Testing testing

Spray paint is not a medium I would generally associate myself with.

To be introducing spray to my prints is daunting and daring but very attractive for some reason. I guess spray paint has a boldness and in protest there is too that feeling. 

I obviously was not going to attack my prints with a stencil and spray without first testing on a print I was not going to use for my edition.

Red Hot Lettering

I found in the past that cutting out your letters with a blade is both time consuming and very inaccurate.

I had a ureke moment when I remembered the soldering irons I had. I thought they would melt the acetate to create a stencil for my letters.

The result was pleasing to say the least 

Set up

Sometimes I find it hard to get comfortable in a space at home to do my art work.

Today was different, I came home from work with a goal in mind and a set finish line - Completion 

I knew in my head I would grab all the stuff I needed and I would set up shop in the garage even in this cold. 

I got home and set up just the way I wanted. I was in total control and in complete relaxation.

This was my work station for the evening 

I had all I needed.

My prints

Acetate

A blade + scribes

Spray paint

Soldering Irons

A solid workbench

And to top it all off MUSIC 

The PIG

To continue on with my work here are a few snaps from my woodblock of "Bertie"

In total I used 4 blocks to create a 5 colour piece

I used my digital image and transferred it to the woodblock with acetone

Quick and easy

First the key block - this was just printed first as a test to make sure it was clean I will put this block in the press last

The suit - this block consisted of one colour only. Blue was to show royalty, intellect and honesty

Pigs don't wear suits so it is all a contradiction really isn't it. 

The green and gold - these two colours were on the one block which helped me time wise from cutting another block. Needed to bring some Irish to the piece

The pink - this block again one colour, the pink face we all recognise and associate with the humble pig

Adding the key block

The result of four woodblocks used to make one image - technique known as multi-block

The image however is still not complete. I've an itchy feeling that can be cured with some spray paint 

Woodblock Intro

As a student if LSAD I am very lucky and privileged to be studying fine art under the eyes and guidance  of some fantastic Artists.

Working closely with the likes of Sercan Sahin, Noelle Noonan, Des McMahon, Pamella Dunne, Fiona Quill and many others I am lucky to see them working on pieces here and there.

For our introduction to woodblock I was very happy to sit as a model for Sercan Sahin who drew my portrait onto a block with great speed and great resemblance. 

I was cheeky and took some photos 

The effects of Power

Ireland, the beautiful home of a proud and jolly population. A nation that was brought to its knees and left to pull themselves back over the ledge. 

Our country, MY country was betrayed and ridiculed. The people we have power to, took everything we had. One of the biggest cowards in my eyes was the one who ran with the money in his back pocket. 

In my eyes he was ruthless and greedy.

So I have decided to make a ridicule of him. What creature do we know as greedy?? The PIG.

The Finished Robot

At last I have completed my lithography project.

The process involved in lithography must be admired but in my eyes it takes far too long to create a piece. 

It is also very hard to judge exactly how the end product will look.

I am pleased with the robot print 

The Next Step

Colour introduced with help from Sercan Sahin.

The white mask is a great help to remove that side of my face from the human form.

It is still a bit rough looking but this white mask is like a blank canvas.

Yet I feel I have ideas for the final piece already.

Maybe they could change yet.

Robo Head Beginning

So the transformation begins,

I am becoming a ROBOT.

This leads on from my earlier sketch 

This is where my final image begins

Inside the Lens

So my work really has become very much digital,

and very much about me becoming part of objects.

Analog

As of late I have acquired a great interest in Analog or Film Photography.

I have done it all by hand and I have been involved 100% of the way,

from the snap to the print.

Here is my first ever printed Film Photograph

This photo was taken before we were given our project with Martin in photography.

Yes I am a print student but lens based work is important and I for one love it.

So our project is sequence or photos in sequence.

My friend here gave me a brilliant idea.

Get anyone I want to give me the middle finger as I take their picture.

Camera Head

Photography and Cameras are a big part of my life.

Generally speaking where ever I go there is almost always a camera within reaching distance.

So I guess if I am making myself transform,

why not transform into something I love.

The camera used for the eyes is my first film Camera.

and

The tripod legs are from my first tripod

Another Guitar Head

This image is just a follow on from the last post.

I like the way it works.

My eyes look as if they are focusing on the head of the guitar.

The idea for these images came to me last night as I was going to bed.

I walked past my guitar and I thought that would be interesting stuck in someones head.

That worked pretty well with the ideas of my project.

Guitar Head

I have already got my final image ready for my lithography stone,

but I would prefer to wait until my prints are complete to reveal it.

In the mean-time I will post some other images I am working on and creating.

H.R. Giger

One of my fellow class mates, who is also working with mechanical forms introduced me to the name H.R. Giger.

I had never heard the name but I was interested so i went looking at images.

The first one that really caught my eye (as I was still looking for images that would relate or connect to my ideas) was this one.

The image has elements of what I am imaging,

 but i felt that this face was emerging from the mechanical like background rather than becoming part of it.

A fantastic piece of work all the same.

I did in turn do a rough sketch which was inspired by this particular image,

with a mix of iRobot - another great film.

In this sketch there is reference to The image above and as I have already stated iRobot but also beyond that again I was brought back to 

IRON MAN.

The gears in this piece come from the two ideas.

1. being the way a clock works and how the mechanism keeps the clock in motion once power is available.

2. Bicycles. in the last year I have done two big charity cycles.

one was 50km and the other 100km.

When you cycle these long distances your legs become accustomed to the circular movement.

That circle is of course the gear on which the pedals are attached to.

When you get of the bike you feel weak at the knees as if you need the bike under you again.

It is like you become one with the bike.

Electric Life Form

While I was looking through the 'web' for images,

I came across this pretty cool piece and I loved it and how it related to my idea.

The face of a real person on a mechanical brain or at least thats the way i see it.

Exactly what I was thinking of was this, part Human part Robot.

I played around with this image a bit just to give me some ideas.

What I came up with I liked.

I did alter the thickness of the neck... 

I didn't find the original aesthetically pleasing. 

The background is simply a heart monitor graph.

the use of the graph was to show a sign of life.

Become a Robot

So my project has become a lot about transforming myself into a 

ROBOT.

Wouldn't that be a great story?

Front page of the local paper local man turns himself into a Robot!

Sounds a bit familiar.

That story is already there and known by most.

IRON MAN

Yes a fictional movie about a rich weapons designer who designs a mechanical suit that he can wear.

But he interacts with suit and it interacts with him.

They become one.

Like he says in the movie,

'I am Iron Man'

Scanner

Following on with my project, I have been looking for 

ways to make myself part of my work.

But how do I make myself look Robotic 

or

mechanical and still remain human like?

I was scanning documents for other stuff and had the sudden idea

to scan my face and see what it would be like.

Here are the scans i took.

The images do not make me look mechanical but the process, compared to just taking a photo is much more mechanical itself

David Lynch - Lithography

Another great video for Litho.

A bit dark and emotional,

but a great sequence of prints.

A great story

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3ksbsP0wDY

A bit of stone Lithography with Edinburgh Printmakers

A good video to refresh the mind on the process of litho.

its pretty short too if needed in a rush

Lithography!

Now that my half of the class are finished the intaglio workshops, we have been taken on with the lithography workshops.

Following the same brief for Structures, Space and Systems we are to create a lithograph consisting of 2 colours.

I want to keep my new prints connected to my last set but I want them to be totally different as well.

ELECTRIC 

was a very strong print. 

It was (BOOM) in your face.

It had all the elements when you look at it really.

There was a Structure which was in a space and it worked as part of a system.

Now I want to follow on and try keep them all again.

For some reason I have been attracted to the idea of an electrical life form.

ROBOTS

was the first thing to hit my mind and I think it will have a presence in my litho prints.

This was the first sketch I did which had any reference to Robots.

It does also have the word

 ELECTRIC.

The robot does have a life like look which again I feel should have a presence in my final image.

 

ELECTRICITY

Okay so I should take a few steps back and show people where that last image came from.

Yes it was from an etched plate or etching, 

but the idea began when I was shown the work of 

TERRY WINTERS

The work reminded me of electricity pylons just from the use of line.

The idea was simple.

A side view of a single pylon rotated and placed in 4 different positions on the page.

You can say it looks like a cross or like a view from the bottom of a pylon looking up.

or even a spiders web.

Anyway from there I took the print forward and inverting the colour scheme by changing the method of applying the ink. In the first two prints the only colour used is black.

The next two prints are the same print as the last post.

One of them is slightly different as again I inverted the colour on the text

Then the final two are where I think I may have possibly brought my idea to an end,

or maybe not....

But these two prints are done in the same method as the last two but with a spice of life.

The yellow i used on the etch warns of danger, I have tried to replicate the warning signs many of us see on a daily basis.

There is one finale thing to do now that I have reached what I possibly think is the end of an idea.

I need to pull two clean prints that I am happy with and preferably again on Fabriano 

 

 

Intaglio

 

At last my original idea is beginning to excite me.

I have used the etched plate with a roll over the top of a dark grey ink, which gives a really nice bold print of the plate with the etched lines being kept white as the ink is not pushed into them.

Once I was happy with that I used an A4 print out of a full page covered in random sizes of the word ELECTRIC

The results amazed me!

It is such as simple process but the end result was beautiful.

I liked the print so much so that I also went on to print it on Fabriano Paper

 

 

 



Back to College

Back again and time to catch up with the blog

Prepping plates for etching, haven't used the acid baths before so this will be a fun new learning experience. Gotta try it 

My Dryppints

Both of these prints are as I have said based on my life growing up in a rural area and then being introduced to an urban lifestyle... In both of my prints I have tried to represent how there is still a rural aspect about the way I think and live my day to day life.

How to make a Dry-point Print (printmaking)

For our first project in Print I decided to try out some drypoint on plastic/acetate.

It again is to do with UrbanUs, the work I created was based on Limerick city and how I grew up in an rural area.

But I wanted to put up an example of drypoint printmaking and looking through youtube I think this guy i great. He has taken his work out to the field... he went printing in the bush

Just click on the link above

David Garibaldi

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2WirN1/:tkRd+bZh:CAkTLrMU/www.odditycentral.com/pics/this-photo-is-actually-a-pencil-perfect-drawing.html/

Elective Selection

My Results are,

Print: 72
Photography: 65
Sculpture: 66

Semester 1: 58
Overall: 61

Decisions need to be made!!

Cling Film, Final Experiment

Big Condom

Door of Cling Film

Latex Frame

Cling film

One of the experiments that I have decided to carry out while I am in sculpture is to test the strength and durability of cling film. The idea came originally from wanting to do it with latex. The latex version of this experiment would have been very expensive and a very slow process. So as I only have a number of days cling film became a much better choice/substitute.

I got my hands on a few wooden frames from the workshop at college and I wrapped around 4-5 layers  of cling film around them. I hoped that the cling film would stretch to certain degree whilst being able to support the weight of my body.

Check out the results for yourself in the videos..

In sculpture I began to work with the word stretch. The very first piece of material that had entered my mind was latex. I wanted to create a piece that would involve the use of my entire body but this caused two major problems. Time and money. Latex is expensive and I only had a number of days over the space of two weeks to get the work done.

Instead I turned to cling film. It may not have been the ideal material but it would have to do as a substitute. The experiments I carried out are in this video and in more to follow.

Tumblr

Hey everyone this is my new tumblr account philipdesmond.tumblr.com

Black and White

For my response to the brief I felt after trying out a few things that simple black and white mono would work perfectly.

Why should I use colour when there is no need.

Monoprint

I really am enjoying monoprinting it's fast and it's effective

Here are some of many pieces I did

Lady Liberty Leading Her People

Print Begins

Day one in the print room can't wait to get started

Des McMahon giving us an introduction.

Lens Based Media Project

A course I was really looking forward to.

First year Lens Based Media.

A simple project to create a 3 minute video using still images.

It could be anything you want but it should tell a story of sorts.

I was unfortunate to miss the whole 1st week of the 2 week project so I was very behind

but this is what I managed to make now this was not my first attempt.

There was a lot of editing involved.

Shadows in my Cuboid

Just a few snaps showing the shadows I created within the cuboid.

By tilting and shifting the light I was using outside the cuboid I was able to manipulate the shadows.

Stretching and dragging them about, making them smaller and larger as I pleased.

The shadows were everywhere on the floor the walls of the cuboid.

From shadows I had been using on a single 2D plane to 5 and 6 Planes there is a whole new aspect to my work and I really find it interesting.