I recently attended the last of three “Alumni” days at West Dean College. There were 13 students all working on their own projects and two tutors were on hand to guide and support us in our work. My passion is for found objects but I struggle with how to move them on in an artistic way when I consider them to be beautiful in their own right.
A year or so ago, I found a strip of seaworn rubber on the beach:
Continue reading “Is it a painting of an object or a “painting””
Yesterday was the first of what I hope will be many – a study day supporting individual practice at West Dean College. I did not arriving knowing what I was going to do (unlike everyone else) but the word “respond” struck a chord and I decided to look at some of my found objects with that in mind. Below is a lovely bit of metal that I found on the shore near my home – I find it beautiful in its own right and would happily live with it framed on my wall but here is my response to it.
I used layers of acrylic ink and paint with wax resist to create a group of four:
A useful tip is to work on top of a good piece of paper – you create a series of loose and unintentional marks that might just look good:
The second found object was a piece of plastic found whilst walking along the harbourside at Bosham – on the back it reads “Discharge” and it was the top section of a plastic folder – something to do with copying I think. Anyway, whatever it is, I like it! Again I worked with layers and scratch marks to create a group of six small works which I was pleased with:
It was a first for me to work this small and I will do so again. I’d also like to try this really big … and on fabric ….
Helen Frost Artist 