Lady and the Crow
- Category: Abstract
- Project date: August, 2020
- Medium: Oil on Paper
Man and Machine
- Category: Abstract
- Project date: August, 2020
- Medium: Oil on Paper
Mirror Image
- Category: Abstract
- Project date: August, 2020
- Medium: Oil on Paper
Moon Dance
- Category: Abstract
- Project date: August, 2020
- Medium: Oil on Paper
Moon Dance 2
- Category: Abstract
- Project date: August, 2020
- Medium: Oil on Paper
The Inner Eye
- Category: Abstract
- Project date: August, 2020
- Medium: Ink on Paper
Faces within faces
- Category: Abstract
- Project date: August, 2020
- Medium: Ink on Paper
Climbing Hands and Faces
- Category: Abstract
- Project date: August, 2020
- Medium: Ink on Paper
More & More, Less & Less, More & Less, Less & More
- Category: Abstract
- Project date: August, 2020
- Medium: Ink on Paper
All or Nothing
- Category: Abstract
- Project date: August, 2020
- Medium: Ink on Paper
All or Nothing
- Category: Abstract
- Project date: August, 2020
- Medium: Ink on Paper
Sagrada Famillia
- Category: Abstract
- Project date: August, 2020
- Medium: Ink on Paper
Abstract
This page holds a collection of my abstract work from my interdisciplinary and painting modules on my creative arts degree course at aberystwyth university. If you like this work and want to make a commission for something similar or to purchase a print then please contact me and we can discuss a price, and what size you want it printing with what finish. Contact details via mobile, facebook and email can be found on the About page.
The Lady and the Crow
The Lady and the Crow was one of my final pieces for my Anxiety Project. The crow was intended to symbolise anxiety being projected out of the golden woman. Her positive aura expelling the negative emotions within. The piece was intended to be calming and releasing, and was inspired by art nouveau and the pre raphaelite movements.
The piece was painted in oils on A3 mixed media paper.
Man and Machine
Man and Machine was one of my final pieces for my Anxiety Project. It was intended to symbolise the anxiety provoking and stress related effects that technology and unlimited information can create within an individual. The effects anxiety can have on both your body and your mind. The acorn symbolises the heart and from the acorn the neural pathways or roots grow around the body and central nervous system and into the mind. In the mind the roots and pathways branch off making complex connections and neurons rapidly fire between the brain cells at an accelerated rate, creating a lot of stress and pain. The piece was intended to show the dangers of having access to unlimited information with no real understanding of it, the anxiety of trying to self diagnose and increasing isolation and ability to network in a none physical space. A socially changing society due to the advancements in technology. It was also intended to show the suspension of technology and nature and how the constructs might be related in some ways.
The piece was painted in Acrylic paint and drawn with Indian ink on A2 mixed media paper.
Mirror Image
Mirror Image was created as part of my painting module on my creative arts degree course. It was intended to show how we may hide behind our mirror image and try to look perfect in our eyes and the eyes of others. Our idea of perfection might often be different than our true self, and so our true self might become repressed, restricted and changed. Often we might try to appeal to other people, or try to be something for ourselves that we may not really want to be.
The painting was done in Acylic paint on A3 mixed media paper.
Moon Dance
This is the final painting of Moon dance created on my creative arts degree course on the painting module. It was intended to show a man orchestrating the moon eclipsing, his body moving in motion, mirroring the moons changing shape. The painting was meant to look fairly primitive, like something you might see on a cave wall, some hidden art form or magic.
The painting was done on A3 mixed media paper in Acrylic paint.
Moon Dance Part 2
This is the original charcoal drawing of moon dance. It was created as part of my painting module on my creative arts degree course, being a larger preparatory composition. The piece was intended to show the moon eclipsing, as being orchestrated by a single man, moving in motion, his changing positions mirroring the moons changing shape. The man himself was inspired by a sculpture of a Roman solider.
This piece was created on A2 mixed media paper and drawn in charcoal.
Interdiciplinary Final Anxiety Project
The project below is work I did for my finals for art interdisciplinary at Aberystwyth University. The project is an exploration of the thoughts and feelings I had during a time in my life when I had strong Anxiety and Depression, that caused me to lose many nights of sleep. I choose to exhbit this project in my finals, so that I might in some way hope to help people suffering from Anxiety and Depression by examining and attempting to visualize the physical sensations and ideas I felt whilst suffering from anxiety, broadly relating what I felt to other people without going into causes or feelings that are unique and specfic to every indivdual person. I tried to show how I overcame my anxieties at that time by changing the way I thought about things, and finding ways of coping with my fears.
The Inner Eye
In this drawing I choose to place the household objects around the lips nearing the edges of the composition. I thought that it would be easier to see them this way. I choose to change the pattern slightly, having rings around projecting from the lips like a shock-wave or visual interpretation of a scream. The objects themselves are décor from my house, my room in particular. I took photos of them and stylized them to seem more abstract and personalized. The eye at the centre is the bottom of an overhead lamp combined with a plug hole, creating a whirlwind, pushing clockwise instead of sucking anticlockwise. I thought the piece went well, even though I felt it was a bit rushed as I was running out of time. I tried to sharpen up the edges with the dip pen and used a ruler and compass to draw the lines more accurately. I am reasonably satisfied with it.
This piece was created on A2 mixed media paper and drawn in Indian Ink.
Faces within faces
One of the other early pieces was a drawing of a laughing skull. This was inspired by one of the few nightmares I had during my anxiety period. At the time the fear of death was always in the forefront of my mind, feeling unable to cope with day to day requirements. When I feel asleep briefly I dreamed of a laughing mocking skull that flashed different colours within a black hole. It was small at first but as I drew closer towards it, increasing in speed I was ultimately consumed within it’s open laughing scream. I thought I could relate this idea to time, we all have a limited unknown time before we die, we fear death - the unknown. However we must remember that thinking to much on death can prevent us from living the life we want, the life we choose as individuals. When drawing I was inspired by the Face of the Scream in Edvard Munches The Scream. I also took a photo of myself laughing and drew the skull based around my face, imagining the articulation of the bones, and the eyes in the eye sockets and exaggerating the jaw line.
This piece was created on A2 mixed media paper and drawn in Indian Ink.
Climbing hands and faces
I choose to have faces at different angles in the sky and added a moon indicating that the scene is set a night. Instead of the scribbly sketchy black fill I decided to fill the areas with smoother paint. I thought whilst doing it that as a larger piece the smoother paint would be easier for the viewer to articulate the faces, it was getting too chaotic and hard to see. I also added lines around the faces themselves to make it easier to make them out, if it were hands alone I felt that it would be too complicated, especially if the viewer doesn’t know what they are looking for. The piece is slightly less sharp than the previous finals but I think this works as whilst I was making everything clear I didn’t want the hands to be too precise as the overall effect would be too intense for the viewer to perhaps cope with, and it might detract from the faces.
This piece was created on A2 mixed media paper and drawn in Indian Ink.
More & More, Less & Less, More & Less, Less & More
This next final explores the broken glass mind shattering idea. The top left side has the sun shining at the back of the breaking mirror and the moon is at the opposite bottom corner. Attached to the moon are two arrows pointing left and up, showing the passage of time like the hands of a clock. This was in part related to the time project at the beginning of the year. The drawing shows a skull layering into facial muscles and skin on top, then the face transports into a screaming motion, ripples of water emerging from the mouth, then upon reaching the mirror the other half of the 2nd to last face turns into straight and sharp stressed lines creating the form of the face, they are like lightning. Developing on the idea I had come up with earlier. Finally the last face smashes the mirror with its minds inner scream. The image shows layers of anxiety building on each other, stress building and the mind eventually going into an abstracted realm of visions and dreams until it finally shatters the mirror and disappears into madness. Reflecting on the drawing I think that it went quite well in the end. I sharpened up the lines and added a more contrasting background and went over the black areas that I felt didn’t work with white paint, and it worked out better than the last Final. In the end I achieved something I was happy with.
This piece was created on A2 mixed media paper and drawn in Indian Ink.
All or Nothing
This piece could serve as an introduction or and ending to the project. It has elements off all the Experiments I had done over the course of the project. The smashed glass near the top of the image symbolises a broken mind, glass broken from the internal scream. The eyes are the minds eyes, seeing the dreams and visions within. The pyramid at the very back could symbolise climbing up to recovery or an overwhelming slope pushing down on the mind. Reflecting on my work I did make a few mistakes with the ink and black paint, and had to paint over with white. The white paint is noticeable when looking close up, which is a shame. I think that the shapes were originally not very precise or sharp but going over with the dip pen sharpening the lines has helped the overall intensity and quality of the image. I think the image composition itself is effectively graphic and interesting, and serves as a good introduction or ending, expressing all the elements that I discussed earlier.
This piece was created on A2 mixed media paper and drawn in Indian Ink.
Sagrada Famillia Abstract
This piece is a collage of memories and impressions of my time at Sagrada Famillia in Barcelona. I coloured the towers and architecture based of the lights and stain glass windows inside the chapel. It it a truly breathtaking arhictectuel and artistic achivement, and gave me a sense of overwhelming otherworldly awe. It left me dumstruck. It is a memory I will never forget.