Frankenstein Project//London

The project we have been set to complete during November is based on art work and exhibitions we saw in London. The idea is to take ideas, inspiration and techniques from artists and pieces of art work that we liked from our trip. My favourite exhibitions were the Late Turner at the Tate Britain and Tracey Emin at the White Cube gallery, so since we returned I have been thinking of ways I can combine these two very different artists and creative processes to produce a piece at the end of the project.

I have decided to use the subject matter and techniques seen in Turners late work, with strong colour, light, nature and landscape, combined with Tracey Emin's ideas of identity and self-acceptance. I am going to use photos I have taken from Park Hill in Sheffield over looking the city and paint in the style of JMW Turner using both watercolour, acrylic and oil paints to experiment with the effects the different paints have on the colours and light produced. I will use this location to link with Tracey Emin's idea of identity that is shown in a lot of her work. Having just moved to Sheffield and started to settle in and discover a new life here, I feel it is a big part of my identity, so it is only appropriate to use in this project. This also links to the other drawing project I will be working on where I am working with memories, nostalgia and identity.

Today we had a painting workshop as part of the next step of our course. We experimented with oil paints, painting on primed paper and MDF board, using turpentine to experiment with using thick and thin paint. The workshop was very helpful in decided what to do for the Frankenstein project and where to take it. I used to paint a lot during A-Levels and my Art Foundation, but since moving to Sheffield and not having much time or space to paint I haven't painted nearly as much as I would have liked; so this workshop has definitely inspired me to keep painting and mainly use painting in this project.

Park Hill

Primed MDF board and paper

Charcoal drawings to mark out subject matter before painting

Palette with mixed oil paints

Oil paint thinned out with turpentine on paper

Oil paint applied thickly to MDF board

Another artist that I am going to try and incorporate into my project is Frank Auerbach, who's work we saw at the Tate Britain. Auerbach paints with oil paints applied extremely thickly to a surface to create a fascinating texture. I love the thickness of the paint and the texture created by this technique, and I love oil paint so I would love to create a piece like his.

Auerbach

Course Trip to London//Tracey Emin

After the Tate Britain and Turner's traditional paintings, we made our way to the White Cube gallery in Bermondsey, for something completely the opposite but equally as brilliant. The beautifully titled exhibition, 'The Last Great Adventure Is You', was named so as the focus of 'you' was originally intended to be referencing another person, but as Emin created the body of work over two years she realised that 'you' was herself.

The exhibition involved a number of both small scale nude drawings and large scale hand stitched pieces. Around the exhibition were the big, bold neon lights shaped into fabulous quotes focusing on deep feelings and love. There was also a big, sleek, white space that involved sculptural pieces made by Emin, of abstract nudes and body parts. Emin has described the sculptures as being very personal pieces; personal in that they allowed her to explore her own body and herself being an older woman, and personal in that you can quite clearly see where her fingers have worked the material and the processes she has gone through to make the actual pieces. Exploring herself as a naked form and accepting herself as an older woman in the part of life she is now reaching is also a theme that shows itself in the nude drawings and stitched pieces in the exhibition. The whole thing was a very personal project in which Emin was able to use herself as the subject matter, and in the video at the end of the exhibition where she describes the work she stated "I didn't want to reach a peak of anything, just half way in a twilight zone of love". So in creating such brave and confident pieces, Emin was simply aiming for self exploration and acceptance. Walking around the gallery, to me it it quite obvious that Emin has achieved this, with a range of materials and pieces showing the ideas and feelings she wished to explore.

'The Last Great Adventure Is You'

'Your Absence Only Makes Me Love You More'

'More Solitude'

'The Soul Will Always Do What It Needs To Do'

Large scaled hand stitched nudes