MEANING

I have been reflecting on the direction of my work.

When I look at what I've made so far, I think -

• The heavy metal font makes the piece seem like it is literally 'ROCK' based, like it's for a musician or a band

• The 'Welcome To' doesn't stand out

• The composition of the scroll seems off, like the diamond shape at the back should be bigger

• The colours also give it a rocky/dark feeling

• Perhaps it's too literal, the colours and fonts make it look dark, gloomy, sad, it misses my point of duality as the meaning is singular, it is what it is, there is no interpretation or layered meaning

Going forward I will try and re-focus my idea by -

• Experimenting with brighter colours

• Try to bring back the duality - the sign should be bright and happy, with a sad undertone in the text rather than the physical object

• Change the fonts, try and hand write it in my own calligraphy style like my original drawing

WOODEN SIGN

I decided to cry cutting my sign from a thin plywood and paint this as an experiment with materials and colours. I really loved the effect of the scorch from the hot laser on the thin wood.

I had to use tape behind the individual elements to keep them in place.

I used reds, purples, greys, whites, and blacks quite freely to create a rough effect.

I painted the 'bulbs' with an translucent yellow, so that the scorch from the laser could still be seen through.

Overall, I am happy with the outcome, but I feel like it doesn't quite convey my context or meaning well. I have been focusing on duality and layered meanings, whereas I feel this piece is quite simple contextually. It doesn't have the nuance or duality I was looking for.

DOCUMENTARY - WRITING ON THE WALL

The writing on the wall is a YouTube documentary by Handcraft Creative, which follows the journey of artists in Winnipeg, Canada. The city is populated by hundreds of hand-painted signs, some of which have faded into obscurity. This film follows artist Craig Winslow, who finds old photographs of these signs, recreates them perfectly and then projects them back on to the wall, refurbishing them, temporarily.

I was fascinated by this work with high technology and light projections to recreate hand-painted traditional signs, blurring the lines between the past and the future.

It was this documentary that inspired my research into Signwriting, which was once a dying art but is having a resurgence, and it's traditional techniques. I am interested in bringing antiquated techniques and using them in modern processes, for example my own hand-lettering which was then digitised and laser cut to create signage that uses both new and old.