INSPIRATION - WILKES STUDIO

I discovered @wilkes.studio on Instagram and TikTok. One of her piece's went viral on TikTok (6.9 million views) - titled Birthday. The text reads 'I'm glad we don't talk anymore but I still think about you on your birthday' - it is a very intimate piece, made of hand made alphabet candles on a 'frosted' background, which the artist then set alight and burnt. It is relatable, and reminds me myself of relationships or friendships that have ceased, but always linger with you in memories on those special days like birthdays and anniversaries. Perhaps the artist's burning of the piece is letting this grief go?

The end result is a drippy, burnt, sort of mess, but the piece is still incredibly poetic. The wax drippings and the burnt holes in the canvas speak to the greater meaning of the piece, the broken and discarded relationship with whoever the artist was referring to.

Her other art work is also text based, with immaculately painted or drawn lettering, showing intimate and personal text. I feel the artist's work is similar to my own in that she is expressing real, raw, emotion through her art work without holding back, but making it visually appealing and perhaps easier to swallow,

GHOST SIGN

I cut my original sign design from clear acrylic, but this time decided to place it together without any colour or glue. The finished product is really hard to photograph, but it does look beautiful in person. It looks like glass or crystal, reflecting the light from all over the room.

It is a ghost sign, a whisper in passing rather than shouting in your face.

It is extremely hard to read so I won't be using it as a final piece - my intention is to be more clear and literal with my message. I think not being able to read the text adds a whole other dimension to the work. However, I will explore this method in the future as it does look beautiful and the idea of a ghost sign being silent or whispering could be an opportunity to say things I am too scared to say out loud.

ACRYLIC TEST

Cutting my sign from acrylic on the laser -

I cut my vectored file on the laser cutter. As I was using an offcut as a tester, the bottom of 'Bottom' was actually cut off, meaning it said 'Rock Rottom' - nevertheless I wanted to continue my experiment to see how the colours would work and if I could successfully paint it.

I painted the acrylic on the back side. This meant I had to work backwards, making the first layer the most intentional and building up to create depth. This was especially difficult, when working with the tiny elements like the 'welcome to', I couldn't paint precisely enough so the lines were blurred, making it really hard to see. I will instead have a look at coloured acrylic sheets and see if I can laser that and build up the elements rather than individually painting.