COLOURS

Experimenting with colour ways. I am drawn to the pink and aqua colour way. I believe it is very easily legible, and draws you in with happy bright colours.

Pink is scientifically proven to have an initial positive impact, but can become irritating, as proven in a study with prisoners on a specific colour named Baker-Miller pink.

This also plays into my theme of paradoxical happiness, as initially the viewer should feel joyful, optimistic and warm, but if they were to stare at it for a long time they would become irritable and upset.

PINK - happiness, joy, optimism, femininity

PAINTING THE SIGN

Having decided on my colour palette of hot pink, turquoise and white, I bought some paint. I knew to create the solid effect I would have to paint many thin layers. To get the perfect turqouise I mixed a dark teal I already had with white to create a bright aqua colour.

Once my sign elements were all painted and dry, I used my text and drew around it to create an offset drop shadow. I worked with a pin striper brush to paint the shadow with precision and perfection, making sure the lines were clean and crisp to create that machine made finesse I was striving for.

You can see in the images that the pink and blue really work well together due to their contrasting tones. They pop out of the wood. Several people who walked past my space said it reminded them of Barbie, which was a huge compliment given it was one of my influences!

Laying out all my elements to see what the finished sign would look like.

I knew I needed to be very mindful of the way I glue or fix my work to create shadows and depth without spoiling the 'perfect' element. My tutor suggested strong PVA which would work due to the lightweight nature of the plywood I used.

PROPOSAL - HOW DID IT CHANGE?

Reflecting on my first proposal and the changes that have happened over the course of the project.

KEY

I believe I acheived this goal - DID

I did not do this - DIDN'T

During this project I will be exploring the process of trauma and healing both in the physical and emotional sense. This piece will be autobiographical, drawing from my own experience of mental health and healing from grief and trauma in my personal life. I intend to create a piece of artwork which reflects the agony of emotional trauma whilst conveying the duality of the joy that comes from healing. One cannot exist without the other.

DID - I stuck with my theme of duality of emotions, however I landed on the idea of masking and paradoxes within happiness and sadness

I would like to explore many different mediums to find the best method to tell my story. I will experiment with destroying paper and canvas then putting them back together to create beauty out of the broken and represent physical healing. I would also like to experiment with embroidery and sewing to represent the stitching of physical wounds to encourage healing. I hope to create a sculpture using text decorated in a contradicting way – ie a sad word made to look bright and happy.

DID - I did make a sculpture of sorts ( a sign) that has a sad subject but a happy aesthetic

DIDN'T - Although I experimented briefly with this, I moved on quickly to my signage idea

I am interested in the Japanese Art of Kintsugi – translation golden joinery - where ceramics that have been broken are gilded back together with gold, creating beauty from the brokenness. I will research this and attempt to make a ceramic plate which I will break and put back together emulating the Kintsugi practice.

DIDN'T - I didn't research or experiment with Kinstugi as my project changed shape, concentrating on signage. However I'm still interested in researching Kintsugu, so this is an opportunity to pursue it in my next project

This work will be a step away from my previous work based on iconography and colloquialisms, taking a turn inwards to autobiographical subjects. However, I would like to explore using text in my work as I usually do. I will experiment with making text more nuanced, hidden within the texture of the piece but also try a more head-on approach by using lettering very obviously to tell the story. I will be stopping to evaluate my work every 2 weeks to see whether my themes are reflected within the artwork I am producing.

DID - I did use lettering to tell the story, although the colours contradict the story creating a new narrative within the piece

DIDN'T - I reflected as I progressed, rather than every 2 weeks. As I experimented with styles this forced me to evaluate and adapt constantly.

Overall my project has changed shape from the initial proposal, however I have stuck to my original concept of displaying hidden meaning within text based work.