Welcome to the New Academic Year 2019-20!

Welcome to the new academic year! I am really looking forward to the work that you will all produce and also the work that I will create on the projects that we will be embarking upon.  To begin I would like to talk about someone who is inspiring to me in the field of photography and vegetarianism.
Linda McCartney (1941-1998) got her break into photography whilst working on Town and Country Magazine using an invitation to a Rolling Stones party she photographed them and took them back to the magazine who were very impressed by her 'candid, intimate and relaxed photographs of the Rolling Stones that they published her images' (lindamccartney.com)

Source: Linda McCartney: Self Portrait (1992)

Linda McCartney gained access to the centre of the music scene in the swinging sixties and her images were used by Rolling Stones Magazine.  She photographed Eric Clapton, The Beatles (and married Paul McCartney), The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa and many more..

Rolling Stone Magazine: Mick Jagger by Linda McCartney (1966)

McCartney's images were iconic in that they captured the stars relaxing, not posing.  These unguarded moments made for beautiful, natural shots that punctuated her work throughout her career.  There is a sensitivity to the work that really trys to capture the essence.

Rolling Stone Magazine: Simon & Garfunkel by Linda McCartney (1966)

Apar from her photography Linda McCartney Vegetarian food range is something I still use today however at the time it was quite revolutionary for me to buy vegetarian food in the supermarket - this was in 1991,  I had been vegetarian since 1983/4 and it really was the first vegetarian ready-made food that was easily accessible. McCartney was a pioneer but she did quietly and with grace and my admiration for her gentle work throughout her life is something to truly admire. 

Paul McCartney stated of her photographs;

'She would just see things. Many of her photos, it’s just that one click. You’ve got to recognise when a great photo is happening in front of you. And then you’ve got to snap it at exactly the right moment… And she did that so many times that it always impressed me.' (McCartney P. 28.09.19)


References

The Independent (28.09.19) Taschen: Linda McCartney's Polaroids [Online] Available from: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/photography/linda-mccartney-polaroid-diaries-personal-photos-intimate-paul-family-a9119986.html (Accessed 30/09/19)

Linda McCartney.com [Online] Available from: https://www.lindamccartney.com Accessed 30/09/19)

Rolling Stone Magazine (24th April 2008) Linda McCartney's Photographs [Online] Available from:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/linda-mccartneys-photographs-38003/ (Accessed 30/09/19)

Army of Dolls: Reflection

 I have always been fascinated by the plasticity juxtaposed with the human qualities of dolls, therefore, this project was a chance to explore this a little more through digital art.  I would have liked to have explored this project in a more physical way actually using the dolls and creating sculptures and scenarios in a human world rather than a virtual one. What is often lacking now in society is that sense of human touch, all day long people are virtually connecting however physically they may never speak or touch anyone.  This new generation will have touched and physically played less than any other generation before them as they have known only this.  

My concern for this lack of materiality in everyday life demonstrates that I need to explore this area and find that physicality in my artwork.  

In terms of the success or failure of this work, I believe that in the time given it was fairly successful, some of the images could have been more finessed in places and I wished I had more time to make further pieces so I could have explored what really worked and what did not within these images.  As a concept, it worked well however it still could have been more interesting in terms of narrative and this may be something I will come back to in the future.   

Now, I am looking forward to my next adventure..... 

Website Continued

Still connecting a domain to my Wix site this failed the first time, so I have had another go just updating again the hostname and Ip address it takes another 48 hours to complete this again so hopefully this will work this time.

I then looked at my site on a mobile device and adjusted this to make sure this worked well - here is my site on the mobile.  My home page works and it is clear who I am and what I do. 

My about page reflects me as an artist and tells a story about who I am 

The portfolio contains digital work from this term and older work 

I am adding the stories and text to go with the work to give it context and introduction so that the  viewer can see what the work is about

Contact page which is visually interesting and easy to use and send a message

I still have quite a bit of work to do on this (not least ensuring that it is live) but it is starting to come together, it is consistent and the works will be for sale once it is live. 

Website Update

As my old website was about to expire I decided to redesign my own personal site and this is what it looks like so far:

This is the new homepage I thought I would continue with the doll theme for the moment with this image.  I am using a single image as there are many images within the portfolio.

 My updated About page I am using a similar biography I have just cleaned this up and added a new image.

 This is the page that gave me the most trouble the front page of my portfolio - I wanted it to link to my portfolio galleries however the images consistently were not showing up or were slow to show up.  Now it is linked through the button and the image so the viewer should be able to click anywhere to access. 

This is where I am selling the images when you click on buy now it takes you to the art store and you can buy these not just as prints but as T-Shirts, bags, and mugs etc. 

 This is my links to the writing I have done online. I wanted to keep this to show my work further.

Finally the Contact page - just a simple page where people can email me.


Overall I am happy with the changes here - there are still many tweaks that need completing, however, everything works as it should and now I am just waiting for my domain to connect to make this live and then I can start working on the SEO and metatags. I will also add social media links that are useful.

The End of The Army: A Funeral Pyre

I will begin by using this image of a funeral Pyre from a helpful blog posting on how to build Funeral Pyres by Jared Unzipped

Source: Jared Unzipped (2015) How to build a funeral pyre

I then used the curves tool just to brighten the image a little and then I started to selecut cut and paste parts of teh now naked army of dolls.  Although this des not look promising I will change this into the dismembered pyre that I am after.

I started to move the limbs and body parts around and I ended up with about 46 layers of parts so this is what it looked like in the end 

This is the layers and the selected parts being moved around and below is the final piece. 

I think this could be better and I could spend more time making this more real and to meld better with the landscape so I did try this also in Black and white 

I do think is looks better in Black and white and as a set I could try all of these in Black and white to see if this would be a better option.  Now this is the end of my army and my process and I will begin to consider my final pieces. 

Hans Bellmer: The Doll

'Hans Bellmer (1902-1975) is one of the most illustrious names in the field of erotic art and Surrealism' (Bellmer: 2005 Insert) Bellmer's creations are based on a girl between childhood and puberty, Bellmer physically creates these strange creatures and photographs them.  They are often dismembered or put together in a disturbing formation.

Source: The Tate, Hans Bellmer, The Doll

This doll above is described by The Tate:

'Bellmer completed a second doll sculpture in the autumn of 1935 and photographed it in different stages of dismemberment in over a hundred different scenarios, often shown wearing little white socks and the black patent leather shoes of young girls. The present photograph shows a version of the second Doll with no arms or legs, hanging from a tree. Her torso is actually a second pelvis placed back to front and upside-down on top of the central ball joint, which forms her stomach. The photograph is taken from below in a way that emphasises the doll’s breasts and genitals, while her face is partially obscured. Bellmer presents us with the aftermath of torture or abuse.' (Bottinelli G. 2004)

Here is another example: 

Source: Hans Bellmer, The Doll (1934-36) Wikiart Visual Encylopedia

Here the doll is missing limbs and has been deconstructed or unfinished so that she looks like she has decayed.  These creatures are perhaps showing a corrupted vision of a society, of woman but perhaps mostly the voyeuristic viewer.  these dolls were fetish objects, sexual and uncompromising and the viewer stares into this deranged vision.  I chose Bellmner as my next piece will deconstruct my army, my army has to be dismantled.



References
Bottinelli  G. (2004) The Tate, Hans Bellmer, The Doll [Online] Available from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bellmer-the-doll-t11781 (Accessed 11/08/19)


Bellmer H (2005) Translated from the Geman by Malcolm Green, Atlas Anti-Classic 14, Atlas Press, London.

Lichtenstein T (2001) Behind Closed Doors: The Art of Hans Bellmer, University of California Press, Berkley, Los Angeles, Calfornia.

A moment of quiet...

The dolls are taking a rest and their leader has stopped to enter a beautiful lake at sunset.  She hovers in the water and here is how she got there..

  I selected here again and added her to the image.  I then used the eraser tool to remove the bottom half of her body. 

  I copied her again and rotated her - I then used the opacity to make her more transparent as a reflection in the water.  I then wanted her to slightly blur as the tree to make the image consistent so I used the Filters in Photoshop and used the fragment to slightly distort the reflective image.

I was quite please with thsi result quite a gentle image and so I checked output and printed this on Semi Gloss oyster paper at A3 and then framed this image (I will show you this in class) ...

Checking output and how I willl add these for the final outcome is important as I want these to be high quality prints and high-quality images to show on my website.  More about my website next...