Thoughts so far

After having a discussion with Trudi on how I could develop my work towards the exhibition, I've managed to consolidate the theme I'm exploring, which is going to be the dichotomy between outward appearance and inward reality. Basically it's about exploring the shallow outward presentation of a person's every day life that you see versus the realities and differences that you don't. (Ie. the outward conforming and unassuming appearance of a suburban 'cookie-cutter house' - following on from my exploration of kitsch house prints - versus the crazy reality of the lives of the people inside - following on from my work looking at people's stream of consciousness writing about their every day lives). I'll be following my new development of working in 3D.

dichotomydʌɪˈkɒtəmi,dɪ-/
nounnoun: dichotomy; plural noun: dichotomies1.
a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.
"a rigid dichotomy between science and mysticism"

synonyms:

division, separation, divorce, split, gulf, chasm; More

2.
BOTANYrepeated branching into two equal parts.

The discussion also reminded me of this quote from the Great Gatsby:

“I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.”

― F. Scott Fitzgerald

Through thinking about the idea of outward and inward appearances I've been thinking about what people put on their windowsills, which gives an impression to an outside viewer where they can draw conclusions about what that person/household/area is like. This is likely to contrast with the reality. It also links back to the work on houses that I've been exploring. Because of this, this morning I went out to take photographs of windowsills in my local area to explore this.

I'm now going to research how people make assumptions about the outward appearance of these windows by asking people in a questionnaire to think about what kind of person/family they would expect to find living in these houses.

I've also been thinking about how I want my exhibition to make people feel. Taking these pictures I felt a little uneasy and like I was snooping and that's the kind of feeling I've decided I want to create.


I also read an article recently about the new phenomenon 'shelfies' where people take photographs of their shelves to put on instagram. I've been wondering about what people's shelves can say about them. This follows on from when I was exploring taking photographs of bedrooms and seeing what they can reflect about a person. So I've been taking photos of the shelves in my home and I think I'm also going to ask people about the impressions I get from these.

Library Research

I found this article interesting because like my project, it relates visually to houses. It has a great sense of nostalgia. I'm inspired to try working in a 3D installation kind of way. Although I don't have the space to build a real size house, I might use a dolls house. I need to work out a way to do this.

This image attracted me because I liked the texture of the photograph projected on the walls. This subverts the idea of wallpaper and really builds an immersive atmosphere. Turning it upside down adds a surreal and unexpected effect. Again to explore a similar thing to this I need to try working in 3D. Perhaps first just using a shoe box or something.

I liked how Jen Moules has used stitch in her otherwise flat print work. I've been meaning to use stitch in my project and have only touched on it briefly, but this has reminded me to pursue it! I'm going to use stitch to work into one of my patterns.

Relating to my exploration of the themes of ambition and regret that I have been exploring, I found a book called 'It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be' that I felt was interesting and relevant. It's a kind of self-help book for aspiring creatives set out in a very striking and graphical way. The design itself is inspiring as well as the messages behind it. Sticking to a black and white colour palette and bold headlines gives it a simple look and informative appearance. I also wish to use text and inspiring messages in my work, and this has shown that using boldness, straight talking and limited colour palettes will be effective.

I also looked at this book on fortune telling as it relates to the idea of destiny and brings up questions of whether our future is predetermined. If so is there any point having ambitions because what will happen will happen? Questions like this. I think this would be an interesting idea to explore and could be taken a number of ways - for example following your destiny, or overcoming your destiny, uncertainty etc. I also think tarot cards are very nice visually.

Adding text to image

Yesterday I did a print from a thumbnail I designed. Then I was adding text to it according to the design.

I felt the cut-outs worked well but I didn't like the text in pink as it makes it look a bit cluttered and messy. As a result I tried the text again with just cut-outs.

I think this version looks slightly better as it looks more coherent. This shows how if something isn't working well, it's good to go back and try again.

I then combined this print and one of my previous ones into another pattern.

I'm enjoying doing these house prints but I think I need to take it further as it's getting a bit repetitive.

More pattern experimenting

After trying out the first of my thumbnails I realised that I needed to incorporate far more negative space, so I tried making a print of a different one of my thumbnails that I felt would work better. These are the results I got from it.

 The blue and pink design on the left is the original two colour mono print, the blue sheet in the middle is the actual stencil I used, but thought looked good and that I should work further with it, and the design on the right is the original with text added to it.

This is the repeated pattern made of the original. However I felt it was a little boring in its current state and didn't really like the colours so played around with different effects on it.

 I think that this black and gold design works well because it looks quite rich and ornate. It adds a very decorative feel to the pattern. It's very dark but I think with the gold this isn't a problem.

I then tried simplifying the shapes of the design and modifying the colour palette. I like these red and green colours together as coupled with the design they remind me of rose buds. As a very stereotypical suburban theme being rose bushes, I think this works well contextually.

 I then inverted the black and gold pattern, and added a diagonal criss-cross effect. I think this works well as it is a very classic kind of wallpaper pattern, but given a quirky twist by the houses. I'm a big fan of the blue and white combination as it reminds me of willow pattern pottery (another link to the domestic). The criss cross pattern balances the image.

 I then put the chrome effect on the previous image. I think it has a very cool and subversive effect. It preserves the criss cross pattern whilst distorting the images themselves. This could be representative of the idea that in life the views we have of other people and situations are often a distortion of the actual truth.

 This is another distortion of the blue and white criss cross pattern. I think it has quite a retro and cute effect, with the shapes looking like flowers. Again I think it works well having distorted the original design but still kept elements of it.

After this I took the original blue and white design, added a background, and then played around with different colour ways. I think they all worked pretty nicely. They have quite a classic look to them.

Next I tried working with the blue stencil print which I had scanned into the computer:

 I think the contrast between the blue and the white works well. The image seems to have an appropriate level of negative space and keeping it just blue and white is nice and simple. So instead of changing up the colours I concentrated on developing it through adding texture.

 This lighter and more patchy shade of blue also works nicely. It has a brighter and more uplifting effect. The patchy texture adds interest. I then took this and simplified the shapes (see below).

 I think this looks quite vintage and 1950s with its bold shapes and lines and cutesy appearance. I think the shade of blue is nice and atmospheric.

This textured version is I think really effective as it gives the illusion of destruction and decay. It adds a dark theme to the image.

I then added another texture and ended up with this (above). I really like the scratchy effect making it look rough and imperfect. I think it would work better in blue but I couldn't work out how to do this oops.

This was from taking the original and pointillising it. I love the effect this gives. It's abstract and reminds me of ripples in water. It has a very pretty look. It really adds a twist to the original design.

Finally I worked on making the edition with text into a surface pattern.

I think the addition of text (which was in the individual design thumbnail for the images) really adds to the design. It makes it look much more balanced and interesting. I'm still not the biggest fan of this colour scheme so I played around with it again. I didn't want to distort this design too much as I wanted the text to still be legible.

 This colour option is much brighter and more vibrant. However it was quite hard to edit the colours so the effect is a little messy. I think it's still good however because it does add more vibrancy to an already playful image.

This all black edition looks very striking. I think the slightly messy, inky look works well in this case as it seems very organic. I do really like the boldness of this version.

I added a glow tool to the original pattern to get this green effect. After playing with the hue, I also liked this pink version. I think it works well having the houses in white against a coloured background. I then changed the colour of the pink one's background and played with hues again. I think they all look really good.

I then wanted to try a cooler background (see below). I think the contrast between the grey and red really works. I then increased the contrast substantially (second image) and I think the outline effect is very bold and works well.

In conclusion I think I came up with some really nice results. Paying more attention to negative space really pays off.