Email From Simon - 'On The Wall'

I emailed Simon yesterday, to ask specifically what he was expecting next thursday when I meet him, today he's emailed me back and set me up for my next weeks work and possibly over the summer.

My main focus is on the strawberry stuff, below this is what Simon talks about. (I have the whole email in my sketchbook...)

'As far as screen printed stuff goes, I’d love see to the ‘Hot-air-berry’ Screened... I think it’d would look amazing as a 2 or 3 part layered screen... I’m guessing you guys have access to water based inks? I’m really interested in images that have layers overlapping bold water based inks as it mixes colours where they are layered –( I’m sure you’ll be familiar!) Blows my tiny mind how cool it looks though!!....

I also like the idea of you screening the giant strawberry in maybe two colours , but each layer being slightly off-set so you get that almost 3d effect, then maybe using a spare lazer cut stencil you could perhaps aerosol the hot air balloon over the top??... to be fair, I think however you go about it – it’s going to come out looking superb... I’m just all giddy right now about layered water based screens and then mixing that up with other processes like lino-cuts, fine lined illustration, stencils etc... Once you’ve made your screens up just bang out as many variations as you can be arsed to do!.. There are so many products I want to build up a folder of possibilities for I’d rather have too many options than too few.

Ok, so that’s Mr strawberry... he’s a winner, big, small, various colours, mix up the processes, use as much of the colleges paper as humanly possible!!'

This is really exciting...I'm a little disappointed that this has come about at the end of this brief, but it couldn't be helped, as I was doing other work for other briefs at different times. It will hopefully set me up well for 3rd year as well and building this relationship with Simon is important.

Prep of images for Screen PRINT.

Today I've begun preparing some images that Simon would prefer screenprinted for print, it's a shame that they will not be done in time for the end of this brief and for my visit to Simon at 'On The Wall' to be so late on in the project but I've had other deadlines which didn't allow me to start this brief earlier, but also it's exciting to have somebody actually want my work and so I look forward to printing these next week...

I'm still deciding on colours and how many colours to separate out and print?

My Visit to 'On The Wall'...

I've just got back from visiting 'On The Wall' and speaking to Simon, he seemed to really like the work I took him and said that it was crazy that I should take him lots of repeat pattern, as the shop is wanting to get together a collection of wrapping paper design now and Simon said my stuff would be perfect, he liked and wants to use, my Barbie repeat pattern, pens repeat, strawberry repeat and origami hearts as wrapping paper designs, while I was there he wrote down the stuff he was interested in using and said he would email me regarding them.

He's also asked for me to screenprint my strawberry repeat design and we arranged a follow-up meeting for next Friday, to then show him the screenprinted design.

He liked the laser cut design, and said that he would like to use it, but obviously he can't put this in a print production, and if I wanted to produce them for him to sell then it would'nt be very cost effective for me, but I said that, at the end of the day I'm doing this all for experience and the money wouldn't matter so much. But he said he could and would like to give me the gallery space downstairs to use and exhibit the work and then any sold, the profit all goes to me. I need to ask him when this slot would be available, because there's an artist using it next. This is something we will discuss further when I next see him, but he likes the design a lot and so wants me to turn it in to a print - thus screenprinting it.

So all in all, I'd say a pretty successful and exciting first outing into the real world :)

Prep work to take to 'On The Wall'...

Today I spent, the whole day picking work and putting together my portfolio to take to show Simon at 'On The Wall'.

I've never taken my work to show anyone before, and so I didn't know whether I would be taking too much or too little. I put the laser cuts I done first as these were what I had actually produced with 'On The Wall' in mind, however I'm pretty certain that he won't want to take my laser cuts, as they would be hard to reproduce in the print production, well I would have to produce them.

I'm taking my barbie head prints as I think they are one of my most successful prints also a photo etch of a barbie photo which I will suggest as a postcard design.

The only other work I will take is all the new repeat patterns I have designed as well as my repeat pattern pen design for 'pocketful illustration magazine'.

The photos are shit, but you get the idea...

Last Laser Cutting Session...

Today was my last chance to get stuff cut before going to see Simon at ' On The Wall', I had lots planned, but couldn't get it all done.

I still had trouble with the whole image of the birds and bikes showing up on the laser cutting program as Micheal reinstalled the old program for me so I could actually cut images. But I was really keen to see what they would look like, and If I'd spaced it okay. Below is the birds and bikes cut into paper...

I cut this design out of fabric as well, which seemed to work quite well, I put the gingham over wood, so that the design showed through and have cut it as if it were a picnic blanket which has been placed over a picnic table...

I also cut the strawberry design out of other materials, I tried cutting it out of magazine pages, one side of text and one side with an image on it. I really like the idea of the work/my design being camouflaged and hidden into other images and text...

Here's the design cut out of a thin wood and then also the engraved strawberries...

Wood.

A couple of days ago, I went to the woodwork department downstairs, 'surprisingly', to get some wood to laser cut and engrave into, the technician was really helpful and I looked at a few different woods, I wanted a light wood and this was handy as the darker woods are more expensive.

We dug out a rough A3 sized bit of wood, which was really thick and then I watched the technician as he explained everything he was doing, in the end I had two beautiful

I hoped that the grain in the wood, will add to the 'organic-ness' and picnic'y feel I want, I also thought about the idea of picnic tables being wooden and people carving into the wood, for a finished piece, I could maybe add a bit of text in that looks as if it's been scratched in as well?

This is what the wood looked like when it had been engraved into...

I wasn't that impressed, but I think that it would have looked better if the design was bigger, or if I'd used a kiss cut, this would have given the wood more depth, as it half cuts out the shapes.

Below are photos of the design cut into a thin wood, it gives the image a nice feel, especially as my theme was picnics and this idea of the picnic table...

Bloody Laser Cutter...

It seems this laser cutter is the bane of my life, It's been so hard getting slots to actually use it and when I loaded my images on it last week, bits didn't show up on the screen, there was no box to go by so I had to construct the images all over again and measure it all up before cutting it. got a couple done last week, but they were kind of tester.

Today is the LAST time I can laser cut before the deadline and going to see Simon at 'On The Wall', got here early this morning in the hope that nobody would be using it but they were, then get to my 2 o clock slot and find that someones now medled with the software and put new software on, not linking it with the laser cutter, so now my images are all loading, properly but I cant' fucking cut anything because it's not connected, and I'm now sitting around for a couple of hours, hopeing that Michael might be able to fix it or find the code needed.

Looks like I'm only going to have one laser cut image to show Simon. at the shop, which sucks.

Rant over.

Lesson learnt from this, never rely on technology, especially when it's always fully booked and you have only 2 slots in 2 weeks, do it by hand?

Where I'm at...

What I've done....

- Don't Panic Competition.

- Submission to 'Pocketful Illustration Magazine'

- Artivism project: Did intergenerational work, making sculptures, had my illustration/pattern design work featured in the animation Shari made and also went to speak at the Green Generations launch event.

- Got a body of work together, theme 'Picnic' to develop into prints and laser cuts.

- Started up a couple of Online Portfolios.

What I've got left to do....

- Go to 'On The Wall', have a chat, get feedback from Simon, possibly get some work into the shop, (be prepared for Simon to want things changed or done in a different way?)

- Email Selin (Pocketful Magazine) and ask when the works will be online and when the magazine will be printed.

Email from 'Pocketful Magazine'

The deadline for 'Pocketful Illustration Magazine' was 15th April and shortly after this date I received an email form Selin, thanking me for my submission, he also mentioned that he'd email again in a couple of days when he'd made all the submissions online and then to email him back if there was anything we wanted changing for the printed version.

I hadn't heard anything from him for weeks, and with this deadline looming next week, thought I would email and politely ask what was going on?

The email I received back which is stuck in my sketchbook, sadly told me that his mother had been taken very ill over the last month and so he'd had no time to put anything together, he was very apologetic and asked if there was anything he could do and that he'd also try and get the works online for my deadline, but I've emailed him back and said not to worry.

This means I won't have anything too really show for that brief I did, in time to hand in for the deadline, but it's nobody's fault, these things can't be helped and if anything it's just taught me that we're all human, things happen which are out of peoples control and so to always be prepared for any changes and when relying on somebody else, as I was in Selin, to not promise others your work, as this is kind of what's happened with this brief, I wanted to have it to hand in for my deadline, and kind of counted on and just expected to have it, but as it just so happens, I can't.

Online Portfolios. Today...

As we come to the end of this project, just thought I'd give you another look at my online portfolios and how they are looking now...

http://clairebellia.tumblr.com/

http://www.krop.com/clairebellia/

It looks slow, but I've found it hard selecting work I'm proud enough of too let people see, also photographing my work is hard too sometimes show it off, but maybe thats just because I'm such a perfectionist in some things! I seem to look back at my work and like it, as you can see with some past projects on my tumblr portfolio? I think I've been looking at the work for o long that I'm bored of it?!

These portfolios are things I hope to keep up to date and put new work on, the Krop online portfolio however I will be very selective of the work I put up.

Photographing Work?

Okay, so how the hell do you do this? Try to do it yourself...OR scan it?

I've been thinking about how to present laser cuts and my work in general onto my online portfolio sites, the laser cuts will not look as special if I just scan them in as it just looks like a colour applied to the paper.

- Pin it up on a wall...?

Where, what background do you place it on?

- Hold it in front of you...?

OR, get someone else to take them?

Came across this website: http://www.dallasartsrevue.com/resources/How-to-Photo-Art.shtml... but it's more about how to actually take the photograph and settings for specific work, e.g, photographing work behind glass?

OR shall I just scan it?

For the laser cut pieces I definitely need to photograph them, as this way you can see that it is laser cut and the shadows will appear.

I've haven't left enough time to do this properly, my own fault, I'm going to have to do the best I can and then use photoshop the best I can!

Rationale, Summary for end of year PDF.

Rationale up to this date:

For this brief, my aim is to link all 3 ways of working, developing an understanding of myself as a practitioner and a specific style within my work. To start with I will adapt an image I've designed before and submit it to the Don't Panic Poster competition, this is because the deadline for votes is within days and I want to just start quickly and build my confidence. I will submit an image/design for 'Pocketful Illustration Magazine', around the theme of 'I did it my way', this will mean I show skills in answering a theme and creating images in the idea of a theme but in my own way and with adaptability.

Whilst working on these projects I will be partaking in a community, intergenerational project 'Artivism', every Monday afternoon at Armly Mills. This project will be a good chance for me to work intergenerationally and chat/get experience with established artists. I will also be going to The Green Generations Launch Event, to speak on my experiences throughout the project, listening whilst I'm there and hearing what people have to say about these community and intergenerational projects will give me knowledge and understanding in what's actually going on around me in Leeds, possibly make me feel that I want to carry on getting involved in community projects.

Lastly I will be creating a body of work, to then possibly laser cut the designs, for 'On The Wall', which I will be taking to Simon and seeing if he wants to use any of it to sell in the shop. This will give me the chance to create work, picking a theme myself and show it to someone I don't know in a real situation, preparing and picking appropriate pieces to show Simon, getting feedback and then doing what Simon/the client then asks of me.

Summary:

' The work shown, is a laser cut image for my submission to 'On The Wall', a print and poster shop situated in Leeds. The image has come from the theme of Picnics. I have been basing my image making for this live project around, ‘The Human Experience'.

I have attempted to question attitudes towards everyday activities and thoughts, whilst exploring pattern, design, texture, linework and colour, applying my artwork to unusual surfaces. The work I do is heavily influenced by my illustrations but applying these through the use of interesting processes and methods will remain a fundemental theme within my practice'.

I found this pretty hard to do, I found this was the case when putting writing to my work for Pocketful magazine as well, but

I'm not that happy with the image at all, I should have left more time to work out how to best photograph work of that kind, but I guess you can tell it's cut through...

Getting Real...

Lets get real, Amber and I are not going to have an exhibition put together for The Big Issue in the time we have left for this brief, but also the laser cutters are fully booked everywhere until the end of May.

With the sensitivity of the subject we are dealing with and the time we want to put into it, I think it would be wrong to put the exhibition together in a rush and we were having real problems in thinking and finding somewhere appropriate to put the exhibition on, with the idea of targeting the working class in coming to view the exhibition.

In discussion Amber and I wonder whether It would be better put on in September/October of this year when we've had the time to put it together properly and with all the equpiment we need easily available, rather than in the mad rush of the end of term. There are many students with shows on the horrizon and 3rd year students getting work done for the end of their degree shows, they take priorority over us in using college equpiment and so maybe it would be more sensible to put this exhibition on later.

Laser Cuts - First Attempts...

So at the moment I'm sat in the interior design suite in the Laser cutting room, waiting for some stuff to finish being cut. From the crit yesterday when I showed the little strawbs I had tried to cut, it clarrified that there was too much detail to be but so small, and I ended up with little holes and gaps everywhere:

FAIL

So today I have opted for bigger repeats, this meant that the detail has all stayed in, although I'm not sure whether it still looks too crowded and to much. I think the big strawberry on it's own is looking okay though...

Laser cutter, doing it thing...

I'm going to try and use all the off-cuts I produce...

I cut the big strawberry out of two different colours... they both work well, maybe the brighter red is better suited to what the image really is, also tried to do it in repeat, my time ran out and couldn't finish it though...

Then with the Burgandy colour, I tried some red gingham fabric behind it, that I'd bought from the market...

Because I can't get to the laser cutter until next wednesday now, I have decided to create another design but a little simpler and try and cut it out by hand, this could give it a more personal touch as well.

For next wednesday I want to make sure all the files are working properly, because when I seem to open them in the laser cutting program there are always bits missing from the design and I have to construct the whole image again, or like today, I couldn't cut the birds and bikes, which I'm most excited about because lots of the image was missing! I will sort this problem before next wednesday and also I want to have some wood ready to engrave and cut through, I think this will look interesting, as I did a tiny tester on the idea of engraving and the burning on the wood looks ever so pretty!

It's time to make all the decisions an make sure I am really well prepared for next wednesday, I want to plan all my timings as well, estimating an average time that each cut might take, so that I can fit it all in, as I know that wood takes quite a while to cut through with it being so thick.

PLAN:

STRAWBERRIES - Cut through: four strawbs on red,

one strawberry in thin wood.

Engraved: into wood

BIRDS AND BIKE - Engraved: into wood

Cut through: dark blue paper,

white paper,

black paper,

one bike and birds in thin wood.

Final Crit.

Today I had my last crit, which was actually the first 'group' crit that I'd had throughout this project, it was really good to see where everybody else was and what they'd been up to. It seemed that people were doing competition briefs and also work to contribute to their practice in general.

My goal now, is to get work to 'On The Wall' before this brief is over and get feed-back on my work from Simon who works there. To give an idea of what I wanted to submit, I felt that I needed to show my laser cut final ideas as well as the design work I'd been doing for it, this then giving the idea of what I wanted to submit. I went to use the laser cutter very quickly, before my crit, but unfortunately, the design was too detailed for the size that I was cutting it, so bits fell through, although I was suprised that any of it cut out okay when watching the laser cutter at work:

It still gave them an idea of what I wanted, and they seemed to like to image and the idea, the like the birds and bikes, even more so and so I'm excited to get this cut next week. It's a real shame that the laser cutters are so busy and fully booked all over the college, because this means I only have 1 more session to get stuff cut and then take it too Simon next friday hopefully?

This means I need to do a lot of planning and plan timings for the next time I go to the laser cutter, making sure that I get everything cut possible. I was going to do some more design work for it the laser cutter, but I think with the time I have left with the laser cutter and next friday as my deadline, I'm going to leave it and make sure I get the strawberry one and the birds and bikes cut nicely and out of every material that I wanted to cut from - wood takes slightly longer to cut...

Another Design for the Laser...

This is another design I did for the laser cutter...

Although I want to think of something interesting to do with them after, making them 3D or layering them up in an interesting way, although I want to see how the images laser cut first.

Birds and Bikes:

Rob Ryan.

Mmmmm yummy!

Borrowed my friends coy of Rob Ryans book today! All the laser cutting inspiration you could ever need and beautiful, cut images.

I almost had a little cry...

READ IT, if you havn't already! http://www.misterrob.co.uk/

I'd love to get work experience with him, however I believe this would never happen! But... you don't get if you don't ask? It's worth just emailing him right?

Laser Cutter Booked.

Well today I took a trip down to wood-work in the hope of booking the laser cutter to show some work at my final crit of images I might take to 'On The Wall'.

I wasn't too shocked to find out that the laser cutter was fully booked out for 3 weeks and past our deadline, so he told me that I could be cheeky and go and ask the Interior design building if I could use their laser cutter as they don't use it as much, went down there and spoke to Micheal who gave me a two hour slot, although this runs into my crit so I might have to just do an hour and then go back again, hopefully with more designs.

Hopefully what I show tomorrow will give an idea of what I want to do...

Here are some of the Designs, I hope to get cut...

It was a pretty long and tedious process putting all my drawings together in photoshop and then through to illustrator...

The drawings were sometimes pretty bad quality once I'd scanned them and so I had to redraw a lot of them, and I used the outline of a strawberry I had drawn as a guide when placing the 'un-outlined' pattern/shape strawberries onto the page...

After all this, I realised that I had done it wrong and the birdcage in the middle needed to be the negative, so I spent bloody ages re-doing it... I hope it's all worth it....

We're Going On A Picnic...

Today I went to collect some photos of a little picnic with some friends that I had In loughborough... The grass was pretty damp so we didn't get to have the 'traditional' on the floor picnic, but reading up about picnics, a picnic on a table is just as much a picnic if you're in great company, have yummy food and are having fun!

...and how about that, the park looks like the perfect place to host a picnic! (Disposable cameras are yummy!)

'Cute' Wallpaper.

Met up with Paul today, to show him some stuff, get his opinions and now I'm working towards final bits...