images of water

Working with: Photoshop!

Photoshop is a graphics editing programe developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated. we often use photoshop to develop our images into an exciting and more captivationg outcome. through layering and croping you can create a sense of depth. i have used photoshop for my final major project of societys boundaries to capture the ture feelings and attitude of stigmas. it is easy to ajust the colour of select pieces using the lasso tool and can bleand scenes to create a hazey effect with the smudge tool. photoshop has allowed me to trasform basic images of instruments and people into something altogether more exciting. this example of my work has been photoshoped. i have added emphasis on the important question and have distored the rest through change of colour. there are many elements of photoshop i am still not native with yet through practise i will improve the quality of my photoshop skills.

Working with: Latex!

another material we attempted to use was liquid latex. the idea was to create rubber moulds of our clay shapes and to see if we preferred this to the clay. again, the latex was a long drawn out process of layering and drying like paint to build up into a thick yellow rubber material. this process was far messier then the clay however the end result was a lot more agile. it could be pulled and pinned and there was less chance of it breaking. if you happened to break it then you could simply apply another layer of latex in its liquid formation and wait for it to dry. this was a more practical material to use outside in our community project work as it was resistant to more types of weather than the clay. i never did use latex in my final outcome as it was a much longer action then the clay as it involved creating clay moulds to form the latex shapes. i would defiantly consider using it in future projects, particularly ones that involve work outside.

Working with: Clay!

There are many variety's of clay, with porcelain being the purest. the variation is due to the materials that break down to form the raw clay. we experimented using clay to produce an outcome which would eventually be used in a mosaic piece that was to be displayed around the school site. i didn't enjoy using this material as i found it messy and it dried out quickly resulting in a lot of water being used, enabling you to keep shaping to your desired outcome. you also cannot apply a great amount of detail into clay as it becomes fragile and likely to break. for these reasons i chose not to use it in my final piece as i was cautious that it might become too fragile and when assembling to the wall would possibly crumble into pieces. i also found the clay to be a long process's which involved firing and glazing and found this agitating as it would slow the process of my final outcome. one thing that concerend me was that you cannot guaranteen all the air bubbles have been pummled out of the clay piece, resulting in it being ruined when fired as the clay would explode. i was not prepared to take this risk of it exploding and having to create the pieces from scratch again.

Final Major Project

To end our BTEC art work we have to individually create a final piece. now one of my favorite subjects is sociology and i love researching how people are bound into stereotypes in the home and workforce. when thinking of ideas for my final project i took this love of society into account and have devised a plan for a visual representation of these social stereotyping. I've described the situation as being placed under certain umbrellas; suggesting that people are grouped by certain characteristics. I've decided to create three of these umbrellas; one depicting Ethnicity, one showing feminism, and the final one representing class. each umbrella will consist of a selection of photos i have taken and edited, paintings, stencils and word art that will create an atmosphere of the feelings of each group identified in each umbrella. it is also important that i keep the three umbrellas separate as to truly rein act the boundaries in society. secondly i had the creative idea to cut holes into the op of each umbrella showing how we can easily see people being restricted by social ideas and no matter how much effort we put into attempting equality these restrains will unfortunately exist. my work will then go on display to be exhibited at the schools open day in July.

here are some images i have created using photoshop to illistrate social boundaries.

St Mary's comunity project evaluation.

for our Art BTEC, part of the course consisted of creating an outcome for a client. After emails to a year six teacher at the local primary school we arranged our first meeting in February.

The client suggested that the year six playground was desperately in need of a colour injection, indeed she was right, the playground was bleak, dull and in desperate need of brightening up.

we were told that every year the students plant tomatoes which once have grown are picked and used to make pizza. this is where our first spark of inspiration came from. when the tomato patch was empty it was grim. Pip took this project on and crafted tomatoes and vines out of exterior ply wood to be attached to the wall. this really added colour to the surrounding area and with Siobhan's winding acrylic fruit and leaves there is now a constant sparkle that would surely add a more joyful atmosphere to the playground.

our second inspiration came in the form of a drinking fountain, situated in a shady corner. we were told that the children were currently learning the Water Cycle and perhaps we could incorporate this idea into the final design. I chose to take this project on, and after numerous ideas consisting of under water designs, Mosaic water explosions and latex fish i decided that the Water Cycle would be the most fitting. the whole thing was crafted out of Exterior ply wood, which was then painted with acrylic and sealed with Yacht varnish. unfortunately we hit a blip with the yacht paint as it had turned the clouds in my design an off yellow colour. to solve this disaster i used a few layers of emulsion paint and we were soon back on track to a bright final outcome. i included numbers and arrows to represent the stages of the Water Cycle, the children could perhaps use the site to revise what they have learnt in there lessons. each piece is individual as i felt that a whole board of exterior ply would be too overwhelming for the small area. the art work we have produced ties in with future events at the school as the Head mistress informed us that in future years they plan to have other subjects linking to areas of the playground. for example she mentioned that they plan to

have sport themes painted around the football and netball

court. the final outcome was a success as it achieved our main goal of providing colour and excitement. we also learnt how to organise events with clients and how to face up and admit to mistakes. one major problem we faced was the weather. we often had to change the final date as it was raining. we wouldn't of been able to assemble the pieces in the rain as we were using electrical equipment to piece together.

The ugly face of prejuidce

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/beauty-the-beast-ugly-face-of-prejudice

The recent programme on Channel 4, "Beauty & the beast, ugly face of prejudice", is just so symbolic to my point of socially constructed ideas. it highlights how those with facial disfigurements are downgraded members of our society; they are to be hidden away and kept quiet. Because of this idea people are often excluded from social groups for the way they look and unfortunately it has been this way all throughout history. just because a person looks different doesn't suggest they are less of a being. people say they are 'unfortunate' the problem is they are only unfortunate because society is scared. this needs to change!

because of this i wanted to highlight how even those who are 'beautiful' or accepted in our society doesn't necessarily mean they are a better person. i plan to create a painting which on one side highlights a persons 'hidden' impurities, i then plan to cover half of this face with an 'attractive' mask made up to cover the 'ugliness' the mask represents the masks people create for themselves to be 'accepted'.

Photos will be added as soon as iv'e created the paintint/mask and have taken photos of it

Postik it!

As you know im focusing on social assumptions and socially constructed ideas for my artwork, mainly because it is something i really enjoy investigating. when contemplating a question I had been asked, "who makes the rules/who tells you what do do?" I began to think about how it is our society that encourages how we answer, and the groups we place ourselves in. i wanted to find out what others thought the answer to this question would be and discoverd a pattern in answers. I found that any individual who participates in more artistic and 'feminine' subjects such as; art, english and sociology would answer with; 'me'. However, those who indulge in more mathmatical 'male' subjects such as; maths, history and sciences replied with answers such as; 'the government', 'you' and even 'my mum and dad' this could suggest that those who take more mathmatical subjects are in less control of there lives and are being directed by those around them. whereas the more artistic participants are more self controlled and believe in there own ideas.

each person was asked individually and were hopefully not influenced by other people. with the results i created a wall of ideas. the ideas of British society.

Working with a client

For this unit in my art BTEC course we have been working with a client to produce an artistic outcome which they will then keep and display. The main focus points of this unit were to show our ability at organising and producing evidence of planning a final piece; all within set dead lines. we have to show that even against the clock we can still produce high standards of artwork.

our client was a local primary school who are lacking funding to, 'brighten up' and decorate the older childrens playground. we met with a year six teacher from the school before christmas, who explained the situation and pointed out the main areas they wished to focus on. the two 'areas' which captivated our imaginations the most were; 'the tomato patch' and a dark, grey corner which played host to a small drinking fountain.

We were informed that every year, the year six classes grow tomatoes in the spring which they then use in the summer to bake pizzas. the tomato patch area drew out attention as it is capsulated in a huge boxed seating area which acted as a main focus point in the older childrens playground; because of this we decided that whatever we do, it has to be bright and friendly.

not all children enjoy eating vegetables, we felt that by creating a freindly, bright and exciting atmosphere around the tomato patch, we could encourage more children to get involved. our initial idea for here was to paint the box and wall in bright yellows and greens with tomato vines asending along the wall into the roof of the school. we wanted to symbolise the childrens growing interest in healthy eating. once the vegetables have been harvested the patch is very grey and dreary. Because of this we have an idea to create some three dimensional objects, such as; flowers, cartoon worms and wooden tomatoes. this was to ensure that the patch remains bright and entertaining, even in the winter months. we also wanted to make the area more personal to the children so on the vine we decided that the tomatoes asending the wall would be personalised by pairs of children.

When discussing the drinking fountain with the year six teacher, it was suggested that they wanted to show children the water cycle. I felt that simply painting the water cycle onto the wall would be bright, however the children may not be interested by it. I wanted to keep to the idea, but felt that by adding a cartoon edge, such as brightly coloured stick characters pouring down water from clouds into buckets, would entertain the children as well as teaching them the life cycle of water.

All of our ideas will be created in our art room and the assembled at the school once finished. we also believe that although the school is our client, if the children do not like our ideas then it would be unsucessful as it is for them. so that we can ask the childrens opinions, we have been invited to attend school council meetings and the schools annual craft day to propose our ideas.

pictures will be added as soon as i take some!