of these paint glue skins and I also light how it highliths their materiality. I think this idea is abetter way to present the skins so that they are not just held flat against the wall with pins.

Drawing Progress Photos:

                                Untitled (16cm x 20cm)
                                Nilon strands embedded in PVA glue

Notes:

•  In this work I am starting to combine my interest in the materiality of PVA glue and its ability to hold other materials in it once it has dried, and repetitive mark making using strands of coloured nilon.
• I am intersted in how the repeated pieces of nilon create a structure embedded in the PVA glue and how each piece has an essence of process and a rythm to it.
• This nilon grid like structure may present the audience with a number of references and I am interested to see what these refernces might be as they could push this idea further, but my main interest lies in embedding things in the PVA glue. 

Plan:

(note: there is a very fine line between my drawing practice and my painting practice - I still need to experiment further with these new exciting ideas to allow myself to head down two successful paths.)

Drawing:

1. Focusing on where my interest lies - the materiality of the drying glue and how objects/materials can be embedded in it.
2. Mark making - finding a method of mark making that has more of a purpose to it than just repeated marks and scribble
3. Embedding nilon strips into the glue - cut them all the same length and incorporate my love of repetition - laying each piece out next to each other in rows where they will accumulate to make a cloak like pattern embedded in the glue.
4. try dry noodles - easy to break and hold their shape better than nilon..
5. Trying other materials such as dye, acrylic paint  - I have been mixing acrylic paint of different colours with glue and making small works on plastic smeared around by my hands. I then work over the top with another colour paint with my repeated mark making to show how colour can be embedded in the surface when it is still wet. When paintign over the wet glue surface I found that the singluar lines I was drawing were being linked together by the glue which attached to my brush. This gave the repeated pattern a sense of rhythm and showed the materiality of the glue before it dried

Painting:

1. Righthandedness! This is one idea that I have talked about witht he lecturer that I have taken a liking to as it links in with my love of print making and mark making
2. I have created some drawings that emphasise my right handedness and show how lines can be made in that certain positioning of the hand
3. The etches that I want to make will also need to emphasise my righthandedness as when I print them the images will be flipped.
4. I am considering placing the drawings and etchings above and below eachother to try and spark a conversation about the natural marks made by me a right handed artist and how print making can flip that image and create a mirror image.

Painting: