FINAL OUTCOME PROCESS

THE BEAR

Before I started on a large scale piece, I wanted to experiment with colour & media use on a rough zoomed in drawing of the teddy bear. I had an idea of using blocked colour to create a pop art style piece, however this did not go as I thought it would. My weak point is acrylic paint, but I still wanted to see if I could do it. One thing I really struggled with was finding colours complimentary to each other as my colour theory is not great. I also struggled getting flat colour; every time I filled a section it would end up looking patchy & slightly translucent. My lines weren’t that straight & the edges weren’t as sharp as I wanted them to be. I realised even though artwork done in this style looks simplistic, it is actually really difficult to do & pull off. Trying this technique definitely made me appreciate the art style a lot more than before.

My attempt at this ended up looking quite childish so I decided to look into other media choices instead.

INSPIRATION: 

During my last project, I created this piece of a woman looking into the distance using watercolour, charcoal & acrylic paint. The style, media & techniques used to create this piece worked really well together to create a soft & flowy image. The contrast between the washy colour & bold dark charcoal lines worked in unison rather than overpowering one another.

I decided I wanted to use this media in my current project to create a completely different image. I started with the clock instead of the bear as I’d already done a bear piece before & realised I may not have the time for two pieces. I also feel the clock has more of a significant meaning & is open to discussion.

PROCESS:

I began with a watercolour base & built up colour where needed. I wanted to keep it light to start with so I could darken it in future if it didn’t look like it was enough. I created a cloudy effect by putting water on the paper first, then dabbing brown watercolour into it. I then patted it with tissue to get rid of excess water. I was really happy with the way this turned out as it adds something more than just using blocked colour. One block of colour would make the piece look flat, so I feel this added more texture to the clock.

After finishing the water colour I started adding charcoal. I kept the outer lines thicker than the central lines as the central part of the image is more delicate & detailed. This would make the image stand out more as a whole. When doing the lines I ran my finger across them to make them smoother, as sometimes charcoal gets patchy. The charcoal against the watercolour works really well together in my opinion. They compliment each other well as the watercolour is a soft media, whereas charcoal is dark & quite harsh. However, they don’t overpower one another. They create a midpoint between bold & soft. 

I then went in with a gold pen as the original clock had gold parts in it, such as the clock face itself. Gold is seen as valuable, & the clock has personal as well as material value to the family. I think this worked really well & brightened up the piece due to it being slightly shiny which creates varied texture in the piece.

I wanted to add some sort of movement to the piece as it looked quite plain. I didn’t want it to just be a clock, so I added drips to the piece, some in watercolour & then with gold in the centre. I feel this worked well with the piece.

I also added smaller details using fine liner as the charcoal was too thick. It also helped darken up certain parts to give more depth & perception to the image.

For the background I used dark blue acrylic as I thought a darker background would make the piece more moody & would separate background from foreground a bit more. I didn’t want them to blend into each other too much so I didn’t want to use a light creamy colour. 

Another thing I want to do is put gold leaf going horizontally across the centre of the piece, not in a formal line, but in a sort of sprinkled wave as I feel this would tie in well with the gold in the centre of the clock. Navy & gold compliment each other well, so I feel this would help tie the background to the foreground in a way that looks good.

Overall, I like the composition of this piece as my focus was on absence which is why I wanted to have one singular object being the main & only focus of the piece. The clock holds a lot of value so I didn’t want to add more objects to distract from the clock.

However, something small like flowers or some curtains in the background could’ve fit well with the piece & wouldnt have taken away from the main focus.

Another thing I wish I did was add more detail to the clock using either watercolour or charcoal to create small cracks or just darken up certain areas of the piece as it still looks quite light. 

Presentation wise, I would like to put this piece in an a2 frame in the centre of my wall, & then I’m going to sow some flowers into blue fabric & put them in a4 frames either side of this piece to further keep the link to loss. When you lose someone you take flowers to their grave, not only that but my grandad started a gardening & design business, so I feel flowers are appropriate in more than one way.

6. Artist link