With the nice weather, I've been out and about a lot, so have constantly been on the look out for possible patterns and textures that I can use within my work.
Trees Please!
I've been looking out for pattern over the past week to get some drawing on the go, I feel I need to start with a visual catalogue of patterns to give me a good base of stuff to start off 3rd year with.
I've been particularly looking for good trees to take photographs of and I did come across a few...
I liked the patterns in the bark of these trees, I would like to try and draw out the marks, I want to keep it quite simple to start with perhaps just starting with line drawings and progress from there.
Patterns In Nature.
Brainstorming natures patterns;
- Flowing water
- Lacework of clouds
- Spirals;
sunflower head
snail shells
- Sand patterns, repetitive although no two parts are the same.
- Trees:
bark
branches
leaves
tree rings
- Dendrochronology- tree dating based on tree rings, also known as growth rings.
- The honeycomb
- Butterflywings
- Animal fur
PATTERN IS EVERYWHERE.
To start off with I think i'll explore different patterns within nature, sourcing my own photos, play with mark making and looking at texture.
Perhaps patchwork together different patterns, to hide the original identity of the pattern?
Thinking of ways to link concepts.
Identity In Nature.
Having discussed my project ideas with a friend who studies Natural Sciences, she suggested that I look into crypsis and mimicry.
Having looked further into these, I feel that this could create the link I wanted between nature and online identity.
CRYPSIS- the ability of an organism to avoid observation or detection by other organisms, organisms can visually evolve so that they resemble their surroundings, others use chromatic response to change colour in changing environments.
Other examples of this are:
- TRANSPARENCY
- CAMOUFLAGE
- NOCTURNALITY
- MIMICRY;
- BATESIAN MIMICRY- Harmless animal appear to be distasteful or poisonous.
- AGRESSIVE MIMICRY- Predators or parasites which share the characteristics of a harmless species, allowing them to avoid detection by their prey.
- AUTOMIMICRY- Where one part of an organisms body resembles another.
- EYE SPOTS- An eye like marking that resembles that of a different animal to deceive potential predators, drawing the attention away from the most vulnerable body parts.
Eye spots shown here on a caterpiller.
www.heritageradionetwork.com
Batesian Mimicry
The Viceroy butterfly mimics the foul tasting Monarch butterfly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batesian_mimicry
Camouflage
www.zmescience.com
Camouflage
www.telegraph.co.uk
Colouring changing chameleons
www.flickr.com
Nature's Patterns.
I've been researching nature's patterns and came across this series of books by Philip Ball, I think it's important and interesting to take a look at the science behind nature's patterns, and also give me inspiration for possible things that I can look into further.
I haven't read all three books yet, but I've been dipping in and out of them, finding points of interest to research.
Thinking 3rd Year.
Having looked over my Unit X feedback, I've decided to take elements from that project forward into 3rd Year.
I enjoyed working with more of a concept, and although I don't want to concept to be something I stick to like glue, I want it to grow with the project and see where it takes me.
Something I touched on whilst undertaking Unit X, was identity online, and how identity can be changed, people can pretend to be something they're not, or pretend to be others, it's so easy to pretend online.
I'd experimented previously with hiding the identity of people's faces, scribbling out reconisable features, changing parts of the face so the eyes are no longer theirs, or they have a different nose, basically warping the reality of the face, changing the identity.
I definitely think that this is something that I can progress with further, but I want to put a totally different spin on things. When I spoke to Lauren Bowker about my DATAWHERE project, she said it might have been nice to not look at actual data, but to look elsewhere, to perhaps take nature as a way of finding data and imagery, so that the data could take on a more abstract form.
Since nature is something that I always find and take inspiration from I thought this would be a good place to start and see if I can try and link the two concepts, identity online and identity in nature.
MMU Degree Show.
Abigail Hutton
I had a good look round the entire MMU degree show, but paid particular attention to the print designers, as for the summer task we need to choose 3 students work which has an aspect that is similar to the way we work, or the same sort of thing that we'd like to look into, whether it be context, concept, colour scheme, process etc. These are a selection of the main students that work caught my eye to narrow down to the 3 students to review.
Abigail Hutton creates bespoke hand painted wall paper designs, which are very pretty and there's no denying her talent for painting. When these paintings are blown up large I think they become really effective, especially if they were used as part of a feature wall.
Rosie Daly
Rosie Daly also creates print for interiors, these prints feature a lot more photography as well as hand drawn and digitally manipulated features. I really like how Rosie has made a photographic image into a pattern, splitting it up into sections and crossing over, creating quite a linear feel. The colours are also quite striking, the saturated areas really stand out which is very effective.
Charlotte Kleban
Charlotte's prints reminded me of kaleidoscope patterns, lots of colours clashing, with lots of different things coming together creating a busy pattern. These were designed for a fashion based context, which I definitely think that these patterns are suited for.
Sarah Elizabeth Walton
I was strangely drawn to Sarah Walton's work, I'm not usually a fan of metallics and foiled samples, but I think these really work, I think perhaps this is because Sarah has just really gone for it, and used it throughout the whole collection. I really like that Sarah has used hand printed techniques to achieve the collection, especially the flocked sections which work well against the foil. One thing I've noticed throughout the degree show is that very little people seem to have actually used screen print in their work, most people sticking to digital techniques.
Sarah has created a really extravagant collection, and I think it really works.
Anna Whitaker
I really liked Anna's combination of hand stitch and digitally printed pieces. The cut out pieces that were then stitched back onto the print appear very delicate, almost like petals, very organic shapes, I think these are a really nice touch, making the prints stand out more.
Anna has also used foil and metallics in her work, but done in quite a subtle way
Emily Burton
Emily's prints were inspired by graffiti in urban landscapes, I liked that colour infusion that this inspired her to use within her designs. Emily has created a broad range of bright digital prints to be used for a fashion based context.
Emma Nevin
I really like Emma's prints and garments, I feel that they are very current and on trend with what's on the high street at the moment. The key piece I think works best is the pleated skirt, with a lightweight fabric used this skirt flows and adds movement to her designs.
Elizabeth Moore
Elizabeth's prints really stood out from the rest, she's really picked up on 3D being up and coming and definitely a thing of our future and she has played this to her advantage, creating a collection with a new spin on the classic floral.
These were all the students that I was most inspired by and saw correlations with my own work, I will now narrow these down to the three I will write a proper review on.
Portfolios.
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