Processes and Transparencies

Hello there dear readers

I apologise for missing out on a post last weekend. It was a ...turbulent time to say the least. But here I am and it's time for a new post.

So dear readers, let me share with you what I've been up to since I've gone back to varsity this year. So in third year, the second last year of the Fine Arts degree I am studying, we are considered to be "senior" art students, and therefore capable of setting our own projects and briefs to work with. This is a huge jump from first and second year, where the lecturers would decide upon the topic and the artwork we created was thus a response to this topic.

So let me share with you my thought process behind the project I've been working.

I have been interested in typography since a happy accident with typography in First Year. As regular readers of my blog will know (and if you're new, welcome to my blog and have a look here to see my work), I've worked extensively with the medium of typography over the last two years, and of course given the freedom of subject matter and medium, now I have full reigns to work with typography.

So for this particular project, I decided to relate typography to the idea of access. So when is writing accessible to people, and when is it not? I wanted to play around with ideas of English being perhaps a more accessible language to understand (within a university context) than the language of the artwork. And how I could refuse the viewer access, or certainly make it intentionally more difficult for the viewer to relate to and actually access or understand the work.

How I decided to go about this was to use transparency sheets to write on:

These sheets were my own personal feelings, thoughts and emotions, as well as opinions about how I feel being an art student at an art school is quite inaccessible and the frustrations of being in art school. 

After this process, I then wanted to suspend these sheets from the ceiling of my studio space:

As you can see... this was somewhat untidy and well... the sort of baby steps towards an actual installation. So after this I decided the bulldog clips and looked terrible, so I refined it a bit using beading crimps to tie the transparency sheets:

This looks a LOT better, but something was still bothering me about this format. After speaking to my lecturer, we kind of concluded that it was because they were at eye-level. It was too easy to engage with them on an artistic level and not to mention that the lighting wasn't as effective... so to combat this I decided to hang them differently...

Now here I had caught onto something that really worked. I loved the way the light diffused the transparency sheets and the words themselves, and as you can see in the first picture, it was infinitely more successful than I would have guessed before. But alas it still needs a bit of tweaking, which I will share with you this coming weekend, dear readers.

Until we meet again
Talia

The Human Typewriter

So, it has been one official week since I have returned to university. As a third year, and studying Fine Art... Not to mention French as an additional major. Since my last post, it seems like me taking reigns of my own happiness has been a good strategy to approach life with. I haven't necessarily been getting a lot more done, but I feel like everyday that has passed has been one that was lived well, to the fullest. A day well spent everyday can only lead to happiness I think.

So now that I've caught you up on my emotional goals ,dear readers, I shall tell you a little bit about my first week back.

So its the first week, and I have already been dubbed "The Human Typewriter", by one of the lecturers who had been tutoring me this week. I quite like that. It has a nerdy/artsy/awesome ring to it. I think I shall keep that name around! And if you, dear reader, are wondering why on earth I would consider this to be an affectionate nickname, it is because I am in love with typography as a medium of expression.

To me, one of the most interesting things I have discovered since I have started studying art in university is the beautiful relationship that a love of writing and a love of art can share. They are not separate mediums in the discipline of humanities, but have so many similarities that draw the two (excuse the pun) together. I have always loved creating art, and I have always had somewhat of a secondary interest in writing.

Only once I discovered the art form known as typography, did I discover how words can be the vehicle to create art.

To put it simply,

I make art with words.

And this year I finally have the freedom to make as much art as I want in any way I want to. So I dub this year, 2016, the Year of the Human Typewriter. 

And hopefully dear readers, we will see some results soon. But for now, here is some of my older work, hopefully explaining why I have a catchy new nickname.

Until we meet again
Talia

From Start to Finish: The Garden

So dear readers, I just finished another drawing last night and thought that I would share the process behind it, seeing as I haven't done that for a while. Just for the sake of being thorough, I use Unipin pens, and all of the sizes available. I hope you enjoy these behind the scenes images of my drawing!

As always, any work of mine needs to have a solid drawing to start off with. I use a 2B pencil to sketch in the outlines and compose the image. (Why 2B? Because 2B or not 2B, that is the real question)

I started out by filling in the darker part of the sky. To get the tones here I use the 0.05mm, 0.1mm and 0.2mm pens.

Here I started filling in the darker areas of the hills so I could gauge how I should go about toning the sky. I started using a 0.3mm pen to fill in the darker areas. 

Now that I had a set of dark values to compare to I started filling in the rest of the hills and grass.

Now that the lower part of the landscape is complete, I can figure out how much toning the sky and clouds need.

Here I start blocking in the sky, using mostly the 0.05 and 0.1mm pens

Here the sky is completely filled in, you can see I left a few areas plain to contrast the busyness of everything else.

After adding in the foliage and a few final touches, we have a completed drawing!

Until we meet again

Talia

An Enlightening Experiment

So dear readers... Today is Monday... I am a day late and a dollar short with this post... and for that I cannot apologise enough. But alas life goes on, and so does this blog. And what's been on my mind this week is the idea of Experimenting. No, not with substances of a questionable nature but rather with regards to Art.

Do you ever get those times when someone gives you free reign with an assignment and you have so many ideas that you don't actually know where to start? That happened to me with a particular Fine Arts Assignment that I have due this week. This is basically how this assignment worked: Each person in the class was given a specific topic, which we have freedom to respond to in any way we choose. Mine was the following piece of photocopied text:

"All the forms of auxiliary apparatus which we have invented for the improvement or intensification of our sensory functions are built on the same model as the sensory organs themselves or portions of them: For instance, spectacles, photographic cameras or ear-trumpets. Measured by this standard devices to aid the memory seem imperfect since our mental apparatus accomplishes precisely what they cannot: it as an unlimited receptive capacity for new perceptions and lays down permanent - though not unalterable - memory-traces of them." 

So, that was my topic. Quite a mouthful isn't it?

All the words that are in blue are the words that stuck out to me when I read this topic the first time... And I wanted to work around the ways in which I've learnt to memorise something... And the first thing I thought of was writing things, because that is my distinct way of memorising something and also having a memory-trace of it...

So I decided to experiment with layering pieces of writing and displaying it on a light box... And here is the final result:

Home made light box sans light

Text layers with lights on

Text Close-Up

If you want to know the relevance of the writing. I wrote the above passage of text repeatedly in progressively smaller text until I was able to recite the passage word for word. Thus a tangible outcome of a memory aiding device became my work for this project... And I have to say, I think this experiment turned out quite successfully.

And this is the week where every assignment is due, so I am off to get more stuff done dear readers.

Until we meet again
Talia

The Moon Among the Stars

What a week it has been... Good thing I'm not afraid of falling, because let's just say it was one crazy roller coaster ride! Now anyone who has ever met me will know that I run mostly on logic with occasional doses of emotion... But this week, I've realised that emotions force you to face things your mind has built walls to keep out.

It has been a crazy week, There is no doubt about that. For the first time in a long time, I was able to see a little bit of the future... A future that depended greatly on the decisions I had to make this week. The truth is this, ignoring a decision doesn't make it go away, it just makes it worse. Eventually we're all forced to make a decision when cornered, and the Fight or Flight instinct kicks in.

For a long time, flight had most often been my decision. Because, well, it was easier to start again. After this week, I can say quite happily that now I've grown into fighting for what is right and what in the very core of my heart I know what is worth fighting for. I read a saying once...

"Never ignore a person who loves you, cares for you, and misses you. Because one day you might wake up from your sleep and realise that you lost the moon whilst counting the stars."

 I found it quite odd that this was the saying that came to mind this week, because I've been feeling incredibly inspired by the night sky as of late... I can quite happily say now that I don't think I will ever lose sight of the moon again. 

One thing any artist will be able to tell you is that emotional outbursts often make for fantastic artistic inspiration... I can tell you this. Positive emotions sometimes fuel more passionate works because you find inspiration in good mental energy. When work is fuelled by anger and frustration, the art becomes a form of escapism. When work is fuelled by passion and positivity, it becomes a reflection of the way you see things.

Here is some of the work fuelled by the night sky:

Lunar Lineup
Ink on Moleskine
9cm x 14cm
2015

Stardust (Work in Progress)

Although I have the infinite night sky as inspiration, I think I've found a little piece of the universe to call my own personal source of inspiration.

Until we meet again

Talia

From Start To Finish: Re-Inventing Typograpy

Hello dear readers! After reading Austin Kleon's book SHOW YOUR WORK!, I have been following his advice about sharing both the process of making art, as well as the finished product. So here is another brief post about the work that went into my latest piece (As of today!).

From Start to Finish, my latest little typographic sketch: Re-Inventing Typography

The initial sketch of all the letters

The detailing and filling in of the first line...

Repeating the process with the smaller letters...

Almost Done! On this line I decided to use a 0.5mm pen because it was lacking some contrast...

Voila! The Final Sketch

Details

 And as you can see... it seems like this will be the year for Typography!

Until we meet again
Talia

From Start To Finish: The Skull From Beneath

Hello again dear readers! No this is not an entirely new post... but as you may have noticed in previous posts, there have been snippets of a work in progress, and that is precisely what this blog is meant to show!

So today I will show you the makings of my latest work, which I completed roughly half an hour ago. This post will show the process from start to finish.

The journey of: The Skull From Beneath

The first sketch and outline of the skull in HB pencil. This takes a lot of time to get all the proportions accurate.

The very first words filling the page. I like to start at the darkest, most central point of the image.

Slowly the words begin to ripple outwards, filling the gaps and crevices marked by pencil...

This is quite the slow process, seeing as I use 0.5, 0.2, 0.1 and 0.05 mm fine liners. My personal preference is Unipin Fine Liners

A bit of patience and the skull starts to materialise...

And Voila! We have the completed skull!
Click here for more details on the drawing

Detail of the final drawing

And so dear readers, I have one more completed work to tally for 2015... Hopefully there are plenty more to come!

Until we meet again
Talia