Finished 6th Piece: Ideas for my 7th Work

The 6th Piece is complete. This was the number of works that I originally planned to make for my Degree Show. This is definitely not enough, I have so many techniques and experimentation that I still want to explore. This piece has only been simply adapted and the technique of including silhouettes surrounded by pastel block colours incorporated. This piece works really well with the other works I have created and follows on as a different way of experimenting with block colour from the previous work. Now that I have simplified elements, I think I want to create a more complex outcome.

In my 7th work, I plan to incorporate dashes. Some areas will include this mark making in the original colour and their harmonious colours. I will also paint areas in different shades of their complementary colours and outline segments in black and white. Hopefully I will manage to bring these techniques together and it won’t be too much.

Painting Experiments: Contrasting Nature and Environmental Harm

Exploring a new avenue of contrasting the natural environment with environmental harm, I decided to paint some very quick painting experiments, exploring having landscape imagery of the juxtaposition within the work. Challenging the nostalgia for traditional landscapes, I painted in the format of a traditional landscape incorporating greenery and clear waters and then incorporated imagery of environmental harm within the land, tarnished the water with waste and incorporated factory smoke and pollution.

I think this experiment was definitely worth while and seems like the obvious first step within my exploration of this contrast, I would like to try this on a much larger scale as I feel the small size of these experiments was quite limiting. I will work next with creating a large scale piece.

Litter Plants: Experimenting with Sculpture

I did some research into environmental harm and found that often the soil underneath landfill becomes full of toxins and metal deposits and that things struggle to grow in it, apart from hyperaccumalator plants which can be used to extract these toxins. This got me thinking about what would grow out of this metallic toxic soil if plants could grow and so these kind of mutant litter plant sculptures were created.

The Litter Plants are potted in actual soil, highlighting the contrast between what is causing environmental harm and what is being harmed. The structure is made from recycled cardboard as a support to stick all of the litter to and build up the plant. I’ve never really experimented with sculpture before, so this is new for me, furthering and pushing my skills.

Large Modern Day Landscape Work: Painting with Waste Oil and Crude Oil

The modern day landscape works that I am creating challenge traditional landscape paintings and depict a more real view of the world in terms of environmental issues rather than an aesthetic representation. This third large modern day landscape painting depicting environmental harm incorporates the use of different kinds of polluting oils as well as items of litter. In the process of painting this piece, instead of using Linseed Oil to thin and blend the oil paint, I used waste car oil.

I have been thinking about the fact that if a painting is dark, it may not necessarily attract the viewer as much as if the painting were brighter. People may not overlook the work just as they do environmental issues. I have incorporated more colour into this work, to attract the eye and draw in the viewer to be exposed to imagery of environmental harm.

I used crude oil to paint shadows on the land and poured both crude oil and car waste oil onto the work (replacing the dripping ink in the previous piece). Using pollutants, especially oil is something I am definitely going to continue with. Also, I think I am going to work with the attraction repulsion idea, keep on experimenting and paint an extremely bright piece and see what the affect of that is.

Large Modern Day Landscape Work: Depiciting Environmental Harm and Utilising Materials Associated with it

Inspired by artists such as Alexis Rockman and Anthony Holdsworth and Bringing all my experimentation together, I have created this large modern day landscape piece, painted on recycled board, depicting a variety of different ways that the planet is being damaged into one landscape work. I have also incorporated my collage experimentation into this piece in the form of sky. As well as depicting the harm I have also incorporated materials associated with environmental toll like collected litter and plastic bags, gluing the materials on and using a soldering iron to melt them and create a textural element. I think this piece is definitely successful and highlights environmental damage and showcases to the viewer environmental issues that cannot be ignored through both imagery and materials.

However, I think the polluting materials blend into the piece a little too well and so I will now experiment with making the litter more obvious. I think the colour from the litter works well against the darker pollution linked colour palette I have painted in. I will experiment with incorporating more colour into the painting as well.