I'm Presenting Tomorrow!

Well, somehow it has become November 29th, and tomorrow is my day to present. I have my Powerpoint prepared, and an idea of what I want to show. Hopefully, all will go well and my change in my project will go over well. I'm a little nervous, but I also think I'm getting pretty good at presenting my work.

Also, here are some of my new sketches!

Samuel T. Coleridge

Jane Austen

 

 

Lord Byron

The sketches of Lord Byron and Jane Austen have already changed because of my experiments, so their new looks will be presented shortly. I've also made a thumbnail sketch of Lord Byron on thermal paper, which gives a good representation of how I plan on rendering the images. I'll have those up as soon as I photograph them, as well as more examples of how much fun I can have playing with FIRE!!

Back from Thanksgiving

Now my belly is full of delicious home-cooked food and my mind somewhat rested from the break, it's time to finish the last three weeks of this semester. Obviously, I'm counting down and it's slightly (and when I say slightly I mean extremely) freaking me out. My English capstone presentation is in three days and the paper is due on the 15th of December. Put simply, this sort of terribly attacks my mind.

At the same time, I'm presenting my work so far in my Art capstone on Wednesday, yes, in two days. I have changed my project drastically and so I have a lot of work to do before then. I'm not expecting to have any finished work, but since I'm now working with fire as my medium, I have to do some sketches and examples. Through my experiments, I will be able to figure out how big I need to make my work and if it's possible or not. I accept the challenge, and we'll see how it goes! Expect another post soon.

A Fantastic (and Highly Flammable) New Development!

During my capstone presentation to the faculty, one of the professors brought up the idea of putting the actual words from the writers into my art. I liked the idea in theory, but had no idea how to make it a reality. First, I researched how thermal paper worked, learning that at a certain temperature, the chemical coating turns black, but could never find what temperature that might be. Next, I looked into how to go about writing on the thermal paper. Since I want the entire project to be made of receipt paper, I tried to avoid resorting to simply printing out quotes on any other material. I worried the mix of textures would be a problem. Yet another problem appeared when I learned how expensive the thermal printers were. This didn't really surprise me or anything, but did make it quite an obstacle.


I decided to test writing on the thermal paper to see how it looked. Here's the result:

 

 I suppose this image is against me because it will only upload sideways.  Anyway, from the bottom up it reads "WS" for William Shakespeare, although I've really come to call him Billy. The words come from two of his quotes: "When words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain" and "I hold the world but as the world; A stage where every man must play a part, and mine is a sad one." The notes I wrote next to this explain that I chose my uppercase print handwriting because it was the neatest, and since I would be cutting them apart, there are obvious spaces to do so. I worked not only with how my handwriting would look, but also experimented with the shape with which I tried to create. Obviously when I put the words onto the collage, they would get mixed a bit when I started to shade.

I was feeling pretty good about myself because I felt I had at least found a back-up plan. This way, I could simply cover over some of the text work I already did with white (or remove it, depending on how easy that is) and put down black paper. Then, with my own hand and playing with the typography I love so much, I could fill in the shaded areas. At the same time though, I don't really know if it's absolutely necessary to write my own words, because part of me also likes how the words are all from receipts instead of the writers, but the words from the writers make sense as well. This is an issue I can't seem to solve.

Yet my night was not over yet! A few hours earlier, I went to the store and bought a nice little pack of matches. When I was sitting in Solid Design today, a thought struck my head and made my mouth drop open. I had been thinking about the issue with writing on the paper and trying to think of ways that would be more controlled and how I could text what the temperature might be to alter the color of the paper. I suddenly thought of matches and candles, wondering how long they stayed warm after being blown out. I decided to rush to the store as soon as possible and experiment.

With a box of matches, my sketchbook full of quotes, and some thermal paper in my tiny hands, I dashed down the stairs to a well-lit, cement-infested, flame-resistant area outside. I wore my winter coat over a sweatshirt, trying to keep out the cold, but I barely noticed as I fell to my knees and held down the thermal paper with the edge of my sketchbook. I pressed the paper flat and pulled out my first match. Here's what transpired as I tried to write:

Words from Hamlet

"Words words words" - Billy

I found the writing was not going as I had planned, but I wasn't entirely against the results. Then, mostly out of play, I started gently brushing the lit matches close to the paper. It made marks that reminded me of painting with ink. After I ran out of my whole box of matches practicing, I ran back up to my flat with my receipt paper fluttering in the breeze behind me.

Paint brush marks from a flame

After speaking with a few of my professors, I have learned this technique is known as sfumato and has been used by people such as Leonardo daVinci. The best example would be the Mona Lisa, where the technique is used on her eyes. Now, that's using it on oil paints, whereas I'm using thermal paper. I'm going to do a few more experiments with this technique over Thanksgiving Break and show it to the class during my presentation to find out what they think. It's still a thought in progress, but I'm really starting to like it a lot more than the collage (which is oh so terribly tedious).

Huzzah, Prouctivity!

So lately, I've done some research on my writers. I found a great website which has detailed information about each of the writers, and from that I plan on finding even more. I've already started thinking about some of the things that I could say about each of them.When I have more of my own paragraphs written, I'll begin putting them up. I also have some more sketches of writers in their "sexy poses." All in all, it's been a surprisingly productive weekend.

I still have a lot of work ahead of me, and I need to start experimenting with trying to write the writer's actual words on the thermal paper. My collages have been put on hold at the moment as I try to figure it out, but my wonderful friends are still giving me plenty of receipts! I have quite a nice collection already, and hopefully I'll continue to collect more.

Artist Statement

I have now taken the tedious time out of my semi-busy schedule to type up all of my notes from my sketchbook so that I may be able to eventually put them into my binder. The binder which I must turn in to show that I've been doing work. I would prefer to just turn in my sketchbook, but it also involves things from my Solid Design class and other silly shenanigans, and I suppose my professors would not care for those things. Yet at the same time, I wish to not tear pages from the sacred book of doodles and rants.

On another note, last class we had Dr. Janet Bland, an English professor, come in to talk to us about our artist statements. It's only allowed to be a page long, but I'm not terribly worried about it... yet. To be fair, I have written a few similar pieces for some of my classes, but this is for my capstone, which means it has to be good.

I need to do more research on my writers and figure out how I wish to word those things. I also need to do more sketches this week. Fortunately, my life has gotten a little less hectic, but not entirely. I hate being torn between having free time and taking advantage of my final year in college. There's so much to do, so little time... ah well, I know I'll miss it all when it's gone.

Next Step...

All right, so I've hit a few bumps that I have to figure out before I can continue working on the actual project. If I want to put in the actual words from the writer's works, I have to find a way to transfer the words onto the thermal paper, or use a different paper. My ear is that it will take away from the texture if I use a different paper, but it might also add to the piece, and I can hold the words on better by using a stronger adhesive like acrylic medium.

That point aside, I also have to do a lot of research on the people to figure out the information that I want to put beside the pieces. I also need to find things I wold want the QR code to go to, but first have to learn about doing that as well.

I've been extremely stressed since coming back from Fall Break, and I can't seem to find a moment of peace. This project, with all the frustration I've been having hasn't helped. I've had many projects I'm working on, including my English capstone I'm doing right now, and extra curricular activities which are eating up any free time I would hope to acquire. By the time the weekend rears its gracious head, I'm exhausted, and until then, I've been battling the stress beast, with my productivity sword getting heavier in my hands with every attack.

I keep hoping that the next week will be easier, but I can't be sure. I've been getting plenty of sleep, but it's not good sleep so therefore it does nothing for me. I'd stay up and work on my project if I could, but I seem to drag myself into bed every night. Then to add onto all of this, I'm figuring out my schedule for my next and final semester, running into more road blocks and obstacles than is necessary. My head hurts from even thinking of how much work it is just to schedule the classes, let alone actually taking them next semester.

Hopefully in the end, all will go well, but until then, my brain will be about to explode.