Oh Dear

Despite all those processes.

I have made a despondent moron.

Oh well. Win some. Bin some.

Hmmmm

What do I think?!

It definitely works in reverse...

Blank Canvas

How To Fashion a Face

I had an interesting conversation with Chris today about how I should embellish my five faces.

I had planned to do a literal interpretation of 'Face Value' and embellish them in five different ways, seeing which had more artistic merit:

                      gold leaf - diamente - material - hand-made paper - plaster

However, whilst that would have some interest, seeing how each changed the face and which worked best, he suggested taking it down more of a fine art, less of a crafts path.

He was looking at some of my photos of Cambodian children on my desk and suggested I might want to 'say' something with the materials I used to finish them. I thought this a jolly good idea, and was rather niggled I hadn't thought of extending it further myself.

So, now I'm thinking about doing the following, using the face purely as a blank canvas each time:

1. A face covered in type. Looking at the thoughts behind the face. I might write a random piece,  pulling out key words, experiences in life (although there's rather a lot of negative words looming large in my mind right now...). These I would type onto cartridge paper on a typewriter than chop them up and paste over the face.

2. A face covered in material. I know it's craftsy, but I still want to do it as it's an effect I'd really like to try. I have some vintage fabric of Annie's, making it unique to her face as well.

3. A face covered in rose petals? I'm quite interested to see what it would look like and the play on 'the face of an English rose'. But where to find the petals and how to stick them on?

4. And my genius idea on the way home. (Or very tacky, depending uponl how you look at it). How about painting a human face to look like that of an animal. Say, a cow. Vegetarians always suggested we'd eat less meat if animals had human faces. So let's try it.

And my back up idea is using photos of Jai or Imani as their faces have changed over the years and pasting this over the face. I'm also interested in this piece of work by Nancy Burston I came across recently, saying that racial difference is only to do with pigmentation and that, essentially, we're all exactly the same genetically:

I could use photos of Jai to do this, although I'm not sure whether a boy's photos pasted onto a woman's face will work as well as using female images. But it will be interesting. Or, what about putting a child's image onto a grown up face. Might just experiment with that one.

Photoshop Heaven

I started using it today. How very exciting. It's something I've wanted to know how to use for years, and it's such fun. I've a long way to go, but I did manage to cut out about eight faces, change them into black and white and format a new document. Not bad for a first attempt.

My desk is looking reassuringly busy at the moment. But I need to start finishing some things off. My cut out photos at the front.

Finally, my grumpy little man came out of his latex, mud roc cocoon today. Looking even grumpier, as I squished his nose, an ear fell off and he had a hole in his latex ear. Next, to fill him with plaster and I'll finally have my finished masterpiece. That's Pete's Christmas present sorted.

The original clay man and the floppy latex version.

Thoughts on My Face Value Painting

It's really frustrating. Having so many thoughts and knowing I don't have the talent to execute them properly.

I spent a quiet afternoon contemplating lots of my art books and thinking about what I could do.

I love the simplicity and colours of the work of Joan Eardsley and did a couple of quick sketches of children in her style which seemed to work ok. But I was worried that overall the format wouldn't work with such a serious subject.

This did, however, get me thinking about a more collage-based approach, and I particularly liked the pastel colours in this piece by Tamsyn Williams:

Which, in turn, brought to mind one of my favourite artists, Mike Bernard, who does fabulous paintings of the West Country and Venice using mixed media:

And finally, I've been mulling over this painting by Xenia Hausner for a while. I absolutely love the colours in it and again there's an element of collage:

 So, my idea is to do a collage based piece. It will be from the perspective of looking head on at a market below a line of building. The market will be a row of stalls, utilising some of the face value artefacts I was looking at earlier. I will then put real children's faces (taken from my Cambodia photos and turned into black and white, maybe embellished with pen and ink) in the windows above, all behind bars. Finally, under the awnings there will be lots of grotesquely fat men (although I know it's men of all type who used trafficked women and children).

Now, you might not have any idea of what I'm talking about. But there's a clear image in my head. And, yes, I've done a sketch to plot it out, and no, it's not worth uploading!

Below are images of the kinds of buildings I'm talking about. These were taken in Northern Cambodia.

This one was taken from the net. I like all the dodgy wiring:

Sounds good. Great colour cohesion in the examples above. Interesting and workable idea. Let's hope I can do something reasonable with it all!

Pen or Pencil?

Pen, definitely. Much more freeing.

Monday is certainly a full on start to the week. Three hours life drawing in the morning. Three hours film making in the afternoon. (And yes, Duncan laughed at my bee movie. But I don't care).

Annie thinks I'm getting better at drawing. Given I started from such a very low base that's not really that good.

At least you can tell it's a naked man. But I'm a very long way from imbuing my drawings with any style. I'm so busy trying to make them look human (with the right sized head, feet and hands).

Thought my five minute sketch of a little girl was ok. (Alright her chin's weird and the eyes are different. But heh.) Have had some good thoughts on how to do my drawing/painting/collage - whatever it turns out to be.

The Real Face Value

Spending a day researching facts about child trafficking is perhaps not the nicest way to spend a Sunday, but so important.

About six years ago, I began fundraising for UNICEF in relation to child trafficking and still support the cause. It's interesting that it's a topic that many people simply don't want to consider. (I experienced that personally, and it's something you read all over the net). And that's despite some of these basic facts: http://dilanz.wordpress.com/2008/03/16/what-is-it/

For the second part of my Face Value project, I planned to create five different pieces of work, illustrating the comparative market value of each. 

The Artefacts

1. La Prairie face cream:

Market value: £656 for 50ml

Method of Execution

I was thinking of re-creating the pot in collage form, using kitchen foil and blue sweet papers.

2. Homemaker Pottery:

Once available at bargain prices in Woolworths, now a collectors' piece due to its perceived iconic design (on show in the V&A etc).

Today, the cost on Ebay for one cup and saucer is $59.00 (plus $10 shipping).

Method of Execution: I was thinking of doing a chalk/charcoal drawing of a piece of the pottery.

3. The Swedish Three Skilling Banco:

Printed with errors in 1855, the stamp, the only one remaining, was recently sold to a private buyer and is said to have achieved at least the £2.3million it made in 1996.

Method of Execution: I was going to do a machine embroidery piece, freehand embroidering in black and white three on yellow velvet.

4. Mark Rothko - Orange, Red Yellow: 

Rothko was highly anti-establishment, so would probably have been mortified that the sale of this painting in September 2012 made $86,882,500, a new record for post-war art.

Method of Execution: I hadn't quite figured that yet, but wondered about finger painting it!

5. Water - the New White Gold:

There are people now seriously considering putting a price on water, as within the next few decades it's going to become so scarce: http://www.investmentu.com/2010/March/the-water-industry-and-blue-gold.html

Method of Execution: I was planning to make an acrylic box, fill it with water and have words relating to the developing scarcity of water etched into the front. (I quite liked the idea as well that, over time, the water would evaporate).

Finally, I wanted to contrast all of the above by doing a drawing/painting of a child - showing that they can be sold on the streets for as little as $15. 

However, having given it all some serious thought this morning, I've decided that I simply don't have the time to do all of the above. I'm also concerned that I would have done three pieces of work that involved a comparison between five/six things, and don't want to keep doing that.

So, I've decided to forget the above (less is more: definitely my catchphrase of the course) and just look at doing a portrait of a child.

The Child At Risk

I spent a long time looking for images of real children that I could work with. However, nearly always the images on the net are set up shots, rarely involving real children. And that's for good reasons, which I completely agree with.

Sadly, I could have found some real children instantly by googling naked children, but that wasn't something I was prepared to do.

I did find some amazing things, including this brilliant exhibition co-created by Emma Thompson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnSU1eLsRH8

This to me is art working at its best. Accessible but giving a really important message. 

I then tried googling orphans and sex trafficking, which again brought up lots of hideous things, but no photos of real victims that I could use.

***

Then I remembered my time in Cambodia last summer, where I visited an orphanage in the South West.

I had gone along to volunteer there for a couple of days, and was fairly appalled by the easy access I was given to the children. After an initial chat with the Principal, I was left pretty much to my own devices with the kids. So I went into a 'classroom', with just a few broken toys and books, and watched as the kids wander around, the older ones occasionally trying to 'teach' the younger ones, but basically all just playing.

Even more extraordinarily, I was asked to take the kids to the beach at the end of one day. I think there was one adult worker with the group as well, but I was amazed that such a thing could happen. Especially as I found myself in the sea with stinging jellyfish and about fifteen children - none of whom could swim.

Sadly, my overall impression about my time there was that the Principal was far more interested in trying to get me to donate money, than really looking after the welfare of the kids. Although, having said that, they all appeared well fed, happy,alert and engaged, and really well behaved.

Even worse was that, talking to others in the town, there were rumours of the orphanage having previously been used as a 'shop', selling these very children to visiting men. That was truly horrifying, especially as, looking at the time some of the kids had been there, they would have been personally effected. 

So, after looking at my photos from the orphanage, I have decided to use them as the basis for my piece. Although at this point in time, I've no idea what I'm going to do with them.

NB: I would normally post some photos of the kids here. But, as this is the internet, I'm not going to as they're real kids and I want to do my bit to protect them. A display in college is ok, but I think that's enough.