Documentation

I started this watercolor piece in January, at the end of unit 1, and I finally finished it.

This is the largest watercolor I have done. It's a slow process as I like to work with light pigments, then slowly and gradually add layers to make it darker/heavy in some areas.

Part of the concept of the work is that it's not necessary to identify what the origins of the fruits are but to appreciate it for what it is now.

Regardless, I still, and always, made a conscious decision on what type of fruits I used. The fruits I picked for this piece are; a pare that represents Palestine, a date that represents Saudi, and a raspberry that represents the UK.

As i mentioned in unit 1, The flowers are an extension of the mind, to visually portray the idea of thoughts. The cage is a tool that represents subconscious, sometimes conscious, mental limitation. I presented the cage as a crown, as some glorify the limited self, thinking this is the right way or right thing to do to survive in their reality/ world.

final piece

As well, it turns out some of my classmates never tried a date fruit in their life before! Because of this artwork, the topic of dates and its variations came to discussion. I was happy that I got the chance to introduce them to a new fruit based on my cultural background; Saudi Arabia is very well known for their dates. Although I bought these dates from a local supermarket, I plan to bring some with me after my trip back home for a visit during Easter break.

Xingxin trying dates for the first time

Egg Tempera workshop.

I had the chance to take an egg tempera workshop. I got lucky and joined the BA workshop as they had a few spots open.

the process of just setting up the canvas, or the surface to work on, took over a week alone: Learning about rabbits glue, mixing it with chalk, crating the right consistency to then apply layer over layer on a panel of wood, then finally allowing it to dry over 3 days. the process of painting: mixing egg with vinegar or white wine and adding natural colored pigments to create paint. The process of applying the paint is also a bit tedious, you can't rush it. You need to first start with a light thin layer then go over it as much as you want the color to be solid and dense. I found it a bit tricky, but in the end I did like the results.

at the same time working on some small paintings. testers for filet miniature exhibition in march

pen watercolor on round paper

-Small testers using air dry clay

For the field gallery i was going to do small watercolor pieces as shown in the image above, but then I changed my mind and decided to go with sculpture
i experimented with first: creating a body using recycled material like plastic, paper and tape. Then covered it with quick dry clay. It was really hard to work with. It's not easy working with such small features. But I liked the idea of using discarded items to recycle and create new things. After that, I painted the piece with acrylic paint then covered it all with mod-podge as a sealant.
please refer to the exhibition section for more info reflection on my experience,

The other pieces are experimental with recycled material both plastic and glass. Playing with the idea of reflection, clarity and even the idea of creating a vessel, an inner home, so I can place real flowers in it. which represents thought/ the mind.
taking pieces of plastic and paper, gluing them all together, then one thin layer or tape to help shape and create the basic structure of the sculpture. then on top i apply the quick dry clay.

example of
first stage: recycled material, paper wrapped and taped on a plastic cup.

- my first large ceramic piece!

this one large piece took a bit over two months from start to finish. Obsessively working on it for an average 5 hours a day, not including Sunday's of course. it actually collapse on me first time around, and i had to rebuild everything half way. i was so stressed because of lost time i forgot to take photos of it and of the rebuild. but the most challenging part was in the middle, building up the structure from a massive bowl like vessel to a sculpture with a longer closed off top. first time it collapsed i realized I need to build a better structure, like beams. for the basic structure i did thick coils that i blended with each other. as it got higher i added vertical snake like long clay pieces to help hold things together from the inside and thinner ones from the outside. i set it to the side to let it rest and harden for a bit. once it did, i started carving off some of the longer tubes, reaching my hand in from the bottom and scrapping. through out i kept on sticking a nail in to make sure the thickness of the sculpture is all even. the, i put all my focus of the outside details, starting off with smoothing out the full surface of the piece. once i was happy with it, i started creating dents in places where i wanted to place the features of the face. lowly adding small bits of clay to enhance each element. when i was done with the face, i started adding the round balls, shaping the clay, stabbing the larger piece and adding slip as a glue, then blending and smoothing out the seems. i did that all over the ceramic. just the build alone took 4 and a half weeks. to make sure the piece is fully dried i left it for a week in the studio. once i was sure, i took it to its first firing. thankfully it went well! lost a few smaller balls, and the chin fell off but generally it still looked good, very proud of myself!

glazing was fun, mostly because the colors change after they get fired, and even more differently depending on the temperature, so its never what it is. just to be safe i did two small tester pieces, one for the low fire, and another for the higher temperature. once i got the testers back, i followed the colors that i liked, which were mostly in the lower temperature kilm.

to make sure the colors are bright, i had to cover the full structure with two layers of white underglaze. then slowly started adding color. everything i did was underglaze, once i was done with i then added over glaze colors, they are they type that come out shiny after being cooked.

i went with a mix texture of mat and shiny to try and capture a bit of realistic aspect from the skin of real fruits. this process took around s month by its own, but only because each session booked in the studio only lasts 4 hours and i could on average find space to book 3 to 4 times a week. the piece was too big and fragile to carry out and work on in the painting studio, so i had to work within the limited time of the seramic studios avalibility.

after the second fire, i glued the chin back on to the main piece, and touched up a tiny bit with acrylic paint.

i am very pleased with the outcome of this piece, considering its my first time tackling sculpture using ceramics and the size of it.

id love to make a lot more pieces and even bigger ones but Im not sure if ill be able to do to time. but i will do a few more small ones.

water color workshop

using natural pigments and playing with color,

we had a fun playful time looking at, experamneting and having a conversation about the edless posibilities of watercolor. the richness of natural pigments and the different mediums we could add to get different textures.

hanna s (( look her up ))