INDEPENDENT PRACTICE(Progress Review)

By Madeline Jenkins

Hanging type, My Reflection

This was the first piece of work I created to show what I feel are my strengths in my practise. I took these into an environment I enjoy going to and an idea of using the environment to work within.

I would like to re-photograph this work with a better camera to pick up some more of the detail. But I was happy with how they looked in the woods and en-joyed using a mixture of material.

Owl Prints

The first print I created to represent a small owl. I took these prints into the woodland and photographed them from a distance at first with the idea in mind that animals are normally scarred off when people get to close. But these photos did not compliment the prints in the way in which i had hoped. So I used a different camera to take close up shots in trees.

I was happy with the outcomes, and I experimented with using the whole square print as well as cutting out the owl shape individually. And I experimented to see how they worked in the environment. The whole square print was more visible from a distance, but i felt they both worked well.

Owls are known as night/nocturnal animals. So my next stage is to photograph them at night.

Grey Squirrel

I choose an animal which is seen almost everywhere in the UK. This animal lives in a variety of tundra. I first photographed it in the woods, but unfortunately this image did not show up the detail of the print. So I am planning on re-shooting this photo so that the detail is shown as well as the surroundings.

This animal is also known for being very tame and living in urban areas and gardens. So I photographed it on a fence with houses in the background. Its detail showed up a lot better this time and yet the surround-ing is still visible.

My next idea is to place all my prints in the woods and create a short film of me walking through the woods and finding these animals on my journey.

Ivy Prints

I applied different pressures and ink coverage onto the lino so that each print is unique like a leaf in nature.

My first lino test is in its natural environment in the woods. My next idea is to think about how ivy as a plant can grow in a variety of places and is an evergreen plant that grows and takes over areas. I wanted to ex-plore urban areas as well as forests.

I used my garden as the first starting point of this. I found an old and dead climbing plant like ivy in the garden to use as a prop. I stuck on the ivy prints onto this, to represent the leaves that had died off for the winter.

From this I thought of the absence of plants (where one might have died or once existed) So I used an empty wall to create a plant out of my prints (to represent one that had once been there and the emptiness created).

Autumn Leaves- Absence and Order in Nature

I wanted to show the absence of plants in nature. My idea was to create Lino prints of a Sycamore leaf and to place it around a tree stump. As it is autumn I got this idea by observing nature and how leaves fall around the tree, but trees which had been cut or died where not surrounded by leaves and the floor re-mained visible.

I wanted to try and show this idea of absence by using my prints. Unfortunately the outcomes where unsuc-cessful, but I am hoping to revisit this. I am thinking of collecting real leaves as well as prints and covering the ground. As at the moment to much of the ground is showing and not enough leaves to make this effec-tive.

I also got to thinking about how things in nature are not always ordered. I thought of the way in which leaves fall to the ground, and how their position is random (how it can be affected by wind/rain/sun/obsta-cles) but still remains random. So I used my prints to create a type of order in nature which is never seen.

Type cut into Nature

I wanted to use the natural light from the window to show up the veins in the leaves. I used the window to express that things outside really interested and influenced me. And I wanted to show the relationship with the leaves coming from outside in an urban environment.

Photographs taken of Markings and trails

I took a camera out on a walk with me, and photographed things I could find which indicated what types of animals where or had been living here. Animals leaving trails and markings behind can indicated what animal has been here without actually seeing the animal.

I think the idea of not actually seeing the physical animal but just seeing the things it has left behind is sometimes just as interesting.A acorn I found under a pile of leaves indicates that squirrels are around this area because they buried them for spring after hibernation. And leave which have been half eaten indicate types of insect or slug and snails.

From this, I am thinking of documenting a walk in the style of a map and showing my findings which indi-cate the nature around but without showing the animal.

Layers in nature

The layers in nature, I explored the layers under autumn leaves and the layers above and be-low the ground. The first layer is the most recent fallen leaves, secondly was twigs and decay-ing leaves which have been slowly decomposing. Thirdly the first glimpse of soil with a few insects which have been remaining warm under leaves. Finally softer soil which is dry because of the layers above protecting it from the rain.

I am interested in layers in many other areas as well, such as trees, leaves, under the soil and roots. A topic I plan to think about further as an idea.

Cardboard Illustrations in nature

My original idea for this was to do with using a household object which had a type of relationship to nature. Cardboard is created like paper, from trees/bark so I though it would be an interesting idea to take this object which has been created from these natural materials back to where it originated from.

The shape is also a natural shape, like branches or a stem so to me it instantly became an idea to use this and photograph it. I started to think about how this could become a canvas to work on.

Thinking back to how originally this cardboard was a living plant (tree) I thought about the animals that live in forests and survive because of trees. So I decided to illustrate British insects that could have possibly lived on this tree before it was used to create card-board.

After illustrating I then took the cardboard to a wood to experi-ment with how it conveyed the message I wanted it to. A message about recycling and being considerate to the things we use and throw away.

Shells and stones lino printing

After creating a lot of prints of the woodlands, I decided to use another local surrounding/area, the beach. I created two different prints of shells and then used the shingle and other shells and seaweed to place them around on location. The outcome was really effective and although can be seen clearly they also seem to blend in with the surroundings well, because of the mixture of colours and the shapes.

Shells and Stones Lino Prints

After using the paper/print idea I then thought of the idea to use an actual stone from the beach to print onto. So the print would appear even more natural when placed in the environment. Unfortunately it was hard to print onto the object because it was not a perfectly flat canvas, but they are clear enough to know what the image is meant to be. Experimenting with objects in the natural environment has really made me think about others I could use in different areas.

Shells

I decided to create another piece on using shells I had found on the beach. Some people take the beach and natural areas for granted and although they may visit the area, they may not explore. Living close to a beach allowed me to see how people interact with the beach and the seaside. Children are often a lot more inquisitive with picking up stones and shells and digging in the sand. Adults are the same and still often pick up stones and shells to take back home with them. The beach is one of those places which people can spend a lot of time in and revisit many times.

Each visit to the seaside can vary: • thetide(fromthesealevelbeingveryhighleavinghardlyanybeachorthetidebeingoutandreveal a vast strip of sand).• Theseasonsandtheweathercanchangethetypeofanimalsandobjectswasheduponthebeach.• Movementofthewaterandthewavesvarywithinjustafewhours.• Theweathercanvaryhowpeopleusetheseaandthebeach(surfing,kitesurfing,boarding,kayak ing, swimming, sailing, walking)

After thinking about how people enjoy the beach and picking up/collecting objects from it. I thought of how to use the objects to promote my work and ideas, to encourage people to explore the surroundings and the objects.

Shells are left behind and washed up often by creatures which have lived in them and either died or trans-ferred to another shell. The idea that shells are around for years just like stones fascinated me. Also depend-ing on what beach/region/country will vary the types of shells which are found and discovered.

Card board fox and owl

After experimenting with lino printing and other materials, I decided to experiment with a sturdier material such as card and something I could layer and create different effects out of. I created a full size fox and owl so they would look right in their environments and also stand up better than if I created it out of paper.