Certificate Module 5 Chapter 3

In this chapter, we were asked to select six of our photographs of texture in the landscape and interpret them using just white paper on a white or black background.  This proved to be an interesting and enjoyable challenge.  In the following images, my photograph is on the left and my paper and glue interpretation on the right.

5.3.1

In 5.3.1, I was interested mostly in the contrast between the long, fairly straight stems and the small leaves.  I simplified this so as to emphasise this more.

5.3.2

In 5.3.2, what interested me most was the contrast between the fainter horizontal lines contrasted with the strong, dark verticals and the more organic loose and messy foliage.  The horizontal lines I obtained by gluing strips of tracing paper onto black paper and then layering a sheet of tissue paper on top.  I was a bit puzzled as to how I could achieve the stronger black verticals without being able to use black paper.  I tried, while the glue was still wet and the layer of white tissue still a bit soggy, to scrape away with an old craft knife to show the black beneath.  (I quite liked that what had been foreground in the photograph was now the background!)  A bit of scrubbing with the craft knife also gave the effect of the more organic foliage.

5.3.3

In 5.3.3, I used white on white to try to show the three different types of texture in the photo.  For the large pebbles on the right hand side, I screwed up balls of tissue paper of different sizes and glued them onto the background.  For the ripples in the water, I used tissue paper again, gathered up in ripples. For the gravel on the left hand side, I glued on several small bits of tissue paper at random before distressing them with the old craft knife.

5.3.4

In 5.3.4, I again used black paper as a background.  I glued on torn white cartridge paper to portray the background.  The edges I distressed with the good old craft knife again to give a more organic feel.  I then constructed branches of cut tracing paper which I glued on in spots so that they were not completely glued down all along their length.

5.3.5

5.3.5 was my favourite of all the images.  I used a black background again for this.  I covered the black paper with glue and then glued down a sheet of tissue paper that was cut a good bit bigger than the background and pushed it into random folds while the glue was still wet, to portray the background foliage.  For the hanging branches, I twisted long narrow pieces of tissue paper and knotted them at intervals to portray the buds/shoots.  This was the second try I had had for this image as I had used it for the cover of my sketchbook as shown in 5.3.5(a) below.

5.3.5 (a)

5.3.6

5.3.6 was perhaps the simplest of all.  I was intrigued by the interesting patterns made by a random collection of pine needles gathered at the side of the road.  It is so hard to produce something truly random and I felt that placing the paper strips individually would make it so hard to produce a random distribution, since the human mind tries to produce patterns and organisation.  Instead I covered a sheet of black cartridge paper with a fairly thick layer of matte medium and then sprinkled on the paper strips from above.  Perhaps if I had used thicker paper, I would have managed to portray better the depth and layers of the original.  I am looking forward to trying this one in stitch later and, when I have time, I might try it again using perhaps some thick hand-made paper for the strips.

While this has been a most enjoyable couple of chapters, it will be a welcome relief not to have everything (including me and my clothes) covered in glue!  Also I am keen to get on to fabric and stitch and am looking forward to the next chapters.