Week 21

In Tuesday's lesson I am going to look at compositions of a final outcome. I am also going to prepare the inked fabric for this, along with figuring out the scale that I will use
-In Tuesdays lesson instead of completing this I carried on with group discussion revolving around the mark scheme and found that I need to add more drawings to my project.

In Thursday's lesson I am going to fulfil tuesday's original objective, plus cutting the fabric to the relevant shape and monoprinting onto fabric.
-I did succeed in completing Tuesday's objective on Thursday. I also need to look at how to present my work by visiting the museum in Riversley Park as inspiration. I did not cut the fabric, however I did mount up more of my work into my sketchbook and added some quick annotation.

Week 20

In Monday's lesson I plan to continue working onto the blue and green fabric in the style of Kulkov. I am also going to sew into this.
-I found that I prefer hand sewing marks even though it takes longer to do. This is because the marks are thicker and more noticeable.

In Tuesday's lesson I am going to work over the blue fabric again and start looking at ways to represent the medals earned for service in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland. I am going to use the yellow fabric that I inked and sew over this.
-As I dyed the fabric using bright yellow ink, this incorporates Andy Warhol's bright selection of colour in his piece "camouflage" that I looked at early on in the year. I chose this colour as it is the nearest to the sand colour that is on the Iraq/Afghanistan medals. I have began stitching a sky blue thread into the fabric in a vertical line, whilst using both horizontal and vertical stitches. I chose not to stitch at other angles as this can come to look messy as it would be in a small space. Furthermore, the stitches are all different and this represents how each soldier, although trained to do the same thing, they are all slightly different in terms of physical capabilities and personality.

Week 19

In Monday's lesson I am going to use ink on two pillow cases that I bought this weekend, I thought this would be a cheap way to use fabric. I will use the red and yellow drawing ink. Once it dries I will work over this with biro and will eventually sew into the fabric. If the ink takes a long time to dry, I will continue putting work into my sketchbook that has not yet been mounted in.
-I found that the ink did bleed together as I wanted it too and I believe it has created a striking effect because of the use of the bright colours. The ink didn't take that long to dry and so I was able to start working onto the fabric using black ballpoint pen in the style of Vlad Kulkov.

In Tuesday's lesson I am going to work onto the rest of the inked fabric, using coloured pen as well as black.

- As replicating Kulkov's technique is quite time consuming as it requires a lot of layering, I only managed to finish the red,orange and yellow inked fabric section.

In Thursday's lesson I am going to monoprint onto fabric using dark green and dark red ink. I am also going to work over the blue and green fabric I prepared on Monday.

-I found that the monoprints looked most effective when there was plenty of ink and a lot of water used. It also occurred to me that these colours are similar to the colours on the medal received for service in Northern Ireland.

Week 18

In Monday's lesson I am going to experiment using ink in my responses to Vlad Kulkov's work. I am going to try to create movement and union whilst using this medium.
-In the lesson I didn't use ink as a came across brusho and decided to experiment using this instead as I have never used this before. I found that it was difficult to manipulate but produces a vibrant colour.

In Tuesday's lesson I am going to work over the work I did in Monday's lesson in the style of Kulkov. I am going to use ballpoint pen as it produces stronger colour than pencil crayon.

- I found that the using Kulkov's technique over the brushy is very interesting and that the colour is incredibly vivid. Using this medium is a quick way to get colour onto the page and adding another layer of marks to the piece. I then prepared some experiments using drawing ink which will dry for Thursdays lesson.

In Thursday's lesson I am going to work onto the ink that I experimented with on Tuesday now that it is dry. I am going to work in the style of Kulkov and compare the final outcome to the brusho I used on Tuesday. I am also going to work onto my collages of the pocket layering different marks and colour

-I found that the ink that is painted as camouflage looks better than the ink that has been allowed to drip down the page as the drips don't add to the overall composition, they just detract from the centre. I think that the camouflage shapes work well in red, orange and yellow as they connote fire, destrusction and battle. I think that the shapes would bleed into each other more if I used the drawing ink on fabric and so I am going to experiment with this. Also, I didn't have time to work onto the collage of the pockets but I will do this soon.

Comparison to Vlad Kulkov

  Vlad Kulkov is an artist born in Latvia, Liepaya in 1986. He graduated from Saint-Petersburg Art and Industry academy. His work has been exhibited in Arterloga,- Moscow, The Armory show, Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow Museum of Modern Art and The Hort Family Collection. Kulkov now lives, studies and works in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
His work is created using different coloured markers, producing both harsh and rounded marks. He works onto paper, sometimes using ink too.

I have been influenced by Kulkov's work as the unity between the marks interests me and reminds me of camouflage. Accents of fluorescent pink contrast the green and provide an interesting element to the piece with makes the observer inquisitive to what this is representing. I began using permanent markers but I found that these marks were too thick for the small scale that I was working on. The piece that I am currently working on is a mixed media drawing of a fusilier. I have used newspaper, photographs from London, white emulsion paint, 6B pencil, graphite and black biro in this drawing. Over the top of this I am working in the style of Kulkov by creating similar rounded marks using ball point pen and crayon as this is a finer medium for the scale that I am working on. I am using black biro to create the darker areas and crosshatching areas to add more tonal representation. Using a green crayon adds subtle colour to the background, these marks are short and straight but arranged in a curved fashion like Kulkov does. A bright pink ball point pen is providing most of the colour but I think I am going use red,yellow and blue over this as these are the colours that are in the photographs on the page.

Artist Analysis - Vlad Kulkov

  Vlad Kulkov is an artist born in Latvia, Liepaya in 1986. He graduated from Saint-Petersburg Art and Industry academy. His work has been exhibited in Arterloga,- Moscow, The Armory show, Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow Museum of Modern Art and The Hort Family Collection. Kulkov now lives, studies and works in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

 Untitled, 2010 - marker on paper
                         - 120 x 185cm
This piece is created using different coloured markers, producing both harsh and rounded marks. In the centre of the piece, the marks are rounded and appear almost bubble-like, this could perhaps be representing clouds. The majority of the centre is dark green, but a dark blue is providing harmony to this. However, accents of fluorescent pink contrast the green and provide an interesting element to the piece with makes the observer inquisitive to what this is representing. It could represent pollution in the clouds or sea. The way that the rounded marks interlock is similar to the way that camouflage interlocks with each other or the way a squadron work as a solid team. The rounded marks could present a soldier's expansive skillset. As you look outwards, the marks become straighter and sharper, the piece becomes less dense, yet dense areas begin to form in collations near the top.

The marks made in this piece vary and the short, straight marks arranged in a curved nature moves the observer's eye around the piece so that it is all analysed. The contrasting marks are somewhat confusing but allow the observer to question the meaning behind them. The colours are kept quite dark, for example green,blue and purple, allowing a dense figure to be formed in the centre of the piece. The harmonious colours create are compacted figure that features in the centre. Accents of fluorescent pink and yellow create several points of interest. There is heavy tonal representation created by Kulkov in the centre of the piece which is developed by layering the markers. This piece is 2D but dimension is created within it through shading and highlighting.

The subject in the centre looks free-flowing, perhaps mimicking the growth of an organic structure. Although most of the colour is dark and rich, the fluorescent colours could portray coral in the depths of the sea. However, the contrasting marks could depict a chaotic battleground and the fluorescent colours representing explosions and sparks.

Whilst looking at this piece, I realised that there could be more contrast by using a thicker substance such as ink to create a denser centre. Also, ink is thin enough to be able to create movement. However, when doing further research into Kulkov, I came across work that did use ink in a similar way to this. Ink can create a transparency of perhaps hiding identity or shielding others from the details of war. I think ink would be successful in pursuing this concept further in my work.

I have been influenced by Kulkov's work as the unity between the marks interests me and reminds me of camouflage. Accents of fluorescent pink contrast the green and provide an interesting element to the piece with makes the observer inquisitive to what this is representing. I began using permanent markers but I found that these marks were too thick for the small scale that I was working on. The piece that I am currently working on is a mixed media drawing of a fusilier. I have used newspaper, photographs from London, white emulsion paint, 6B pencil, graphite and black biro in this drawing. Over the top of this I am working in the style of Kulkov by creating similar rounded marks using ball point pen and crayon as this is a finer medium for the scale that I am working on. I am using black biro to create the darker areas and crosshatching areas to add more tonal representation. Using a green crayon adds subtle colour to the background, these marks are short and straight but arranged in a curved fashion like Kulkov does. A bright pink ball point pen is providing most of the colour but I think I am going use red,yellow and blue over this as these are the colours that are in the photographs on the page.

Week 17

In today's lesson I am going to look at creating the marks that Kulkov did by sewing into fabric. I will also add his technique to the drawing of the hackle that I did in the other lesson and have this running along side the sewing too.
-I did like the effect that the sewing gave but it was very time consuming so I think I will use this technique to add extra smaller details to other compositions that I produce in the future.
-I experimented using a sewing machine as this is a quicker method. I used varying stiches to create different marks.

In this lesson I aim to finish the collaged piece I started a few weeks ago which I became bored with. I am collaging my dad's photographs, my photographs from my trip to London and green and red layered monoprints to form a pocket from a pair of camouflage trousers. I am then going to photocopy this and work in the of Vlad Kulkov over the top of this.
- The idea of collaging my work and photographs but it is a tedious process which I need to find a way to simplify it. Perhaps I could enlarge the size of each camouflage section so that there are fewer intricate shapes. Also, I added detail to the pocket using biro to represent stitching and folds. Furthermore I could actually stitch these marks into the piece to make it look more realistic. I photocopied the product in both colour and black and white, I have began to work over the black and white copy in the style of Kulkov and I believe it is beginning to provide accents of colour.