Derek Rose Internship

I recently spent two weeks in central London interning at Derek Rose. I learnt a huge amount about the textiles and fashion industry and it has also inspired my personal work. Working with the designers gave me a good look into how the design process works from inspiration to design.  It was very fun and interesting and I was constantly busy with different tasks, which I had to perform to the highest standard. This included organising fabrics, making mood boards, research and participating in design meetings.

All fabrics used at Derek Rose have to feel luxurious, as they need to be comfortable to wear in bed and around the house. The colour palette of the classic sleepwear collection uses a lot of blue and also colours inspired by the regimental colours from the war.  The seasonal sleepwear collection uses modern and bright colour palettes. 

                                       

Patchwork Painting

N4t4 has been a graffiti artist that I have always been inspired by for as long as I can remember. N4t4 based his work around illustration. N4t4 enjoys working with different media and the concept of aboriginal markings and graffiti art.  I am influenced by N4t4’s use of layering and vibrant colour. So in my own painting modelled by my father, I wanted to add a modern twist by change the concept of traditional portraits and add my own modern twist upon the both of these paintings. I tried to express the use of mood and visual language by using my own technique of vibrant colours and patchwork pattern. I could go on to develop this further by creating texture and using vibrant threads to creating an embroidery piece.

This piece is called Jubilee skate park face1, Out of all off his pieces I’ve looked at I am drawn to this one the most. What really captures me about this piece is how the position of the head is angled and the set of the head is faded away. The colours are striking an enigmatic and complex facial expression dominates the piece. The figures plump lips and the play of light which deifnse the facial surfaces give the piece a sensual, even erotic air.  

Dad & Me

I am interested in using the human element of relationship with family and friends in a way that draws out its complex nature. This embroidery piece is a machine sewed drawing showing the birth of myself and my father holding me for the first time. I made this embroidery piece as a birthday present over his August birthday.  These relationships shape our character and are completely fundamental to the kinds of people we turn in to, to our understanding of ourselves and to our understanding of our place in the world. I find Laura McCafferty work particularly interesting; because her compositions are so unusual and unique that they really subvert the meaning of traditional family scenes  I am interested in the fact that family relationships are in one sense private and self contained, but at the same time they take place within the context of the society and they are shaped by its judgements and values.  So I’m interested in exploring the fine line between what is private and what is public in relationships with family and friends.
  

Laura McCafferty uses textiles, sewing and screen printing to create textured scenes of everyday life.  Her work has a slightly absurd or surreal feeling.  She uses colourful construction with lots of floral prints.  Her work is figurative and she often depicts people engaged in everyday activities.  It is, perhaps, the contrast between her offbeat composition, floral-textured backgrounds, and the mundane nature of the tasks in which her characters are engaged, that lends her work its peculiar atmosphere.  She is particularly interested in the nature of human existence, as understood through the everyday experiences that we can all relate to.

The Old Card Players shows a group of old men playing poker.  She connects to this group because it is her grandfather and his friends but more generally she is making a point here about the importance of friends across the life span.  The image could represent old people – or indeed any people – around the world because their physical attitudes reflect the subtle and complex nature of human social interaction.  The image also has her typical use of mixed techniques, appliqué of floral prints and a slightly off-kilter composition that lends the piece a quirky and homespun air, creating a warm atmosphere with perhaps undercurrents of something more sinister, even perhaps absurd.

Life Drawing

I spend an hour down by the docks, in my hometown Bristol, doing live drawings. I drew things around me that interested me and caught my eye. I potentially like to use the concept of life drawing for developmental work to create alternative and unique designs.

 

                     

Hyde Park Bird Designs

I went to Hyde Park and discovered the amount of geese, swans and ducks there were. It interested me how different types of birds creating different patterns and compositions with their bodies working in unison. These photos that I have taken describe the visual elegance of movement of these birds.

These photos helped me with my first-hand research by going on and developing them into bird patterns. I was influenced by a print-based designer Amy Sia I discovered on pinterest. Sia is well known for her cushion cover and scarf print designs. She uses exciting colour and modern patterns that have really encouraged me in my work.
http://www.amy-sia.com/collections/cushions

Saatch Gallery: Antonio Malta

I went to the Saatchi Gallery in London and one painting stood out from me. A Painting created by Antonio Malta. His use of composition, shape and bold colour has really inspired my work. This piece of artwork itself is untitled but standing as a large scale of 230x360cm. This painting was so unique I was later to find out that Malta creates YouTube videos of the stages of his work.

                                                                                  

This has really interested me and I wanted to create a self-portraits using only an ink pen and the use of line pattern drawing, as influenced by the shapes of Antonio Malta. The effect of the video almost displays that the drawing is being created by itself.

Facial Fetchers

Ricardo Fumanal is interested in the fine art of photography for fashion and advertising. He specialises in illustration drawing using a broad array of techniques and languages. The media he mainly uses is mainly drawing with marker, pencil and ink on paper and constructing compositions his work that show two meanings.

His work looks as if action of speed and stillness exist working side by side creating a gaze effect upon his work. His images flow and it provides a representation as a collage of human activity. His compositing experiments with confrontation between figures and background; he is inspired by icons and spontaneously topical items that influence his work and make it unique and interesting.













The detailed representation of how he makes materials even shine in his work to make the clothing upon the person look life like. He likes to layer his work, and experiment with different blocks of colour; he shows beauty in its finest with his delicate use of shape and tone. The subject matter is important to my work as I like to construct composition and delicate line through my drawings. My drawings are often personal. This is a drawing of a very good friend of mine and I wanted to show the intricacy and the sculptor like form of the facial features. Using the elements of Fumanal’s composition tone of sketch and use of blocked colour I have created my own response to his work and as an artist he inspires me to draw people showing their true personality and figment of beauty.