My Sculptures In The Gallery

A few more photos of my work in the degree show...

A few more snaps of my work in the gallery. I am really pleased with how it all came together in the end and how my gallery space looked.

Some close ups of my mannequin...

So here are a few photos of my mannequin in the gallery. Luckily our work is in a bright sky light lit room so our work is flooded with light, which was a good opportunity to take some more photos of my work in situ...

MY DEGREE SPACE

Here is my gallery space displaying my work...

DEGREE SHOW!

If you're local, why not come along to our Degree Show at The Williamson Art Gallery in Oxton!

There is a good range of work to be seen!

STICKERSSSSSSS!!

So, I have made my first sticker packs!! These are like bumper packs because each have ended up containing 38 stickers! I am going to display one in the gallery exhibition with the rest of my work!

I am considering doing split packs on Etsy where the customer can choose a couple of sheets of stickers to go in their pack and I will print and cut them to order. That way the quantity isn't quite so high and the customer can have only bugs, only mushrooms or a sheet of each...

FINISHED MANNEQUIN!

Other products featuring my patterned fabrics...

I decided to also make some other items to display at the exhibition, showing other potential items for my fabrics... I covered a bag, a photo album and also a lamp shade. I am pretty chuffed with how they all turned out considering they were just trial products and were firsts for me...!

Upholstering A Chair & Matching Cushion

I sanded and part-painted an old solid wood chair and used wadding and brass upholstery nails to add a unique seat cushion using my feather fabric. I also sewed a matching cushion! Considering this is my first attempt at upholstering anything I am very pleased with the outcome! This will be displayed at the end of year exhibition as an example of what my patterned fabrics could be used for.

PAINTING A MANNEQUIN FOR EXHIBITION!

So... I decided that a mannequin would be a good option for displaying some items at the exhibition... I can hang a bag off  one of the arms or it can wear a garment... I got carried away and have made it very decorate as I am, at the moment, unsure what items are going to go onto this... Even if I don't have any clothing to put on this mannequin I want to display it as a piece of art as it ties in with the rest of my work!

MY PRINTED FABRICS ARRIVED!

PRINTED FABRIC USING MY SURFACE PATTERNS!

HERE IS A SAMPLE OF FABRIC I GOT PRINTED DISPLAYING ONE OF MY SURFACE PATTERNS!

I have another 3 to get printed!

Sculptures are almost finished...

 My sculptures are almost finished!! 

Mini Sculptures Taking Shape...

I have been doing lots of sculpting lately... These little clay elements will be used in some miniature sculptures which I am currently working on as part of this surreal life and death project.

I want to keep rolling with the idea of life and death being linked in nature and incorporate this with surreal elements which draw the eye in to question what's going on and for it all to feel a little macabre and dreamlike...

Here are a few photos of my work so far...

Starting on the 3D work...

Sculptures have began.

I have made this bee, which is only a very small part of what I am aiming to achieve, but it is a starting block. He is only small, maybe twice the size of a real bee, and sets the scale for the rest of the sculptures... They're going to be pretty big!

screenprinting...

So, today I was down in the print room printing some t-shirts. I think I need a little more practice to be honest but I'm getting there. With not having lessons in screen printing any more I am a bit out of practice but I love being able to use this process because, although it is messy and temperamental, the outcome can look great!

Here are a few snaps I took during the process...

Surface patterns...

I have started creating my surface patterns... So far I have created my bug and fungi pattern. The actual files have a black background but I was wanting to see how they would look with a coloured background and thought this blue looked striking and complimented the watercolour tones...

Photoshop is my go to programme and although I am not completely confident with it, I am getting much faster at knocking these patterns out. It's just getting the hang of the process and then the rest is fun!

I have been working on some coloured trials to figure out which areas i want to colour and if I want to colour by hand or digitally... Although I love the darker, grubbier hand drawn qualities, the digital block colour behind the dark hand drawn lines creates a nice contrast and would stand out more when framed on the wall... I want to keep colours a little subdued and dusty. 

I am leaning towards digital...

Finished editing my 4 main illustrations...Rabbit

I used Photoshop to clean up my images without losing any of the details and hand drawn qualities.  Really happy with how they work as a set and I think the theme flows well through them all as a collective. They all have the macabre feel and show themes of life and death which was what I wanted to capture.

Next stop - trying out some colour...