#studipractice4

I experimented with the body printing technique on some scrap wallpaper and painted into it using water based oil paint.

The paint sat on the surface much better and gave a better coverage, probably due to the textured coating of the wallpaper, than on the brown paper sample.

Again, I stayed 1cm away from the edge to allow the raw edge of the print to show through. It seems to stand out alot more on the wallpaper due to the pale background. This gives the illusion that the body is emerging and pressed up against the surface, simmilar to when you press skin up against glass.

Around the edge of the breasts, I have gone a little too far, forming a harsher line when adding in shadowing. I don't think this is as visually effective and may have been caused by returning back to a smaller brush for detailing.

These images show the process of using my home studio (the bathroom) to print onto the wallpaper and brown paper sample sheets.

For this pieces, i have integrated the subject into the wallpaper pattern. i have used paint and a small brush to place the subject in the pattern, interacting with the pattern and its subjects.

The pattern takes inspiration from the willow pattern (a pattern which usually depicts Chinese village life, reserved for western china pattern). However, rather than depicting orientalism, this wallpaper depicts western life. It shows both male and female subject in a country side like setting, fishing, talking and fetching water.

My subject reclines in the foreground of one of the tiny scenes, her pose inspired by le dejeuner sur l'herbe. I hae replaced the idealised caucasian woman with a woman of colour. I have also chosen to cover the subject with underwear rather than leave her completely nude. In the original, quite like my replication, the female subject gazes out of the painting, confidently confronting the audience with a stare. She is confident in her sexuality, as is my black female subject. she disconcerts herself with her surroundings in the background, unphased by her nakedness which starvingly contrasts with the formal, appropriate attire of the 18th century ladies in the background. These women are maids or lower class, doing the chores, but still they are regarded higher than a woman of colour would have been at this time.

Painting this was extremely difficult due to the small size. My focus this semester is to increase the size of my work, so creating this piece was an extreme oppisit to what i am trying to achieve, I used a pencil to mark out the shape, however i found the glossy surface of the paper difficult to draw on. i then used water based oil paint to add colour and tone.