Drawing from foundation to lipstick (2015)

Following the drawing machine critique, I created further images involving the entire process of putting on make-up. Each step was recorded on a separate sheet of paper and overlaid to construct the face image.

Drawing from foundation to lipstick (2015)
11″ x 14″
Pen on tracing paper

Foundation Face (2015)

The piece below is the work that was created using my drawing machine. The machine involved two stages of the make-up process: foundation and powder. Each step is differentiated by a different colour, blue and orange respectively.

Foundation Face (2015)
14″ x 11″
Pen on paper

Responses from the critique were interesting. Initially, no one could guess the process or what the piece was, but after explaining the machine, students were impressed that you could what the image was (essentially a face) after being told about the machine. Therefore, feedback included that the titling of this piece is very important, as conceptual works usually use the title to explain. So, the title for this piece should help the audience to understand what they are viewing.

Further feedback involved uses different colours that were easier to distinguish. Also, the piece was considered successful to the extent that the continuation of the work as a series, perhaps created on a daily basis, was recommended. The exploration of other daily routines was also suggested.

I find this work interesting because the marks are guided, whereas, looking at the image without knowing the process, it is difficult to believe that because the mark marking looks accidental or unintentional.

The Drawing Machine

The process of artistic transformation focused on ways to generate an image or the overcoming producing the initial drawing (that is sometimes a difficult process as one may not know where to begin).

We then moved on to the idea of a drawing machine, that is, a physical process or tool that allows to you to create an image. The process that I chose to focus on and help generate an image was the method of applying make-up. The machine is shown in the images below.

A drawing utensil was attached to the end of a make-up brush.

As the make up was applied, the drawing utensil captured these marks on the paper.

Form and Colour (2015)

The next transformation involved responding to a peers’ work formally (a colour, shape based response). The piece I responded to is below.

My response is below. I took inspiration from the colour used in the original work, and the circular motion.

Transformation 3 – Form and Colour (in response to transformation by Wanyue Xiao)
14″ x 11″
Ink on paper

 

Seasons Squared (2015)

Next, we responded formally to a peer’s work. The piece I responded to is below. The response was to be made from memory (no documentation was taken of the classmate’s work).

Peer’s work

I have chosen to respond to the background forms, which are linear. I have organised this piece using the seasons, because the pastel colours used in the image above connoted peaceful summer colours.

Transformation 2 (response to Cameron Hopkins)
14″ x 14″
Ink on paper

This piece was interesting because the other classmates were surprised at my abstract turn, considering that my last piece was representational.

Spanish Banks (2015)

This piece was based on the receipt drawing I was given. In order to create my image, my artistic process involved finding a real life image that resembled the receipt image, therefore, I was to the Spanish Beach Banks. The final piece is based on photographs I captured of the landscape.

Transformation 1 (response to receipt drawing by Wanyeu Xiao)
8″ x 11″
Soft pastel on paper

Responses from the critique highlighted that the piece was highly captivating because the image is somewhere between representational and realistic. The lack of colour worked well to create depth, and the contrast of a solid background with foreground detail was appreciated.

In terms of personal fulfilment, it was a nice experience to create a piece of art that involved using a pencil, and the traditional form of technical skill, as my practice in the past year has progress to video and performance.

Artistic Transformation

This class is focusing on the process of artistic transformation. So we have created a receipt drawing, based on a haiku that we wrote about our childhood memories. We exchanged receipts with our neighbour, and are required to create and drawing from this image (essentially, a drawing of their childhood memories).

Receipt drawing created by Wanyue Xiao
4″ x 2″
Ink on paper