Title: Behind the real me
Size: unknown Medium: Block print plates and utensil Completion: September 2021 Exhibition Text: My inspiration for this project is Sunflower by L. Lowe, A self-Portrait by Kathe Kollwitz and campsite photo by Luna Lupus. The theme of this project was to show the real me the inside and out. My artwork connects with my inspirations at a different level, it connects with the emotion, pattern, and the strokes. I've learned and struggled on how to learn different techniques and varieties of lines. |
Inspiration:
My first inspiration was this sunflower that was created by Lowe. Lowe uses movement that makes the sunflower moving in a certain way. The author Decided to create this piece with the sunflower because it was the artist's passion which was for sunflowers. What I found interesting about this piece was how the sunflower is standing nice and tall while the leaves are down like they have not been watered in awhile.
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For my second block d is Kathe Kollwitz, the piece that I have chosen of his is the inner experience; A self-Portrait. He's a German artist who mainly does sculpture, printmaking and paintings. Her self-portraits replicate the "image of her soul", almost most of her self-portraits focus on points of a certain collection. This piece is dark and haunting but the author uses these strokes of lines on the face to create texture.
In the second photo is a selfie of me which was also taken by me. I thought that this photo would be a great photo to recreate on block print. Some of the designs like the makeup of the flowers on my shirt will not be on my block print sense I would like it to be simple. Now the self-portrait of my block print would be a tad different. My face would be in the middle of the block print and my hair will not be that messy. |
This was my inspiration that helped me create my experimentation block print, this photo is by Luna Lupus. This photo was taken because it's a campground. You Can tell it's somewhere up north that's in the middle of nowhere. What I can say about it is that this photo caught my eye and inspired me to create something inspirational.
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Planning:
For my planning I show my experimentation and some of the process of how I wanted my block prints to look but after completing my project it ended up a little different. I showed the process of what kind of designs I had wanted in my block prints and came up with some ideas for it. I made a list of themes that I did want to do so I ended up mixing all of them within the three block prints I made. I was only planning on making two until the experimentation one went really well. I did have a few ideas for cabins and how I wanted it to look like but I went with the big modern fancy cabin.
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Experimentation:
For my experimentation I wanted to test out the tools like how light or deep I should carve into the plates. But before I can do any of that I had to plane out what kind of theme I wanted to do. My inspiration behind this was a cabin. I absolutely love camping and doing outdoors stuff and this just reminds me of what I love to do. So once I have created my own structure of my dream cabin and the layout of it then that's when I get to carve it out. Now I do have to say I didn't know how to carve it or hold the utensil. I can be very shy when it comes to new projects that I don't know so I was scared to mess up and this experimentation really helped me understand a little bit more of how to do this project. and the second picture is where it all completes but what I do wish is that the lines were a little more straight or like not overlapping each other.
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Process:
For my first block print I have decided to create an upside down rose. My inspiration is based on this sunflower that's healthy and strong but the petals are facing down. But I wanted to do something that's the opposite. Now I have multiple reasonionings why I decided to create this. I was deciding if I should do a rose or a sunflower since they are both the meaning I was looking for. Roses are one of my favorite flowers. But you might be asking why it's upside down; well my life has been turned upside down ever since covid happened, I was at my weakest point until I said that's it I need to be someone that can say I tried to be the person I wanna be. but not only that, you can tell that there's no petals that had fallen, it bloomed like it's strong will power and it's gonna stand its ground. In the second photo I have started to carve out the outline of my flower. As you can probably tell on the far left side of my block print I've started to do the background. I didn't want the background to look plain so I've decided to do lines all around the rose. The rose is going to be black up the carved parts inside oos it would be the sadeing for the white part of the rose. |
For my second block print I have decided to do a self-portrait. My inspiration was based off of a selfie that I had taken of myself and Kathe Kollwitz. I have made some tweaks to my self-portrait. Instead of having half of my face missing and off to the side, I had but my face in the middle of the block print. There are no designs on the shirt only the lines or shadows. I wanted this self-portrait to be a little more simple sense there's going to be more textured lines in the background. Once I have sketched and laid out my ideas and plans now I can start carving the outlines. Once I have completed the outlines I start to add the shadows, details, and structure. The lines on my face gives my personality a bit more spice but not only that it gives this project the reasoning behind these three block prints. All of them can relate together. The self-portrait is the main one out of all of them. Sense you get to see the person on the outside but the other two block prints you can see the inside of my feeling of what I was going through and how I had felt. Once I thought I was done carving my self-portrait. That's when I had changed the background differently then how I had it on my sketch. |
Once I have all of my carvings done now I get to do the process of creating the actual block print. Before I can put my design on paper I have to place paper underneath everything so that the ink doesn't get everywhere. After that I grabbed a metal tray and grabbed a glob of ink. I had spreaded it out with the roller up and down and side to side to make the ink even.
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After the first and second steps is down this is the part were I finally get to roll the block print roller on my block plates. I have done one plate at a time since the ink would dry up right away. What I found difficult doing this part is telling if there's enough ink on the plates or the roller. At one point the ink wouldn't stick to the roller like there was water on it. I do have to say that my favorite part of creating block print is rolling the ink and seeing how my engravings turned. These are just the plates but once the ink was placed on them you can see the details and struggles when I was engraving.
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Then after I think that there's enough ink on the plate, I would lay a piece of paper on the plate but I have to make sure that it's lined up with the print. Next I would use this handmade tool, where I would have to rub hard for the ink to be able to stick to the paper. After about 3 to 4 minutes of rubbing in circles and all around. I would lift up the paper and there's my final block print. I've done this about 6 times each per block print.
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Reflection:
I absolutely loved this project but it took quite some time to create. This project was also not easy to create, it was difficult to keep a straight line without even messing up or even carving without cutting my finger. My experimentation was not what I had expected. It actually turned out really great so I also ended up using the final piece part of my main project. Through this project I have learned many techniques like how deep or light I should do my carving and even how to create different designs using the small and big carving tool.
Critique:
Similarities- The similarity between my rose and the sunflower is that the background is the same but also they have the same common is that they are both flowers so they have even more detail to them. The second photos that are in common style is that they both take place in the middle of nowhere, there both by some kind of water like river and a lake. And for the third one there's the format of lines and the inn personality coming out of my piece and the inspiration photo.
Differences- The difference in the first photo is how my rose is upside down and the sunflower is straight up but the leaves on mine are perky and on my inspiration photo is down. In the second photo the structure of the buildings are different including where the surroundings are. And last but not least the third photonthe backgrounds are different. In my artwork the background is where she's in a music studio but in my inspiration it's just plain.
Bibliography:
www.decoist.com
https://www.gallery.ca/magazine/your-collection/at-the-ngc/kathe-kollwitz-and-the-inner-experience-a-self-portrait https://www.google.com/searchq=block+print+art&rlz=1CAQMZZ_enUS970&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiQq9LK_fryAhX6MlkFHVb0A2gQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1366&bih=761&safe=active&ssui=on&tbs=il%3Acl |
ACT Responses:
1. Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork. When looking at my artwork you can tell the similarities and differences right away because of the movements, strokes and structure.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration? The overall appoach for this inspiration is based on emotion and I feel like my inspiration and my artwork can really relate in all kinds of ways. 3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration? While doing my project I have come to a realization that the ideas with the sunflower to my rose was inspirational based on what I liked but it's also based on how I felt stuck and got back on my feet. 4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research? The theme is based on who I am and I overcome things that I believe that I could do and emotions. 5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research? I've learned how and why artists make more self portraits out of block print then sculpture or anything else. |