Cut Out Work Reversed

I was experimenting with some cut out work of plant shapes and decided to scan them so I had the option to create some ideas and designs on photoshop or illustrator.  The sun happened to be shining and as my work went through the scanner, the wrong side was the side I saw and as the sun was shining, it was also shining through the brown paper with the cut out plants to create a different effect that I thought could be used as part of my collection.

Natural Plant Collection - Animal Kingdom

Using white paint on brown works very well and made the decision to just use the plant shapes that you could find in the jungle and not use animals in this collection.  The combination of painting white paint on brown paper and hand made paper and painting it in different directions helped to create a lovely textured, natural feel.  Layering paper and cutting out the plant shapes then using the positive and negative of the cut out work and combining that idea with the white paint have helped to create this collection and has worked very well.  

Magenta And Black

The three collections that I want to produce are all linked in one way or another and are all part of my animal kingdom theme.  There is one with just jungle type plants with the natural colours of brown and white, one with the natural colours of brown and white with the coloured lined drawings of the animals and/or birds and then the black and magenta collection with the lined drawings of the birds/animals.  These are some ideas that I have started off with to see how the collection will work and how it can be developed.  The idea and colours work well but the composition and size of the animals and plants when placing them together need to be taken in to consideration for the final design(s) to look right and work.

Two of the collections I want to produce for my final degree show will include lined drawings of animals and birds and these will be drawn using colours from my colour palette.  My intentions are to groups of the same animal or bird in the same design as well as grouping different animals and birds together and I need to think carefully about composition.  One of the collections will have the natural background of white paint on brown paper and plants and animals like the one at the top with the drawings of parrots in different positions and colours.  The other collection will have the drawn animals and/or birds in it but on a black and magenta background.

The First Cut Exhibition

The First Cut Exhibition has been on display at the City Art Gallery in Manchester and I spent some time there looking at the different pieces of paper and cut work from different artists and designers.  Whilst it's always good to see different exhibitions at different galleries, this was great for me to see and one that would be beneficial as my work does include some cut out work and it was valuable for me to see the different scales and pieces of work that had been produced.  It also helped for me to see what a finished piece would look like, no matter how simple or intricate it was.  I managed to take a number of different pictures so thought I would share them with you.

Raoul Dufy

These are some more Raoul Dufy images that I have been looking for inspiration.

Raul Dufy

Andre Derain

Paul Poiret

These are three artists/designers that I have been looking at as part of my research and inspiration.  I particularly like Andre Derain's style where he has put down the colours and then drawn over them in black, in a loose way but with a method that is still giving the overall painting/drawing/design a nice, detailed effect.