Cold wax

MA U2: Cheongsam Series #1 – oil and cold wax abstract

| elizarawlings

During one of my visits to Hong Kong some 30 years ago when my mother was still alive, she gave me four dresses as keepsakes – two hand tailor-made silk Cheongsams (traditional Chinese dress) from when she was a young woman and two evening dresses that she made herself for dinner balls that she went to with my father. One of the cheongsams was my favourite, it had a distinctive and memorable pattern. I remember very clearly that I used to open her wardrobe as a little girl to admire it and I was mesmerised by the pattern. Everything about it said ‘my mum’ to me. So I was very happy when she gave it to me to keep as it was very precious and had so much history.

Then in 2001 when I moved house (in Bristol, UK), I cleared lots of old things into a skip. As the skip was driven away, I remembered a small suitcase containing the precious dresses was accidentally thrown into the skip but it was too late. It was one of the things that I have regretted all these years.

That was some 22 years ago. Then earlier this year, I was clearing out the loft and found a box containing some old items, inside which was a plastic carrier bag contain the four dresses. It was as close to a miracle as I could image. I hadn’t thrown away those dresses after all! To find them again after all these years was an emotional moment for me.

Here is the distinctive Cheongsam that I adored. It is a traditional Chinese dress made with a contemporary western style abstract patterned fabric of the time (late 1960s). It is a good example of a piece of transcultural garment. It has some deep creases from being folded for so many years but I am unsure of how best to iron or care for it, so until I find out, I decided to refold it for safe keeping. Below are some photos I took before putting it away.

Front view
Back view
Close up of the Madarin collar design
Close up of the abstract pattern that fascinated me as a child
Close up of the details of hand made stitches along a seam

There is so much history to this interesting dress, its rich features and heritage make it very precious and can provide inspiration for my art making. However, I was unsure of what to do and where to start.

When I recently visited the Stuart Hall Library in London as part of my MA Fine Art course Low Residency at CSM, I saw the book called Fusionable Cheongsam. I was unable to spend too much time there because we were on a tight schedule for the day and I hope to return soon to have a good read of the book. However, I had seen enough to convince me that the Cheongsam could be a good focus for my art making. I decided to start with a painting.

METHOD

Photographs of various parts of the Cheongsam fabric pattern were taken and printed on an EPSON EcoTank ET2860 inkjet printer.

Images were selected to fully cover a 30×20 inch canvas board. Dispersion liquid was used to transfer the printed images onto the canvas and left to dry overnight.

The paper was rubbed off leaving the transferred image on the canvas. As expected, the process usually leaves blank patches as it had done here:

Where there were blank spaces, the outline of the abstract shapes were drawn in using a 0.2mm black fine liner pen.

Using the colour charts I prepared a few weeks ago, various colour shades were chosen for the top layer oil and cold wax painting. The oil and cold wax were mixed in 50/50 ratio.

Blocks of colour were painted onto the canvas. The approach was abstract and without pre-planning, I was just responding to the canvas. Towards the bottom centre area, I wanted to paint a dark red triangle, what came out was part of a mouth or lips. The lips led me to start painting an abstract face:

Once the top layer painting was completed, I started to scratch off the paint, firstly in the shape of a small cheongsam.

Then the paint was scraped off and the area cleaned with environmentally friendly solvent:

I liked the image and I then responded to it by making marks of several other cheongsams of various sizes. Bright red paint was used to depict the traditional Chinese buttons used on garments. Strips of Chinese calligraphy with the phrase ‘third space’ was layered onto the paint then pigment was sprinkled to add texture.

I felt troubled by the face, especially the dark eye, it looked too sinister. So I scraped off most of the dark eye to give it a kinder look.

Finished work below – Cheongsam #1. Oil and cold wax on canvas with image transfer. Size 20×30 in.

REFLECTIONS

What I am happy with:

– The colour palette

– The fabric pattern that came through

– The Cheongsam shaped mark making

– The little red buttons as a colour pop

– The inlaying of Chinese calligraphy

– Enjoyed working with oil and cold wax media

What I’m not happy with:

– The composition, the ‘lips’ accidentally appearing led me to subconsciously start creating a face-like composition. I’m not sure if it worked. When the ‘eye’ was completely filled in black, it became a strange and eerie creature. It was too distracting hence I scraped off most of the black to reduce the impact.

– Due to the strange face, it doesn’t sit comfortably with me which perhaps is a good thing. Better than being forgettable.

Other thoughts:

– I wanted to use the cheongsam series to help me to delve into my thoughts about my family, especially my mother, our relationship and my heritage. I am not sure if I achieved this in just this painting because I was overly focusing on making the work and trying to get the composition right. But I am keen to continue the Cheongsam series and feel that I am at the beginning of something.

– I am intrigued by the history of the Cheongsam and want to find out more.

– The fact that such a traditional Chinese garment of my mother’s was made with a western style abstract pattern was intriguing – this is what the Third Space is about and I have accidentally stumbled upon this excellent example – my mother, a Chinese woman from colonised Hong Kong, chose this dress with this fabric. I have not fully processed this finding yet, but I wanted to acknowledge it here and will slowly delve into what I think and how I feel about this.

LEARNING

– Various symbols have emerged from this piece. I am inspired by Fiona Rae’s work where she often uses playful symbols. I can try a playful approach with e.g. lips or butterflies. The collars of the Cheongsam remind me of butterflies, they could be turned into a signature symbol that I use in my work.

– Other symbols such as the distinctive buttons that are used in Cheongsam and traditional Chinese garments, I loved playing with them when I was a child – I can investigate those further.

– I am intrigued by the Cheongsam and I want to research about its history and other related art such as in the book ‘Fusion of Cheongsam’ to get inspiration for making.

– As I was painting, I felt that I was trying too hard especially in the composition of the oil and cold wax layer. It felt deliberate rather than a free response to the canvas. I could use my sketchbook more to plan composition for my work, do more quick trial and error exploration.

NEXT STEPS

– Continue the Cheongsam exploration because I feel excited by the subject – research into its history and related art to get inspiration.

– Keep making, do some informal work. Not every piece has to be a finished painting.

– Play in my sketchbook.

– Relax and enjoy the making process. Take time and don’t try too hard.

MA Y1 U1: Exploring media – Oil and cold wax – Part 7

| elizarawlings

BACKGROUND:

This is an experiment to complete one of the actions from an earlier blog – Exploring media – oil and cold wax Part 6. The action was to:

– Experiment with a barrier or masking fluid to prevent the oil from seeping into the Chinese brush painting images.

This experiment is required because the Xuan paper (rice paper) used for Chinese brush painting is very thin and absorbent, therefore if the paper was laid over materials such as oil in my transcultural layering work, the oil paint underneath would seep through and ruin the Chinese brush painting image as happened in Part 6 of this blog series.

METHOD:

The three barrier fluids chosen for this experiment were: Dispersion liquid; PVA glue and matte Mod Podge.

Some small images painted using Chinese ink were used for this experiment. The back of each image was painted with one type of the barrier fluids with one image left bare as ‘control’ for the experiment.

A paper canvas was painted with a mix of oil paint and cold wax:

The Chinese painted images were cut out and pressed onto the oil and cold wax. The images were pressed hard onto the painted canvas using a palette knife to robustly test the barrier performance.

Below is the result – an overall image followed by close-ups of each test area. 

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Result: The best outcome was the Mod Podge.

REFLECTIONS

I am happy with the outcome of this experiment. This was a quick experiment but a very important one because, as shown in this blog series, it has been challenging to incorporate Chinese brush painting onto oil or oil and cold wax – the latter being my chosen ‘Western’ medium for my current series of transcultural style development work. The outcome of this experiment has helped me to find a viable way forward and I can now move onto developing colour palettes and aesthetics for my style knowing that I have found a way to combine the materials from different cultural origins without losing any material integrity.

LEARNING  

The learning here is a straight forward one. Mod Podge worked well as a barrier fluid to protect the Chinese ink work before incorporating it into the oil and cold wax ‘collage’.

NEXT STEPS

Pick up from the previous post (Part 6) and resume the next actions from there. The immediate next action will be to research and develop colour palettes that can help to communicate my transcultural narrative.

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ADDITIONAL EXPERIMENT

I was given two pieces of specialist Chinese painting paper by my Chinese art teacher. They are:

– Beijing bark paper, and

– Cicada wing paper (because it’s so thin that it resembles the wings of cicadas).

Both types of paper are of beautiful quality and feel very delicate. They are both very thin which would be ideal for what I’m looking for in my transcultural layering work. I.e. overlaying Chinese brush painting onto a more viscous medium such as oil.

I repeated the above experiment with these papers. I wrote some Chinese calligraphy characters on each sheet:

Then painted part of the image on the reverse side with Mod Podge as a barrier and leaving part of the image bare to compare:

Once the Mod Podge was dried. The two sheets were pressed onto a base layer of oil and cold wax. A palette knife was used for the edges, blending the paper with the oil paint to bury the edges. Then I used my finger to press the image into the oil:

Below is the outcome with the cicada paper performing well compared to the Beijing bark. The cicada paper appears to have an inbuilt barrier to protect the image, meaning that a barrier liquid would not be required as there was no perceivable difference whether Mod Podge was used.

Then more oil and cold wax was applied on top to blend in the image whilst avoiding the characters. Final result:

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REFLECTIONS / LEARNING

Out of all the Chinese painting papers that I have tested in this series of exploration, the cicada paper was the best material for the purpose of my transcultural layering work involving Chinese brush painting and oil based medium.

Additionally, it was useful to discover that a barrier liquid (e.g. Mod Podge) would not be required with the cicada wing paper. This will help to reduce the process complexity.

NEXT STEPS

– Create a new piece of work that uses the new discovery with the cicada paper to refine the process and to learn more about the material.

– Source more cicada paper and find a long term supplier for this paper.

.

This experiment ends the series of blogs on ‘Exploring media – Oil and cold wax’.

MA Y1 U1: Exploring media – Oil and cold wax – Part 6

| elizarawlings

BACKGROUND

I want to use this experiment to explore the Next Steps that were identified in Exploring Media – Oil and Cold Wax Part 5.

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2023/12/24/ma-y1-u1-exploring-oil-and-cold-wax-part-5/ 

The actions were to:

-Try out more Chinese brush paint collage onto oil and cold wax to refine this part of the process.

-Try exposing a larger area of the background image to see if that can work with the abstraction approach on the top layer. Experiment to find the right balance between revealing the base layer image without losing the sense of abstraction on the top layer.

-Try spray painting on top of the oil and cold wax surface – try when wet and then when dried.

Finished work for Part 6:

Mixed media on paper, A3

METHOD

A printed photo image of a tapestry that was gifted to me by my brother many years ago was used as the based image for this piece. The image was transferred onto a paper canvas using dispersion liquid. The paper used was 250 gsm oil paper.

After the dispersion liquid dried, the printed image was rubbed off with a wet sponge to reveal the transferred image on the canvas. This was the first time a paper canvas (as opposed to a cotton canvas) was used in this series of experiments and it was clear that the paper canvas was not robust enough for the process. See below image for damage to paper. However, there was sufficient integrity in the paper canvas to continue the piece. I was hoping that a thick layer of oil and cold wax would hide the damaged areas. There was also excessive buckling on the paper canvas.

Recalling my disappointment with the colour palette that I chose for Part 5 (pink and grey), I decided to research into abstract paintings that I like to learn from the colours used. One of my favourite abstract artists is Lee Krasner and below is the painting that I decided to study and learn from in terms of the colour palette used.

Desert Moon (1955):

A layer of oil and cold wax was then applied to the canvas:

Areas were scraped off to reveal the base tapestry image. Learning from Part 5, I wanted to reveal a larger area so that it was clear what the base image was about. Then additional oil and cold wax colours were added:

For the Chinese brush calligraphy, I chose a delicate silk fabric as a substrate that was almost transparent because I wanted the substrate to become as invisible as possible.

After writing the Chinese calligraphy onto silk, it was cut out and carefully pressed onto the oil and cold wax layer.

A small palette knife was used to press the silk into the oil and cold wax, taking care to avoid pressing the areas of the calligraphy characters which was challenging due to the complex shape of the characters. The yellow circle shows where part of the character was pressed into the oil and cold wax, partly obscuring the writing.

Additional marks were made – some were painted on and some were scratched off. The tapestry image was about children playing with lanterns and I have a lantern stencil that was made for previous work. So I wanted to experiment with spray painting onto wet oil and cold wax to see the effect.

Further spray painting was done – the phrase #3RD SP (for third space) was sprayed onto a dryer corner of the painting. All spray paint used were Montana GOLD 312g aerosol cans as popularly used by street artists:

Finished work with border tidied up:

…

REFLECTIONS

I am happy with:

– The colour palette. I am much happier with this painting than the previous one in Part 5. A more considered approach in selecting the colour palette paid off here.

– The experiment with using an almost transparent substrate for the Chinese brush art worked well. The pieces (there were two in total) adhered well to the painted surface. Although the substrate was not completely invisible, it was acceptable as a solution.

– The scratched mark making especially the part at the top to echo the revealed based image of the children playing with lanterns.

– The overall look of the spray painting, especially the words – they added a contemporary feel to the piece which was what I was looking for.

– Feeling more confident using oil and cold wax as a medium.

I am not so happy with:

– The paper canvas, it was not robust enough. Although the damage by the image transfer process was covered up with oil and cold wax, it was clear that this would be the wrong material to use for this process.

– The spray painting of the lantern – it was sprayed onto very wet oil and cold wax. The outcome was not satisfactory – it felt and looked ‘gooey’ and not the intended effect. I believe this was partly due to my reluctance to place the stencil close to the wet oil paint as I didn’t want the back of the stencil to pick up the oil paint, causing the spray paint to loosely disperse around the stencilled image.

– Although I was happier with the colour palette, I felt there was more that could be done to add more complexity to the palette to increase depth to the piece.

General comment: the Chinese calligraphy is a famous ancient Chinese poem about being homesick. It is one of the few Chinese poems that I know as most children growing up in Hong Kong in my era were made to learn it, partly because it is a good poem and very easy to remember. Going forward, I feel that if I were to use more Chinese calligraphy then I should learn more about Chinese poetry so that I can use a wider variety of content in this respect. It will also help me to understand more about my Chinese heritage.

Other thoughts that came to me some time after completing this painting:

– Throughout the making process, my mind kept going back to celebrating the Mid Autumn Festival when I was a child in Hong Kong. The highlight as children was to be given a lantern each to play with. The choosing and buying of the lantern in preparation was always a source of excitement. The lanterns were lit with small candles. The children would use a long stick as handle for the lantern and go around the neighbourhood exploring with their lanterns, just like the children in my painting. The Mid Autumn Festival celebrated the fullest moon of the year and celebrations would only begin after dark when the full moon came out. Since we were not usually allowed out at night, it made the Festival especially popular with children. At times a lantern would catch fire which added much excitement. There would be lots of fruit and snacks laid out that were specific for the festival. I remember one year when we were older children (over ten years old), my brother and I went to a local park, sat on the swings and chatted all evening. It was when my family was going through a difficult period and to share that moment with him was very special, especially when we ended up spending most of the rest of our lives living in different countries. He gave me the children’s tapestry that I used for this painting which evoked all those memories while making this piece of work.

LEARNING

– More work is required to develop my sense in choosing an appropriate colour palette for the piece. This is increasingly important because my work is about storytelling as well as narrative and I believe having an appropriate colour palette helps to tell a story. So more research and experiments should be done in this respect.

– The silk substrate worked well for the Chinese calligraphy. However, I know there is a wide range of other delicate Chinese substrates and I will experiment with different materials to find the optimum.

– Layering the Chinese substrate onto oil is a risky process – as seen in the image with the yellow circle highlighting the part obscuring of the brush painting if pressed too much into the oil. To help with this, further experiments are required to improve this process. E.g. paint a barrier layer, such as a masking fluid that dries clear, onto the back of the Chinese brush painting or calligraphy to shield the image from the oil seeping in from underneath.

– Spray painting, especially words, adds a contemporary feel to the image which is a style that I want to incorporate into my work. This is relevant to me because I take much inspiration from the extensive street art scene in my home city of Bristol where many famous street artists work or have worked.

– Using the tapestry image evoked many memories, perhaps I could explore that more.

NEXT STEPS

– Research into colour palettes for the type of stories that I want to tell. Build confidence in this area.

– Continue to build experience and explore using oil and cold wax.

– Experiment with other transparent Chinese substrate materials to find one that is as close to invisible as possible when layered onto oil.

– Experiment with a barrier or masking fluid to prevent the oil from seeping into the Chinese brush painting images.

– Experiment with more spray painting – be bold and push boundaries.

– Ongoing learning – research into Chinese poetry to find more poems that resonate with me to use in future work.

– Explore the evoked memories.

ADDITIONAL WORK

After visiting the exhibition of Ofelia Rodriguez again at Spike Island in Bristol, I was inspired by the way she used fabric as a border to her paintings.

This gave me the idea to try that with my work, especially to use Chinese imagery border for a recent piece of work to add to the transcultural narrative.

I started with some patterned paper that I had to make a collage frame. But I was not happy with the effect. It seemed too busy and rather random as an idea.

I then returned to the original tapestry that I used as the base image for the painting. It was a tapestry that was gifted to me by my brother many years ago.

Image to show the border of the tapestry

It is a typical border for small scale tapestries of this type. Then images of the border were printed and cut out to create a collage border for the painting:

Final finished work:

Mixed media on paper, 54 x 41.5 cm.

REFLECTIONS

I am very happy with the outcome of this experiment inspired by Rodrigues. It has completed the painting for me and added a more transcultural feel alongside the painted images such as the spray painted words.

To improve this approach, I would spray paint the # words to partly cover the tapestry image frame. I think that would increase the contemporary feel for the piece juxtaposing the traditional Chinese tapestry border.

MA Y1 U1: Exploring media – Oil and cold wax – Part 5

| elizarawlings

BACKGROUND

Continuing from Part 4:

MA Y1 U1: Exploring oil and cold wax – Part 4

I watched the last session of the online course with St Ives Painting School on exploring oil and cold wax which was useful in giving me more ideas to try. I want to then respond to the ‘next steps’ from Part 4 in this research experiment.

Finished work:

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METHOD

An A2 sized inkjet printed poster of a night time neon street signs scene of Hong Kong was chosen as the background of the piece. Dispersion liquid was used to transfer the image onto an A1 primed board canvas.

As the piece dried, I could see the canvas board was warped by the process – something to note.

Below is the transferred image. I turned it upside down because I wanted a specific sign to appear at the point shown by the yellow arrow indicated:

Axes were drawn in chalk to mark out the approximate plan for the composition. Also, some pencil marks were made on the edge of the canvas to indicate where a few of the specific neon signs were located that I planned to reveal later.

To complement the pink and dark colours of the background, I chose to use shades of grey and pink for the paint and cold wax coverage for the piece. So a palette of the different shades were mixed starting with red, black and white.

Since this was a practice research experiment on semi-abstraction with oil and cold wax, I started with various abstract shapes in the chosen colour palette. Then after using solvent to soften an area of paint and wax, I scraped off an area to reveal a specific neon sign according to the position marking that were made earlier:

Various tools were used to scrap off paint as mark making. Also, using a small palette knife with a pointed end, Chinese calligraphy characters (last line of a famous ancient Chinese poem) were scraped into the work – this was an experiment to simulate a Chinese paint brush using a pointed palette knife:

Various tools were used to add more marks. Shapes of the Bristol Harbour Horn Bridge were put in because I liked the effect from a previous experiment. Pigment powder were scraped from a pigment bar to create a dusting effect. More areas of paint were removed to reveal the neon signs underneath – the later ones were just scraped off with a card or palette knife without the need for solvent which was unnecessary. Other lines from the ancient Chinese poem were written in Chinese ink on Xuen (rice) paper, then cut out and pressed onto the paint and cold wax on various areas of the painting.

Finished work: Size A1, mixed media.

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REFLECTIONS

I enjoyed the experiment and it was very helpful. Below are what I was and was not happy with.

I was happy with:

-The discovery that using Xuan paper to add Chinese brush painting or calligraphy worked very well. This is because the thinness of the Xuan paper was almost transparent when pressed onto the oil paint, so that it almost appears as though the calligraphy was on the oil surface. I would like to find more robust yet thinner materials (maybe silk or other paper of some kind) for this technique because the Xuan paper is delicate and could be prone to damage in the process. Since the paper is still partially visible and the temptation is to keep burying it into the paint and therefore risk damage. Hence an even thinner but more robust material would be better.

-Using the small palette knife to simulate a Chinese paint brush was successful but the effect is not as authentic as using the Xuan paper. However, I can see that the palette knife technique has its place if a semi-authentic effect was needed.

-Scarping the paint and wax off to reveal the background image worked well and the position markings on the side of the canvas were essential.

-I felt confident in manipulating the paint and cold wax materials, both in applying and mark making using tools. I continue to enjoy using these materials and can see more potential.

-The pigment powder sprinkling method worked well.

I was not happy with:

-The overall painting – I do not like it. 

-There are too many neatly laid out symbols, hence it feels twee. I need to be more gestural in the mark making if I want to use abstraction as a form of expression. This requires more experimentation.

-The pink and grey palette added to the tweeness. So not satisfied with that.

-The vibrant neon-signed background did not get exposed sufficiently hence losing the energy that I wanted to bring into the piece with that image. Scraping small areas to reveal the symbols worked technically, but I feel larger areas needed to be revealed to make the background a true part of the painting.

LEARNING

-Out of all the different experiments carried out in this practice-based research series of work to incorporate Chinese brush art into oil paint, I believe this (using Xuan paper) was the most successful and I was happy with the outcome. So I will explore using a collage technique rather than brush paint ink onto oil. The next step will be to find the optimum material which would perform even better than Xuan paper. Ideally to find a selection of materials so I have some options to choose from.

-Oil paint and cold wax are still materials that I want to explore further for developing my style because I feel it provides a good based for semi-abstraction work that I want to explore. I can make abstract gestural and textural marks as well as use tools to depict symbols. Also it forms a good base for any collage work.

-Expose larger areas of the background image if the background is meant to be a key part of the work.

-One area that I have not experimented with yet is to spray paint onto oil and cold wax to see how that performs. I want to have the option to add street art onto my work.

NEXT STEPS

-Try out more Chinese brush paint collage onto oil and cold wax to refine this part of the process.

-Try exposing a larger area of the background image to see if that can work with the abstraction approach on the top layer. Experiment to find the right balance between revealing the base layer image without losing the sense of abstraction on the top layer.

-Try spray painting on top of the oil and cold wax surface – try when wet and then when dried.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIMENT

After the painting has dried, I spray painted the phrase ‘#3RD SPACE’ using a stencil onto the dried oil paint and cold wax. It worked well and I’m pleased that spray paint is an additional material that I can use here.

MA Y1 U1: Exploring media – Oil and cold wax – Part 3

| elizarawlings

BACKGROUND

This is Part 3 of my blog series on exploring oil and cold wax. I’m exploring this combination of medium because I have always liked the effect this combination produces and I want to explore building it into my practice. Through this exploration, I want to find ways to examine my third space from my subconscious through abstraction.

METHOD

Despite doing various practical experiments as well as online research about working with oil and cold wax. I reached a stage where I was looking for some more formal guidance. So I attended a series of online webinars ran by St Ives School of Painting.

Session 1 was mainly to experiment with making marks with different tools using a limited palette of black, white and greys.

I made six small paintings and below is my favourite:

Paint palette with 50:50 mix of oil and cold wax:

I tried various tools such as palette knifes and pointed scrapers. The new ones for me were the tools typically used for scraping clay for ceramic work – they proved to be very effective at scraping oil and wax mix as one would expect.

The six images created during the session:

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REFLECTIONS

I have enjoyed the session and I was pleased with what I have done so far. Nothing is really new but taking time to just focus on mark making with the medium was good ‘returning to basic’ work that I needed here. It gave me an opportunity to reset my thinking and to give myself time. Rather than feeling I had to produce a finished piece of work because I should be beyond the basics, it was good to just explore without giving myself pressure which was what I wanted to do.

Also, in the past, when I had wanted to experiment with oil and cold wax, I was advised against it by a previous painting tutor because it would change or flatten the oil paint luminosity. Then recently at a group crit when I was asked why I wanted to use oil and cold wax, I couldn’t really come up with a reason apart from ‘I like it; I like the texture and the effect it create’ which seemed inadequate. So I felt I couldn’t justify using the combined medium. But there’s something about it that kept drawing me back so right now I feel very excited that I’m continuing with the exploration and I am doing the webinars.

LEARNING

The technical learning so far is limited after just one session, I plan to expand on this after I have done more of the course.

From a personal learning perspective – I am just excited that I am doing this despite earlier discouragement and I no longer feel the need to justify it. I feel excited that this could be a way for me to use abstraction to express my transculturalism because of the layering and scraping then revealing nature of the medium – it appears I have just justified using this combined medium!

NEXT STEPS

Attend session 2 of the webinar series.

MA Y1 U1: Developing narrative – HK Street names Part 1

| elizarawlings

BACKGROUND

As part of my research on The Third Space (Ref. The location of culture by Homi K Bhabha), I have been seeking out ‘third space’ phenomena from my memory and surroundings in order to gain a deeper understanding of the concept. To this end, I decided to research and do a project on the street names of Hong Kong.

When HK was a British colony, many streets were named after British Governors or officials sent to manage HK. Their English names were converted into Chinese (Cantonese) using transliteration*. As a result, the street names when pronounced in Cantonese are meaningless and often nonsensical. Since street names are such a fundamental part of daily lives, those strange sounding streets names have become a natural part of the day-to-day language without anyone questioning their nonsensical nature.

This project is to highlight the transliteration of HK street names as an example of a third space phenomenon from a place that has deep personal relevance for me.

Finished painting – HK Street names 1 – oil and cold wax on inkjet printed paper, size 18.4 x 12.8 cm.

METHOD

This is the first step and an experiment to test out the idea and process.

I researched online images of street signs in HK and picked out those that were transliterated from British names. Since the HK street signs nowadays are of a new design that I am not familiar with, where possible, I have chosen images that were from the 1960s, 70s and 80s – the period when I lived in HK and when HK was still under colonial British rule.

A digital collage of the road signs was made using Adobe Express then inkjet printed onto paper.

Teal colour oil paint was mixed with cold wax in 50:50 ratio and the printed image was covered in a thick layer of the oil-wax mix.

My iPhone was set up in video capture mode to record – I gradually scraped off the paint revealing most of the street signs one by one as I read out in English then Cantonese each street name. The purpose of the voice over was to enable viewers to hear the Cantonese transliteration.

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REFLECTIONS

This was an experiment to test out the concept on a small scale before taking it onto a large canvas to create a painting. The aim is to ultimately create two pieces of work – a painting as well as a video accompanied by a piece of writing explaining the background of the street names used as part of my research into colonialism.

I believe the way these streets were named in HK was an example of how soft power worked in a British colony where the names of the colonisers such as Governors and Royalty were permanently imprinted into the day-to-day lives of the local people, serving as a reminder of the colonial power structure. The fact that road and streets were named in this way served as a constant reminder of who was in charge of the the land.

I started this project with casual research online, however, my interest in the topic increased as I went deeper into the research as it became clear the extent of the soft power exercised in these examples. As I looked at the street signs and read out each name, I could hear my late parents saying those names on a daily basis in conversation – which road had bad traffic jams, what was the shortest route to get to a place or giving directions to a shop. As a child, I listened to my parents using the transliterated and nonsensical street names like it was just normal. Everyone used those names without giving it a second thought. I left HK when I was a young teenager and never lived there as an adult. I now wonder what it was like for my parents to live their whole lives in a colony, to live, work and bring up children as colonised subjects. Doing this project has caused me to think about that more deeply. I always feel conflicted when I think about this topic – HK was a British Colony with in-built structural injustices that came with being colonised, but HK also became successful globally partly due to the commercial, legal and justice systems that were put in place by the British bringing prosperity to the city and stability for the people. This is a conflicted feeling that I will continue to examine – just like the transliterated street names, what seemed natural or normal once upon a time, now no longer make sense and I am still trying to unpack that conflicted feeling.

Regarding the art work, I was pleased with the outcome of the project, especially as an initial experiment. Through my research, I have found many more interesting facts about the naming of streets in HK, I could potentially divide them into categories and make several art work to create a series.

LEARNING

In the context of my art practice, this research project has helped me to gain a deeper understanding of The Third Space as coined by Homi K Bhabha. The phenomenon of the street names researched here is unique and only came about as a result of the English and Chinese languages coming together through colonisation. There is also the underlying cultural influences from both sides, e.g. holding military personnel in high esteem for the British and in the case of Bedford Road, the Chinese name reflecting the entrepreneurial mindset of the locals.

I am been struggling to make art through examining my third space – one that is personal to my lived experience. I have struggled to create images that is a result of that third space, instead, I have been layering together distinct images from the two cultures that have influenced me. To expand on this point with an example from the HK street names:

Example – take Wood Road that was named after John Roskruge Wood, an acting chief justice during the colonial period. If it were translated into Chinese, the character 木 for wood (as in wood from trees) would have been used. Instead, the phonetic sound of Wood was used in the transliteration, hence the Chinese character 活 meaning alive or living was used to get the closest sound to Wood. The Third Space phenomenon gave rise to a very different outcome.

Analysing the HK street names was the first time I found a concrete example of the third space phenomenon that is relevant to me and my heritage. So I will continue to research this topic as well as look for other signs of the colonial era in HK that may help with my personal identity research.

Whenever I struggle with creating images for my third space, I come back to researching the work of the artist Fiona Rae because I feel she has captured the essence of the third space well with her British and Asian influences. I will continue to research her work.

NEXT STEPS

– Repeat this work on a larger scale using proper canvas material to make a painting and a video.

– Test the video on non-Chinese speaking people to see if the transliteration sounds were noticeable, i.e. is the video voice over meaningful.

– Complete the piece of writing to accompany the art work.

– Research deeper into the HK street names to potentially make a series of work on this theme.

– Research further the history of HK to look for other third space phenomena to inform my personal identity work.

– Research Fiona Rae’s work and find more transcultural British/East Asian artists to add my list for research.

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH INFORMATION

Below is a table showing the background of every street name revealed in this painting and video – whom they were named after as well as amusing mistakes in translation or transliteration.

* What is transliteration?

Below are blogs and extracts explaining the meaning of transliteration in the context of this project.

The Meaning of Transliteration – Blog (aussietranslations.com.au)

Extract:

Translation provides the meaning of words in a second language. Transliteration does not provide the words’ meaning but it makes it easier to pronounce them. Transliteration alters the letters from a language or alphabet into characters of a similar-sounding in a different alphabet. It is quite clear that there is frequently a demand for the transliteration of some languages, especially in this globalised world where people who do not share the same language can have some access to languages with a dissimilar alphabet.

What’s the difference between translation and transliteration? | Foreign Tongues

Extract:

A transliteration doesn’t tell you the meaning of the word, but it gives you an idea of how the word is pronounced in a foreign language. It makes a language a little more accessible to people who are unfamiliar with that language’s alphabet.

MA Y1 U1: Exploring media – Oil and cold wax – Part 2 with a personal photo

| elizarawlings

Finished painting:

Oil and cold wax on canvas, size 12×16 inch

BACKGROUND

After experimenting with oil and cold wax, I wanted to do a painting with that medium. As for the subject of this work – I wanted to start with an old photograph of my parents’ home.

METHOD

After watching a video about sketchbooks recently, I decided to return to using my sketchbook to develop ideas. Here is what I came up with for this painting.

I took a digital copy of an old photo from my parents’ home, printed it out and transferred the image onto a 12×16 inch canvas board using dispersion liquid. One of the framed photos in the image was of me at my graduation with my parents from years earlier – I didn’t want to include that hence I cut it out to leave a blank space with the aim of raising questions or intrigue for the viewer.

Image being transferred onto canvas board

Below is a bare canvas board with the transferred photo image:

I would usually apply paint instinctively in response to the image on the canvas, however, I wanted to be more considered in my approach hence referring to The Art of Colour book to do some research and plan the colour palette for the work.

I picked out a green shade from the photo and did an acrylic wash to cover the canvas:

I was feeling lost despite faced with a very informative book. So I did some artist research to look at the colour palette on this painting by Fiona Rae – an artist that I admire and researching into her work was part of my intention from the last experiment:

That gave me the inspiration to start painting. I tried to stay with the idea developed in my sketchbook with blocks of colours in oil and cold wax reflecting the different cultural areas that I operate in.

I wanted to add connections between the two blocks to represent the stairwell connecting ‘the two rooms’ as in the analogy used by Homi K Bhabha in his book The Location of Culture about people living in different cultures simultaneously – one ends up running back and forth. I then scratched the oil and wax medium to create branches like those on the peach tree in the photo.

I masked the cut-out of my photo while painting. Below is with the mask removed after I finished painting:

I wanted to put a seal stamp on the painting from my late mother to connect her with this work. Here is one of her seals (she was a Chinese artist):

The seal was stamped on the top right of the photo image to complete the painting.

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REFLECTIONS

In The Location of Culture, Homi K Bhabha talks about the negotiation of cultures and where that takes place. He uses the analogy of a stairwell connecting different rooms and a transcultural person is constantly running in between those rooms. That analogy resonated with me and I wanted to build my image around this concept as captured in my sketchbook.

Regarding the use of a family photo – this idea came about when I was recently shown four photo albums that belonged to my family. I was asked to take them but I didn’t feel ready to take them yet. I wasn’t ready to start delving into my memory although working from memory is a key part of my narrative work. My deeper memory felt fragile hence I wanted to ease into the process. My tutor suggested that perhaps I could try working with one or two old photos to see how I got on. I chose one photo that was taken at Chinese New Year with the traditional new year peach blossoms surrounded by some framed family photos. It was taken many years after I left home and I didn’t feel a connection to my parents’ home even though I felt I should do. Hence I cut out the photo of me from the scene as I felt out of place there. The cutting out of part of an image from a photo was something that I wanted to try to see if it would convey that sense of ‘absence’ or ‘not belonging’. I was pleased with how it worked out on the image transfer and the masking process.

Despite the research into colour palettes and tone brilliance, I ended up doing it rather instinctively – this was a disappointment because I wanted to be more scientific and considered in my use of colours – so this remains an area of development.

I enjoyed using oil and cold wax and found that I had many options of mark making. I was pleased with how the scratched tree branches came out and the black thin marks helped to enhance the tree. I would have wanted to paint the tree in Chinese painting style but I have not worked out how to paint that delicately onto oil – ink doesn’t work on oil (materially incompatible) and oil is too viscous to achieve the delicate aesthetic – this remains an area that needs further investigation.

I presented the painting at a group crit. I didn’t mention the cut out photo and wanted to see if anyone would ask about it. No one did which made me think perhaps it was not an effective way to provoke a response.

At the crit, I was also asked by the facilitator if it would matter to me if no one understood my work. My instinctive answer was ‘no, it wouldn’t bother me’ although it’s always good if someone understood the work or found a connection with it. My take away was that perhaps this painting was aesthetically too confusing and hence people didn’t get it.

LEARNING

There were practical learning points such as to continue to work on colour theory and find ways to satisfactorily depict delicate Chinese brush painting onto a ‘western’ medium such as oil because I want to explore ways to bring different cultural genres together to convey my transcultural lived experience. This continues to be a key area of exploration for me.

On a personal point, although I liked this painting, I learnt that I still have some way to go to express myself in an abstract manner that connects with the viewer. My two colour zones with connections for the ‘stairwell’ didn’t really come across as I intended and the viewers seemed indifferent to the photo image. These made me think that what I wanted to say was not sufficiently thought-through, so I need to revisit what I wanted to say and not to rush in trying to say too much in one painting because all the messages and symbolic meanings would just get lost within the image. I have been advised before to avoid trying to say everything or too much in one painting – I must remember that.

NEXT STEPS

– Continue to learn and experiment with colours as I want to use colours appropriately to help me to convey my story.

– Do experiments: dig out some old oil painting exercises, cover with clear gesso and see if I can use Chinese ink on top of that.

– Revisit my style development. Do more research into the third space to really understand what that means to me and what it could look like aesthetically in order to develop a language that I can use. For this point, I want to develop my abstraction skills and will continue to explore oil and cold wax in this development.

– I want to continue to explore the cut-out photo technique to play with the notion of absence in my narrative. Although no one asked about it in this case, I remain excited about the possibilities.

MA YI U1: Exploring media – Oil and cold wax – Part 1

| elizarawlings

Background

I have been wanting to experiment with oil and cold wax in abstraction because I find myself often drawn to other abstract artists’ work using these specific media. For example, a local artist from Bristol called Julia Maleeva. Below are examples of her work.

Julia Maleeva – Belfry 100x150cm. Oil and cold wax on canvas:

Julia Maleeva – Lemon shadow in love 100x150cm. Oil and cold wax on canvas:

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METHOD

The objective of this exercise was just to experiment and try out how the oil and cold wax work together, applied using palette knives. I also wanted to add elements of collage to give additional texture.

Oil paint and cold wax mixed in 50/50 ratio, with a twisted paper strip to see if the paper would stick or if adhesive would be required:

More strips of paper was added:

More experimentation in different areas:

Each area explained (background is oil and cold wax mixed):

1 and 2: colour blocks of oil and cold wax mixed in 50/50 ratio.

3: pure oil paint was added to see how it appears on top of oil and wax background.

4: Blue area was oil, cold wax and solvent mixed to a thin and runny viscosity.

5: A twisted strip of paper stuck on the paint without requiring adhesive.

6: Strips of origami paper stuck on without adhesive.

7: Paper strips stuck on/half buried without adhesive.

I tried doing some Chinese style painting using oil paint as a top layer.

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REFLECTIONS

I was pleased with the experiment of oil and cold wax. I felt at ease working with the medium and it was a pleasure applying it onto canvas. I noticed the colours remained true but the wax did make the paint more matt. The solvent worked well to thin the viscosity and I can imagine using this mixture if I wanted the paint to run down the canvas with a dripping effect.

The paper collage stuck well to the medium although I expect additional adhesive would be required for larger pieces.

I was not happy with the Chinese painting using oil paint. I couldn’t use ink on top of oil as the ink would pool rather than be absorbed. Hence I used oil and the finesse of the typical Chinese brush painting was completely lost and the depiction was poor. So this is an area that needs further investigation to achieve the desired effect if I wanted a Chinese style painting as the top layer on top of oil in my multimedia layering work.

In addition to trying out cold wax as a medium, I wanted to return to exploring abstraction as a way to be more expressive in my work. In exploring my style through multimedia layering, I find myself often being drawn into being too illustrative or repetitive in my expression and I wanted to investigate my deeper thoughts through abstraction and this is the first experiment in this series.

LEARNING

This initial experiment with oil and cold wax was positive and it is a medium that I want to explore further in addition to just using oil. The cold wax would enable me to give more texture and structure to my painting. Also it would allow me to scratch through the paint/wax as an effective way of mark making. Adding paper strips could add interest but I would use that only on a small scale; I can imagine it coming loose in the long term if larger pieces of collage were used in this way.

I am still searching for the ideal way to paint a Chinese style painting on top of oil to help me to express the transcultural nature of my style – the challenge is to find a medium that delivers the finesse whilst being compatible materially with my preferred western medium such as oil. I will revisit research that I have previously done on an artist who has successfully achieved similar to the style that I am looking for – Fiona Rae. She was able to achieve Chinese style brush strokes using oil.

NEXT STEPS

– Continue to explore oil and cold wax and do another painting to build experience in this style of abstraction.

– Research further into Fiona Rae’s work and see how she achieved her Chinese style brush strokes using oil.

– Keep experimenting with oil and cold wax.

– Keep searching for ways to paint with Chinese ink on oil paint.