Project one: Walkabout

First walkabout sketch of battleship

While on my walkabout of the urban areas of Birkenhead, I knoticed this battleship in the far distance. I decided to focus on the structure of the design and it's edgy corners. For drawing style, I wanted to try out the quick, sharp line technique practiced by Frank Auerbach. I found his drawing style was most appropiate for this particular activity because it captures the grittieness of these urban vehicals.

Charcoal drawing of abandoned boat

While investigating the docks, I stumbled across this half sunken boat. I did a quick charcoal sketch in which I tried to capture the atmosphere of my current location. I then took this drawing back into the studio and worked heavily to bring more depth to the visuals. I think the expressive outlines bring quite a quirky element to the drawing. I'd be quite keen on building upon these drawing techniques for future projects.

Graphite pencil drawing of abandoned boat

This stylized drawing of the abandoned ship was drawn with a number of medias; grapite pencil, small amounts of collage, and a hint of charcoal. I took inspiration from the intense drawings of William kentridge and applied it to this observational drawing. If I were to alter anything about this, i would pay more attention to perspective and try to define the distance between the backgrounds and the boat itself.

First mixed media painting of abandoned boat

This was the first mixed media image I produced using a vast range of medias and techniques. First I collaged layers of news paper and then I began to apply spontaneous mark-makings using acrylic paint. I used one of my abandoned boat photographs to give this image some kind of form. I used materials including a toothbrush and a pallet knife to apply the dirty acrylics onto the news paper collage. The scratchy mark-makings and aggressive outlines seem to manifest together to create something quite abstract. As a first mark-making experiment, I think this works quite well, but I had to keep in mind not to spend too long on one piece since we were asked to produce a number of grounds.

Second mixed media boat painting
For this image, I continued to work with my abandoned boat photographs, only this time I turned one of them upside down. I wanted to be more flexible with how I interpret what I see. After incorporating some news paper collage, I began applying sharp black lines with my pallet knife. Afterwards I put a dirty wash over the image and worked back into using greys and white acrylic paint. I carefully applied white paint onto the boat in order to make it look more special in contrast to the blotted backgrounds. In terms of mark-making this works really well. What I think I should start to think about if bringing more composition and perspective in order to make my images look more convincing.

Mixed media image depicting life on the road

This image was originally just a collage piece with typography printed over it. To create the lettering, I used a piece of plastic shaped into letters in which I rubbed an old sponge with  dirty yellow acrylics into the letters. I then tried painting typography onto a piece of plastic which I then flattened onto the grounds, creating quite an interesting print-like effect. However I still felt it was unfinished. I decided to draw some fast moving cars using a combination of charcoal and white chalk. If I were to improve this image, I would think more about the composition and how I can bring more definition of perspective rather than have thee cars jumbled with the lettering.

Textured image of long road
This was one of the hardest images to produce. My aim was to try and define the distance between the bridge in the background and the road closest to my view point. First I drafted out the composition and then I began incorporating collage into the road. I then had a go at scratching away some of the collage to suggest the texture within the road. I then tried rubbing watered down grey paint onto the upper area of the road to suggest distance. I then had a go at defining the cars and the bridge within the background using charcoal and paint. The problem is that the backgrounds look too static. I think if I worked less into the bridge and perhaps even apply hints of marks to suggest a background it could improve this image slightly.

Final painting of abandoned boat

To produce my final piece, I drafted out the composition of the landscape with charcoal. I focused much more on the composition which was what my previous experiments were lacking.  I then tried painting onto the wood but the acrylic wasn't sticking to the dry surfaces very well. Instead I applied news paper collage and tried a again. I decided to use my pallet knife as my main tool because of how it makes my mark-makings very textures. I feel I've learned a lot from producing this painting. I've learned how to make the water on the horizon look more convincing, and how to use colours including orange and yellow will help to define the main object of the image, similar to what contemporary artist Richard Harrison does for his dramatic landscape paintings.