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Investigation of the formal elements of marine life "PAINTING FROM NATURE IS NOT COPYING FROM THE OBJECT; IT IS REALISING ONES OWNSENSATIONS " Paul CĂŠzanne fig.l My investigation into marine life dived straight into looking at the textures of the sea. Louise Mcclary was a great supporter of the above quotation by Paul CĂŠzanne and I knew she would be a perfect way to introduce viewers to my project. Her paintings are dense with rich layers of mixed media; it creates an evocative atmosphere. All her paintings referred to an experience and feeling towards a certain place, and in this case it was the underwater world. This work really stimulated the project. By experimenting using Angelina fibres which are fibrous material which you rub together using an iron. It creates a spindly shimmering effect, which captures the texture and colour of coral. The deep aqua colour of the ink fitted and I kept layering the acrylic, ink and more textiles to deepen the light in the underwater effect. The colours of this took me further and I researched into someone who took this expression into more representational features of the sea. I then came across the artist Salven. Whose work I found very interesting. His arrangement of colour provided something that was so unique to look at. My studies of his work were not something I was fond of; the colours smeared and definition was warped. But I persevered and tried another media: oil pastels. This stimulated my love for colour but also the impact it can make on a picture seen in figure 3. However, I wanted to broaden my abilities so I Fig. 3 Fig. 2 went to the London Aquarium and focused on completing some life one fish and drawing the angles in which it swam, this was hard kept focusing on sketches (fig2). I but the end effect turned out really well. My drawings mimicked wire so I took this further and shaped wire around my drawing, producing shapes which marked an outline of a fish. I had never used wire before, so I found an artist called Lavern David Thompson to inspire me in making the shape of the form just right. I then took photos of these and layering them on top of one another with a light behind. It created a layered arrangement that is quite abstract, but was just another insight into an element that I could work with. I was really inspired by fish; however, I wanted to explore ways and experiment to make it even more personal. I attempted to add rope and nets into the picture, but I personally did not think this fitted with my vision for where I wanted my project to go. Experimenting with different ways of presenting marine life using fish was something I enjoyed. I investigated it in a diverse way, to make sure my different techniques that I explored ended up representing marine life. By doing this I was motivated to be more free
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and diligent with my work. As I didn't find representing rope a passion of mine, I explored other avenues. And decided to continue with the ink studies, this would allow me to carry this investigation to my own liking seen in figure 4. I also wanted to keep the element of being free because I feel that this is like a fish which moves freely, rather than being restricted by the way it is made and the sensations of its movement. Like Paul CÊzanne encouraged. Jennifer Kraska was my favourite choice of artist to study about. Kraska's technique and organisation of colour was something I admired because she was so detailed in some parts and others not so much. She used pen and ink with clear lines which I concentrated on, and somewhat reminded me of my previous work of line drawings. When looking at boats I tried to keep my style relativity open. The wire sculptures that I made followed the outline of the shape of the boats I had previously sketched. I used a new material called fantasy film which could only be described as a silky soft plastic; I chose to use this particular technique because of a previous artist study on Alexander Calder, who used abstract shapes to sculpt the mobile hanging of a fish (see fig 5) .Later on I took my own take of this and patiently hung a dozen boat wire sculptures and pulled together some materials and turned them into a mobile hanging. Because of my liking Fig. 5 towards this 3D piece it led me onto designing a ceramic sculpture. I wanted something simple which didn't exactly copy the shape of a boat, by gave the essence and feel for them. I looked at the sailing boat because I love the curves and the Fig.6 symmetric sails. It took me a long time to figure out exactly what my intentions were going-to be, but I proceeded to try constructing different shapes using the slab building techniques, exploring clay in its different states. To help me develop these ideas I used cut outs of some ink paintings, these also inspired the surface decoration. Stoneware glazes mimic the colour of ink but I was not sure on whether this amount of colour would upset the focus on the shapes of the boats. I tested out the colours on some of the textiles and bowls I had made but the colour turned out quite murky. I went on to make more textiles using lighter colours and the rim of the boat maybe to have the more exotic colours. I made five smaller maquettes and four final pieces in ceramics, example can be seen in fig.6. I was pleased with both the proportion and colour of the blemishes of soft blues, and bursts of matt purples. This Fig.7 element really gave the feeling of water droplets on the boat, which added another dimension of marine life to my project. To complete my investigation, I finished with an element not before used —material. I wanted to produce something which had a distinctive feel to the work, and so I went out to another aquarium and did some fresh sketches so that I could work from something completely new. I then scanned in one of my pervious paintings and drew a design of my sketches on top this lead me into wanting to design a wall hanging, so tested my ability with silk and batik and finally came up with a design. I
used batik to get the outline and ink and powdered ink to get the effect of the water. I was really happy with this final closure to the project and I felt as if I have explored a wide range of elements during the investigation, and have made sure that I followed my personal instinct to make the project feel like the viewer was free like the motion of marine life.