Creating the silhouettes

After looking at movement and the way we would draw equipment, we moved onto drawing the silhouettes. Using two types of paint, acrylic and emulsion we tested out which paint lasted better, which was more durable, and which looked more professional. After creating and painting the outline of the silhouettes, we could clearly see where the equipment would need to be added. After being painted, my perceptions of the piece did change, I began to like the dark tone a lot, as it made the figures look grand and powerful. However, the positives about the darkness of tone were also the negatives, was it too powerful? Did it look too grand? 

Therefore, as a group we deiced to continue and trail out different designs from the mural, looking at design each of us had created and discussing them amongst ourselves. 

Creating a basis

Atfter discussing fonts, designs, and colours, we started to create the mural. We decided to stick wallpaper onto the wall, since we didn't want to be spending our time repainting the wall, whenever a new design needed to be created. We started by using black silhouettes with a more basic design, which is what the PE department leaned more towards. I personally believed this design is slightly boring, a black tone against a harsh figured, then placed onto a mundane wall. However, we continued to experiment anyway. We had to take into consideration the size of the room in the sports hall, we needed figures to match the size of the wall, create enough impact within the room to show we had created something, yet not create too distracting. In addition to this, we had to take into account the pieces in the room such as pugs or heaters blocking. 

Group discussion- creating the mural

As a group, ideas are continuously flowing and developing, therefore it was important we started to settle on certain points, allowing us to develop the mural. Most of the group was completely settled on the idea of starting to experiment with the black silhouettes rather than using bright bursts of colour. Since the wall is high, and long, it meant the silhouettes needed to be large. Therefore it pointed to the medium needing to be large and extremely durable. We decided between three, spray paint, vinyl and black acrylic. All had their negatives and all have their positives, but we decided to go through with using spray paint and acrylic. Spray paint is going to be trailed to create the lettering for the quotes, whereas acrylic paint is going to be trailed to create the silhouettes in both matte and gloss enamel paint. 

Photographing form

After a long discussion as a group and with the sports teachers, we decided using black silhouettes were the idea we wanted to mostly start to trial and develop. Therefore we decided to photograph individuals in various positions to create silhouettes. In addition to this, drawing and sketching from these positions helps to understand the form of the body. Photographing both a boy and girl in various positions with a light background enabled silhouettes to be easy made or drawn out of all pictures. We decided to use some equipment to allow us to study the way the bodies form adapts in various positions  whilst playing sports. 

Olympics

I have recently looked into the Olympics games, past and present, to gather some ideas about the games itself. Started in the 8th century, it is held every four years, with four types of games- Olympics, Winter Olympics, Paralympics, and the Youth Olympic Games. The Olympic rings symbolise five countries in unity, due to the rings being intertwined, and the specific colours were chosen due to every nation having at least one of them in the national flag.

The Olympics colours are something which really interest me, the idea of specific colours being chosen to represent unity within such different nations is truly beautiful. This got me to think about Kec's colours itself, and whilst this mural won't necessarily be a bold and uniting stance of Nations coming together, the colours of red and white do represent Kec's and make it special, therefore I am planning to look into more detail about how we could involve them with the mural brief. 

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/01/23/01/307CF6E300000578-0-image-a-11_1453512595180.jpg

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/technology/2016/04/05/Olympic-Rings-large_trans++X9gqeEfKXQcqd954t2rXzvTSL8SM4yNVj_ZSDGesqAM.jpg

Interview with sports staff

Since the mural is being designing for the sports department, it was obvious that an interview would help give us some brief starting points.

1. Any particular materials you would like or dislike within the piece?

"We mostly want a clean, clear, and durable space. Extremely durable, so no material sticking out really, to cause an disturbance. If the a ball hit the piece, we want it to stay in tack."

2. Amount of time to produce the piece?

"Space will be cleared and it really needs to be done within a week."

3. Would we be able to use spray paint or varnish, any type of medium that will smell and need to be ventilated?

"Yes that fine, as I said you'll have a week to produce the piece, so don't worry about anything smelling."

4. Any specific colours?

"We prefer the idea of a black silhouette with splashes of colour."

Any colours linked to the olympics?

"Yes! Colours linked to the olympics would work great, since the recent Rio games."

5. Any text within the piece?

"Motivational quotes would work well, well known ones especially if text is going to be used, however just a simple use of text, nothing too distracting as a piece."

Introduction of the sports brief

We have been given a sports brief to create mural for the PE department within college. The idea for the piece is to give a burst of energy to the sports hall, along one side of the wall. We have chosen to work as a group, therefore ideas are easily generated, discussed and developed quickly and efficiently  . In addition to this, the group has create a shared Pinterest in which we can post anything we personally find inspirational. I feel this is a huge advantage to have, as ideas and posts can be easily shared and discussed. As well as working as a group we also need to produce two boards to present our research and development on. I have decided to create a research book, which will go alongside this blog, as mentioned in a previous post, I found it really useful having a sketchbook to jot down and design in whilst out and about. Therefore, I have decided to continue with this idea for my personal research.  

Fargo Village

Fargo Village is somewhere I discover this summer, it's a small area put together by talented, creative minds. Upon one of my visits I noticed the main arena section was hosted out by Coventry university presenting their students final work. Having been in two of the Kecs end of year art show I was extremely interested to check out the work. It was mixture of photography, film and mixed media paintings. The main thing I took from this gallery visit was looking at other people's work, people my age and the complete contrast between our ideas. I really enjoyed my visit to this gallery, the photography is something which really interested me as it's something I would like to go into more detail with this year. 

Ikon Gallery- 14th May

Taking a slight step back in time, I believe it's important to talk about my gallery visits, whilst I have written them down, I couldn't resist blogging about them too. The main piece which stood out to me throughout the whole of the gallery was the second floor. The whole gallery was separated by huge florescent lights. After researching and reading the booklet provided by the Ikon, I believe each light was created for another artist, as they are clearly referenced within the bibliography. The use of light within galleries is something which has never interested me, I'm more interested in the piece themselves but when that is completely opposed, swapped and turned around it changes the whole perception of how you look at light. The complete darkness is drowned out as you turn the corner to these beaming lights, I personally, was most interested by the lights which almost resembled a prison. What was most interesting thing about this particular piece was the bright light room the other side. "It's always sunny on the other side" is the phrase which first popped into my head, then leading me onto thinking about a prison in general and the outside light shining through to the cold cell. The whole of this exhibition really interested me, and has definitely made me think about the use of light in my own future work. 

Festivals

Since summer had begun, I had two main festivals I attended. The first being Hyde Park Festival, and the second being Reading Festival. Before visiting the festivals, I really did not think that I would gather any inspiration from them, therefore I went in search for nothing but fun. I ended up being really inspired by the people and festivals in general. Firstly the layout of both festivals were beautiful, grand stages were lay out in which tiny performers would sing and dance around . Throughout both festivals, I took photos when I wanted to captured something I did not want to forget. What really interested me about the photos I took from reading was the pure chaos within them. People being jammed packed together, releases this pure excitement from everyone in anticipation of seeing their favourite artist and I feel capturing that within a photo is something really powerful. This is something I would like to take further, maybe adding phrases or words to try sum up the photo in word.