Narrative: Word and Image

For my map I have chosen A Game of Thrones as my title. In the first book, A Game of Thrones I have chosen to document my favourite character Daenerys Targaryen. In the map, I have marked down her journey in one of the chapters of the first book.  I personally have read the book, but I could not remember it by heart, so I have re-created her journey by memory about the death of her husband and the birth of her dragons. I remember the egg forms from my memory of the chapter. This represents control.

Figure 1: The Map.

 

As a textiles student, I thought it would be appropriate to use fabrics as the material to work with. I have used hand stich to represent the personal journey.  The personal journey is reflected in this work.

I have used different colours of ribbons to represent each event, but not in a particular order.  The reason being that some of her journey is stronger memories than her others. I have placed the sun with the darker blue ribbon with patterned like stars. Also, reason being the sun is going down is that Drogo’s life is fading away, as the sun going down

For the start, I have used a blue ribbon to show that she have travel across the Narrow Sea, therefore, all of her events happened in the free cites. Also I have used character icons to show the characters, for example, the moon represent Daenerys Targaryen and the sun represent Drogo, which is Daenerys’s husband. In the book, they address each other as ‘Moon of my life’ and ‘My sun and stars’. I have used blanket stich for the waves.

At this point, that was the life changing moment for Daenerys, not only because the loss of her husband, but also the exchange life from Drogo to the dragons. I have stitched the Dragon eggs in the center of the map, because they played an important role in Daenery’s journey.

The reason why the ‘Moon’ (Daenerys) is placed on white piece of fabrics is that I was trying to show light and dark as life and death. Another reason why I chose to use Sun and Moon to represent the characters is that the Sun and Moon never cross each other. The half-moon represents that Daenerys is not complete without Drogo.

To hint to the following chapters of the book, the couching stitch represents the bond of marriage between Daenerys and Drogo. When Drogo is fading away into the Night land, the bond was broken with Drogo’s death, but Daenerys is still holding on to it.

iMovie of Fairground

I was given a chance to work with different types of projectors and this really helped me to develop my ideas futher of how to combine dancing with the theme fairground.

I filmed a carousel projector, projecting photographs of fairgrounds and rides on the wall.

Then I was taught a new technique, by putting a bowl of water on the overhead projector then drop ink on to it and I have filmed the process of it on the wall. See figure 1.

Figure 1: Personal Image

I started doing movements with my arms in order to respond to what I was seeing and I think that worked really well, because my first attempt of trying to combine my sewing machine progress and my dance clips together was not working, because it just didn’t feel related.

Because I did not want my face in the video clip,  I went really close up to the overhead projector and this means only my shadow was framed, which is what I wanted. Also the clothing that I was wearing worked very well, because it was kind of see through, this meant the things that were happening on the overhead projector were still able to be seen.

After I put the all the clips together, I was really playing with the idea of time; I was slowing selection of clips down so that it almost looked like a still image.

I was really into the idea of looking behind the scene of the performance, because I know that being a performer, practise is really needed to be good at it on stage, I thought using my shadows only could be a symbolic idea of being behind the stage.

After I put the film together, I was struggling with the sound, because during the process of filming I had people talking, noises in the background, so I have muted everything in my film, but then with my film, I felt like it really needed some sound to go with all the movements.

I did not want to borrow some singer’s backing tracks, because I like the idea of having it as my own. Therefore, I thought it would have been a good idea to ask a friend of mine, who is the bassist of the band, Found From Within, to help me with the sound.

After telling him what I was looking for, he actually made the backing bass track to go with my film, therefore, the sound and the film worked perfectly for me.

 Also it was a great opportunity to work with different people in different areas.

 

 

 

Video made by me.  

Band name - Found From Within
Bass - Tom Fisher

Drawing with the sewing machine.

After I was introduced to iMovie, I wanted to explore on iStopmotion, but the university does not have the software I need to work with iMovie, which means live action movies. I then realized filming with live action I am still able to make it look like still images and really expand on the idea of time.

I have realized my strong point is within the embroidery area, I have started to use the rides in Blackpool Pleasure Beach as templates, to help me to develop. I have used line drawing to draw out the ride then used the sewing machine as a tool to draw and overlap them.



Figure 1: Personal image, drawing of the ride.

 

 

Figure 2: Personal image, my overlapping experiment.

 

 

 

I see film as a ground to work with, but with limited budget, what I did was to photocopy the film onto paper, then cut them out into the same size as a roll of film, then I stitched on top of it with both machine stitch and handstitch. See figure 3 and 4.

 

 

Figure 3: Personal image, Stitching onto papers.



Figure 4: Personal image, stitching onto papers.

From a distance people actually thought I used real film instead of paper. With the filming, I was filming about the process of making, but then I was interested in the performers in Blackpool Pleasure Beach, but when I tried to combine the film of the process of making and the dance performance together in iMovie, it does not feel related.

 



Figure 5: Personal image, the overall view of the long scroll paper/ Working space.

I photocopied some sections that I like on the long scroll paper and this way it helps me to capture the moment and it helps me to develop sections that work more.

 

 



Experimenting with film

During the process of this project, I planned to introduce embroidery within my works. As in the last unit – Sampling -, sadly I did not have a chance to combine embroidery and Print together, as I intended to.

I have been inspired by La Cineteca Del Comune Di Bologna’s film - Danza Serpentina, 1869.

Danza Sperpentina, 1869

 

 

This has led me to think of ways to combine drawings, film and embroidery together.

I experimented with painting nail vanish on top of the film and rolling it back and playing it.

 

 

Figure 1, personal photograph, applied nail vanish on top of the 16mm films.

 



 

Figure 2, personal photograph. 16mm film.

 

 

 

 

Video of the film playing.



Adobe Illustrator Motifs Design

I have been using Adobe Illustrator to create at least one motif design, I was resisting using any Photoshop to design, because I am rather a handmade person, but it is unavoidable, because nowadays it is an advantage to know how to use Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator. When I was at the digital workshop session, I was losing my temper over the learning process, but I have decided to book a one to one support session and continue to work on my technology skills.

My Adobe Illustrator motif design’s inspiration came from a book called The Secret Code by Priya Hemenway (2008).  This talks about ‘the mysterious formula that rules art, nature and science’, which in other words means the proportion of measurements. I thought it would be a good idea to use Adobe Illustrator to create some of the motif designs, because they are difficult to draw by hand, because precise measurement is needed. 

I have experimented with different shapes and positions on the Adobe Illustrator, the more I use it, the more I explore what I can do using this software, for example, changing the line design from thick to thin to create  movement, like a brushstroke effect.

With motif designs it is not about making a picture, but to have different combinations in order to create designs in the future. Therefore, I am using these shapes that I have created through the computer to link my hand made design together, because my handmade designs were more drawing based, where I think these computer designs would fit nicely in the background or maybe overlapping.

Motifs Designs - Drawings

I have always been interested in animals, but I have started to look at them from another perspective. For example, I started looking at the dead pigeons, because this subject was overlooked and I thought of how I can transfer the image into print design.

Sketchbook Drawing - Dead Pigeon

I like to work with fine-liner pens; because it creates a sketching effect, I do not enjoy drawing with pencils, because I hate the idea that it can be corrected by rubbing it off the paper. With a pen, once the mark is made, it cannot be undone. I start off by using continuous line drawing to roughly mark down the proportion with a pencil or a graphite stick, but I never use a rubber.

One issue that I have found with the 0.5mm fine-liner pen is that the line it creates is too fine, which makes it hard or even impossible for the print to be produced. I discovered that the safest way is to use 2.0mm or a bigger number.

I then started to look into pigeons’ skeletons and be experimental with my drawings.

 

Sketchbook Drawing - Pigeon Skeletons

Also, being experimental I have used straight lines only to draw a skeleton of a pigeon.

 

I have used the feathers that I have collected to create mark making on the paper and tea stains and Indian ink to draw them. I thought of developing this kind of work by looking into mark making and combining it with found objects.

Things I might explore: I have liked Jackson Pollock’s work, because it is full of energy.  I have also started to develop an interest in working with hair. Therefore, I plan to experiment with this direction. 

100 meter line

I admire Candy Jernigan's work, she is known as a found object artist.
 

My first idea to represent 100 meter line was to go to Whitworth park and use a 100 meter long string to tie two trees together and fill the space in between with the lines.

However, I know there is no such thing as original, because there's always some artist somewhere who has done similar things, but still, I would like something that came from my own idea and to know that I wasn't just adopting another artist's approach without being interested in their work.  

 

I used found objects, I collected twigs, and later I selected 3 out of a bunch, and I hammered one on the wall, and used a roll of thread to tie the 2 together, to create a sense of flowing, the shadows reflected the threads and the twigs, I know the thread did not create 100 meter length, but I was looking at how the light and shadow, positive and negative space multiplied the line. 

           


 

 

 

 

Later on, I was looking at Candy Jernigan's work and I like how she uses different ways to represent her found objects, through collage and drawings.

I have taken this idea from her on board, it happened accidentally. My dog chewed up the twigs I found at the park, and she also chewed up my Embroidery wooden hoop in to many pieces. I used those wooden pieces and placed them in five orderly lines, and another piece at the other side of the paper. I then started to draw them, drawing the found objects, within the found objects themselves.

 

Sampling - Print

The task was to peel off the vinyl and use it to draw a continuous line drawing, in the process the vinyl might snap, it might stick togther taking two lines or more.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=726415747368699&l=4095143104314127170

(See the link for video of the process)

Working in a team of six, we decided to give one another a role to do. So, someone filmed the process and someone did the peeling and we all did something. Working in a team, showed that we all have different ways of thinking. I jumped in and went ahead and started peeling. Thinking about it afterward, I realised I acted without discussion with my team members, which might have made them feel left out. Having roles worked well, once we decided what we were doing. I felt like I learnt how to communicate a bit more clearly with others and to compromise.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=726418410701766&l=489980301429716867

(See the link for video of the process)

For example, I suggested to use the positive space and negative space of the vinyl and wall, then another member of the team was more interested in 3D, and at the end, our ideas combined togther.

 

 

French knots sample

On the chose of fabric, I have chosen to use already dyed, because I do not enjoy working with white background, I have started to develop my own colour palette. However, I still sometimes photoshop my work into black and white, just to give it a dramatic effect.
On the fabic, it already has machine stitch as the background and I have worked onto it with french knots to bring out the textures, I have focused on the foldes of the fabric and used french knots to hold the folds together.

Overall, I like the worn out textures.  

Series of work, transferring chance card drawing into textiles

I have decided to work with the environment around me, in this case, my plants. I have observed different parts of the plant and used hand stitch to creates line drawings on the found object, receipt. 

I have first wet the recipes then used indian ink and dripping it on top, let the ink soak in, put it under the water and soften the colours and let it dry. 

  

I like the feel of papers and the marks it left of where the needles has been, I think papers requires looking after while working with it. However, tears marks can be interesting too. Working with receipts, it gives an idea of mapping the city, creating a connection outside the studio and ''leaving a foot print of where I have been.''

Friday Drawing Day 25/10/13

This is a photograph that I have took of the actual objects.

This is a drawing that I have done on Friday. (25/10/13) I have first used blind continuous line drawing to get the basic form of the objects then I have worked into it by using paint. I have chosen to draw as detailed as I can on the first two pairs of shoes, then at the back I have decided to use a paint brush and use continuous line drawing again, but not filling in the details, because I thought the structure of the object itself was rather interesting, therefore, I have only worked on the positive space. I really like the composition in this drawing that I have done, because at the front, the colour red are really eye catching and at the back, (the heels) are rather abstract comparing them to the four shoes at the front.

This is a drawing that I have done at home, I have first used paint to create movement and also mark down the structure of the object, then correcting it with a black marker, because the way I see this object was the diamonds that has been stuck on the front of the shoe was really appearing to me, therefore, I have used line drawing to repersent the form, pattern of them.