Ruby Alston Graded Unit

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My final artist book. I used the concertina fold to show a timelapse of coronavirus and the stages of lockdown. The collages show the stages of emotions, feeling confused to feeling bored to then feeling scared and having to wear protection. I did the same with my quick in and bleach paintings of cells. It shows the timelapse of the coronavirus cells transforming and duplicating as the virus worsens and spreads throughout the body. I wanted the front cover to be quite simple as I didn’t want it to be over powering and take away from my paintings so I collected to fabric and left over bits from my paper manipulation techniques and I stitched them on to create cell like shapes.

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I tried out some different paper manipulation compositions, using all the different bleach experiments I tried, Quink in and bleach, bleach on water colour and bleach on blue roll. I also incorporated my painting to sound experiments by using one line that I found interesting and printing it onto the different surfaces.

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Artist Research on Lynn Skordal.

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Development acrylic paintings done from collages. Tried a different style to my usual paintings, more of a smooth texture and finish and I like how they turned out. I will use these in my final artist book .

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Collages made using photos my friends sent me to show emotions of coronavirus and human behaviours that spread the virus, like touching your face. The idea is that the collage shows mangled/deformed emotions that people are having as an effect of coronavirus.The 3rd collage I used a photo of my sister in her work uniform before she went on her night shift at the hospital, I thought it was relevant as she is currently a doctor looking after coronavirus patients.

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Developed painting of Covid infected lungs.

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Looking at the ‘restrictions’ of coronavirus I took some photos behind windows and bars to show the feeling of being trapped/ stuck.

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Quick ink and bleach experiments of the brain. Because I am not actually able to physically see and draw the brain I thought of different things that looked like a brain and I found these walnuts.the first two are some quick samples I did experimenting with the bleach and then I started to use the walnut as a subject. I really like how these turned out , so simple. The brain is is also really effected by coronavirus physically and mentally .

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Experimenting more with some different folds to practice my artist book, instead of using my previous stitching techniques. I started off small and then made the scale larger and used some of my painting experiments to see what it would look like , I added some stitching with wool to make it a bit more interesting. With my final book I will make it more sturdy by using stronger materials. My plan is to make the book 2 sided however I haven’t decided if it should have a cover on the front and the back .

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Quick acrylic experiments using a sponge and impasto brush technique .

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Some experiments I did painting to the sound of washing hands. I recorded the sound of me washing my hands, letting the tap run on it’s own and rubbing soap into my hands. I worked into a few of them to make it look like the Coronavirus cells but I think they kind of look like the intestines in the body.

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Internal experiment: water colour experiments using salt, bleach, beetroot juice and cling film. I started off by using a salt water wash and then adding drops of paint but it didn’t have the effect I wanted it to, so I painted the paper first and then sprinkled salt which turned out really nicely, and I think it looks like different cells in the body. I then tried two different techniques with cling film, first I wet the cling film and then dropped some paint onto in and then pressed the paper down on top of it, this left a subtle effect. Then I tried to paint the paper before added the cling film on top, which gave if the nice vein look when I peeled it pff which reminded me of the veins of the lungs. I found some left over beetroot juice in my fridge so I thought it might be interesting to paint with. It left a really strong pink colour, sort of looking like the insides of a body. Lastly I tried to add bleach to some of these experiments thinking it would take the paint away and leave a cool effect but it never had any effect on the paint .

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External experiment on emotions. Acrylic painting of one of my collages . In this painting I used Philip Gurrey as my influence. I think the style of this painting worked really well showing the emotions , the rough texture really emphasis it.

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These are some book binding techniques I tried a while ago, using the saddle stitch and the Japanese stab. I love the look of the Japanese style so I am thinking of maybe bringing it into my final artist book. An idea is to make a two sided book and one side will be internal and the other side will be external. I am also using one of the books as a lockdown journal to record how I am personally feeling during this time.

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Artist research 2- Philip Gurrey

He is a British artist born in 1984 in York. In 2007 he did an undergraduate degree in painting and printmaking at the Glasgow School of Art and in 2012 he did a Masters of letters degree in painting and print making. In Gurrey a work he explores the bridges between contemporary culture and historical events. He paints androgynous way (part male, part female) and he focuses the concept of the split self, many different personalities in one face. Most of his paintings are injured or tortured faces from the war. Showing broken jaws, noses and black eyes. It resembles a battlefield, in his paintings he always keeps one eye open or a face half smiling to show you that they are still alive. He was heavily influenced by Otto Dix WW2 photographs and Francisco Goya. As well as figurative painting he also looks at the act of improvisation and gesture In the history of painting. His paintings really remind me of the collages I had made and I’m interested to try out his painting techniques using my own collages or self portraits.

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I got a few of my friends to send me photos of them doing different things like touching their faces, using a tissue and then also just showing their emotions and how they are currently feeling in the lock down. I wanted these to focus of the face and the hands.

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Experiment showing physical and mental effects. Some collages I made for folio 3. Looking at emotions in children and how abandonment effects them. I thought they really connected with my idea of Coronavirus effecting mental health and looking at emotions in the brain. I love how these turned out such simple but effective collages.