Mono print continuation  

From my successful monoprints last week I wanted to expand and do a large scale print, I used the vintage circus poster featuring a hot air balloon and did an A3 print. I wanted to do it in a large scale to turn my print into an actually piece of art and not a little test. Overall the print was very successful, the shapes and line are very clear and defined, and I also like how the ink marks and irregular lines help to create the feel of the performers swinging rather than a static image. I added Gouache as it worked so well last time, however in this A3 scale I felt like putting the liquid paint on top lost some of the depth that the ink created. I wanted to add texture and rhythm back into the image so I decided to embroider on top of a photocopied version of my print. The embroidery thread brought colour and action back into the image and I like how the stripes of the stitches reference back to the stripes in the circus tent. After doing this embroidery I can see how it could be a good thing to incorporate into my final garment as it would be really good to create movement to a silhouette if I was to include print into my final outcome.

Continuous line drawing

After doing quick thumbnails using a continuous line, I wanted to explore how I could use it on a garment. I looked at Sarah Walton who is an artist who uses continuous line in her work; she creates delicate simple line drawings using thread and her sewing machine. Then picks certain elements in her work and collages them using fabric. I wanted to take inspiration from how she using a drawing technique but turns it into a textiles piece.

https://www.sewsarahwalton.com/ (03.2019)

 I did bigger detailed images of the different roles in the circus and combined multiple different circus performers into an A3 image. It was very effective because the shapes of the acrobats lead your eye in a circular motion around the drawing. I will transfer this drawing onto fabric using a sublimation printer and sew on top using a free stich foot on the sewing machine and trap pieces of fabric into certain parts of the image to add colour and pattern.

Abstract Painting

From looking at the mark making artist Melissa Mason, in one of my recent blog post, I wanted to produce expressive mark marking paintings inspired by her gestural pieces of art. I wanted to work bigger than my confined sketchbook so I worked of A1 and A2 pieces of paper, I collected together some tools I could use for mark making a began. I wanted to be quick and fluid but making sure I looked at the colours of the circus and the prints that are featured at the circus. My most effective piece was the abstract depiction of the inside of the big top tent, I looked at the triangular pattern and brought it into my painting in an abstract way using  the medium of acrylic in large movements using a dry brush and a flat piece of metal that I used to scrap the paint. I love the expressive nature of these studies, the paint marks create a chaotic movement symbolising the hustle and bustle of the circus. From this I want to print it onto sublimation fabric and sew on top of it, and then consider how I could use this in my circus themed garment.

Duo Line drawing

Drawing with two or more pens really helped me to transform my visual studies from a flat, static image to a 3D perspective. I used sharpies and fine liners to make quick expressive pictures from my circus images and equipment. I liked how they transformed my flat image so I wanted to expand on this technique; I did it onto acetate then collages underneath using packaging that the circus equipment came from. I liked how the packaging helped link my images to my theme as they had circus related prints, such as stripes and stars. These visual studies were a good way of my seeing how I could turn my images into 3D. From this study it has inspired me to collage one of my circus images using applique, similar to paper collage but links it to my final garment.

What’s next

From next week I want to conclude my visual studies and move onto looking at 3D form and structure of garments. I want to look at adding structural elements to garments inspired by the circus I what techniques and process I could use.