Freedom

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Today we got out freedom project which consists of our interpretation of freedom and how we want to present it at our exhibition at the church. so that it fits in with the Magna Carta, our sketch book will be 63 pages long just like the Magna Carta, and will be 10cm by 10cm, our final piece will come from this sketch book. we started by making a mind map of what freedom is and what we are free from today. things such as the freedom to vote, free education, marriage, race, gender an a freedom to think our own thoughts.

 

today we went to the church to see where we was going to have our work commissioned and exhibited, we also had a talk about the Magna Carta. we then went to the civic to ;look at the propaganda and protest art work exhibition. it was really inspiring to look at as even though there all about different things you can see he story behind them and some of them had a really large effect and were hard hitting. I think that most of the artwork in the exhibition were really clear as to what they were protesting against and all really eye catching which is good as propaganda should be eye catching and abstract.

we then had a talk about the holocaust as the people in the holocaust were not free as they were discriminated and killed because of there religion, race, gender, age and disability as well as health. we had to do and exercise about our thoughts and our initial reaction to some of the artwork about the holocaust. we then had to do a group activity which involved rolling newsprint out along our table and we had to draw some thing that represents that the holocaust was not free and our thoughts on the holocaust. we had to do this in mixed media so I did my part in watercolours and I painted a synagogue on fire as this was the Jewish place of prayer and the Nazi burnt them down. we then joined everyone's art together by drawing barbed wire as this is what the concentration camps restricted people getting out.

  This week I started my 63 sheets of paper as well as planned it out and got a final idea planned out. I started by doing a front cover and the started with sheets on the Magna Carta and king John of England as he is the one who originally signed the declaration. for this subject I used pencils, mono printing and water colours of tracing paper so that it wrinkled and looked old, I then wrote out a segment of the Magna Carta.

I them moved on to slavery and the freedom of slaves. for this I did Abraham Lincoln and a quote, as well as an image of slaves doing work on tissue paper for this I used gouache paints, so that it wouldn't rip the paper. I also took a picture from a propaganda poster of a lock that is also a fist and cut it out so that its added a nice effect. I then did some collaging and some quotes. I did slavery because its a huge part of life as now coloured people are no longer slaves and have the same rights as everyone else.

The second subject I did was women's right as I feel as though it is a huge moment in history women getting rights as many women campaigned and fought to get the rights that we have today. for this and to represent the women I drew Emily Davison, the women who threw her self under the king horse and got fatally injured doing so. this was a huge moment in history so I drew her as well as using a fine liner to do a memorial poster that was used after the incident. I also did the classic poster of a women showing her muscles, for this I used coloured pencils. finally I cut the female symbol out of the paper with a fist, but them I diced I didn't like it so I stuck it on a black piece of paper to layer and add effect. I then used fine liner and water on graph paper to do another poster of a wife, mother and voter. I think that when you use water to make it ink bleed I think that I leaves a really good and finishing effect.

I then moved on to the freedom of speech, I chose to do this because everyone has the freedom to speak what they think and now we have the freedom to do it, where as in the past its wasn't allowed. so for this I did Nelson Mandela because he was imprisoned for speaking his thoughts and it is because of him tat people have the freedom to speak freely. for Nelson Mandela I used water colours in blues, reds, yellows and black as I think that they contrast each other well and have a really good effect. I also did some propaganda posters using pencil to draw a girl with tape over her mouth and well as coloured pens to do a poster. I also used cotton so sew into the sheet to sew a microphone with a bird in it to represent freedom of speech.

For my artist research I did roger Simpson who isn't a well known artist and I found him on the internet, but when I found his work I really liked it because I like how his watercolour painting have a really messy look and the paint is almost blobbed on the paper which I think looks really effective. I tried to interpate his technique into my Nelson Mandela.

the second artist I chose to look at was Marion Bolognesi, she is an expressionist and illustrative water colour painter as well as an accessories designer, she also receive a BFA in 2003 for her expressionist art, I chose her because she is another water colour painter that I really like because of the colours she uses, I think that she uses bright yellows but then uses dull blues, reds and black, I just think that it looks really effective and the colours contrast each other really well which makes it look I think better then it should. I just think that the colours shouldn't go but they do. I also like how it give quite a sombre look while not looking to dark. I also like how she only does some of the face and not all of it, I think its mysterious as you don't know what the rest of the person looks like and its leaves you questioning, I find it really interesting and clever.

The third artist I looked at was Hannah Hoch who is a German dada expressionist artist who does a lot of collaging I really like her collaging as they are all disfigured and surreal looking which I find interesting because its like a story behind each one. she used old magazines, illustrated journals and fashion publications to create collages about society at the time a lot of which were fro Weimar Germany in 1919. I think that her collages are really creative and effective. for my interpretation for her collages to represent freedom of speech I cut Nelson Mandela in to two and stuck the centre of a propaganda picture behind it so I looked and had the idea of hers.

 

Evaluation: I was please with what I finished this week as I finished all the subjects I want to do and I am also happy of the different amount of techniques I managed to fit into the ones so for, as well as the amount of sheets I have don't. if I was to do any of these again I would do the hand sewing one again on my freedom of speech as you can really see the bird as it blends in too much. I also think that I need to start shaping my paper differently as they are all squares at the moment and I think that some need to be different shapes.

 

This week I decided to start with the freedom to donate organs, I chose to do this because I have strong feeling about this as people now have the freedom to donate organs to help save peoples lives that need them and there's not many people doing it. so for this I stated off by collaging a heart and then I decided to do some posters, I started with acrylic paint to paint a picture of a woman with a jigsaw piece missing and some one giving her a piece. I then used gouache paint on tissue piece to paint a hand taking someone's heart, I then drew some lungs, one healthy and the unhealthy one dropping off. I then moved on to the donation of bodily fluids like sperm and blood because again people need them. I started by doing a cartoon of a sperm bank and a NHS poster of  blood drop with a mother and a baby in it.

This week I started by doing the freedom to be a soldier, I chose this because in the past men didn't have a choice to go to war and women weren't allowed whereas now both men and women have a choice. for this subject to started by linking both my soldier freedom and my blood donation freedom by doing a propaganda poster of a wounded soldier saying 'your blood could save him'. I then moved on to draw some soldiers as well as some female soldiers showing that both genders can be soldiers. for this I used coloured pencils to get the right colour greens for the camouflage as wll as doing some rough sketches.

 I then chose to do some artist research on Vincent Van Gogh, as I drew a soldier writing a  letter home in the drawing style of Van Gogh, because I am a fan of how he draws his pictures but then really presses on so that you get a big bold block of colour. I think that It adds really good effect and I think that it makes the image look rough and unattended which I like. Vincent Van Gogh is a Netherlands drawing and painter in the post impressionism movement. Gogh used oil paints to paint with but I like his drawing better than his painting as I think that his drawing are really detailed and rough looking but elegant at the same time.

I then moved on to do the freedom of travel. I chose to do this one because technology has changed so much through the years and not only do we have better transportation like planes, boats and trains to get places we also have the transportation of space travel as well which is something we didn't have the freedom to do in the past as we couldn't. I also chose it because certain people didn't have the freedom to travel and move but now they do. for this I painted some landscapes for places I had taken photos of and used water colours for them as well as acrylics. I also did the Hollywood sign which represents the freedom to move and follow your dreams as LA is where 'dreams come true'.

 

the next subject I did was the freedom to gay marriage. I did this because in the past and even now in some countries its illegal to marry the same sex which I think is wrong as its irrelevant what gender they are, as long as your in love. for this I cut into the paper 2 men holding hands in tuxedos and I cut out 2 women and stuck them on to another piece of paper I like this because I think that it explains it really well, just two people holding hands...of the same gender. I also used coloured pencil to colour in the gay pride flag with two wedding rings on it. I used a black biro to draw interlocking female symbols as will as interlocking male symbols.

 The next subject I did was the holocaust because this took everyone's freedom from race, gender, age, disability and religion, I think that its a huge subject and that a lot of people died for the freedom we have today. for this I did some propaganda posters as well as drawing Anne Frank as she is a really influential person and she was very brave for what she did. I used water colours to paint barbed wire which turned into a flower as well as a concentration camp road. I then used gouache paint on tissue paper to paint the Jude sign.

My final subject was the freedom to have a dream. I chose this because every body has the freedom to have a dream and have an aspiration no matter how big or small it is and for this I did the two people that I think had dreams and did something big to prove that they are there. I used brightly coloured water colours to paint Martin Luther King Jr for his dream for equal rights and I used white pencil on black paper to draw Rosa Parks who was imprisoned for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white person. her dream was to be treated equally and she did something to prove it, and now we have equal rights.

 

Evaluation: I am really pleased with what I have achieve as I have finished my 63 pages and now I can focus on my final piece. I think that if I was able to do it again I would have spent more time on certain squares but other that that I a happy with my out come.

today I sewed my 63 squares together to make a bunting so that I can present it at my exhibition. I used black cotton to sew it together so that the cotton wouldn't stand out too much.

Vintage evaluation

For my project I decided to do the 1950's because I am a big fan of influential and iconic things and people and I feel as though out of the time range we were able to do (1910-1960) I feel as though the 50's had more of these things. lots of research has gone into my sketchbook as I researched everything before I even put it in my book. I mostly used the internet for my research however I also got a lot of information of my parents and grandparent. for the final part of my sketch book I decided that I really enjoyed doing the famous/ influential people but because I had already done it in detail previously in my book, I decided to do it again but do my self in the same style that I did the famous people in, which meant using water colours to stipple and biros as well as pencil and black paper. I enjoyed doing this as I am happy that I have put my own stamp on my sketch book by literally adding my self to it.
The main cultural influences in my era, I think is the music as rock and roll has never gone out of fashion, and even if your not a fan of it people still know the songs and the people that sing them.  I also think that fashion is an influence as well as fashion today is deride from the 50's in some way shape or form, especially the shoes and trousers.
I looked at 6 artists from my era which were Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Henri Matisse, William De Kooing, Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman. most of these are from the abstract expressionism movement which tells me that the 50's was very bold and abstract, which also makes it interesting as the art from all these artists are colourful and eye catching.
I have used a wide variation of media in my sketch book, the most commonly used media is watercolours and acrylic pints, I used these because I think that they are really effective because the acrylics is really bold and abstract where as the watercolour is subtle but looks really effective because they blend together nicely. I also used pencil and biro a lot, I used pencil because I enjoy drawing and I think that it looks really effect when used to draw something elegant like Audrey Hepburn or the Queen. and I used biro because I like the way it looks when you use it to draw with crosshatching, and other mark making techniques because it looks effective. I used lots of media but I think that the more unique ones I used were the cotton, I used cotton to sew into the page to make a dress which I think looks really effective because I used different shades to give it effect and I am pleased with the final out come. I also used some old packaging that was used to protect the object to create play-doh which I think also looks effective as it looks really fake yet gives it a childish looks as well which I think represents play-doh nicely.
A lot of my annotations are on homemade tags and tied onto the binder of the sketchbook, if not they are written next to the drawing or painting. I tried to keep all my annotations in the same media (biro) so that the sketch book had a consistent theme and looked neat.
I feel as thought I have handled my time wisely as I have finished on time with more pages than the minimum required and I feel as though they are to my best standard. I am really pleased with the final outcome of my sketch book because I feel as though I have done my best on it. If I was to do something different I would have made my mind map longer and more detailed, going through all the year not just a few.

vintage

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For my vintage project I decided to do the 1950's because I am a really big fan of iconic things and I feel as though out of all the decades we was allowed to do (1910-1960) I feel as though the 50's had the most iconic things and people.
I started my sketch book by doing a mind map which consisted to general things of the 1950s that are important but don't really belong in a category. my mind map consisted of 2 pages, this is the first one and it had things like the queens coronation, first coloured television, play-doh, Nasa being founded and I used a variety of media on these pages like acrylics, pen, pencil.

I then moved on to important dates from the 50's, this consisted of the structure of DNA being discovered, the hydrogen bomb, queens coronation, first organ transplant, sputnik being sent into space and Vietnam. the media I used for this varied but I used different background. I used newspaper for the Vietnam war with drawing ink and for the sputnik I used acrylic paint to turn the whole page into a galaxy and them made a 3D sputnik so it looks like its floating in space. for the hydrogen bomb I used a tea bag to make the page look old  and I made it look like a newspaper, however I felt as though the tea wasn't dark enough so I rubbed coffee on it. this page consists of the queen and the kidney transplant, I drew the queen and I used black paper to draw the abdomen of a human and I used a craft knife to cut out the kidneys. it also show Winston Churchill's silhouette in the union jack as he retired.

I them moved on to fashion, for this I did girls fashion fist which changed throughout the 50's, there were different movements, which consisted of elegant, below the belt puff, 'coco' channel so for these pages I did one for each. and I did a floral background as well as using material to make a hat. I also sew into the page to make a classic 50's rock and roll dress using different shades of blues and black cotton to make the dress. then to cover up the stitching on the other side I sew a black piece of card  n to the back to hide the stitching but to also create another background. for the men's I did the classic blue suede shoes and pattered socks, as well as the greasy boys and the teddy boys. for the teddy boys I used brown black and newspaper to collage the background and for the greasy boys I did 2 pop art posters.

I them  moved o to music where I started with Elvis Presley as he is one of the most iconic influence singer songwriters of the 50's. for this page I drew Elvis and also did a pop art silhouette of him using water colours, I them moved on to Frank Sinatra, for him I did him in pop art style and as well in water colours but in stead of painting him with the water colours I cross hatched them. I them=n did buddy Holly's guitar and glasses and Doris Day in pop art also. I then did Johnny Cash and for him I copied the front of this self titled album. finally I did a silver star with the Bee Gee's name written on it to represent there Hollywood walk of fame star.

Next I did movies from the 1950's to start this of I made a clapper board using black card, white pencil and a split pin. then I did Cinderella as it was released in 1950 and for this I drew the prince and princess in coloured pencil as well as the carriage so that it had an illustrated effect and it was on a water colour background. I then did smiles of a summer night and I did that in fine liner and water colour. I did a page for Alfred Hitchcock as he had multiple films out in the 50's so I did a collage on the page using felt tips and a significant clue indicating the film, it consisted of: Rear Window, Vertigo, Dial M for Murder and North by Northwest. finally I did Ben-Hur and for this I drew him and cut the tile out of cardboard and stuck it in at the bottom so it looks like he is rising from it just like the original poster.

next I did my artist research and for this I took a picture from every artist I chose and copied it to make it the back ground of the page. the artists I chose was Kooing, Warhol, Matisse, Rothko, Newman and Pollock. I used acrylic paint for most of these except Kooing which I used water colours.

I then moved on to famous people, I started with Martin Luther King Jr and for him I used water colours to paint his face and then stipple them around him so that it looks like he is in a cloud and then I wrote a quote next to him, for this I used blue, black, brick red and yellow. I had to add yellow in after I had some criticism that it looked too sinister. I them moved on to Rosa Parks and for her I used a white pencil on black paper to draw her. I then did Marilyn Monroe in biro with roses at the bottom also in bro but in a cross hatch fashion. Audrey Hepburn I did next and I drew her in pencil with a quote next to her. finally I used water colour to paint John Wayne when I started to paint this it can apart that it started to look like the style of Lucian Freud.

I then moved on to cartoon from the 50's which I thought were most well known so I chose Huckleberry Hound, Woody woodpecker and Bullwinkle the Moose. for these I used acrylic paints to create a simple cartoon background by using 3 different colours (red, blue and yellow) to make the backgrounds and then out line them in black and then use white to create a really cartoon looking shine mark. I then use gauche paint to paint the characters and I then cut them out and put lined them in fine liners and stuck then down on the background.

I then did a page on kids inventions that were created in the 50's, so I did scrabble and for this I cut cardboard squares out to make the counters and made them spell scrabble, as well as using pencils to create the board underneath, I then used some old protector packaging to crate playdoh coming down on the page. I drew some dice to represent Yatzzee and finally I cut up a Crayola crayon box as Crayola was created, so I suck down the logo on crayons.

Now I did Marvel Comics from the 50's as I am a huge fan of Marvel so I thought that I should do it in my project. I started by doing the logo but cutting it out of the paper. I then carried on the copy the covers of the original 1050's comics of Red skull, Marvel boy, Captain Americas weird tales and electro, as all these were created in the 50's. for these I used different medias. for Marvel boy I used pencil. for the weird tales I used black, red and green biro so that it looked illustrated. for electro I used acrylic paints and then I made some 3D electrical bolts so that the were standing up off electro to add effect. finally for Red skull I used felt tips to give it the ultimate comic book feel.

Finally for my final part of my sketch book I decided that my favourite bit of my book was the famous/influential people. so for my final part I decided to interpret my self into the style of which I did the famous people. to start I painted my face using black, blue, red and yellow water colours in the same style I did Martin Luther King Jr and stippled to create the cloud. I then drew my self on black paper with a white pencil in the same style that I did Rosa Parks in. next I used a black biro to draw my self in the same style I did Marilyn Monroe, I used pencils to draw my self in the same style I drew Audrey Hepburn as well. finally I painted my self in the same style I painted John Wayne which is also in the style of Lucian Freud.

Finally is my bibliography.