Unit 1



This is developmental work taken from my unit 1 sketchbook. Here I used pencil, fine-liner, acrylic and water-paint to create a collection of studies from primary observations of a variety and fruit and vegetables. The theme was 'organic forms'.

I realised I enjoyed mostly working with bold colours. I decided to explore different coloured bell peppers. Firstly, I used pencil to create a tonal sketch of a pepper. Next, I experimented with chalk to create another study. I then went on to use water-paint to create a painting of birds eye view of a cut pepper and a larger scale painting of a green bell pepper and the side of a yellow pepper. Using my finger and acrylic paint i created a painting of the inside of a bell pepper enabling me to explore different textures. After exploring fruit and vegetables, I decided to explore house plants and flowers.

I researched Karen Margulis who uses pastels to create landscapes and flowers. When I first saw her work, the brightly coloured backgrounds and vibrant colours she used instantly intrigued me. I re-created 'Cool Daisies' using a tutorial she had set up on her website. I then focused on the stem of one of her pieces again using oil pastels.

  This is developmental work for my final piece. I used oil pastel to create a study of an unnamed house plant using inspiration from an Artist named Karen Margulis who draws plants and landscapes using oil pastels. I also experimented with the sgraffito technique where I scratched into oil pastel to create the look of vines in a leaf. Using tissue paper and wire, I created 3D pieces similar to flowers I had photographed. I also used water-paint and pencil to create a collection of studies of flowers.

This is a close up of the acrylic painting of the onion and garlic clove from the primary observations page. I particularly like this painting as both of the vegetables look extremely realistic. The colours used create good textures within the painting.

I carried on to develop the bell pepper. This is a mono print. I placed a piece of paper on top of the oil based ink and used a pen on top to draw the pepper. When i peeled off the piece of paper this was the result. I am quite proud of this as I managed to capture the tone and shadow in the pepper by varying the pressure on the pen.

This is an acrylic painting of a shoot from a house plant. I enjoyed using a variety of green paints and blue hues to create cooler green tones. I think the use of the white paint works well to highlight and give the piece of 3-D effect.

This is a page of artist research. I researched a wire-work artist named Helaina Sharpley. To begin, she draws her design on a piece of paper and then creates it using wire. I made a continuous line drawing of a micro-environment box including buttons, cut up pieces of sponge, paperclips, nails and matches. I then created the drawing using wire and pliers in the style of Helaina.