Final piece planing and experiments towards it

This week I have begun working towards planning my final piece, I have created final piece plans and ideas in my sketchbook and I am now experimenting on various possible composition for my final piece, as well as thinking about what mediums I will use together. I have slightly changed my theme after carrying out my artist experiments and gaining new ideas, I decided I will still focus on shells however instead of representing them in an environment other than their origins, I will focus on portraying them surrounded by darkness deep in the ocean where we are less likely to think about shells being.

I decided it was time I began to work on canvases as I am most likely going to use them for my final piece. The main idea now is to combing all my artist influences along with my personal style together for an end result. In the two images bellow I tried to focus on how I can combine mediums like hessian, cardboard, paper, thread and acrylic paint together effectively.

Currently I am thinking for my final piece to create a darker backgrounds such as black and then add naturalistic looking materials like cardboard and hessian for detail and then add hints of brighter colours with paint and thread, similar to the colours of the pink shells for a highlighted effect as well as adding the colourful sketch drawings of shells.

After carrying out some testers on small canvases, I decided I should think about composition, as currently I have only been working on small scales hence filling up space was not too complicated, however as I am planing on working on two larger size canvases I needed to think about making everything look effective in comparison to scale, hence I decided to use A2 sized pieces of paper. Even though I am going to work on canvas sizes 24 x 30" I think paper is the best alternative for experimental final pieces.

As you may see these two paintings were a rough example of my final piece ideas. I began with the image on the left. For the background I used black acrylic paint which I applied all over the paper except for the outer sections, although this did look effective on smaller scale I am not too convinced I looks as great on larger scale. In terms of composition I decided that I would add the shells more round the edges rather than the middle this way the painting would not look as cluttered I also glued down pieces of hessian and cardboard which add extra texture to the piece. However after this experiment I don't believe that having just a black background makes the painting stand out as it appears rather bland with not specific features in the centre of it. This is why in the second painting I decided to mix in hints of white and coral pink paint with the black paint to create a multi toned effect as I have similarly tried to when experimenting in Joan Mitchell's style. I think this makes the painting much livelier and more in depth I also tried adding shell drawings to the background in my opinion it allows the shells and the background to compliment each other better.

I then decided to try and brighten up the background even more, with bolder colours and thicker thread, as well as incorporating detailed and colourful sketch drawings of shells, which I highlighted with watercolours. Media I used was paper, acrylic paint, watercolours, hessian, thread, PVA glue, fabric, black paper, pen, pencil hairspray.

These two painting gave me ideas about my final piece that  I need to reconsider. For instance if I am to sew into the shell drawings and the canvas background I should think about using thicker thread as the current thread I used for my smaller paintings would be hardly visible on a large canvas that I would use for my final piece hence it would appear less effective and would not suit its purpose as expected.

I also further looked into ways of focusing on the details of the shells

After some thinking I was lead To a decision that I should not incorporate the shell sketches into my final piece paintings. Even through I do consider the shells as a successful piece of my artwork as they are unique, personal to my style and creative, they do not however combine well with my backgrounds, and look better alone on a simple white background. That said I still want to have shells in my final piece however I want to keep them more relatable to abstract and surrealist art, similar to how my artists do with their subject mater. Hence I have considered only focusing on the outlines and rough shapes of the shells, by using thread or fabrics which I could use to create parts of the shells; Because since i am now focusing on shells in the bottom of a dark sea, they would naturally be hardly visible, blending with the surrounding, with possible hints of colours or outlines coming through.

This is why I have also looked up different stitching techniques that I could use to create the outlines of shells as well as to add hints of texture and detail.






































Some of these techniques were harder than others, and some are more suitable than others. For instance, some of these are only suitable for fabrics that are easy to manipulate and have no particular shape to them, and would not work on tough surfaces that are stiff and cant be folded easily and are not necessarily meant for sewing like canvas or paper.  This is why I looked for stitching methods for both fabrics and canvases, and the ones I favour the most are fly stitch, upright cross stitch, cross stitch and open fish bone stitch. However I do believe that other techniques will also be useful, but maybe used less frequently as they do not appear as effective. Either way I believe knowing a range of stitching methods will be useful as it will add diversity to my paintings and will fit the purpose of whatever it is that I am sewing.

Below are some examples of work that I have created with thread and canvas also using acrylic paint, cardboard and hessian.

As you can see there are various ways I could use thread for the purpose of portraying shells with the use of fabrics and other mediums.
In terms of backgrounds I know that although I will no longer have shell sketches stuck down to my paintings, this will not mean that they will look less detailed, or duller, as I will use other resources to add detail within the backgrounds, this way challenging myself to think outside the box, and step out of my comfort zone of drawing shells and not creating them in any other way.

For instance, I can collage in some photographs that I have taken for this project to add extra colour, or I can add newspaper to the surfaces for hints of details and tones.


















Overall I am now confident as to what I am doing for my final piece with the help of my final piece plan which I have carried out in my sketchbook, which allows me to draft ideas and then adjust them every time I think my final piece idea could be improved. I know for the exam it is mostly important to take care and not rush the painting, as sewing can be done quickly but it does not guarantee precision and consistency, and I have also discovered that in terms of backgrounds, I need to allow them to dry properly, as using the heat gun to dry the acrylic paint leaves the paint cracked and dried up with minimal glossy finish which makes the whole painting look less appealing. I will paint two large paintings sized 24 x 30", and they will focus on a individual shell for inspiration, in terms of the colours I choose to use, and the shapes I sew in with thread and fabrics.