5th Assignment - Paint to Music!

Most people might find it hard to understand abstract painting. Some might even think it's crap (or so I've heard). Back to my first post of my self-portrait, I mentioned Jackson Pollock and Robert Rauschenberg. Both of them I look up as idols and the ones whom inspired me to discover and create my own paintings.

Though people say abstract painting is so simple, even a 3 year could do it with their eyes closed. Yes, they can but whether they understand the painting or not. The brush strokes, the choice of colours. It all takes into consideration. Which in this case, my very last assignment of this semester - to paint to music. Understanding how our strokes work with the influence of music.

I prepared myself 3 plane canvas, a couple of brush, a cake knife, sticks, a big sponge, acrylics and a bowl of water. So, Danny is incharge of the music. He gathered musics which (i think) is in different genres, and Ms Lisa is incharge of playing the clasical songs. We were told to close our eyes for atleast a minute and just let go of everything and try not to think. After that we begun with the first painting.

The song was up to beat, which made me feel like dancing and making me move. So, I ended up with this painting. It was made using 2 A3 Plane Canvas, a cake knife, brushes, sponges and sticks.

After that, it was a classical song. It gave me that calm yet joyfull feeling. In result to that, my brush strokes were different and my choice of colours were less dull than the previous painting I made. For this painting, I used a A2 Plane Canvas, sponges, brush, and my fingers. 

After everything is done, I went to look at my other friends paintings. They had done a really awesome job with it. I think we all actually enjoyed this assignment. We were all talking about it after the class ends. I have to say the fun part of all is that we could get to play with the paintings using our own hands, and no one is there to stop us. Above all that, we had lots of fun. Knowing that this semester is about to come to an end saddens me the most. I'm sure to cherish every single memory and knowledge gained throughout my foundation years. 

4th Assignment - Batik

Examples of Batiks

Batik is a manual printing technique which involves wax and dye to create a pattern. It is made famous by the Indonesians since they have a long history of nationalization and some of the patterns is mostly influenced by the cultures. Here in Malaysia, we too are know for our batik.Our techniques are slightly different from the Javanese, and so is our motif. We tend to use florals as our main motif and not animals or humans due to the restrictions of religion. 

In Malaysia we use the "canting" method which is applying wax on cloth. I might say that Batik is not as easy as it looks. You can see so for yourself. I'll attach a youtube link below so that you could see how Batik is made. 

Malaysian Batik - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUtjl1LQaQg

So, for this assignment. We went to a Batik factory called Jadi Batik which is stated at Jalan Imbi in Kuala Lumpur. It was an exciting trip because unlike any other assignment, we got to be exposed to things like this. Before going to the trip my groupmates and I were discussing about themes that we wanted to do. So we came across many different cultures like :

• Malaysian
• Indonesian
• Egyptian
• Maori
• African
• Japanese 
• Indian

There are many cultures out there that we thought would be a great idea to express through Batik. Instead of having a normal floral motif patterns. We use their culture patterns to create a new motif. Eventually, we went with the African culture. So we all researched a lot about the culture and decided to focus on their tribes. By adding some of their symbols might be another best way to let people understand their culture even more. 

ADINKRAHENE

Symbol of greatness, charisma and leadership. Signifies an importance of playing a leadership role

That is one of the symbols that I decided to use for my pattern. Adding it in the center piece of the 3 combination pattern to create one Batik piece is a great idea. A human face, a monkey and a lion was what we planned to do using african patterns and combination of earthy colours to support the picture and make it look african-ish.

So, those were our final outcome. Mostly my group struggled a lot with the canting part. Obviously, you could see the center piece was not coloured fully and that is because while I was focus doing the canting part, somebody pushed my elbow and the wax fell all over. But, Ms Lisa told us to improvise and so we did. Other than that, finding the right combination of colours we're also difficult for us. But nonetheless, it was fun. It was our first time doing this and for a first timer. I think we did 'okay'. I'm definitely going there again. And this time, I'll make sure I didn't screw it up. 

3rd Assignment - Monogram

I'm sure most of you have seen those initials before atleast once in your life. They are known to be the most famous brand initials in the world. But to be known for the most famous brand, you need to have good design. 

Monograms can be considered as signatures of someone, or initials that carry the product of the design. It consist of two to three letters that combines to form a specific logo. It's meant to be recognized and known. 

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In class, we were sitting in circles and was discussing about each other. Figuring out who we are, and what people perceive of us (It was fun). So, I was looking at different types of typography and stumbled upon some that I find interest in. Most of them where more towards Arabic fonts. So, they all gave me that keyword to work with. 

Throughout this assignment, I had to say that Retna inspired me the most. Let me put his link so that you could check his artwork. He's amazing! Digital Retna

Our next task after that was to create our monogram as much as possible. So there I was playing with my Initials which is Faizah (F) Hassan (H) Taleb (T) in Arab fonts: F= ف, H= ح , T= ط

So, after playing around with the initials, Ms Lisa chose this one :

Since some of you don't understand Arabic fonts, I shall let you know that the F = ف  is at the top of the logo that resembles a peacock and the T = ط  is inverted just for the sake of it. Trying out my own style of the font, and H = ح is at the bottom of the monogram. 

Patterns

We were then told to create a pattern from our logo which is the toughest task so far. We are free to use different methods to execute our pattern. So, I went for stamping method. By cutting out layers of mounting board, I pasted them together and stamp it on a coloured paper. It's quite messy but you can't expect 100% neatness from a handmade thing. 

6 Items

 

By printing out different sizes of my monogram, I match those 6 items based on the most suitable size.

Guitar and Sketchbook : I pasted my monogram by spray paint the object

Phone Casing, Box, Shirt: Painted the monogram 

Laptop: I used sticker paper and stainted on it. 

After 3 weeks - The final product of my monogram assignment.

I was wearing that shirt on the day of presentation, but I forgot to take pictures with the 6 items. So I'll just let this cute sculpture wear it for me. 

These are the 6 items and pattern that I've made for the past 3 weeks. I'm happy with the outcome and learned a lot of new methods on printing. It was fun exploring different mediums and knowing what medium goes with what item. 

2nd Assignment! - Cut-Outs

So, back when I was in primary school, I remembered being told to cut out props for a play. It was quite a challenge for me since my cutting skills isn't that good. But eventually I did pull it off and it looked "okay". So, after I knew that I had to make another cut outs for my 2nd assignment, I practiced cutting just to not let anyone know how bad i am at it.

The point of the assignment is for us to think outside the box, and to make use of everything we have. Ouh! and to improve our cutting skills. Dhaa. Well that's what I learned.

We then were told to brainstorm of themes for the cut-out assignments. - "What is my square?"

So, we ended up choosing Death as my theme. Ms. Lisa said there's no harm in doing something gloomy once in a while. :)

                                                     Let The Cutting Practice Begin! 

I had so many troubles along the way. It's either my asymmetrical is not asymmetrical enough or my cut-outs is out of composition or best of all.. the things i cut flew away when my mother turned on the fan. T.T I lost half of the things I cut. Patience is the most important key to execute this assignment. 

This picture is one of the failed experiment. Even you can see how bad it is right? Yea.  

You've heard of the saying "3rd time's a charm". Well. I have to admit it's true. After a lot of patience, and determination. I finally got it. But this is not my final cut-out.

These are.. :)

For the portrait pic, I was inspired by a movie I watched about aliens or something. The vehicle they used was pretty awesome and the tire had these spiky thing that when it moves fast enough, it could kill almost everything. So, instead of making the tire round, I made it square and improvised a little. 

And as of the landscape picture, I was sort of trying to convey a message. A few days ago, I watched the news about a bomb blast in Pakistan killing a number of people. So, the bomb represent the news, but why did I made the words look less shocking and tragic? It's because people nowadays kill as if it's a norm. And as for the shadows under the bomb, it represents how the news is just another passing thing. We hear the news, we know people are suffering. But, we're doing nothing to stop it and it shall be left as shadows. 

Well, that wraps up this assignment. I have to say that this assignment taught me a lot about everything. 

1st Assignment~!

So, Sem 2 started and I took 2 Dimensional Drawing. Lecturer - Ms. Lisa. It is not good the fact that i missed my first class with her, but I had a solid reason. Since I was absent, i asked my friends what I'm suppose to do and confirmed with Ms. Lisa about the task.

Task ; - Do a self portrait and reflect yourself since the first day I came here. 

Here I go,
         
                 I love painting. I love the fact that when I mix colors, sometimes it turned out exactly what I want it to look like and sometimes it doesn't. Eventhough I'm not much of an artist to create a really awesome work. But that is my goal. It just takes time, determination, and hard work (no kidding).

                 Before this I actually did a lil research on Abstract Expressionism in my POD class (1st Sem). I came across this super awesome artist, Jackson Pollock. He once done his painting by tying his body and swung back and forth to create a huge abstract. Unique thing about him is that, he stopped using normal painting tools like brushes and started using sticks, knives, towels and etc. So thanks to him, I'm even more determined to start looking for other techniques to paint.

                 I went back home and started painting using toothbrush, rulers, fingers and many more. Might I point out the experimenting of this result to me being scolded by my mom for making such a mess. BUT! I did have fun.

                Other than Pollock , there is this also super awesome artist named Robert Rauschenberg. His art is fantastic. But, there's this one painting of his that really captured my attention.

                  He uses his old pants to create and art. I'm amazed cuz he can turn crap into an art. How many people can actually do that! Cut story short, I too wanted to do the same thing. Taking rubbish and turning it into an art. 

It's actually a picture of a sunset whereby the sun is replaced by the tip of the tin can which supposedly resemble earth and the flower resembles us. Basically I wanted to show that Mother Earth is falling apart, and we are at fault. We're just a useless little flower that's not doing anything to help and make it better.

Fin