Look East

Make Do And Mend

Initial drawings based on the theme of stripes - I collected striped items and painted them expressively, then abstracted patterns, cut the paintings into stripes, and painted more stripes on top.

Hand knitting samples - I experimented with scale, from tight small stitches, to large, loose ones; and used a variety of traditional and untraditional recycled yarns to experiment with texture

Machine knitting samples - experimenting with cables, ladders, and loops.

Design concepts - using colours from the drawings, and around the questions "What could I create with the samples?" and "How could I extend the samples?"

Analysis Of A Painting - Asgårdsreien

Asgårdsreien is a landscape genre painting by Peter Nicolai Arbo, painted in 1872, portraying a Norse version of the myth Wild Hunt, a supernatural force that sweeps across the land at night.
Peter Nicolai Arbo was a Norwegian historical painter, specialising in motifs from Norwegian history and images from Norse mythology. The son of a headmaster, he attended art school in Copenhagen between 1831 and 1832, and an art academy in Düsseldorf from 1853 to 1858. In 1866 he was appointed knight of the royal order of St. Olav, and night of the order of Vasa. He also was commissioner of the Viennese art department and director of the Christiana art society from 1882 until his death.

This piece features a battle going on in the heavens; this is shown by the golden glow, as gold is associated with heavens and good-doers. The most prominent figure at the front is a woman wrapped in a burgundy skirt wielding a sword, this is important because historically, women were not allowed to be at battle and the Germanic cultures were one of the few that gave women the choice to fight. There are also other women in the battle.

This painting is representing the myth of Wild Hunt within the Norse religion, known as Odin’s Hunt. The passage of this was said to presage misfortune such as death, war, and pestilence. Odin, followed by the ghosts of the dead, would roam the skies accompanied by furious winds, lightning and thunder. Outside of the Norse religion, the objective of the hunt varies, but one theme was common to all: to see the Wild Hunt was a very bad omen, it foretold a time of death and strife. The three silhouetted birds beneath in the clouds of war signify this, along with the barren looking land on Earth’s surface.

The dark tones within this painting signify a sense of danger and battle, contrasting with the golden tones in the upper right corner; which convey upcoming victory for heaven. The battle is the main focal point of this painting, which is classical in composition, with the main focus in the centre of the image. The perspective of this image is as if the viewer is seeing the heavenly battle approaching, which could be signifying misfortune approaching the viewer.

Bathory, a Swedish black metal band, used this artwork as the cover for their album "Blood Fire Death"; an album that is considered to be one of the first examples of Viking Metal. The album's concept is of a battle of the gods – which is also conveyed through the painting, and the lyrics of the first track are an extremely faultless representation of the painting – both depict an oncoming battle at the break of day.

"Now the morning advances from far east 

Now the sun breaks through dust clouds and haze 

Now a forest of spears appears on the hill 

And steel shines bright in the sun's first rays"

The use of a pre-existing artwork as an album cover is quite uncommon within Black Metal – and the use of a painting with such significance as this was practically unheard of as usually the artworks were recent illustrations of occult imagery; taken from books on witchcraft and the like, without as much relevance to the album as is shown in this century-old at the time painting.

Women’s rights were becoming more and more prominent in the years leading up to this painting. Before this, women were seen as incapable of being independent; for example unmarried women were being considered minors until the law was changed in 1845 and women were able to inherit the throne independently from 1854, this has influenced the painting, as women are shown as being in battle and as fierce rather than fragile.

I think this painting is a premonition of something bad happening, the approaching battle could be foretelling a battle for women’s rights in Norway, something which started happening in the following years. The golden glow, which signifies victory, further enforces this. I like this painting as it is powerful and has an intense meaning behind it.

Life Drawing

Various experimentations with colour, line, and speed

This is my favouite piece - it is inspired by the layering in animation cells; with the linework on a transparent layer on top of the colour. I love the depth this gives to the drawing

Hybrid

This short fashion illustration project was based upon two themes given at random; I recieved 1970s and Outer Space.  The first designs I did were quite risqué, and I then developed them into more modest office-wear.  I then drafted cut the patterns for one outfit - the jacket and skirt.  The jacket pattern was developed by draping on the mannequin, then transferring that pattern to a jacket block.

Made In Nottingham

This project was titled "Made In Nottingham"; after brainstorming many things and people that have been made or are from Nottingham, including Lace, Raleigh Bicycles, and Iron Maiden, I decided to base this project on Nottingham based band Evil Scarecrow.  

I researched the band's lyrical themes and found they included things such as witchcraft, war, scandinavian legends, and early 1990s cartoons.  I then looked at the band's stage show and costumes,  and found themes of armor, spacecraft, and aliens.  I then researched some of these and more, in depth and this research inspired me to look at Jean Paul Gaultier.

I then began the design process and narrowed the choice down to this. For the pattern, I adapted a 1910s corset pattern as it already had the curve over the lower back, and self-drafted the cups and bodysuit shaping to fit my model.  The corset is fully steel boned and the suspenders have spray painted skeleton hands on the clips. The shoulder piece and hip fins are made from bin bags that have been melted to create a light yet durable plastic, with embossed tin decorations on the shoulders.

I styled the outfit for a photoshoot with platform boots, mirrored cyber sunglasses, and a deep green wig, this accentuated the outfit in line with the band's inspirations.

This project was entered into the Nottingham Young Creative Awards, and I achieved highly commended in the 16-18 fashion category.

                   
                

Summer Holiday

This project was inspired by one aspect of a summer sketchbook - a trip to the Sea Life center.  I did various quick drawings of marine life, focusing more on octopi.



I developed these drawings into a screen design, and created some block prints for accents

I then did various screenprint techniques (overprint, two colour, repeat, etc) with different colour schemes based on different audiences.



I went to see a band called Hawkwind, and they had a silks dancer. The flow of her movements and the light, airy silk inspired me to look at costumes for aerial/circus performers. I created this costume from upcycled materials - jeans, rags, and old buttons. There are also handmade ceramic buttons, foiling and free machine embroidery