Sketchbook. Portrait project

This is some mouldable material I still have yet to find the name of. It originally was flat, I laid it in a tray and filled the tray with boiling hot water from a kettle and let it soak for a few minutes. I had a glass mannequin head/face covered in plastic wrap ready. I placed this now wet mouldable material over the 3D glass face and moulded it to fit the shape of the face and let is cool and set and so I was left with this mould.   

 I used roving wool to thread between the grid of the sculpture. Using sky colours to try to create somewhat of a sky scape feel. Sun, clouds and sky. I am really happy with this piece, I enjoy the shapes it has created on the face looking very anatomical with muscular shapes showing. I would love to do more if I can figure out what the original material is called and can source it.

 This is a shot taken in the photography studio with Julian. Shot by Carolanne. I find it powerful but creepy. I like it.

 Black and white. Looks even more creepy. I adore the texture and the light and dark here.

 Playing with scratchy colour over the top, looking at different affects. I am enjoying the yellow over the black and white.

 Yellow scribbles. I would enjoy scribbling on printed photos of these using paint posca pens.

Experimenting with acrylic pours for background conceptual ideas

My method for acrylic paint pouring differs each time but for the most part I mix acrylic paint, pva glue, water and sometimes Silicone oil to create a different textual tone on the canvas. The silicone oil when mixed and heated with a heat gun will create these cell type patterns on the canvas.  

 

 Mixing pretty colours, separately at first. Paint. PVA glue. Water. A few drops of silicone oil. Mixed until the consistency is runny but not too thin. Then I layer each colour on top of another in a separate cup without them mixing together, then flip that cup onto the surface then go from there. Its very unpredictable. Like me.  

 I think this is the smallest pour I have ever made. The colours are so vibrant and the whole canvas gives me science fiction vibes. A disease, a virus, something abnormal created in a lab maybe. 

 Some more small pours on A6 flat canvas.

 This pour I love but once it dried the shapes and texture has not come out as sharp and as obvious as id have liked. I think the colours blended together too quickly and have become more merged together instead of separate streams of colours. I would like to draw some linier character illustration over the top at a later date. 

 Trying different materials and observing how the paint will sit and dry on different surfaces. This was small pieces of mdf wood cut in the workshop. Painted separately, with different colours and some with silicone oil and some without.

Examples of the pouring technique. I move the surface around to control the paints movement and where I want it to flow and watch the transformation transpire in front of me is my favourite moment of pouring.  

 Trying bigger pieces now. 40X40cm is the size required for the exhibition so I am working to this size now here. I wanted to try to grab some more control on the orientation of the colours? I cut the bottom of a plastic cup off, secured that onto the canvas with some tape to keep it in place.

 Her is the first pour. Black, no silicone. I poured it around the cup taking care it did not seep underneath.

 Now using the cup as a vessel for different colours and separation until I am ready for them to merge. I finally release the cup and slowly glide it over the canvas and merge it ever so slightly with the black line of paint.

 This is the result before drying. It looks all shiny and I love that before it dries to matt. I am sure there would be some resin trick to pour over after drying to keep it shiny but there is no time for this at this time.