I spent much of today layering up my 'Dirty Work' final artwork. I added an old photograph of me in a professional capacity, which I want to cover up, before making a Jackson Pollock inspired attack on the painting using watered acrylic and ink. Boiler suits may be splattered with oil and greasy marks, so 'dirty work' is likely to involve splatters of one sort or another.
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I previously posted a photo of the first layer of my oil painting of Paul, one of the Xplore Engineers. This evening I finished the painting and once it dries, I can add it to my collection of pieces for my graded unit. I'm quite pleased with the result. I wanted to leave a rough edge, to allow the aluminium support to show through. It was certainly very different from painting on canvas which creates a degree of texture, as this was very 'flat'. The oil paint appears to have adhered to the metal, but we'll have to see how well it lasts on the long term!
I've been building up a collection of experiments and ideas, and have now been able to imagine what my final artwork might look like. I'd always intended it to be a mixed media piece, probably on a large canvas, and incorporating the theme of 'people at work'. Over the course of the semester my thoughts developed into the concept of 'dirty work'. The engineers and mechanics at the bus depot where I work, wear boiler suits and protective gear, as they work on oily and dirty bus engines. They are however very colourful with their orange boiler suits and blue gloves, and also very friendly and have been fantastic letting me take photographs and paint them! It struck me that it would be inappropriate to label the engineering as 'dirty work', as it is skilled, honest teamwork that they do, in a decent and collective manner.
Thoughts wandered back to an office job I once had. Although it was based in a 'clean' physical working environment, some of the practices and actions were underhand and unprofessional - although the question of legality is outwith the realms of this project. Anyway, my thoughts turned to the concept of 'dirty work' and raised questions around physical dirt and professional 'dirty practices'. Through my final artwork I will challenge and develop the concept of 'dirty work'. I've started layering up my mixed media artwork on a canvas. I've added a section of an old hi-vis jacket from work. The idea is to question working practices as 'Hi-Visibility or a Dirty cover up?' It is protective clothing which has become dirty, but from another perspective I am questioning whether certain working practices are open and accountable, or suppressed and kept confidential. I'd also been messing about with mono-printing so added a couple of my creations, inspired by my theme. I think I mentioned before that I had the idea of creating an assemblage piece, in the style of Louise Nevelson. When taking photographs around the bus depot, it struck me that the engines at the rear of the buses, which were often exposed and being worked on, resembled some of Nevelson's work.
I'm an avid recycler, and love to use waste items and upcycle where possible. So I made a rectangle of wood, created a border with beading, painted it with black acrylic, and attached various waste items. With the whole piece painted black, it ticks a lot of boxes for me; it resembles work by Nevelson, reuses items that would otherwise be recycled, and I've created an assemblage style artwork to add to my graded unit collection on the theme of 'dirty work'. The following photos are of Nevelson's work and my creation, based on a bus engine (in the middle)! Despite being tired after a busy week, I managed to be relatively productive over the weekend. On Saturday I went to a workshop with the Monifieth Art Society, led by Jennifer Mackie, and painted a Highland Cow in oils. The support was made from a scrap of wood covered in linen which I'd acquired from Scrapantics, coated in watered down PVA. I enjoyed my day, and was quite chuffed with the result (below).
I've been very privileged to to have access to the garage at the Xplore bus depot in Dundee, and have had great fun taking photographs around the place. I went in this evening and as one of my colleagues suggested, the depot is 'different world at night'. The buses are brought in for re-fuelling, washing outside and cleaning inside, and it is a completely different team. Saying that, a number of drivers were on duty, as was the Output team (control room). Also the Engineers work shifts, so a number of them were working away, stripping down breaks and working on engines. I managed to take a number of really good photos. I might use some as inspiration for my graded unit, but as I've been collecting photos, I have been enjoying taking images of people as much as the buses, engines and machinery - I'd probably say, even more so. So for my photography module, I think I've decided to produce a number of photographs of people, going about their work, across all the teams at the bus depot. Here are a few of my favourite images from this evening. Our Meraki Exhibition was a great success. Penny, Wendy, Nicki and I all sold at least one artwork, which was very exciting. I wondered if I would regret parting with my paintings, but when Wendy told me someone had liked one of my oil paintings enough to buy it, I was really pleased. I'm happy that someone wants to put one of my artworks on their wall. So that's all the pieces taken down and packed away (or in a couple of cases, back up on my wall!)
Would I do it again? Probably. It was certainly a great experience and a useful learning experience collaborating with others on an exhibition. Thanks Penny for the idea, and for making it happen. The Meraki Art Exhibition has started! It has been months in the planning, and given that it was a collaboration between five people, if I'm honest, it's amazing that we've pulled it off! But though I say it myself, it's looking really good. We have a lovely mixture of styles, media, subjects - a truly eclectic display, as promised on our poster.
We all arrived at the Botanic Gardens with our artworks, and laid them on the floor. Our first decision was to allocate a section each, as opposed to mixing up everyone's work, and we set about hanging our drawings and paintings. It took a fair while, but by noon, our target opening time, we were all ready. Over the course of the afternoon we had a number of visitors, including the lovely Elizabeth Robb of the Embroider's Guild, some of my friends who had come along to support us, and members of the public who were interested to hear about the concept of Meraki and our exhibition. We got some lovely comments in our visitor's book, and all in all we've got off to a great start. My postcards arrived this morning, just in time for our exhibition at Dundee Botanic Gardens. Because of the adverse weather, we decided to install it tomorrow, Sunday, rather than today. The hope is it'll give us an extra day for the snow to clear, but who knows, we might get more. We weren't due to open until Sunday at 10am anyway, so it'll just mean we open a couple of hours later than advertised.
When I ordered my postcards I also bought a few mousemats and mugs featuring my Stones of Stenness pastel drawing. I'm wondering whether they might be of interest to people rather than buying an original painting. We'll have to wait and see. Saying that, within minutes of posting this image on Facebook, I got a request for a mousemat featuring one of my other creations. The bad weather resulted in the College closing for the second half of the week, so apart from when I was at work, I was able to get on creating work for my graded unit. My intention was to try out different media based on my theme of people working at Xplore, which I managed to do. Here is a felt pen sketch of one of the young Engineers, and a pen and watercolour painting of Graham in the workshop. I've also given you a sneaky peek of a mixed media piece, but I've still got work to do to finish it off. These are all colleagues working in the garage, so maybe I should paint some drivers next to get a spread of jobs and activities.
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