the Curtain

I present to you the Curtain of Leaves. Im really pleased how it turned out and it has inspired me for further projects to go bigger and bolder. I enjoy working with fabric and other non paper materials and will take that idea into my next project.

Wallpaper

This is a portion of my final wallpaper. The simplicity and crispness of the lines helped to achieve the look I was going for. By having a simple line drawing, the lines turn into shapes and overlap creating new shapes. It becomes less about the plants and more into an organic pattern that grows up and down the wall.

I also tried the pattern in different color combinations and each one looks really nice. Its interesting to be able to change the colors based on your mood of the day. If only there was a way for rooms to change colors based on your mood haha.

Curtain of Leaves

For the third project I drew simple line drawings of leaves, mainly tropical/ tender perennial plants, then scanned them into the computer. In Illustrator I then used live trace then copied and pasted, changes the size and orientation and printed on the pre gessoed canvas.

To make my unique mark I painted into the leaves with oil paints in greens and dyed the back of the canvas with purple dyes. I cut out all the leaves and sewed them into the curtain. This is a sneak peak, the full curtain will be revealed in crit!

Wallpaper

I just realized I never posted my finished wallpaper. It's a solar system that tiles both vertically and horizontally. I printed it 4-up on 72x24 inch paper, but I'd rather have printed it at the right size. It's an Illustrator document, so it's easy to scale.



I did have a minor problem with printing. Mars wasn't right up against the edge, so I had a very small blue line going right through its middle.

Mixed Media Artist

So for the mixed media project, I've decided to deviate from my normal (pretty colors!  illustrator vectors! etc!) aesthetic and do something a little...creepier.  In honor of the up coming halloween holiday, of course.

Here's a little taste:

Milton Glaser

Since my project for mixed media is a collage project, I thought I'd look at some collage artists. One artist that Bill Deering recommended me to was Milton Glaser. Although I was looking for torn paper collage artists, Glaser does do cut paper collage, as you can see in this image.



Even though the image is 2D, it appears to have a dimensionality to it. I have another project that I'm going to do with torn paper, and figuring out a way to give a dimensionality to it is a very important aspect of the piece, even though the final result will be digital.

Finished Wallpaper

Here's a screen shot  of what my final wallpaper turned out to look like.

I think if I could do it again I might make each tile a bit bigger, so as not to be overwhelmed by so many lines on such a large surface area.  Other than that, I'm very happy with how it came out and I'd actually love to hang it in my room.  I actually have it tiled as by desktop on my laptop.  :)

WALLPAPER SAMPLES.

Hodes' article

I really enjoyed this article, especially as someone who incorporates both analog and digital techniques in most of my work. One point I found particularly interesting was the possibility that an artist does not feel the same emotional attachment to a piece of work that is solely digital. I can understand this being the case for some people, myself included. As someone who loves hand drawing and traditional styles of working, I feel a certain connection to a piece that has that hand labor in it, even if the final outcome is a digital piece. I like the idea of seeing my hand work taken to a new form and delivered in a new way when I render it with digital capabilities.

One thing I did not necessarily agree with, however, was the statement that hand work is a work meticulous and lengthy process. Although in many cases, this may be true, I personally find a lot of digital work to be very tedious and frustrating. For me, analog work comes more naturally, so that tends to seem less meticulous than digital work which I need to spend more time and concentration on.

jochem van wetten

I was very inspired by artist Jochem Van Wetten's work. He mostly uses photography in his work but collages and edits photographic images to create interesting and surreal compositions. This particular image is a piece of his that also incorporated illustration. I am in awe of some of his pieces and how visually compelling they are.

http://www.jochemvanwetten.nl/

Carolyn Saxby

I was interested in the works of Carolyn Saxby. She works in mixed media textile art. She incorporates machine embroidery and continues with hand embroidery integrating beads and various types of threads. There is a quilted feel to some of her pieces but I am drawn to her more atmospheric pieces that are accomplished with swirls of felt. All of her inspirations and processes can be seen on her blog at

http://carolynsaxby.blogspot.com/

Joseph Cornell

Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) was an artist who is most closely identified with the assemblage movement. The process of assemblage involves combining found objects. Many other artists have done similar things, such as Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso, but Cornell is most well known for his glass fronted boxes. Unlike many other artists, however, Cornell didn’t use trash or other discarded objects, but previously beautiful or delicate objects he found in thrift stores. Cornell would then arrange these objects, often themed, in wooden boxes with glass fronts, sometimes even making them interactive. He also experimented with film.

Mixed Media Artist

Browsing through mixed media artists' websites, I came across one that appealed to me in particular: Cindy Couling.  I am especially interested in her altered books, which incorporate a lot of vintage photos and imagery, which I am interested in including in my own project. 

 

Click here for more of Cindy's altered books. 

Wallpaper Sample

My wallpaper for this project is based off of a sketch from over the summer.  I scanned the original into illustrator and traced it by hand using the pen tool.  I plan on tiling the image to create my wallpaper.