Evaluation.

After sitting and looking at my work for a while, i have calculated that i have created work of a substantial standard, but looking even closer, i have found a few areas that could use some improving.

For example, My tablet, although successful, could be more realistic, as i recently noticed that some of my fingers were out of proportion, which given the chance again, i would change. On a more positive note, i personally feel that i excelled myself on my paper experiments, including my 3D paper hand, which is a personal favourite of mine, as i took a great deal of time and consideration as to what the size and structure of the hand it self would look like by looking at various pictures i have collected of hands, and my hands themself.
I think my work does relate to that of Mark Rigby's as we have both not only used specific areas of the body, him using feet and myself hands, and most of all kept them in a simplistic manner, which is a crutial part of the assignment brief. I also feel that i have explored external resources particually well also, this includes the in depth look at the movement of fire and flames, which i used within my ceramics piece.
Overall, i feel that i have done a benign project, and with the slight mishaps i have encountered resolved, it shall soon become a great deal better.

Modrock.

One of my more enjoyable experiments was my 3D Modrock hand.

To obtain this experiment i placed several layers of sopping modrock onto my left hand, whilst keeping my fingers in place.. (with the help of others) to resume the reaching out position...

After applying a few layers onto my hand, i then, using scissors, cut a small line up from my palm to my thumb, slowly wriggling my fingers and remaing hand out of the small space...

After i removed it from my hand, i added a few more layers, enough to cover the incision i made, dampening the modrock frequently to smooth out the rough creases.. leaving a tidy finish =)

like so...

Once dry and hardened, i added a lick of paint to make the hand look more realistic =)

Paper work - Applique

For this experiment i used a sheet of ordinary black paper and cut out my hand shape, but for a twist i cut a thin strip away from all the creases in the hand and stuck the hand shape back onto a sheet of brown paper, placing them back slightly apart from the normal shape, leaving a negative applique effect, This is a simple method but i feel it is effective all the same =)

Paper work - Printing.

Another experiement i used was a form of printing where a picture it cut and peeled away from a piece of multi-layered card, leaving raised areas for the oil based ink to get trapped into... once i got the picture i was after ( in this case a hand and flames) i rolled on a thin layer of the ink and placed my sheet into the rolling machine, rolling it tightly to the paper

Leaving me a printed picture like so....

Paper work - Embossing.

Using the handmade paper i made a few weeks previous, i used some thick card to cut out shapes (relevant to my project) ... once i recieved the correct shape i wanted, i then layered the card on top of my handmade paper and rolled tightly through the print roller.. leaving a pressed shape on my handmade paper...



If you look closely at this picture, you will be able to make out a faint hand shape within the paper which has been gently embossed into the handmade paper using card...

Unfortunately, i do not think the card was as successful as i would have hoped, so as an idea, i chose to use a thicker material such as cardboard to emboss my next piece....

Like so..

In my opinion, this experiment was much more successfull, and the imprint of te cardboard has left texture as well as my shape, which i feel is much more effective =)

Paper work - 3D

For my 3D paper experiment i decided to create a 3D hand, from bending and shaping paper and taping into place with some masking tape... (this was only a rough experiment of the reaching out position)

Rubbings.

We took a trip out of college to visit an old local Abbey, meanwhile, as well as enjoying the spectacular views, We took some rubbings of some old monuments and gravestones in the local graveyard... We were aiming to gather some primary source of related Grecian patterns and writing..

Tape work - Ceramics

Carrying on my insulation tape experiment.. i took a trip into town and bought myself a couple of plain white ceramic dinner plates as a blank canvas to display my work ideas on...

To create this plate i used black insluation tape and some grey re-inforcement tape (Which is sticky as hell!!) and cut out the neccessary shapes with a craft knife, to create my piece...

UNFORUNATELY....

My second one wasn't as successful and i messed up the roman numerals along the edge... But ill show you where i got to anyway.. =)

This disaster was also created by using Black insluation tape and a craft knife =)

Tape work.

For an experiment, i used different coloured insulation tape to create a realted piece to my chosen project idea..

In this case i used green, black and blue insulation tape on a sheet of thick plastic, and cut into it using a craft knife, creating the white edges.. giving it a negtive feel =)

Making my Tablet.

For me, This was a great area of my project, not only was it effective, but i really enjoyed doing it! =)

For this experiment we made a thick tablet out of plaster of Paris, and when it was dry enough, using chisels and other fancy tools, we carved an apropriate design into our plaster, leaving us with some really effective outcomes, giving a real greek feel to our work .. =)

Into my tablet i carved a hand quite clearly reaching out for help, but for a new addition i added a clear wedding ring, this is to symolise the death of Jason's mistress (whom he later married) .. and lengths Medea's went (as a wife and mother) to seek her revenge, i think this is a positive step forward in my work =)

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OF COURSE ALL THIS DIRTY WORK DIDNT COME WITHOUT ALL ITS FUNNY PICTURES!! =).. ENJOY!

all out protective gear...

Influences - Fire.

 Fire and flames have influenced me in my project as in one of the many versions of the Myth of Medea, She burns Jason's Mistress alive in her wedding dress,which i feel is a crutial element of Medea's revenge seeking...

I looked at different types of flames including that of a lit match and candles, i then filmed there progression like so....

This is the match..

This is the candles...

Influences - Hands

I have chosen to take an in depth look into 'Hands' for my projects, looking at the shapes, and structures of different hand gestures, Showing her victims reaching out for help..

I really like the structure of this picture, and the clear understanding of someone reaching out for another.

Medea - Chosen Myth.

MEDEA (and her vengeance)   

**There are many different versions of this story, some say the murders were accidental, some say they were not, For the purposes of my project am i choosing to believe that she was indeed seeking vengeance towards Jason, His mistress and their children.**

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In Corinth, Jason abandoned Medea for the king's daughter, Glauce. Medea took her revenge by sending Glauce a dress and golden coronet, covered in poison. This resulted in the deaths of both the princess and the king, Creon, when he went to save her. According to the tragic poet Euripides, Medea continued her revenge, murdering her two children by Jason. Afterward, she left Corinth and flew to Athens in a golden chariot driven by dragons sent by her grandfather Helios, god of the sun.

Medea (about to murder her children) by Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix (1862).

Before the fifth century BC there seems to have been two variants of the myth's conclusion. According to the 7th-century BC poet Eumelus, Medea killed her children by accident. The poet Creophylus, however, blamed their murders on the citizens of Corinth^. Medea's deliberate murder of her children, then, appears to be Euripides' invention. Her filicide would go on to become the standard for later writers.
Fleeing from Jason, Medea made her way to Thebes where she healed Heracles (the former Argonaut) for the murder of Iphitus. In return, Heracles gave her a place to stay in Thebes until the Thebans drove her out in anger, despite Heracles' protests.
She then fled to Athens where she met and married Aegeus. They had one son, Medus, although Hesiod makes Medus the son of Jason. Her domestic bliss was once again shattered by the arrival of Aegeus' long-lost son, Theseus. Determined to preserve her own son's inheritance, Medea convinced her husband that Theseus was a threat and that he should be disposed of. As Medea handed Theseus a cup of poison, Aegeus recognized the young man's sword as his own, which he had left behind many years previous for his newborn son, to be given to him when he came of age. Knocking the cup from Medea's hand, Aegeus embraced Theseus as his own.
Medea then returned to Colchis and, finding that Aeëtes had been deposed by his brother Perses, promptly killed her uncle, and restored the kingdom to her father. Herodotus reports another version, in which Medea and her son Medus fled from Athens to the Iranian plateau and lived among the Aryans, who then changed their name to the Medes.

Artist Link.

After some searching on the web i found a suitable artist that i can link my mythical pieces to..

This is the work of...

MARK RIGBY =)

(His websites AMAZING! - http://markrigby.com/ )

I have Chosen Rigby as my artist link as he does a lot of work on the human form, and as you can see on your right, he also does close ups on limbs such as hands a feet, Which is perfect for me, as i am going to make hands a main element in my project, showing 'Medea's' victims reaching out for help..

Day two.

Moving on to day two..

Today we made home-made paper which we could then use for embossing etc at a later date..
To do this we..
(cue the paper recipe!)

. Shredded some scrap paper until we had enough to half fill a blender..
. Added an equal amount of water to blender, more or less depending on the thickness you need...
  **THEN WE BLITZED**
- Until it became a smooth paste-
. we then put it into a box covered with satin.. (held secure by two bungee cords)
. Then we put the paste filled box into a deep trat of water and, with our hands, sifted the paste until it became an even consistency then removed from the water tray..
 **THEN LEFT TO DRY FOR AT LEAST TWO DAYS UNTIL PAPER IS

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Lacoon Group sculpture ... My influence for our plaster project - coming up soon.. !!

Day one.

New Term, you know what that means.. New topic!

Greek mythology

I started my project by using my good friend Gooogle-search to get a better insight into the greek myths and legends around... :)

After searching a few different websites...                                                     
 http://www.greekmythology.com/               
http://www.mythweb.com/
http://www.desy.de/gna/interpedia/greek_myth/greek_myth.html

And Reading a few books...  HA!

..I picked a a few of my favourite stories
these included..
. Zeus and his lovers.
. Aphrodite and how she came about.
. The Creation - How the world begun.
. Theseus - and the minotaur
. Heracles
. Medea - and Jason's mistress