Part 2 Project 4 Ex 3

This task is more of the same but using materials of my choice.  Until now I have used items of some size but this time I've gone small and selected some things I wear every day and I would be lost without.  This means that I will be working larger than life size for the first time.

My sketch

I am encouraged by my course notes to consider an unusual carrier for my medium but it's a much easier option to stick with what I know.  In the past I've looked at the papers I have stashed away and not known how to deal with them.  However I've chosen to take the plunge and selected one that may well give me a headache - a Seasalt delivery bag which is a bright blue.  Before I started working I tested my materials on the paper to see the effect.  Soft pastels were lost until I put them over other things.  My fine liners looked insipid and no marks erased without making a mess.  Felt pens changed colour as they hit the blue paper as I expected and the silver fine liner was OK if it had an outline.  The best results were achieved with oil pastels. Their density and consistency were perfect.  They gave an intense mark that covered the blue well.  Even the pale colours showed up pretty well although shading made it better.

Just in case I needed conte crayons or soft pastels I tested my fixative as well.  I thought it might leave oily marks on the paper but it didn't.

Testing

Testing

Testing

This is the result of my efforts.  In reality it is somewhere between A4 and A3 but my scanner takes an A4 maximum so it looks (unintentionally) a little cropped.

An untidy table -  A4 scan

The materials I used were

• oil pastels
• conte crayon
• soft pastels 
• charcoal pencil
• silver highlighter

As it turned out my testing was well worth it.  I was able to highlight in soft pastel.  (I had intended to use my silver highlighter but it bit into the oil pastel in a way I didn't like very much).

When I thought I had finished I stood back from my work and everything except the watch was lost in the blue.  I hadn't anticipated this and looked at my test pieces to see what might remedy this.  I used a light conte crayon to cover the bottom of the paper.  This added some texture to the crinkley paper and made the items stand out much better.  The learning point here it to consider the carrier more - not avoid using different papers but consider the effect it will have first, not last.

I'm sure there's lots I could have done better but my bench mark is where I came from.  I am getting quicker which is a bit of a relief as I think I'm dropping behind a bit.