Still
at a loose end as to how to approach the brief I decided to
experiment away from what I had been doing so far, which is producing
drawings using inks, some based in observation, others more just from
imagination. I set up an overhead projector adjacent to a wall and
placed some clean white paper for the light to land upon, and tried
placing a mixture of items on the surface of the overhead projector
to compose collages of light and shadow. I took photographs of the
different compositions and also of the arrangements of the items on
the projector for record but also for possible experimentation later.
Finding the initial results promising but ultimately less than
remarkable, I decided to add a less controlled variable into the mix,
by adding water into a glass dish, to refract the light, and create
more diverse results. This immediately made things more remarkable. I
decided to expand upon this and add inks to the water to see how they
interacted with the water and subsuquently with the light projection.
The first I tried was 'crimson', though in effect the colour is more
of a luminous pink, which dissolved very fainttly and quickly into
the water, which whilst creating an interesting overall colouration,
did not yield any interesting shapes or definitions to work upon.
After, i added blotches of indian ink (black) which responded very
differeny, creating a much more dramatic effect in the water and
adding a much more physical definition to the light projection. As
before, I photographed the effects, though I found that without the
use of a tripod and preparedness in taking the photographs, I had
missed the best opportunities for interesting images.
Later
on after analysing the initial photographs and using photoshop to
alter and experiment with them, I set up a second overhead projector
in a similar manner as before, except on the floor in another corner
of the room. I obtained a tripod and set up my camera in a steady
position, carefully tuned and setup to take continuous photographs as
the shuttter button is held down. I prepared the water and dipped a
brush with indian ink into it, and then proceeded to take over one
hundred sequential photographs of the projection as the ink
dispersed, creating a stop motion effect. I created a video sequence
of these photographs on my laptop in the lesson, which resulted in a
fairly blotchy but visually interesting prototype for further
experiments with similar methods and materials.
I
had an in-depth discussion with Greg during the lesson about the
brief, about my experiments earlier in the lesson, and about where to
take my work next. It was suggested, and I agreed, that as well as
continuing with the work I had been doing so far, that drawing should
continue also, though perhaps not necessarily in a traditional
manner. The use of abstraction and alternative techniques in applying
paint and inks, such as cling film, opens up interesting
possibilities and during part of the lesson I used mixtures of
acrylic paints with variable amounts of water to draw onto large
sheets of paper, whcih I intend to continue doing and with which to
experiment further.
The following images were edited in Photoshop.
