A little bird told me

Press Play & carry on reading.

I've recently been working with my bird skull collection, exploring the shape and form, to get a feel for their structure. It comes naturally to me as part of my drawing methods, I like to know what I'm really about to draw before I start so that I can get it as anatomically correct as possible!

Wood Pidgeon.

Rook.

Blackbird.

Im going to experiment more with these sketches, in the a more Da Vinci style composition! In the meantime, I've been experimenting with polymer clay.

Using the polymer clay, I sculpted this bird skull. I then rubbed it with acrylic paint to give it an aged, antique look. Im really pleased with it considering I've never used this material to work with before! After baking, the results produce quite sturdy, lightweight pieces, which you can really get alot of texture into. I forced a hole all the way through the eyes because i thought it would look great threaded onto an old necklace or made into a keyring. Doing this sample has inspired me to use this further down the line of my project, where I could create more comercially viable pieces!

I've noticed that there is quite alot of animal/anatomical based jewelery around at the moment, showing that this type of subject can be quite popular!

Enjoy! Feel free to leave comments!

( Oops! I couldn't resist. I had to throw in a photo of my bearded dragon approving of my bird skull!! )

Skullduggery

Im back at last! Sorry I haven't posted for a while, University = busy, busy, busy! 

   Skulls. The structure of life. There's something beautiful about the specific engineering in a skull. Only when you handle them can you really see what I mean, how fragile life is, and how easily it can be ended.I bought these skulls from Ebay which came from someones private collection. I just find them so fascinating, and I truly treasure owning them! I will be using these to build up my sketchbook with studies and abstract sketches, which I will soon post some photos of for you to see!

Skull species are: Jackdaw, Moorhen, Snipe, Wood Pigeon, Blackbird.
If you'd like to use any of these photographs, please contact me first!

Animal Elements - explored further!

Slight change of plan from my previous post, but as you can understand ideas develop and change as you go along! Aside from feathers, I have taken my inspiration from other animal elements such as fur, scales, bones and skulls, from images I took at the Naturalis Museum in Leiden, Holland. Images of my favorite things, such as preserved specimens, taxidermied animals, and skeletons!
As I will be using my drawings skills to their advantage I have been looking into artists who are well known for theirs. I find the works of Albrecht Durer, and Leonardo Da Vinci's studies of anatomy and animals beautiful. 

 

The layout and combination of text within Da Vinci's work has inspired me to play with the compositions of my studies and much like Albrecht Durer, I want to incorporate a subtle use of colour as well.

After much deliberation of the imagery I want to work with, today I created my first moodboard so to give you and idea of the images and style I will be working with here are some photo's.

Like birds of a feather

I have become extremely inspired by the feathers I've collected on my travels, and have now decided to make them the main element of my project. They are very versatile, as I have recently discovered.  The painstakingly detailed work of Ian Davie has shown me their true potential. 

 

His handpainted work has influenced me to use my feathers as a 'canvas'. Using these like fabric, I am going to apply techniques such as lazertran and stitch to experiment with texture and imagery. However, this is not a new technique. The embellishment of feathers, ''Arteplumeria'', has been dated back to the pre-Columbian era, where artisans of the First People used feathers in headdresses as a way of presenting their status in a tribe. 

The appreciation of feathers throughout this special culture is one to be admired, through their spiritual connection with animals. I am considering weaving the use of some of these beliefs and ways into my project as I want to make the animal form work into the animal element of the theme through sculptural and wearable pieces.

For more of Ian Davie's work, click here.

Collecting

Well, it's almost time to my third year of University, and to start my new project, so I've been gathering some bits and bobs to get inspired. I've spent the entire summer in The Netherlands, and it's been fantastic. I've been visiting some great places, (of course its animal related!) such as zoo's, aquariums, exotic pet shops,  natural history museums, woodlands, and the seaside to get the ball rolling. 

I'm working around the idea of Animal Elements like skin, teeth or bones. Some naturally found, some bought from shops. Keeping pets, I have creatures that shed, moult and lose hair. I intend on collecting these to work from, and finding some, as these can also be found in the wild if you know where to search. This idea came about when I started collecting found feathers from the zoo's and outside, and then expanded to asking for shed snake skin from the pet shop, which already makes great items ready to scan and Photoshop! 

I've also been on the look out for great animal imagery to work from. In Maastricht, I found a great little book shop that sells books within every topic under the sun! I found a great, old animal Encyclopedia, and a collectors book from a dutch zoo showing vintage photographs from the animals back then. They're absolutely stunning, and there is a great photograph of a dog with new born lion cubs feeding from her. Priceless. 

Another great find was some real duck wings, which I came across in an art shop. Not sure what the real intention of them is, but I think they're brilliant, and for someone who loves taxidermy, but can't bring herself to actually doing it, this is a good way to start. 

 Here's some pictures. Enjoy!

Oh, and I also bought a shark tooth necklace from the museum!

I love a bit of Walter Potter

Taxidermy 

Noun - tax·i·der·my   (tak-si-dur-mee)
the art of preparing and preserving the skins of animals and of stuffing and mounting them in lifelike form.
Origin:
  1810–20; taxi- + Greek dérm ( a ) skin ( see derma) + -y

I have a great passion for animals, and growing up visiting museums and galleries I've always been fascinated by the wonderfully weird taxidermy exhibits. Since discovering the work of Walter Potter a few years ago,his work, amongst others, has become a great resource of inspiration for me in most of my art work. 

What I most enjoy about Walter Potter's dioramas is the entertainment and humor of it all. As disturbing as the little characters are, I think they are brilliant! Especially the Bride and Groom and Vicar! There's no denying my love humanizing animals and inanimate objects. 

 I would have really loved to visit his whole collection one day, such a shame that it got auctioned off split apart. 

Exhibition

 

My final major exhibition.

Dolls in order from left to right: Misery Guts, The Two-Faced Lady, Not-so-strong Strong Man, and The Cyclops.
Check my previous post ''Play Time'' for close ups!

PLAY TIME

For my final major project, i worked around the theme of Circus and Freak Show. I was interested in the old fashioned ways of the circus. The atmosphere and build up of exciting through the whole palaver of setting up and drawing in the crowd was a great task, and one that would not have made the circus what it was. 
I feel that it is completely different to a modern day circus, the build up isn't as great, and in our society, its difficult to please. We know and understand too much, what would have been a amazing wonder to see animals perform, or people jump from heights without safety isn't as spectacular nowadays, because we've seen it all before. 
Through my design process, i used vintage photographs of circus performers and old fashioned set ups as my inspiration. The research of this brought up issues about manipulation and how the people with genetic deformities and disabilities where taken advantage of. I felt this was an issue that should be brought up and so weaved it into my project. 
Working with vintage photographs of such circus performers, and 'freak show' entertainers, i created my designs to be in the form of dolls. 

                                                 

As a set of 4, these dolls have been created as symbols of human pain, and emotion. The painted text on the body represents the scars of mental manipulation and how words can hurt and show themselves on the outside. By being dolls, my message represents the 'toying' and playing of peoples emotions, like every day toys are handled and manipulated into different situations.  My dolls were made to be touched and played with as part of the exhibition, and by doing this, the audience unknowingly has control over the irony of 'manipulating' something. I feel this is a very common thing that goes on everyday, in everyones lives, and the consequences of other peoples way of control and actions can be something that can completely change whole aspects of another persons character. 
I wanted a very realistic form for my dolls, so that the viewer would be able to understand on a level they are closer to. To do this, i used latex. The texture and appearance of latex can be very skin like at the right consistency. I took casts of a toy dolls body parts, stuffed them, and stitched them together. I then hand painted the facial characteristics and details. I found the latex to be the perfect material for this because it picked up the detail of the anatomically correct doll and gives so much life to my structure. 

The female dolls also have hair made from felt wool fibers, which i feel also gives them a more life like quality.

Anthropomorphism on the end of your finger(s).

My anthropomorphic designs. Hand-drawn, scanned in and have then been printed onto Lazertran, and then transferred onto calico, which I then made into these little finger puppets. Lined with soft, grey felt.
Im pleased with how they've come out, i think they work quite well.

Simple, yet effective, as the saying goes. 

If you are interested in owning one ( or a few! ), dont hesitate to contact me, they are up for sale.
Price on request.

Hope you like them!

Todays word is: Anthropomorphism.

Working with vintage family photographs and a mixture of contemporary fashion images I have created these designs in an anthropomorphic fashion.
Its always fun to humanise animals, don't you think?

The way they are dressed gives them so much character, i'd love to meet them!

Scary thought for the future though if animals ever evolved into this.

However...

Enjoy!

Fruit is good for you.

Little video i made of my apple hanging on a tree branch, so that you can see it from all angles.

Apple a day...

Keeps the doctor away!

3D Apple  made out of different sections. 

Side 1: Ruched bubbles on the embellisher.
Side 2: Braiding & plaiting cords and threads.

Side 3: Tailor Tacking.
Side 4: Burning tool pattern layered.

Stem and leaf made from wire and dissolvable fabric.
Lable with stitched lettering onto brown tag.