ART 280 Blog posts
Self Negotiated Learning plan
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Interests that drive me, my interests are animals I find them interesting to paint. another interest is superstitions I love researching them and finding more about them and there origins. I also like experimenting with my art and trying out new styles
The materials that I think will best serve my investigations are oil and acrylic paint as well as oil pastels, pen, and graphite. these are the materials i am most comfortable with and i think these materials best fit my theme.
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I will measure success by if the piece is finished, how well the finished piece portrays the message i am trying to tell and if i am happy with the finished outcome.
What is a Live Project?
A live project is how I want to present my work and where, and also how I'm going to achieve this , what this entails.
for my live project i would like to present my work in a white walled gallery, preferably somewhere local. i will have a viewing party before hand with guests and drinks.
Visualization
i am would like to present my work in a white walled gallery such as The Tate. I think my work would look best in a white walled gallery and would have the most impact to the viewer. I would also like to experiment with having my work in a magazine as I think it would be able to reach a much bigger audience


Shaun project crit
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for my crit i presented three oil pastel drawings and an acrylic painting. i am happy about the outcome of the crit i received lots of helpful and constructive advice that I will keep in mind as my project progress's. such as how the texture in my drawings were lost when i transferred them to paint.
artists
Arts that have inspired me:
André Derain
Pablo Picasso
Alice Pattullo
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these artists have inspired me and relate to my project as they both use colour to portray emotion. and in my project i am using colour to help show what a piece means and symbolizes.
Andre Derain
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Andre Derain is a painter, he uses bright bold colours in his work to help describe the scenes of his paintings, such as 'The Pool of London' where he uses bold colours to show how loud the dock is. Derain's work relates to my work because he uses bold brush strokes in his paintings, similar to how I use them in my work. he also uses colour to describe a scene, I also do this, I use colour such as the background colour to help show the meaning of a piece for example red means good fortune and green means luck.
Alice Pattullo
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Alice Pattullo is an illustrator and also a printmaker, and in her personal work she often creates screen prints revolving around superstitions , British traditions, and folklore. These are depicted in her series of prints entitled 'Superstitions' and also in her series 'Alphabet of Superstitions'. Pattullos's work relates to mine, as her work revolves around superstitions , the main theme behind my project is also superstitions and what animals, mainly cats, mean in different cultures and how the viewer relates and interpretants them. Pattullos's work is what originally inspired me to create this project because i am extremely interested in this theme.
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Pablo Picasso
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Pablo Picasso is a painter, sculptor, and printmaker, he uses colour to express emotion in his work such as his blue period , following his friends death, where all of his work was created in blue tones and blue-green tones. Picasso worked in a multitude of different mediums such as oil paint, pencil, ink, crayon, pastel, charcoal, gouache, and watercolour. he also worked in sculpture and print. Picasso's work relates to my work as I also use colour to show emotion in my work, as I link the colour of the background to the symbolism of the piece . Picasso also inspired me to start using oil pastels in my work.
hypothetical live outcome
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for my live out come I would like to present my work around the university. perhaps book a room out and present my work in one of the gallery spaces.
hypothetical live outcome Assessment
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Hypothetical live outcome
for my live outcome I would like to show my work in a white wall gallery preferably one close to home such as a lone in Sunderland or Newcastle. the reason i choose to display my work in a gallery is because I think my work will look the best in this setting as it will help show the texture and brush strokes in these pieces.
Artist Talks
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Paul Wenham
Paul Wenham is a professional photographer has has been doing photography professionally for 30 years. he started with film but quickly moved to digital when it was invented. he enjoyed taking complicated exposers and then he would put them together using computer editing. Wenham builds sets and dioramas for his photos and prefers to use live animals in his work. most of his career was making advertisements for companies, and for a moment of his career he experimented and shot photos out of focus and a lot of companies used these photos in there advertisements. Wenham believes that you have to keep renewing yourself as a photographer and try new things and techniques. Wenham preferred to take pictures for advertisements but however he experimented with taking portraits and found he really enjoyed it. he prefers to take photos of people in poses they like or are used to doing.
Paul Wenham's work:
Wenham did a project on road traffic accidents and the consequence of cars on society, asking questions like why did we ditch the railway for cars as they have such a negative effect on society? he did a lot of computer editing for this project as he would recreate the accident on a different set and then photo the road where it took place. for this project he wanted to capture the emotions about the events and how people felt about it. he took these photos in the style of advertisements and called them anti advertisements. Wenham likes to think of portraits as a collaborative process between him and the person he is photographing and for this reason he likes to get to know and connect with the person. Wenham likes to add text to his work, snippets from the interview he had with the subject of the photo as he wants people to know their story and he views himself as a messenger.
Artist research
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Rose Wylie
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Rose Wylie is a British painter that is known for painting large bold paintings on unprimed canvas, her work is centered around painting and drawing. Wylie takes inspiration for her paintings from things her encounters in her day to day, such as films, newspapers, advertising, art history. Wylie once said "Its not to do with the psychology or the plot or anything, its just the visual excitement," "Something stops me in my tracks, and i think i'll go make a drawing of it because i simply want to remember it."
Wylie's work relates to my work has for my final piece i am also working on unstretched and primed canvas, I am also working on large scale with my canvas stapled to the wall is similar to how Wylie works.
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Frank Bowling
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Frank Bowling is a Guyana-born British artist, his paintings relate to abstract expressionism. Bowling's paintings take many months with many layers of paint and materials to complete, to create his paintings Bowling uses a range of materials such as unstretched canvas, acrylic paint in bright colours, found objects, water, acrylic gel, pallet knifes, brushes, string, and glitter. Bowling loves to experiment with different techniques, materials and objects and he views each new layer of his painting a chance to experiment and explore. Bowling's work relates to my work as he works with unstretched canvas to create his paintings which is what i am currently using for my project.
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Pierre Bonnard
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Pierre Bonnard is a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known for his decorative style of painting and bold use of colour. Bonnard is well known for his use of colour, he liked tense bold colours and he combined them in a completely individual way in his paintings which gave the colours in his paintings great intensity. He really enjoyed painting domestic scenes which depicted friends and family in familiar places and situations. Bonnard preferred to paint form memory and very rarely did he paint form life or use a reference. The materials Bonnard used were oil paint on canvas and he applied his paint quite loosely to the canvas to create his works. I really enjoy Bonnards work especially they way he paints cats and really enjoy how he proportions them and paintings them into his scenes, i am also painting cats for my project and i enjoy looking back at his work for inspiration.
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Julie Mehretu
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Julie Mehretu is an American contemporary visual artist, known for her large scale multi layered paintings. Mehretu makes large scale gestural paintings that she builds up through layers of acrylic paint which she than goes over the top of the painting with mark making which is done using pencil, pen, ink and thick paint. in her highly worked canvases Mehretu creates narratives threw mark making and by using abstract images of wars, histories, city's, and geographies. Mehretu's work relates to my work as i am also working on a large scale for my project which is what Mehretu specializes in, I also enjoy looking at her work beacuse of how impactful it is with all the lines and marks on her canvas give he really interesting visual to look at.
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Jackson Pollock
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Jackson Pollock was an American painter and major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, he is widely known for his technique of pouring and splashing paint on a surface. Pollock's method to create is works consisted of flinging and dripping thinned paint onto an unstretched canvas which would be on the floor of his studio, this physical engagement with this material aloud velocity, gravity, and improvisation to be apart of his artist process his paintings that are known as 'drip paintings' present more of a record of movement and fluid properties of paint then a picture. Pollock's work relates to my work as I am also working on an unstreached canvas for my project , much like pollock i enjoy working on a unstretched canvas as i find it make freeing and moveable as its not weighed down by a frame.

Elizabeth & Henry with Birds, 2013.
Oil on canvas. 503 x 296 cm

Sacha Jason Guyana Dreams
1989
Acrylic paint and resin on canvas
Support: 1780 × 1360 mm

The White Cat, 1894
Oil on card
51x 33cm

Invisible Sun (algorithm 2)
2013
Ink and acrylic on canvas
120 × 168 in. (304.8 × 426.7 cm)

Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950
paint on canvas
Displaying and exhibiting my final piece
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For the exhibition of my final work i wanted to find a space that best reflected my painting and helped show off the 3D nature of it as its a 9ft by 9ft double sided painting. I wanted to display it in a way so that the audience can walk around it and interactive with the painting in its space. to achieve this I toyed around with a few different concepts.
Painting hanging on the wall.

First I decided to experiment with just hanging the painting on the wall, however i felt that this didn't do the painting justice and i would have to alternate between each side of the painting so both sides could be seen this means that the audience could only see one side of the painting at the time. Also I felt that displaying it this way audiences wouldn't be able to interact with the piece and the space the way i would of liked.
Displaying my painting outside


Another idea I had to display my work was outside. the thought and concept behind this idea was that a cat's natural habitat is outside and since the main subject of my painting is cats i thought this would be a nice reference. Another reason for this idea is that i want to experiment with lighting and see what would happen when the natural light hits the painting, and since the painting is strung between to trees the light reflects this giving interesting highlights and shadows. I really like how this turned out its my personal favorite of the ways i displayed this piece, I especially enjoy how the light reflects off of the painting i also love how there is room for the viewer to walk around the painting really getting a sense of the scale and 3d elements of the piece, this way both sides can be displayed at the same time.
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Images of my painting being set up outside.
Displaying my painting in the Shaun Project Space


The final idea I decided to experiment with was Displaying my painting in the Shaun Project Space as to get an idea what the painting my look like in a gallery setting. i strung the painting up so it would be in the center of the room that way the viewer can walk around the painting and get to experience the 3D element of the piece as well as get to interact with in in the space. I also enjoyed Displaying my painting this way as i felt the space really complimented the painting and helped to peoples perspective on the piece as they would be able to walk around the painting experiencing each side separately and as a continuative piece.
I really enjoy how each space can change and compliment the painting its almost as if in each space it becomes a different painting. i really like the 3D element the painting has ad it can be hung in the middle of a space and look differently from every angle.
Shaun Project Space Instagram take over.
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Instagram take over poster


This is the poster for my Instagram take over. I wanted to keep the design simple while spill being informative.
A screen shot of my work on the Shaun Project Space Instagram account.
Shaun Project Space Instagram Take over





These were the images and videos I used for the Instagram take over. i chose theses images because i think they best showed the scale of the painting and the 3D element of the painting as well as the spaces it was displayed in, as i have images from outside as well as the gallery space. My Instagram take over was on the 30th of April in the afternoon.
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my final out come is a double sided 9ft by 9ft painting of cats that depict good luck and bad luck.
Proposal Update
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What interests drives u?
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Interests that drive me are animals mainly domestic animals such as cats or dogs. I find them interesting to paint as i can incorporate different textures into there fur. Another thing that interests me are superstitions and folklore. I love researching about them and finding out more. i especially like the ones that involve animals such as cats and during this project i have researched a lot about the superstitions behind cats and found out a lot about them in different cultures.
What materials do u think best serve your investigations?
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The materials that I think will best serve my investigations are oil and acrylic paint as well as oil pastels, pen, and graphite. These materials have stayed the same however i have mainly used acrylic paint with oil pastels over the top. I have found that I really enjoy working with these to mediums and especially enjoy mixing them as I like the texture they bring to a piece. for my final out come i decided to use house paints as i had an abundant supply of them.
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how will u measure your success?
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I will and have measured success by if I believe a painting is finished and if I was able to finished it in a certain time frame for example i finished my final out come in time for my Instagram take over and i view that as a success. another way i will measure success is if my work reflects the message I am trying to portray, and I believe I have been success full n achieving this in my work.
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