Paint elective.

The first of the electives and at the time thought we were dropped in at the deep end. I was looking forward to trying paint as I haven't painted much before apart from one or two pieces and whatever I did for my portfolio. I went into it with an open mind and wanted to work hard at it to see what would come of it. Straight away it was into continuous painting and it was a little difficult at first to get used to standing at the easel for long periods, much lying on the ground was done come the evening in the college.

We were told to bring in items for an installation that we were to paint and groups were split up for the life painting sessions. The 2 weeks in this electives were enjoyable and the work was pretty full on but everyone's in the same boat so you get on with it.  Building the installation at the start was nearly as enjoyable as the painting, sorry painting you're just not my thing.

Definitely some interesting construction going on in these pics. Interesting, yes, paintable, not so much, a challenge. Everyone had some very interesting compositions for this piece. 

This was the composition I chose to begin with.

I love the colours in this shot. 

I like the pink glass, that's about it.

Ha! Where's her neck? Oops. She has a lego head.

Chalk pastel and charcoal.

i was happy with the way this piece turned out. I like the orange.

A Lucian Freud reproduction for the brief.

It was a really quick two weeks and I did more painting in that time than I've done before. It was good in the way that you had no time to think about it really you just had to paint and it meant there was no time for over analysing what you were painting which made me paint more freely. 

Me and the blog together again.

Back to journaling, blogging and generally catching up on the neglect that is this site. That was a pretty manic 6 weeks of work and happy out that it's come to a successful enough conclusion. I hope I can do the last few weeks justice in the next few posts, many photos to upload and weird stuff to explain and a few videos too. I probably should have kept this updated during those 5 or 6 hours at night I like to call sleep,  but you have to snooze sometime. There's not enough hours in the day sometimes.

WirecaseFlowerFace deservedly under a cloud.

This was an early piece of work in the project when I was toying with the idea of an animation. This is as far as that idea went until this simple illustration below. 

CubeHead Xbox from a cardboard box

He looks like quite the lazy character

The different colour combinations give CubeHead slightly different personality possibilities

Again, another character ready and willing to give his body to advertising space.

I always saw this scene as an outdoor sitting room of sorts. All this cardboard box is missing is some cardboard cushions and it's the perfect couch for the outdoor dwelling character. There's greenery and the remnants of previous indulgence. 

He may live on the streets but CubeHead still has a celtic tiger hangover, though the tv is far from flatscreen. 

I like to see the results from saturation and hue changes because they give the image a different feel with each change and the background content changes work nicely. 

Flower Seller Bill

This guy's got a certain moxy, he'll buy and sell anything, if the price is right.

He'll even use his very own body to advertise, he has plenty of space for logos and a willingness to sell out.

Bill is, in his own words, "corporate ready".

Like many at the moment Bill finds it hard trading in the current economic climate, " Like, look at all of this shit, nobody wants this now, they just don't have the money to waste anymore. I'm stuck with this lot now." 

Wistful WirecaseFlowerface Illustration

Wirecase with a look of regretful longing.
 

WirecaseFlowerFace

Wirecasing found in most buildings and offices.  There's a look of longing in those eyes, longing to be elsewhere I would imagine, away from all the grey.

It's not exactly the botanical gardens but it could be just right for my wirecase flowers.  

These are my illustrated flowers from a sketch in one of my notebooks.

The flower in the pot here really reminds me of those dancing flowers with sunglasses from the 90's. This flower, however, looks like it has absolutely no intention of dancing.

 Here's my idea for durable flowers in the urban environment. They take on the colours from their surroundings and always have a dead stare. Below this are some colour variations. I was interested in seeing this picture in various colour palettes, but it's the one in black and white at the bottom that I like the most. 

I call this one PillarFace

It's a pillar of support in the building and it's blushing.

I enjoyed the simplicity of this character and the possibilities with it being blank.  I see it as a way of holding a message or a sign in one of the images, and I plan on doing more with this fella.

A colour for every mood.

I was going back through my photos from doing my research and I stumbled upon this one here of an abandoned bar. I'm starting to see a theme running here through the last few posts which is becoming interesting to me. As is the trend at the moment in this country, everything is being shut down and nothing is opening in its place. Everyone is being let go from their positions and there is nowhere for many to go other than the dole. It's hard here at the moment for a lot of folk and frustrating for those who wish to work. Best of luck to everyone in this position. 

The cardboard box pet.

This here is the domesticated cardboard box. A one stop shop of urban storage. These ubiquitous little creatures are all around us, and I just happen to be in the company of some at home. What happens to them when we just throw them out into the wild, back where they came from? What happens when they are abandoned?  

Could you abandon this?

Naturally, when you leave them to the mercy of the wild it becomes a survival of the fittest. Those cute boxes don't stand a chance.

Some straight forward illustrating and extruding. I like these boxes.

Here they are, captured in the wild, box chasing box.

This one is far more suited to the wild.