Oona

This week, I wanted to try screenprinting on a different medium than paper and brought in a white plain shirt. I picked red ink and I loved how vivid the colour turned out to be, even though I struggled a bit in the process.

Although I printed several times on paper before moving onto the shirt, I couldn’t seem to spread the ink evenly on the screen and some areas didn’t look as red as other parts of the image. It turned out that way on the shirt as well, but considering it was my first time trying I reckon that’s quite alright. I’m still glad I got to do it and work on a different machine as well!

As my work is about criticising the way society links one's identity to one's appearance, I wanted to look up other artists whose work might convey a similar message. I came across Barbara Kruger's fantastic work in which she combines traditional images of beautiful women in mainstream advertising with text to create provocative works calling attention to consumerism, capitalism and sexism. These themes were relevant when she made them in the 1970s and 80s and continue to be today. I feel very inspired by those themes and I will definitely continue to use screenprinting as a striking, vocal yet visual way to send a message across.

Earlier this semester, I came across Peter Doig's work which inspired me in painting and continues to inspire me today in printmaking.

Last week, my friends and I went to the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin and I got to see his painting Concrete Cabin in real life. I love his brushwork and use of colours and I think this would turn out really well in print as well.

I made this collage by using prints I made in the past week. I think overlapping the same images in different bright colours turned out great. I also added some text to the original image, which is the same quote I used on the copper plate (“try harder”) and in the same typographic style as well, which I have consistently used throughout this project as it is a favourite of mine.

On Thursday, I tried screenprinting for the first time this semester. I took the collage I made a few weeks back and digitalised it through Photoshop. It was then printed onto the screen and I was able to print with ink.

I chose to mix the first colour myself, a medium dark shade of green, which on the paper turned out to be slightly brighter. The same thing happened with pretty much all of the other colours and I kept it in mind from there on out.

I was much more productive this morning. I was still unfamiliar with the entire process yesterday and I was helped each step of the way, which as a result enabled me to print alone today.

I wanted to make bolder choices such as using vibrant colours and several at once. I also used prints I made yesterday as a solid background and then added the new colours on top. I absolutely love how the prints turned out by simply overlapping the image and turning the sheet of paper underneath.

Today, I made four prints with my copper plate, mainly using red ink as I wanted the colour to be bold and reminiscent of the natural colour of lips. In most prints, red turned out to be dark pink but I quite like it nonetheless.

In some cases I purposefully let more ink on the plate to see how it would turn out on the print — on the fourth print I made, I wiped all of the ink from the plate except in the middle. I like how pigmented it is and how you can easily see it stand out.

Next time I print, I'd like to make something a little bit more challenging. I did want to cut out letters using the paper tissue but I was impatient, and the paper is quite fragile so sticking to simpler shapes is easier. Susannah suggested I cut out paper in the shape of lips, and I liked how it turned out as well.

I also made another print a few days later which featured a large piece of tissue paper.

After completing my collage, I decided I wanted to expand on the idea I originally had. In my work, I had cut out the words 'I Must Not Try Too Hard' and upon seeing it again after Easter, I was inspired by those words. There's a dilemma about appearance: you are encouraged and told to look a certain way, but God forbid you should be seen trying too hard to achieve it -- beauty has to look effortless.

I wanted to illustrate that through that injunction. You shouldn't try too hard, but everything around you says the opposite.

The mouth I depicted represents society: what we're told to do is what we should do. I wanted to challenge that idea. I think the imagery is quite straightforward but stills convey that message.

I knew I wouldn't really be able to draw a very complex picture since I would be etching on a rather small copperplate. It was interesting being introduced to electro etching and to work with a completely different medium.

I was faced with another small challenge: deciding what would stand out, the mouth or the typography. I wanted the mouth to be in the background, and for the words to stand out and have a thicker outline as well but I wasn't very successful. I also realised after I started etching on the plate that I had to write the other way, the 'wrong' way, for it to be printed in the right way, so I had to figure out something a little bit different.

I spent the first week in the printmaking elective working with collage. I hadn't worked with it before and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I cut most of the photographs from fashion magazines editorials we had in the studio, which sparked the idea that identity and appearance were correlated, and that I could criticise it through the collage and convey a message.

I took the following notes through bullet points:

Editorials from fashion magazines (especially those from the 2000s I checked out) all seem to convey the message that your identity is reflected in the way you choose to present yourself to the world. Your appearance is your identity: sure, that’s one way to look at it, but how about how you feel? What you like? 

Magazines from the 2000s: lack of inclusivity, diversity, therefore reinforcing this idea that there’s only one type of beauty, being white and thin being the status quo (to a certain extent it still is very relevant today)

Finding a strong sense of self through fashion

Male Gaze (could feature it on the collage in a literal way)

One of the things that always catches my eye in London is the variety of different typographies and fonts you can encounter when you pay attention (in the street, on nameplates, in the Tube, etc).

The nameplates are quite iconic around the world but there is a plethora of other fonts that are used in boroughs of London that are often slightly less touristic. The most famous nameplates are those of Westminster, which covers most of Central London. They have an understated quality to them (white font, black and red letters in all caps) and I don't find them particularly interesting aesthetically speaking.

 My personal favourite are the plates scattered around Kensington and Chelsea, they're much more sophisticated (probably not a coincidence considering how affluent those areas are).

However, there's a variety of quirkier and older ones that are full of history and it’s quite fun spotting those older signs next to shinier, newer versions.

Last week, I worked in the Relief Print workshop with Suzannah and Dez.

After spending most of the first day brainstorming and being unsure which ideas would work best, I finally settled on an idea and chose to focus on the people I'd seen in London. I worked on two lino blocks, each representing two silhouettes that would eventually create a crowd. It didn't really matter that the silhouettes were repeated through the stamps as the ink masked most of the details I had drawn.

After examining my first print, Suzannah showed me how to use the scalpel to add a few details, which I used to enhance the woman's jawline.

I used blue ink throughout the workshop.

On Tuesday, I went to the Tool and Mark Making workshop. I don't believe I was successful at the tool making part, and ended up doing 'regular' painting throughout the day -- but I'm happy nonetheless as I hadn't spent much time in the studio during the first semester.

I decided I wouldn't put too much thought into what I'd make and went with the flow. I wanted to make it colourful. I can still somehow trace it back to the movement brief, but not to my idea and project in general.

I enjoyed working with different mediums; I first started with charcoal (to make the black outlines), then pastel, and then moved on with acrylic painting and Indian ink, which is incredibly fun to use.

On Monday, I joined the Life Drawing workshop with Eoin. Similarly to last week, we had limited time to draw the model who changed the way in which he posed every ten minutes or so. This time around, we used charcoal sticks, which I prefered as they enabled me to work in greater detail. I did quite enjoy painting last Monday as well, but wasn't really content about the finished result, whereas using black charcoal wasn't all that different from pens I'm used to drawing with.

L. S. Lowry was an English painter who mostly depicted scenes of life in industrial districts of North West England during the mid 20th century. I find his paintings rather dreary and not very joyful, and they don't really resonate with me the same way Peter Doig's art does. But they are inspiring nonetheless, especially the first picture, from 1960, depicting Piccadilly Circus since it directly relates to my project, centered on the city of London.

When I read the brief last week, while I was in London, a very precise picture formed itself in my head, one idea that I wouldn't have had in any other place.

I was comfortably cooped up inside, sitting next to the window of my flat, which is located on a busy road in North London. I looked at the red buses stopping at the bus stops, the cars, the people who were walking and who didn't know or care that I was watching them. It was strangely entertaining. Perhaps at another time I wouldn't have looked or noticed, but from the window, suddenly it felt like I was witnessing something fascinating and couldn't take my eyes away. There were joggers, people who were sipping coffee, people riding bicycles, children in a hurry, cars speeding. It was quite busy, and it was perpetually renewing itself, although those cars and those people I was seeing wouldn't be the same the next day.

I decided I would be drawing the view from my window: I depicted the church sitting on the opposite side, the pavement, and the bus stop.

Today, I came across Peter Doig, a Scottish painter whose work inspired me tremendously. I found these artworks in books about his work in the library.

On Monday morning, we started life painting with Sylvia. We painted a nude model. We had limited time, a limited choice of colours and only had to use one paintbrush, which was rather gawky and large. It later proved slightly frustrating because I wasn’t able to add details to my work as I would have been with a smaller brush.

It was my first time doing this and I thought it to be a very interesting (albeit very difficult) exercise.

Once we were finished, we all placed our work on the floor before hanging them up on the wall, while making sure it looked harmonious.

On Tuesday, we all gathered in the church and drew different people in different poses such as standing up, slouching on a chair, sitting with their legs crossed, laying on the floor… We used black sharpies this time and focused on the figure of the body.

I had a lot of fun, and it was nice to see slight improvement in my drawings as time went by. We once again had limited time, but this time it wasn’t as frustrating since I’m very much used to drawing very quickly. Painting, not so much.

I think my best work was the third drawing, it looked pretty accurate, except for the feet’s placement which I never quite get right!

I started this project believing that I needed a specific, clear idea of where I would be headed — what would it mean, how personal would it be, etc. However, during one of my first workshops, I was encouraged to let go and try and create something without expecting it to make sense right away. It was definitely a challenge at first because I approach art through intellect, as it enables me to get a better sense of where the project is headed.

It became increasingly clear to me that I’d have to approach the entire project differently, that it didn’t need to be meaningful in every way for it to be good & make sense. In hindsight, I believe it was a bit too radical — as a result, I abandoned the idea of making ‘disrupt’ more personal altogether and therefore stepped away from the way I usually work, which I think was eventually reflected in my work.

I would do it differently if I had more time. I could have done something more ambitious or creative before disposing of the shape, but by the end of the project, I found myself having too many ideas and it was difficult to sort out the relevant ones from sheer nonsense.

I did thoroughly enjoy making my main piece with cardboard and gum strip. It was simultaneously my favourite and most crucial part of my project since I subsequently used the piece in almost every other workshop I attended. I also really enjoyed animation — attributing an insect-like quality to an inanimate object was amusing. 

I loved hearing other people’s feedback on my work. It was the first time I realised just how important the audience’s engagement can be, when in fact I hadn’t intended for the piece to be on display. Several classmates made valuable suggestions and it definitely inspired me.

I would say that I had a few shortcomings regarding this project. After making it and sticking with the shape and the idea of it, I became caged by that main idea. By picking this idea about triangular three-dimensional shapes, I felt like I couldn’t change my mind anymore and couldn’t seem to work my way around it. I lacked the initiative to actively seek out new ideas.