painting

MA U3: ‘News’ – investigation into making newspaper archival and presenting the work

| elizarawlings
‘News’ in Chinese ink painted with chicken feather brush

As I am making more and more paintings on The FT, I want to consider more carefully how to display the work and also making the newspaper art archival.

METHOD

1- Online research

I have been researching online for ideas. There have been all kinds of suggestions. I find this post useful as there are different suggestions to try.

https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/topic/preserving-newsprint-is-it-possible/

One person suggested this product, maybe worth investigating:

https://www.krylon.com/en/products/clear-coatings/crystal-clear-acrylic-coating#accordion-f0f399f26d-item-2a5184aed3

However, none of the suggested solutions are truly archival due to the nature of the newspaper material. One of the comments said that newspapers were a museum curator’s nightmare. I think that sums it up. The only suggestion that is truly archival is to make digital images and gyclee prints. That is something that I will consider.

2- Ask an expert

Another investigation route that I pursued was to ask a paper conservation specialist at UAL. His reply was as follows:

“Newsprint is made using mechanical wood pulp for the paper fibres.  These are naturally rich in a chemical called lignin.

Lignin is not particularly stable.  It breaks down with time with 2 effects:

  • Some breakdown products are strongly coloured, making the newsprint go increasingly yellow and eventually brown.
  • Some breakdown products are acidic, leading to the paper becoming increasingly fragile over time.

This breakdown will still happen in dark conditions, but the energy from light makes the breakdown progress much more quickly.  Ultraviolet has more energy than visible light, so can do damage more quickly.

It’s not possible to make newsprint archival. 

UV-proof glazing would be beneficial if the paper is to be displayed in a window where it’s subject to sunlight. 

If the artwork is illuminated using artificial light, UV exposure will be less.  Fluorescent lights and halogen spot lights emit some UV.  LED lights typically emit no UV.

Most acrylics will filter out some UV due to being made with UV-stabilisers to help make the acrylic last longer.  

Last time I checked (which was ages ago…) framers quality UV-filtering acrylics and glasses were similar in price.

For storage, I’d recommend keeping the papers between unbuffered, acid-free boards.  Many archival boards are calcium carbonate buffered, which helps neutralise the acids created as lignin breaks down, but alkaline conditions can also increase the yellowing of lignin (through a different mechanism than the breakdown route).

Sandwiching newsprint between glass/plastic offers some benefits in isolating the paper from various environmental effects, but might also lead to a surrounding microclimate rich in acidic breakdown products.”

– End of expert’s reply –

This was a very helpful reply and the sentence that I highlighted in bold again confirms that there is no way of making newspaper archival which is a pity.

REFLECTIONS

After doing this research, I have to accept that it is not possible to make newspaper archival. I feel rather sad about that and the engineer in me thinks ‘there must be a way, it just has not been found yet!’ However, I need to employ a solution now to manage or show the work that I have been creating while continuing to find a long term solution which may or may not be possible. If museums around the world have not found a solution then maybe I won’t be able to either – not in the short to medium term anyway.

Making digital images and then gyclee prints is a very good and viable solution. I will definitely pursue that and learn how to photograph my News paintings properly. As a start, I will need a light box frame that I can wall mount.

I have also considered sandwiching the News paintings between UV proof acrylic panels and mounting it away from the wall with spacers to let light in from behind – this solution also requires further experimentation.

The above are ways to present the paintings for photographing. Once I have found a way of photographing the work then I can consider making limited edition gyclee prints from them.

Other ideas that I have had are photographing the news page, then printing it on silk or other thin fabric, then painting or embroidering on the image.

LEARNING

The main learning was that there was no known way of making newspaper archival. I have to accept that and consider how to find ways to capture the image and reproduce in archival materials. Also, if I were to sell the original work on newspaper then what advice should accompany the sale? How should it be framed, mounted and what life time is to be expected? Perhaps letting the News painting degrade over time is one of its unique feature? As long as it can stay safely in a frame then what harm is there? It will go yellow or brown over time – perhaps that adds value like a vintage bottle of wine or whisky!

The key is to have clarity of how to manage the life of the paintings and offer archival alternatives to the originals. Not that I am planning to sell my work at the moment, but if someone were to enquire then I need to have prepared a professional response.

NEXT STEPS

Immediately:

Investigate ways to mount the prints for displaying and photographing. E.g. light box frames or ‘acrylic sandwich’ mounted on spacers.

Investigate ways to take good quality digital photographs of the mounted work.

Investigate ways to make archival gyclee prints of the photographs – what method of printing and what paper would be best? Best options for framing?

Consider what advice to give with any original art work – recommended ways to mount and likely life before degrading occurs. Think of ways to articulate the value of a degrading or degraded piece of News art. i.e. make the non-archival nature of the art a feature of the work.

Longer term:

Investigate options to print on fabric then paint on the fabric or embroider to create original art. Or print painted News images on silk as an alternative to paper – need to think why use silk or fabric though.

MA U3: Reflections on Unit 3 feedback

| elizarawlings

BACKGROUND

After receiving my Unit 3 assessment feedback, I want to reflect on and respond to one of the points raised as I feel it is essential for progressing my current body of work ‘News’.

REFLECTIONS

Below is an extract from my assessment feedback that posed a question about my use of the crow as a metaphor:

‘…You talk about the crows being a metaphor for the awful events that are happening in today’s world but does a metaphor need to be more than that? In a novel or film it might be the timing of a crows arrival and departure in relation to events happening that turns it into a metaphor. Or in a poem it might be a detailed  description of a crows behaviour? How might this impact on the way you continue painting crows? In what way, if at all, does the pose of each crow relate to the headlines on the actual page, either the front of the page or the reverse side that might be revealed by a light source behind?‘

The timing of this question was very appropriate because I have been thinking about this a lot. I chose the crow as a metaphor for my grief for the loss of a world order that I understood. The crow was inspired by the book ‘Grief is the thing with feathers’ by Max Porter. When I started this series of work, I just wanted to paint something as I felt a sense of urgency and the book came to mind with the crow as a metaphor for grief. Hence I started there. The black feathers worked well with my chosen medium of Chinese ink and the characterful crows gave me lots of ideas to work with. I started without thinking too much about the pose or the composition of the pieces, I just wanted to paint and express how I felt. Then I started to locate the bird more purposefully next to headlines or images and experimented with compositions. Now that I have done many such paintings, I started to get an idea of what I wanted to achieve with this body of work and with the crow.

I want to use the crows to bring attention to certain news headlines. I noticed that when people look at my News paintings, they usually start with the crow. They would study it for a while, then their eyes would wander around the news headlines or images nearby and then focus on the articles. It was important for me to choose a neutral or as unbiased as possible a newspaper because I don’t want to tell or preach to the viewer what they should think about the news piece; I want the viewers to decide for themselves and to show a factual headline or news article to trigger their thinking is my intention.

Reflecting on the questions posed in my feedback, I believe my use of the crow has several roles. Like in the novel I referred to, the crow as a metaphor revealed itself to me when I started to despair about situations in the world – that was when the crow ‘entered stage’ as in a theatre. In the last few weeks, there were times when I felt perhaps it was time to move on from the crow as perhaps world events were settling down. That feeling lasted at most a day when something else happened that enrages me again and I had to bring the crow back to centre-stage. There seems to be an endless supply of headlines at the moment which is energising for my art but absolutely draining for me as a human.

As for the point about the pose of the crow, it has been an interesting development and revelation for me. I remember when I first started studying art, a tutor at the time said that how we felt would inevitably come through to our work; our work was influenced by our subconscious. I didn’t quite believe that at the time but was happy to keep an open mind. Of course, I have since experienced that many times. There have been a few News paintings where some unconscious expressions came through that I only noticed afterwards. Below are two examples.

Example 1 –

In the painting below, I wanted to position the crow to look like it was going for the bottle of ‘tariff medicine’. But since I do not do a mark up drawing on the page (not anymore) and I just leave the painting to chance, I do not have control of exactly what comes out especially as I’m painting with my non-dominant hand. In this case, the crow ended up overshooting the medicine bottle and it ended with an ‘uh-oh’ or ‘oh no…’ expression which was not my intention but highly appropriate.

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Example 2 –

In this case, the chosen headline and image on the newspaper was about the US VP. I intended to bring in the crow from the right hand side (enter stage right) pointing towards the photo image. Again, I didn’t have too much control over the exact depiction but the crow came out screaming at the photo and its feathers somewhat ruffled. It seems to reflect what goes on in my consciousness.

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As for the back lighting of the images and what they reveal – I tried at one point to place the bird purposely to align with images on the reverse side, but they rarely work out satisfactorily. So now I choose a newspaper page where there are headlines that I want to respond to on the front and although I do look at the reverse side to make sure there is something interesting on the back, I tend to locate the bird according to the front page and then leave the reverse side to chance. This means I don’t pose the bird according to the reverse image purposely and just wait to see what happens when the painting is finished. By not being overly deliberate, it has provided some interesting compositions. It also contributes to the notion of uncertainty that continues to form a large part of this body of work.

Final reflections regarding using the crow as a metaphor… as I was writing this blog, I have started to use theatre stage language to describe how I use the crow and I feel that is appropriate. The crow has become my actor on stage to carry a message, it has been on stage throughout this series of work. It comes in and out of the spot light depending on what it wants to draw attention to. It accompanies me as I navigate the ‘new world order’ and represents me when I want to say something. One day, when the world is right again (I remain hopeful) then perhaps Crow would exit stage left. I have started exploring bringing in other creatures to broaden the repertoire. I have enjoyed using the Chinese ink as a medium and I have thought about using a rat but that seems to be very controversial. I have also thought about spiders because I was inspired by Louise Bourgeois’ spiders and how she used them to signify strength. I certainly feel that I need as much strength as I can summon up everyday just to read the horrendous news at the moment. This idea is only at an early stage. I will keep thinking.

LEARNING

In writing my reflections and response to the Unit 3 feedback, it has helped me to crystallise my reasons for using the crow in my work – why I use it and how I use it. I feel there is still much to achieve with my crow and there is still some way to go on this journey. So I will continue with it but will be more mindful of how and why I’m using the crow as a metaphor as I progress. I sense that the metaphor has already shifted somewhat and has gone beyond just grief. It is becoming my voice which is also an appropriate metaphor because the crow is intelligent (can read my mind) and vocal (speak for me). Also, in many cultures and mythologies, crows and ravens are depicted as messengers, not necessarily from another world, but rather from between different realms of existence. So using the crow as my messenger has become part of the metaphor.

I will continue to explore other creatures that has a metaphorical meaning for me and that works well with my chosen media of Chinese ink on newspaper. Spiders are one possibility that I am considering.

NEXT STEPS

Continue to use the crow in this series of work, News.

Consider more deeply about the metaphors that I use – how they apply as a metaphor and how they evolve along the journey.

Explore other creatures or metaphors to bring into the work. Be sensitive to what they mean and think broadly to avoid unintentionally offending people.

MA U3: ‘News’ Art – developing ideas for MA Degree Show

| elizarawlings

BACKGROUND

Since my recent re-evaluation of my art practice to enable me to respond to what has been happening in the world, I have been making a new body of work – ‘News’. I feel the urge to show my new work at my MA Degree Show. This blog is about the development of ideas and a plan for the Degree Show.

METHOD

Firstly, I wanted to explore if combining multiple sheets of ‘News’ would make a good composition. Since each sheet was made as an independent painting, I needed to see if they would ‘make sense’ together. So I stuck together a few paintings and put them up against two glass doors to see how I felt. I was encouraged by what I saw and felt there was potential in the concept. I then proceeded to design the installation – how should the paintings be presented?

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Below are some mock up ideas that I prepared to discuss with my tutor:

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After discussing with my tutor, we felt that the first option had the most potential for the CSM site. So I proceeded to think about how to create one large painting by combining multiple newspaper paintings together that would be appropriate for the Show both in demonstrating the concept and that is robust enough for a public exhibition.

My tutor showed me an installation by a previous student who stitched together pieces of paper to form a long drop. I liked the idea of stitching together the pieces rather than just taping because I think it would be more robust and also reflect my wish to mend what’s happening in the world through my work – somehow.

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I then tried out different ideas on my sketch book and decided a narrower long drop (rather than a wide one as in the original idea) could work well to resemble how newspapers are printed and processed in the factory. Working so intensely with newspapers and examining newsprint so closely has reminded me of my time as a young engineer working on control systems for newspaper printing presses including many Fleet Street titles. I remember vividly how exhilarating and awe-inspiring it was to see the newspaper webs flying at high speed between feeder rollers around the monumental machines (see example image below). Since my art practice is about exploring my identity and engineering has been such a large part of my life (35+ years), I wanted to make an installation at the degree show that incorporated elements of my memory from those days.

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I experimented with the ideas of using three tubes to represent parts of the printing machine. Initially, I looked into buying used feeder rollers from printing press refurbishment companies but they were costly. Then I considered using mild steel tubes (not stainless steel as they would be too shiny). Below is an initial design idea which I used to get some costing. A key objective was the ease of installation knowing how busy the build up would be with such a big student show.

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Then I wondered if three tubes would be too many and considered a two tubes design. In all cases, one or more flood lights would be used to illuminate the artwork from behind. Here is a two tubes design:

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After further discussions and advice from my tutor, the final design was to use 3 x copper plumbing pipes as the copper colour would complement well the Financial Times’ salmon paper. The second pipe on the floor would be placed behind the painting giving the look of the newspaper feeding into the wall. I considered using two small flood lights, but I might go with a dimmable flood light instead because I have found that the back-illumination light level could be critical – too bright and the images became saturated and if too dim then the reverse side images would be hardly visible. Hence a dimmable unit would give more flexibility for an unfamiliar site with unknown ambient light level. Here is the final design:

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The next task was to test out the stitching and the wrapping of the newspaper around a pipe to see how the paper behaved. Also to determine the optimum pipe diameter to use.

Using a sewing machine for large sheets of paper could be challenging because unlike fabric, the paper could not be bunched up to fit around the sewing machine body. Hence I rolled up the newspaper around a plastic tube and held the roll in place with a large paperclip so that it could be fed into the machine without damaging the paper. The two sheets of newspapers were held together using dressmaking pins just like I would do when binding fabrics.

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The machine settings were as follows with the stitch size fairly small for strength but not tiny as it might rip the paper:

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The paper was then fed slowly into the machine for sewing. Two rows of stitches were made to ensure strength of the bind:

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Completed sewing and with paper hanging vertically:

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Below are close up images of the stitching and how the paper wrapped around the tube. This tube was of 40mm diameter and the paper wrapped well around it:

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I tried wrapping around a smaller diameter tube (22mm) and it felt too tight and obviously would require more revolutions of wrapping and I felt that would introduce more risk in the paper not aligning and looking untidy:

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Another example of paper wrapped around a tube. This time with painted paper only as an experiment because the installation for the Show would only use unpainted paper to wrap around the tube.

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Since I am planning to create a painting size of 2 x double page spread broadsheets, that is approximately 1.36m wide and it would be difficult to feed into the sewing machine in one go, I created the following stitching plan to do the stitching half way, then turn around and do the other half from the opposite direction. I might try to do it all the way with some spare newspaper as an experiment to start with.

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Final selection of eight paintings to form a composition for the Degree Show:

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Mock up in front of flood light to test concept:

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REFLECTIONS

I started to re-evaluate my art practice just before the Low Res in March and I started to make ‘News’ art at the end of March which is less than two months ago. I cannot believe how much has happened and that I am planning to show this new body of work at the Degree Show. During my recent tutorial, my tutor said that everything I have been doing as well as my commitment to interrogation have been leading to this and it does feel that way to me. I am feeling a momentum that I had not felt before and I am very excited (and somewhat nervous but in a good way) about showing this work at the Show. I do not know if it would work out or if it would present itself as I imagined. But I take confidence from what David Bowie said in this video where he was giving advice to artists:

https://youtu.be/JRtZc_Nmo5w?si=PYU871rvIuJu7wjo

My main takeaway from Bowie’s video was when he said, ‘…Always remember the reason you initially started working, you felt there was something inside yourself that if you could manifest it in some way then you would understand more about yourself and how you co-exist with the rest of society… If you feel safe then you are not working in the right area. Always go a little out of your depth, when you feel your feet are not quite touching the bottom then you are just about in the right place to do something exciting.’

I sincerely hope that Bowie is right and I look forward to finding out!

Another point that I have been reflecting on is that this new body of work is aesthetically and topically very different to my last body of work, The Cheongsam Series, where I was making oil paintings on dress-shaped canvases to explore my transcultural journey.

Much of my work in the last two years have been about my transcultural identity, but I knew that at some point I would want to go beyond just talking about my transcultural journey onto issues about society – issues that are still related to me, my lived experience but about other aspects of my identity. I mentioned this in my Study Statement from Unit 1 as my intention, but as I was making my transcultural work I have at times felt bounded to that topic and I was unsure of how to progress or transition onto the next body of work without seeming incoherent. Then when the ‘calling’ came to make work about the rapid change in world order and how people close to me were being affected, my urge to move onto the next body of work felt like a natural progression. Of course, there was much time spent on reflecting, agonising, experimenting, observing and reflective-writing that led me to making ‘News’ art. I am very pleased that I have gone through the transition process from one body of work to the next while I was still on the MA programme. This is because I felt safe and secure in trying something completely different in a supportive environment and I made it happen. I have learnt that I could do it and it wasn’t as scary as I thought it might be. Guided by my reflective process and taking it step by step meant that I felt in control of the transition – not necessary in control of the making but in control of the change process which gave me a solid platform to take risks in the making. This learning experience has been very important for me as I now feel confident to do that again independently after the course. I feel I can move onto the next body of work when the next ‘calling’ comes. I know I can rely on my instincts guided by my reflective process to make it happen. I expect I will return to my transculturality work at some point because there is still much to explore and I certainly have not exhausted the subject yet – far from it.

LEARNING

I have learnt that I now feel able to transition from one body of work to the next and take risks along the way. I will follow my instincts and use my reflective process to guide me. This has been an important realisation as I go forward to develop my practice.

As for the Degree Show, there has been a lot to think about in planning for the show and I have really enjoyed the challenge. Especially looking at sourcing the right materials for the installation – I learnt a lot in that process, such as to consider the materials’ behaviour, the aesthetics and planning for a site that I am not familiar with including all the contingencies to consider. It’s all good experience for any future exhibitions. Creating the paintings is only half the work, presenting it properly and all the site considerations require just as much work which is something to bear in mind in the future. Planning and allowing plenty of time is key!

I have also learnt that I needed to introduce a new process of organising my materials – namely the newspapers! Especially considering news has a life span. My ‘News’ artwork needs to be about the here and now and can’t be left on the shelf for too long or the news story would have expired. So I needed to create a system to sort the newspapers so they don’t end up piling up in my studio. I decided to organise my newspapers as follows.

I found it helpful to have a specific topic for selecting the newspapers to paint on. In this case, it’s about the sudden change in world order due to the US Government’s drastic roll out of damaging policies.

So when I get a copy of the newspaper, I sort the pages into the following categories:

– Selected pages for painting – with the appropriate headline, perhaps an interesting image and not too much advertising especially not big dark blocks.

– Spares: top priority / second priority / good for practicing

– Not selected

Out of all the ‘News’ paintings that I have created, they were sorted into ‘possibles’ for the show and ‘not selected’. Then I continued to make more paintings until I had enough ‘good’ ones that I was happy with for the Show.

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NEXT STEPS

Make it happen for the Show!

Always remember Bowie’s advice!

Maintain my confidence, follow my instincts and reflective process to develop future bodies of work.

MA U3: ‘News’ Art – exploring compositions

| elizarawlings

I have continued to work on my latest body of work – ‘News’. I decided to explore different crow expressions to use in my compositions. In particular, more expressive, angry or ones in flight. So that I have a wider variety of expressions to choose from when responding to news articles that I see.

METHOD

Lately, whenever I feel unsure about how to proceed then I have been returning to drawing. I find the process comforting and grounding. So I started with a few drawings on expressive crows using my non-dominant hand.

Angry crow:

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This one was meant to be angry but actually looked anxious:

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I then went onto painting on newspaper. I used charcoal to mark the outline of a crow that I wanted to paint. The newspaper was chosen especially for this composition – a shouting crow:

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I then painted the crow – staying with my non-dominant hand. I was going to paint the wing behind the man’s head. But then decided to cover up the head. This was the finished work:

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The painting was held up to the light. The man’s head was slightly visible despite being covered. What came through was a woman speaking on a microphone on the reverse side of the newsprint which made the composition more interesting.

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Then I experimented with a crow looking in despair up to an article about the tariff trade war. Perhaps it was not totally in despair, but certainly questioning what’s going on:

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Again the finished painting was held up to the light as a metaphor for holding someone to account. The images on the reverse side made the photograph of the cars under the trade tariff headline more ambiguous.

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Crows in flight going in different directions:

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Putting together paintings to start exploring combined composition:

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Another shouting crow under the headline ‘We are all affected’. The crow was in line with the gun held up by the man on the left page. Then I noticed a large capital letter ‘O’ on the crow’s body – like it had been shot by the man in the photo. I added a pine tree around the greenery on the photo on the left, but I don’t think it worked. It distracted too much from what the crow was going through.

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A few landing crows:

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A large landing crow going for a prey:

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A screaming crow in flight aiming at a photo:

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REFLECTIONS

As I made more work, I became more confident about this new body of work. My confidence increased in both the concept and the process. My recent tutorial was very useful in helping me to reflect on my thinking behind the work and the progress so far. My increased confidence meant I was able to go for a more freestyle approach to my Chinese ink painting in the work listed above. The freestyle approach enabled me to be more expressive and spontaneous. The last few paintings shown here were done without needing to use charcoal upfront to mark out the composition which I was pleased about.

I was not happy with every outcome here, some of the depictions were more aligned with my intentions, some not so. But I was trying not to overthink it at this stage. Just wanted to keep making as I know from my Chinese painting class that it would get better with practice.

I continue to find Chinese ink painting ‘unforgiving’. I have written about this before and it still has not changed – it is just part of that medium and again, practice helps. ‘Just keep making’ is the key.

Also, I believe painting with my non-dominant hand has helped me to not agonise over my work too much because it’s not meant to be perfect. It will be what it will be! I have found it liberating to paint in this way and I plan to continue this exploration.

LEARNING

I am gaining confidence in the making process through practise and more importantly – I am pleasantly surprised by my confidence in tackling a completely new body of work that is very different from my previous transcultural work. I am happy that this major change happened during my MA course because the guidance available gave me the courage to do something completely new and experimental.

Also, the structure of my reflective practice has really helped me to realise the concept knowing that if I got stuck then the reflective process would help me to find answers or a way forward.

I feel very excited about this new body of work and I am really enjoying this way of making. It continues to help me to respond to what’s happening in the world through my practice which is very important for me right now.

To build on this, I want to think more about why painting with my non-dominant hand has become so important to me. Also I want to understand more about my overall process – from buying the newspaper to completing a painting.

NEXT STEPS

Think more about my reasons for using my non-dominant hand – especially think about this as I paint.

Start to be more considered when moving from one step to the next in my process to better understand the process with the aim of future improvement and development.

Keep making and think about what to do for the degree show.

MA U3: ‘News’ Art installation ideas – holding up to the light

| elizarawlings

When I first showed my News Art to my tutor, we talked about the way I photographed the paintings in front of a window and letting the light shine through was a metaphor for ‘holding the news up to the light’.

As the saying goes, if you are ‘holding something up to the light’, you see through and understand the true nature of it more clearly; or you hold something to account. I felt it was a good metaphor and if I were to show my News Art then I would want to hold it up to the light. This way of showing also reveals the images on the reverse side of the newspaper adding more intrigue and ambiguity to the overall composition.

METHOD

To find ways of showing the News Art with light shining through – it is necessary to not rely on having a window or sunshine for an installation. So I created a mock up lampshade frame to test how it would work if the light source was a light bulb.

Mock up lampshade frame

Then clipped the News Art to the frame with the light turned on:

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Tried a few different images:

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This showed the reverse side images were coming through well:

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Then I considered a design for a cylindrical light tower to display the paintings in an installation:

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Some ideas were found online at places like IKEA with floor standing lamps that could be used instead of a custom made frame with the latter being a potentially costly option.

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As an example, for the rectangular shade in paper shown above – it can take 2 double page spread of The FT at 3-high. It has more area than the circular one so would be better. This means 6 double page spreads per lamp. For a 3 lamp installation then that would mean 18 double page spreads in total. The rice paper lampshade could be slashed or torn to represent violence that is happening at the moment.

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However, the rice paper shade around the lamp might block too much of the light. Hence more tests were done with the mock up lampshade and rice paper.

Mock up lamp with rice paper shade

There was sufficient light coming through the rice paper lampshade to reveal the images on the reverse side of the newspaper:

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REFLECTIONS

The experiment was successful in demonstrating that a light bulb can illuminate the newspaper sufficiently to reveal the reverse side images, even with a layer of rice paper in between. This means the IKEA lamps could be used if I wanted a cylindrical installation.

A cylindrical installation means the viewer would have to walk around the lamp to see the whole composition. This maybe fine and could be a good way to install in the middle of a room with multiple floor standing lamps. However, if I wanted a large and flat composition like one large painting, then that would need to be hung on a wall or from the ceiling. If against a wall then I would need a light curtain of some kind to throw light onto the back of the newspaper. Ideally an enormous light panel or light box would be ideal but they tend to be very expensive. More to think about…

LEARNING

The experiments so far showed that a lamp with just one bulb was sufficient to show the reverse side images. Of course it would also depend on the distance between the light source and the newspaper. But the results were encouraging and I will continue to think about different ways to install my News Art work.

NEXT STEPS

Think of different ways to illuminate the art work in preparation for coming up with ideas for the degree show.

Also to just keep making!

MA U3: ‘News’ Art – exploring silhouettes

| elizarawlings

After reflecting on the News Art that I made in response to news headlines directly, I decided to be more subtle in the way I respond to the headlines. I decided to explore a more abstract way to express my feelings. What started my creating of News Art was the grief that I felt for the state of the world and my choice of using crows, inspired by the book ‘Grief is the thing with feathers’. So I returned to just painting some crow images as ideas came to me and not to overthink or be too deliberate.

METHOD

Without too much planning or thinking, I painted a few crows in flight using Chinese brush and ink in a free style Chinese painting approach. Then I held the painting up to the light:

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Another painting done in the same way with a similar composition:

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A more close-up view of a crow coming down for its prey with two others in the sky:

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Since I had done quite a few of the crow paintings, I laid them out to see how they would look as a larger composition to get ideas on how to install these paintings as a group:

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I finished by selecting two silhouette paintings that went well together and held them up to the light as one composition:

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REFLECTIONS

I am pleased with the silhouette paintings. I like painting in Chinese free style. Some of the crow bodies were not quite right but overall the wings have worked out well. I feel they do give a sense of movement in flight. I am also happier with the more subtle and abstract approach to the news headlines selected. I also purposely chose the ‘ring of hands’ for the crows to fly through, like an escape route for them. We all need one of those at the moment!

Doing my newly discovered News Art has given me a reason to read the newspaper when I have felt inclined to avoid the news. Looking through the newspaper to pick out headlines to respond to has given me courage to face what’s happening in the world in a way that I didn’t expect.

LEARNING

I feel excited by my new discovery of making art in this way. I am gradually developing a process and as I get to know more about the newsprint material, I feel able to push things further such as how wet I could make it (very wet, surprisingly). I really like painting on the newspaper because it is not a blank canvas and the contents and images on each page give me so many ideas which is great.

One thing to bear in mind is that newsprint is not archival. This would be a problem if I continue to pursue this way of making. I need to look into ways to preserve the artwork especially if I’m thinking about showing these work at some point. Proper research is needed including asking specialists at CSM.

Overall, the main learning is to just keep making more work to explore this way of making. Ideas flood in as I make.

NEXT STEPS

Make more News Art!

Research ways to make News Art archival.

MA U3: ‘News’ Art – responding to headlines

| elizarawlings

I have been continuing my experiments with making art on newspapers as a way to respond to what’s happening in the world. In previous blogs, I have talked about using crows to express the grief and the sense of loss that I have been feeling.

This blog captures the experiments where I have responded more directly to the news with the painted images. I have also tried to think more carefully about the process of this way of making. Through trial and error, I believe I have developed a more systematic process of producing these paintings which I have documented below.

METHOD

My response to some recent news about innocent people being killed in a war was to explore painting dead crows. I have often seen dead birds on the road or pavement, but I have never studied them closely. So the start of the making process was to research online images of dead crows.

Once I found a desired image, I would do a drawing in my sketchbook with my non-dominant hand. I have previously documented my wish and need to use my non-dominant hand to be more expressive while experiencing that feeling of not having complete control of what was happening.

Drawing of dead crow lying on its back

I then did a Chinese ink study of the same dead crow composition on a piece of A4 rice paper:

Chinese ink study of crow composition – A4

I then choose the newspaper and started to paint the chosen composition:

Finished dead crow:

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Painting held up to the light, taped to a glass window:

Finished painting – dead crow

A second experiment with a different dead crow was done following the same process, but with an added step of making a faint charcoal outline sketch on the newspaper of the crow before painting. This step was added because brush painting with ink on paper is unforgiving, hence having a sketch of the shape helps to ensure the composition is largely in the right place.

Sketchbook drawing of the second dead crow:

Sketchbook pencil drawing

Chinese brush painting study of crow body:

Chinese ink on rice paper – A4

Charcoal outline was drawn prior to painting to mark out the composition:

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Completed painting of dead crow lying on its side on pavement, held up to the light.

Painted dead crow on The FT

The last experiment on responding to the news involved an image of a man lighting a gas lamp. It was important for me to research how a street gas lamp worked so that I knew what I was drawing. The diagram below was very helpful.

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This time, I did two ink sketches as initial study to test the composition:

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The chosen newspaper page that I wanted to respond to was laid flat and a rough charcoal drawing of the composition was made:

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Then the painting was done and held up to the light. Gaslighting – Chinese ink on newspaper:

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REFLECTIONS

It was cathartic to directly respond to the news. So I enjoyed making these pieces of work. However, looking at them now, they feel rather literal and obvious. Dead crows to respond to innocent paramedics being killed and a man lighting a gas street lamp to respond to the gaslighting going on in many places. All seemed too obvious.

These paintings were made using my dominant hand – I think it was because these composition ideas were very new and I wanted to be more confident in my depiction. However, I believe the outcomes are less satisfactory than the previous ones where I used my non-dominant hand. The mark making here seemed too deliberate and lacking the energy that I had achieved previously.

Although the artistic outcome was not completely satisfactory, the process of responding to the news by directly calling it out was satisfying. It was like ranting without actually ranting. Also, I gained clarity and tested out the process in a more conscious way. So all was not lost.

LEARNING

The initial drawing and sketching step was helpful for new compositions. But I don’t feel it’s an essential step, depending on how familiar I am with the subject.

Using charcoal to mark out the composition on the newspaper was very useful and is an essential step that I should use.

Responding directly with images may end up being too literal or obvious. So use with care.

NEXT STEPS

Try different approaches to composition and images. Experiment with more abstract images.

Make more work.

MA U3: ‘Grief is the thing with feathers’ – Painting

| elizarawlings

BACKGROUND

Continuing with my exploration of the grief and sense of loss that I feel about the change in world order, I have decided to make some paintings with crows inspired by the book ‘Grief is the thing with feathers’ by Max Porter. The use of newspaper as a canvas for painting as I have done here was first inspired by William Kentridge’s work that I saw at his exhibition at the RA in 2022, where he made some monumental drawings on printed materials. Some examples below:

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I have recently seen an exhibition by Barbara Walker where she used printed documents extensively in her work. Below are some examples of her use of newspapers:

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Walker uses newspapers with content that directly links to her subject matter of social injustices whereas Kentridge is more subtle and often you cannot easily read the printed text in his work although I have read in the description of his work that there is always relevance in the text.

METHOD

Since my studio is out-of-action at the moment due to building work, I have set up a temporary studio in a different room and I am using Chinese ink on paper instead of my usual oil paint on canvas because of the limited facility that I have.

Learning from the crow drawings that I did with my non-dominant hand, I decided to use my non-dominant hand for the paintings here. Below are the paintings on Chinese rice paper, all A4 size done with my non-dominant hand except the one with the crow sticking out its tongue – that was done with my dominant hand for comparison.

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Then I decided to paint on a newspaper and I chose The Financial Times because it is one of the few newspapers that I can bear to read given my general frustrations with the biases in the news media. I have painted on the FT in the past and found the ’45 gsm salmon newsprint’ paper absorbency to be at a level that responded well to Chinese ink. I also like the salmon colour against the black Chinese ink. All three paintings below were mostly done with my non-dominant hand with some details such as the shape of the beak and the claws done with my dominant hand.

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Below is a video clip that I made using Instagram:

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Below is a crow painting on a double page spread of the newspaper where the previous ones were on a single page. The page here was chosen for the photograph of the chickens (about egg prices in the USA) with the painted crow looking in and one of the chickens staring back:

Below is the painting held up to the light:

REFLECTIONS

I have enjoyed developing a new process for painting on the newspapers. I find the paper works well with the Chinese ink, not overly absorbent and has enough material integrity to stay intact even if it gets very wet.

I have continued to enjoy painting with my non-dominant hand as the brush strokes were more expressive with less control. During the painting process, I constantly asked myself which hand I should use, e.g. with the more detailed work such as the curvature of the beak where more control was required, or highlighting the white in the eyeball, then I switch to my dominant hand for those details. I wanted to use as much of my non-dominant hand as possible because I prefer the marks made and it was a good metaphor for the helplessness I and many people feel about the world events at the moment.

Part of the process of this way of making involves buying a newspaper, something that I haven’t done for a long time since I mostly read the news online/on my phone nowadays. I enjoy the physicality of opening and turning the news pages, then reading the printed text and selecting the pages with headlines that stir me in some way.

Examining the newspaper so closely also reminded me of my early engineering career when I worked extensively on automating newspaper printing presses for Fleet Street as well as local newspapers with ‘cutting edge technology’ for that time period of the early 1990s using fibre optic based digitally synchronised ‘electronic line shaft’ control systems. The presses were enormous and ran at very high speed. It was exhilarating to work on those projects and machines especially as a young engineer. Decades later, I am now studying newsprint closely again for a different purpose – I used to scrutinise the print registration of the colours (poor registration would cause ghosting) and I would respond to the results by varying the control parameters for correction. Now I scrutinise the news content and respond by painting on the newspaper. I can say that the former was a lot easier – I felt completely in control of what was happening. Whereas I rarely feel in control of my painting process and I continue to feel zero control over what is happening in the world – all I can do is to read about them in the newspapers. This has become an interesting juxtaposition of my relationship with newspapers over the decades.

As I work more and more on these newspaper paintings, I have become calmer compared to when I first started as I have documented in some of my earlier blogs about voicelessness and going through the grief curve. I wonder if this is because the world situation has improved (no), or I have become desensitised by the constant revelations of world disasters (possibly) or having a way to respond to and express myself through paintings on the newspapers has given me a route to release my anger therefore making me feel that I am doing something about it. I think definitely ‘yes’ to the latter point, the painting process has certainly helped me to channel my thoughts and feelings.

LEARNING

I have developed a new process of painting on newspapers as a way to respond to what’s happening in the world. I have continued to use crows as a symbol of the grief that I feel about the loss of or change in world order. Working with newspapers reminded me of how my relationship with newspapers has changed over the decades since I was a young engineer. I feel this is the beginning of an exploration and I want to continue and do more because it gives me a way to respond to the world at the moment.

One point that I discussed with my tutor was how I ‘held the newspaper up to the light’ as an accidental discovery when I stuck the newspaper paintings to the glass window for photographing. It is a good metaphor for ‘exposing’ the news and also the light shining through the other side of the print revealed additional images therefore making the overall composition more ambiguous.

NEXT STEPS

Continue to make more paintings in this way to explore, to develop my ideas and the process.

Experiment with holding the painted newspaper to a light or lamp to see how it could work as an indoor installation.