Final piece preparation

I have used chalk a lot in preparation for my final piece as I feel like it strongly relates to the Holi festival and the frequent use of colour in many Indian celebrations. Also chalk gives a slightly three dimensional effect, making the piece look slightly more expressive and interesting.

I have also worked on board in preparation for my final piece as I feel that board will make the piece look more professional and give it a more finished look than paper would. Furthermore, board is smoother than canvas but still has texture to it, making it an easier surface to later draw on. 

The colours that I am thinking of using for my final piece are warm colours, such as:red, orange, pink and yellow, this is because the colours red and yellow have symbolism and meaning behind them in Indian culture and are therefore often used in celebrations, such as weddings.

Expressive pieces

These two expressive pieces from my sketch book are inspired by the Holi festival, where powdered paint is thrown.

The first piece is many primary and secondary colours, red, yellow, orange, blue, green, pink and purple, flicked using a paint brush, onto a base of black paint. I did this to create an effect of paint hitting a wall, a sight I expect would be frequent during Holi.

I used black backgrounds for each piece as I thought that it would make the colours stand out much more due to the contrast between the dark black and the bright colour. 

With the second piece I used warm hues of yellow, orange and red and lightly sponged them onto some black paper. I decided to use these colours as they are colours that are of some spiritual importance in India and because they are the colours seen in flames-linking to the Diwali festival, 'the festival of light'. However the way I have applied the paint makes it look softer and almost powdery, like what would be thrown during Holi.

I used nail varnish and a very thin brush to illustrate this mannequin hand as it is less likely to chip off or smudge than acrylic paint or henna. This piece is similar to Johanna Basfords pieces for the inky body wonderland exhibit as it is also illustration on a fake body part, however my piece is done on a hand of a pale skin tone instead of just white, making it look slightly more realistic. This also links to my theme of Indian celebrations as the illustration is very similar to that of traditional Indian henna, worn at many different celebrations. 

Indian culture and celebrations

Holi

Holi is spring festival and national holiday in India. Vasant Panchami is the marking of Holi in India where Hindus worship Saraswati Devi, the goddess of culture, music, art and knowledge.

The night before Holi, a Holika bonfire is lit and people celebrate. These celebrations are carried forward to the next day when everyone, no matter what age or class or gender, throw multi-coloured powders at each other throughout the country in the streets or by temples. As well as that, music is also played and traditional Holi foods are eaten.

Information found: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holi 

Diwali

Another Hindu celebration is Diwali. Diwali is known as the 'festival of lights' and is celebrated every year in autumn. This celebration signifies good over bad, knowledge over ignorance, hope over despair and, of course, light over darkness. 

In preparation for Diwali, Hindus clean and decorate their homes and then on Diwali they wear new clothes and light candles and lamps known as diyas and light fireworks. Prayers (puja) are made to the goddess of wealth and prosperity, Lakshmi, at this time as gifts and sweets are given.

Information found: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali

Significance of colours

Red

Red is a colour associated with purity, fertility and opulence in India which is why brides often wear it on their wedding day. Red is also the colour of the sari that goddess Durga is known to have worn.

Yellow

The colour yellow is symbolic of holiness in India. As well as that it is also a colour linked with a healing power- turmeric is yellow and is used as an antiseptic in Asia.

Blue

The colour blue is symbolic for power and life; this is due to Lord Krishna, who had skin of a blue tone, teaching mankind the right way to live and lead a life. 

White

White is a colour that is linked to serenity and peace. Because of this white is often worn at cremations and widows in India used to wear it when in mourning. 

Information found:

http://zeenews.india.com/entertainment/slideshow/significance-of-colours-in-india_152.html 

Henna/Mehndi

It is an Indian traditions that dates back more than 5000 years and is described in very early Hindu Vedic ritual books. Traditional designs have a sun drawn on the palm of the hand as historically it was symbolism of the outer and inner sun. Henna/Mehndi has many different motifs- good luck, health, sensuality, positivity, promote fertility and, to ward off evil. It has also been used to dye cloth and leather and as hair dye. Henna is usually used at Hindu weddings and other Hindu festivals such as the ones mentioned above. 

Eva Campbell

Eva Campbell-Bharat (2011)

http://wp.evitaworks.com/galleries/artworks-eastern-woman

Eva Campbell is an artist that paints Asian women such as Indian women in sari's and geisha's.

Eva Campbell's piece 'Bharat' (pictured above) strongly relates to my theme of 'Indian celebrations' as it shows an Indian women looking as if she is going to a wedding or she is a bride, due to all the bright colours and the jewellery the woman is wearing in the piece. Bharat relates to my theme as in my sketchbook I have used drawing, oil pastel, paint and collage to make pieces of work that are inspired by sari's and jewellery from observation.

My drawings are from direct observation and I have looked closely at the beading on saris and beaded jewellery and the colours involved, representing the objects accurately. 

I appreciate the use of colour that Campbell uses in her work as she mainly sticks to one primary colour per piece and then incorporates different shades and hues that are made using primarily that starting colour. For example, within  'Bharat' the primary colour she has mainly looked at seems to be yellow, which is why there is also many shades of orange in the piece as that is a colour primarily made up of yellow with some red to create a deeper tone. Campbell's use of similar colour and form in 'Bharat' shows a stylistic representation of form and pattern, which is also something I would like to interpret.

Campbell also explores indian pattern in detail as even in the background the detail is quite strong. Furthermore the detail is also quite repetitive, similar to a pattern as shapes such as swirls and flowers are quite frequently used, in this piece and many of her others.

I feel like Campbell's work falls between the work of Johanna Basford and the work of Chidi Okoye, as Campbell uses a lot of colour and tone within her pieces, similar to Okoye's piece 'hungry for the world' but she also incorporates a lot of detail in her work, similar to the pieces by Johanna Basford.

Campbell works mainly with water colour paints, acrylic and ink. This is so that she can create pieces with very vivid colour, without having to layer lots of colour on top of each other. However, she can also achieve softer paler colours with these mediums by adding water to them to dilute the colour. By using these materials to create her work, Campbell's pieces are often very vibrant and stand out.

Johanna Basford

Johanna Basford-both untitled (from the inky bodies wonderland exhibition)

http://www.johannabasford.com/commission/133

Johanna Basford is an artist/illustrator from Scotland who graduated in 2005 from the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee. Her pieces mainly consist of a white background with detail added in black pen.

The two untitled pieces from the inky bodies wonderland exhibition (pictured above) show Basfords trademark style of work as they are both monotone with a large amount of detail. I feel like they strongly relate to my theme of 'Indian celebrations' as the detailing is similar to that of a henna design which is often present on the hands of many Indian women at Indian celebrations (shown in my sketch book.)

The complete lack of colour in Johanna Basfords pieces really make the tiny detail in each piece much more noticeable and intricate looking, which is a style that I would like to replicate in my own work, however maybe with a coloured background as Indian celebrations are usually very colourful events, therefore I feel coloured backgrounds would suit my theme more.

Furthermore, Basford works in a very similar way as Antonis Donef, as they both draw very small, detailed, intricate drawings. On the other hand, Donef uses different tonal backgrounds on his pieces, such as old book pages and newspaper rippings, this adds extra elements and dimensions to his work, however it also means that his drawings don't stand out as much as Johanna Basfords do due to her very plain backgrounds in her pieces.

Basford's 'Inky Bodies' wonderland exhibition also relate to my theme because she has drawn on a mannequin of a person and a dog; similar to how henna is drawn on a person and how in India, elephants are decorated (also shown in my sketch book). 

I have done an interpretation (pictured below) of part of each on Basfords pieces to see how they vary but also to see how difficult it is to draw with such tiny detail. 

Artist analysis-Chidi Okoye

Chidi Okoye - hungry for the world

Pencil on paint

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/163396292701948588/

Chidi Okoye is a Nogerian artist and not directly linked to my theme of Indian celebrations but I liked his style of work. I particularly appreciate the use of vivid colour within Okoye's drawings, as well as the detailed drawings over the top, something I would like to replicate in my own work.

Okoye graduated with a distinction in sculpture from the Institute of Management and Texhnology in Enugu, Nigeria in 1988, although he regularly paints aswell as making sculptures.

His work, including both sculptures and paintings, have an African approach to colour, however I felt that the use of colour also linked quite strongly to Indian celebrations, for example the 'Holi' festival, as they are also very colourful events. Furthermore, Okoye uses his style with a large range of different subjects, which also helps it relate to many different cultures and themes. Chidi Okoye presents a range of subjects in his art as he takes inspiration from the nature and the environment around him.

This piece in particular I think strongly relates to the 'Holi' festival, a national holiday in India, as it is known as the spring festival of colours. Powdered paint is thrown at people and elsewhere so everywhere ends up looking very vivid with different colours overlapping and different tones being created, similar to the background here.

Okoye's piece (pictured above) also shows a very flowing and loose style of drawing which I personally find difficult which is why in my pieces of work inspired by him, I have used quite detailed line drawings. I do feel that Okoye's style of drawing does complement the multi coloured background as the extra pencil marks add more tone and extra interesting elements to the piece as the main focus points are darker but also there are paler marks within the drawing that give the piece a more three-dimensional effect, an effect that I cannot accomplish when doing line drawings using a fine liner.

This drawing also reflects Okoye's sculptural work as the flowing lines makes it look like preparation for a sculpture.

These two images (above) are of pieces I made in the style of Chidi Okoye's piece, 'Hungry for the world', however I drew indian related images over the top of the coloured paint as it relates to my theme more closely. I chose mainly warm colours such as reds, purples, pinks and oranges because they are colours that regularly appear in Indian weddings and celebrations.

This piece of work (pictured above) is an interpretation of Chidi Okoye's 'hungry for the world'. I created it by painting water onto a page and then dripping different water colour paints on top, this caused the paints to disperse when they hit the wet surface, resulting in the colours blending together quite nicely and in a fluid manner. I liked this technique quite a lot and will probably use it again as I felt it gave an interesting effect as new colours were constantly being made. After that I drew my interpretation of the 'Hungry for the world' piece onto my piece of paper when it was dry. I used a 9b pencil as I wanted to replicate the contrast between soft and harsh lines shown in Okoye's piece.

To study this piece and the rest of Okoye's work further I am going to make some observational drawings of people in saris as this would not only incorporate Okoye's use of colour but also his style of drawing people. 

Observational photos and drawings

These observational photos and drawings are inspired by my theme of 'Indian weddings', taken from the starting point of cultures and traditions, this is why many of my pieces are quite colourful as an Indian wedding is quite a colourful celebration.

(above) These observational drawings are of the objects in the photos above, they are using oil pastel as that allows very bright colours, which links to my theme, I also used coloured biros to draw one of the objects as that could then be hair sprayed, creating an interesting effect of the ink running down the page.

(above) These drawings are from looking at different Sari prints and designs. I decided to use two different techniques to do these drawings, on one I layered rippings of orange toned paper on a page and then drew ontop in Biro, on the other I a did simple pencil line drawing to show the detail.

These two observational drawings are of invitations to Indian weddings, this is why they are mainly a repetitive pattern, I used the colours red and gold on the two drawings as these are very popular colours at Indian weddings. 

These observational drawings are only using pencil, some of the drawings have been shaded and some haven't just to show different techniques and how different levels of detail can be achieved using different techniques.

These observational drawings are of different angles of a bracelet with an elephant on it, I used a Biro on one of the drawings, however I felt it looked quite flat so I then drew two different close up angles of the object in charcoal as I felt that added more tone.

This observational drawing is quite different to the others as it's on a base of red and yellow ink, which in some areas merged together to create an orange shade, and then a henna hand has been drawn over the top using a fine liner pen.