claire collen: working towards final project

Pre covid-19 lockdown: 
Some of the work I have been doing

The title of my brief was "Urban Landscape / Learning to love Leeds" 

 I began by taking photos of Leeds City Centre, using both my own camera and  borrowing a camera with wide angle lens from college.  I intended to also borrow a camera with zoom lens and take some more detailed photos but now due to college closure, this is not going to happen. 

I made one of my photos of a building in Leeds City Centre into a bitmap on photoshop and then made it into a silkscreen. I printed it first in red and then later, in green:

building in Leeds City Centre

Screenprinting was a lengthy process but I learned a lot by using the same screen on different occasions.  I first printed in red, then printed over in blue and then yellow. Whilst I liked the overlapping area of blue and red and also the yellow and blue, as a whole, I thought that the combination of three colours together made for a confusing and muddled image.

I preferred the effect when I used complimentary colours, printing   green over the red.  

Then I tried making a collage:

I quite like this one - I used tissue paper (some of which was wild animal themed) and I also included a black and white photo which fits in well. The overall effect is fussy and confusing, but I think that reflects the spirit of the city centre. 

I like the fact that the image is bright and bold.

 In this one I featured the crane which is  always a constant presence in the city. centre. I like the black and white collaged photos against the red building and the statue adds a  central focus. I boldly painted the sky green in order to add more contrast. 

I printed out this coloured photo of roadworks 

in Leeds City Centre and then chopped it into 

small sections with the guillotine and pasted it, 

alternately offsetting each strip. 

Overall, the resulting image seems to clearly portray the current chaos in the city  centre, with ongoing major road works.

I tried alternating strips of the images from my silkscreen prints - pasting each red and green colour alternately, but it was not successful: it didn't convey the grandeur of the building and the colours were not  vibrant enough.

After Lockdown: 

Monday March 23rd

Now that the college is closed, I am spending some time thinking about how I might complete this project without access to college and printing workshop, laser cutter,  guillotine, computer suite etc.  I have also had to spend time learning how to write a blog  - this is my second attempt having managed to somehow 'lose' all the work I put on before, and now rewrite!

I have some different ideas:

1. Painting a large circular canvas :

I don't usually like circular canvases but I thought a circular shape would convey the chaos and confusion of the city and would be a challenge.   I was also very inspired by a Lee Krasner exhibition last summer:                                                                 

Lee Krasner, Stop and go, 1949

I love the huge size of these artworks - the bold colours and the way the shapes flow/ fit together. 

I have ordered a 60 cm canvas to get started. 

2. Enamelling piece? 

I thought about making an artwork that involved enamelling on copper. I liked the idea of the mosaic table, and thought about making a small garden table with enamelled copper.  

  

Lee Krasner, Mosaic table 1947

One problem is finding a way to cut the copper pieces, without access to the college guillotine. (It is very much cheaper to buy 12" copper squares and cut them, but they are too big to fit into my kiln. It is possible to find a way, although pieces may not necessarily be exactly uniform or fit in the precise way that I would like. I could use decals to transfer images, but they would not be coloured - the colour would come by first enamelling layers prior to applying transfer.  I like this table idea but I'm not too sure about completing within the timescale. 

Tuesday March 24th

The large circular canvas has arrived, so I'll leave it pristine white for the time being and try out circular designs on paper.  

I wanted to begin by thinking about images in the city centre. 

I chose this photo as it reflected different aspects of city life: the cafe, the buildings, the skyline, the roadworks: 

I had taken the photo with a wide angle lens, so needed to use the 'transform/skew' programme on photoshop to straighten the buildings. 

I made a quick sketch: 

Then I painted with acrylic: 

This seemed to be a reasonable start. I want it to be more abstract and I want the perspectives to be radically different - ie not all meeting at the same point.

 I then looked at the photos which I had taken of the city centre and chose different shapes to print out and then make into a collage:

(44mm) 

I like the overall effect. I like the different images - some of them are obscure or vaguely humorous others reflect the grandeur of the city. I thought this might work well if I were to do a transfer process (using pva glue) onto canvas and then I could add small pieces of enamel or randomly drip paint over the top. It could also  be worked up into a table top if I were to go in that direction. 

Wednesday 25th March - April 1st 

I focused on 3 ideas this week: 

1. I used the same photo of Leeds City centre (above) and applied filter on photoshop (photocopy) , then printed  onto tracing paper and pasted the 2 A4 sheets on top of the collage. I added strips of painted red paper to portray the barriers so evident in the city centre. I am pleased with the effect - prior to the tracing paper I tried drawing on top of the collage with oil pastel , then with acrylic, but the tracing paper definitely worked best. The final image  conveys to me the chaos and haphazard nature of the city centre along with the multitude of other images which vie for one's attention.  

One possible idea for my final project: collage overlaid with tracing paper/lazertrans - I could make it on a larger circular canvas. I could make the tracing paper/lazertrans  images smaller and place them in a circular design, overlaying   blocks of  painted colour underneath. 

2. A Painting of the City Centre

I used acrylic paint on an old canvas, which I first covered in a layer of blue paint.  I like painting on canvases as I can change the painting much more easily. I also like creating a thick texture with the paint which is also easier on canvas.

First I  painted abstract forms, then I modified the painting using images of different buildings.

When I finished the painting I realised that I was not at all happy with the perspective and relative size of the buildings . Although I had painted the buildings from photographs, I had put them together in a haphazard manner which I did not feel worked at all well. I decided to scrap most of the painting and start again from a photo.

I developed it further by including

some people in the foreground.

I was reasonably satisfied with the final image, but wanted to experiment: I printed a photo of the painting onto A4 card and then applied oil crayons on top: 

I like the more abstract nature of this image which, to me,  conveys more atmosphere.

(Contextual pause) Sources of Inspiration:

Willem de Kooning, Suburb in Havana, 1958

 A striking abstract painting, de Kooning uses a  warm palette, with lashing V-strokes of brown pigment on a beach-yellow, ultramarine-sky background, full of energy.

Frank Auerbach: "I don't think one produces a good painting unless one destroys a good one in the process. And one doesn't make a great picture by destroying a rotten one."

Auerbach, known for his strong paint marks which emerged after many months of working on his canvases

Frank Auerbach, Mornington Crescent, Early Morning, 1991. 

In Mornington Crescent, Early Morning, Auerbach depicts the landscape in a striking  and free manner: full of colour, evoking drama and vibrancy, thick brushstrokes liberally and loosely applied.  




Evening in the city of London, 1944, David Bomberg

Bomberg's view of the bomb-damaged City of London is taken from the tower of St Mary le Bow Church in Cheapside. It is said he succeeded in  achieving correct proportions by climbing the tower of the adjacent St Mary Church to get eye to eye with his subject, St Pauls . Newgate Street and Cheapside are represented by the dark diagonal on the right. St Paul's Cathedral dominates the distance.
Bomberg uses strong blocks of warm colour -  with St Pauls illuminated in vibrant blue, pink streets and purple offices- bringing a radiant twilight to a mangled cityscape. 
Bomberg said: 'I want to translate the life of a great city ... into art that shall not be photographic, but expressive'

3. I looked at patterns that I found within the different images of the City Centre. I thought of different ways I could use the patterns - both as a pattern and as an image of where the pattern originated: 

Photo of cobbles

I focused down on a small section of the pavement area around the lock in the centre of Leeds. Whilst still at college I had made a pattern using illustrator and cut the pattern out using the laser-cutter.

I cut it out on laser-cutter and placed green paper behind

Post CV - As I was unable to access laser-cutter,  I made a smaller design and cut it by hand, then enamelled it (with white and grey) 

                                          

I like the random pattern on the enamelled copper                                     

Other patterns I have looked at:

 Pattern on church door:

cut with laser cutter

I used A2 size paper and cut the 3 patterns, placing one on top of the other for the final pattern where the smaller cuts show through onto the bigger piece.

 I cut this pattern on the laser-cutter and then backed it with green paper for the photo which shows up well.

 Grid on the wall:

I then converted the pattern of the squares on Illustrator and cut out on the laser-cutter. 

 

squares backed with green paper

another pattern found on the side of the pavement: 

a lamp-post( in Millenium Square) using filter program on photoshop: 

 another lamppost, again using filter programme on photoshop:

filtered photo of tall white building in Leeds

 scaffolding:

April 2nd - April 21st. 

I've been working on developing two different approaches: a circular canvas and an enamelled panel. 

1.  Artwork on a circular canvas

I worked on my circular canvas. I experimented with different colours and different ways of  presenting the images.  

First I looked through my photos of Leeds city centre and selected some of the images of buildings:

I arranged them in a circle on my circular canvas (60 cm diameter)

 I didn't like the arrangement of the buildings placed around the edge of the circle: I wanted all the buildings to be seen from one perspective. I added some round copper discs to assess the effect of making a collage.

I didn't particularly like this effect - I had thought of enamelling a large central circle in the middle but rejected this idea. At this stage I  wasn't keen to pursue the idea of  using collage- I thought it could make the work look muddled. I first wanted to fully explore using paint by itself.    

I traced the shapes onto the canvas and painted them in varying tints of grey.  

I experimented some more and eventually arrived at an arrangement I was happy with. The image below is comprised of painted  shapes forming a skyline, with the main body of work represented at this stage by black and white tracing paper print-outs of some of the buildings which I chose to include. (After arranging and rearranging I chose a sequence of buildings from the city centre with a bit of artistic licence concerning their size and relationship to each other. ) The bottom third of the work is really unintentional -   left-over from my recent rejected explorations.

I studied the effect: I definitely like the colourful building shapes in the background at the top -  I think they bring the work to life. I like the contrast with the black and white tracings. I decided I wanted to keep the centre monochrome and also leave the top as it is (for the time being)
My next deliberations:   what to do with the bottom third?

I printed some A4 size photos of the work so far and painted in some alternatives for the bottom of the painting:

This idea rejected: not enough contrast, but I like the shadows

I quite like the colourful shapes 

I added images of people  - I think they work reasonably well

I added red lines to convey the building works - not sure whether I like this effect. 

I sent for some iron-on photo transfer sheets and printed out some of the building images onto different fabric.

In the image below I removed the tracing paper and replaced the main building with the fabric tracing. I didn't really like the effect. I cut out some fabric windows and blu-tacked them to the building on the lefthandside. Again - I found this idea didn't work.
I painted a multicoloured abstract arrangement of marks at the bottom - these could represent colourful people or simply the confusion of city life,  contrasting with the tall grey formal buildings.

I looked back to previous development work and found I much preferred the images of the buildings when they had been altered with the filter programme in photoshop. These images were  more like the images I was after - I did not want a photographic resemblance but something more abstract. I printed the filtered images for reference and then painted them with black ( paynes grey) acrylic paint. I was pleased with the result- I liked the way the painting was emerging:  layers of the city, the chaos of city life, modern and traditional.

I continued to complete the four buildings. I made a zigzag shape at the bottom of the buildings. I thought this echoed the shapes at the top of the work and also created a strong shape for the  colourful area at the bottom.

2. Enamelled panel. 

I decided to enamel small copper squares (10 cm square) with designs taken from my photos of Leeds. I wanted to highlight the variety of interesting shapes which are found everywhere within the urban environment. 

I looked carefully at the photos I had taken of Leeds City centre and focused on  some of the smaller forms within the image which interested me. I had planned to return to the sites and take  more detailed photos but obviously this was not possible. I enlarged parts of the images as the basis for a number of enamel tiles: 

1. interesting section of paving at the bottom of a tree, with shadows : 

enamel tile

2. small section of pattern on red church door,   

enamel tile

3. grid on wall

enamel tile

4. lock gates

enamel tile

5. stairs with metal/glass divider

enamel tile

6. lines of scaffolding

enamel tile

7. windows in modern building

 

 

8. brick and stone wall  underground

enamel tile

9. scaffolding with ladder

enamel tile

panel of 9 tiles  :

April 22 -April 30

1. I changed the bottom of the circular canvas - reverting to one of the (photographed) images I had previously worked on:

I altered the foreground and added figures of people, with larger shadows at the bottom. This version feels more integrated with the rest of the canvas.

2. I began work on one image that I could enamel in a panel of 9 tiles.
I chose the following image from a photograph:

I liked this image as it has variety, texture,  interesting lines and shadows. 

I divided it into 9 equal squares and printed each square individually. I cut 9 10cm square copper tiles and set about enamelling the design onto each tile. In the process I found it necessary to make some adjustments - ie the colour and also the design of the mesh at the bottom. of the image.

April 30 - May 7th




I wanted to try an oil painting this week. I chose an image from a photo I had taken in Leeds the morning after torrential rain:

 

I really liked this scene: it was very atmospheric, with the raging water, set in the dark cavernous interior underneath the arches and looking out from the ancient walls to the modern buildings beyond. I was attracted by the colour and wanted to highlight those colours in my painting. 

I cropped my photo to fit the size of my canvas: 60 x 50 mm. 

I then made a quick sketch in watercolour to get a feel of the image: 

I then began my painting in oil - my work so far: 

I am waiting for oil paint to dry before continuing. (I have not yet painted the glass screen over the footbridge and need to review the overall image. ) I wanted blocks of colour - the orange, pink and green and I wanted to contrast the stone walls and the rushing dark water. I had some difficulty with the perspective! I need to add more depth/texture to the water, particularly the stretch of water near to the bridge....

3. I started planning further images to be  enamelled on copper. I thought about making small enamelled brooches on the theme of "urban landscapes' and also make a larger (150mm) square. I want to use transparent enamel in order to overlay different images on top of each other. I have used photoshop to gather designs which I have just sent away to be made into risoscreens. The designs (below) are largely taken from small details in my photos, enlarged or altered with photoshop. I am excited to see how they can be translated into both jewellery and a larger tile with overlapping images. 

I printed the pages onto tracing paper and then tried out various designs - shown below. The small size of the designs is illustrated by photographing alongside the image of the pencil sharpener. 

May 8th - May 12th

1.  I continued with the oil painting, and after many attempts at altering the viewpoint,  I arrived at a composition which I liked -  including more of the old walls on the right and excluding the walls on the left. This composition seems to work better.  The painting is still far from finished: I would like to make it more abstract; the block of pink colour is  too dominant - I need to give it more depth by the addition of other shades and tints. Similarly I have not yet worked on the darker areas of the painting - the old walls and the bridge and overhead structures. Again these need more depth.  

2. I tried painting on small blocks of wood, (from an old garden bench) using patterns from the urban environment. I wanted the effect of thick oil paint. The colours represent rough approximations to the actual colours of the different images. 
I am quite pleased with the result. I found it very enjoyable (and relaxing) to paint thickly on a small scale. I plan to paint more blocks, possibly in a more abstract form. 

3. I thought that for my 'final project, online exhibition piece', I could make a grid comprising a larger  number of such squares,  (possibly 16) and possibly combining 2 or 3 different media -  oil paint,  enamelled copper and possibly embroidered textiles. 

Enamelling - I started with  copper foil which I cut into 54 mm squares which were the size of the wooden blocks. I enamelled them using different stencils which I made from patterns from the urban landscape theme. I placed them on top of the blocks of wood for the photograph. 

The squares below were essentially mistakes that I tried to rectify but now count as experimentation rather than pieces I am    satisfied with : I  want to try again,  using different colours and different designs, and again, experimenting with abstract designs. I would like to experiment with etching thicker copper. 

The three copper-foil squares below have not yet been coloured . They were made by first embossing a simple design onto the copper foil before fluxing (covering with clear transparent enamel) and then firing. Fluxing is  essential before the coloured enamel is sifted over and fired - it prevents a reaction between the copper and the enamel which would affect the colour. 

May 13th - May 20th

I continued working on the painting from last week: I added shadows and altered colours...I am reasonably satisfied at this stage:

I then worked on a panel for the online exhibition. I decided to use 30 small squares of wood (54 mm square - from the old garden)  and make a grid of 6 x 5 blocks. 15 of the blocks will be painted in oil, 15 will be embossed and enamelled copper foil. All the patterns are taken from my photos of Leeds City centre - focusing on the obscure or often overlooked details of the city landscape.  The enamelled foil squares are currently just balanced on the top of the wooden blocks - they will need to be glued into position. Unfortunately the gloss of the enamel which  reflects the light does not show up well in the photograph.  I intend to paint the sides of the wooden squares white and then glue them onto a sheet of MDF, also painted white.

After further thought, I decided to bring the squares together and increase the number to 35 ( 7 rows with 5 squares in each row) , and alternate painted squares with embossed and enamelled copper-foil. 

That's it!