Black Paper Drawing

 Black Paper Experiments:

For the following I used a blank sheet of thin black card and allotted myself certain implements to experiment with over various sheets. These included:

• Other paper types
• Glue (PVA)
• Hot glue (from glue gun)
• Acrylic paints
• POSCA pens
• Grey Scaled marker pens
• Pencils (2B, 4B, 6B and 8B)
• Sponges
• Paint Brushes

The following are the outcomes of these experiments.

For this, I used acrylic paint and a sponge to apply thick layers of metallic and white acrylic paint to form a base of swirling and random patterns to create thick texture and interesting colour mixes.

On top of this I cut a circle out of a separate sheet of black paper and drew my usual motifs (eyes, mouths and fungi as well as skulls) onto this in a circular, overlapping motion.

On a separate sheet of white paper I drew a ball python with grey scale marker pens to create definition. 

To put all these elements together I used more of the metallic paint as well as PVA glue.

This created an interesting and cluttered effect to the piece. I enjoy how much movement seems to be obtainable from it as well as the way the work is given flow by the curves of the python. However, I felt the background maybe made for the piece to become too busy and ruined the overall effect. I also don't think the snake will work its way into more of my motif work as it doesn't send the feminist message my other pieces tend to encompass, and I like my work to be viewed as a whole rather than individually because I believe it has more impact that way.

I first started out with a large blank sheet of paper and started drawing more of the fungi women that I had been working on, but \I decided to draw them in a more realistic style this time to see how they would turn out. After this I drew circles around them and started adding eyes and mouths around the circles as well as a skull, a face and more mushrooms. I wanted to create a collage effect without having to add more paper. I then used gold and copper paint to go over the empty segments of paper to further create a more eclectic feel to looking at this art.

After this I cut the circles out and stuck them to the black paper. Around this I used POSCA pens to add more detail in the form of fungi of different colours and sizes. This helped to create a clear focal point of the circles as well as add more fun to the overall look of the piece.

I like the contrast between the realism of the art in the circles and the more cartoon appearance of the fungi on the paper as it helps create clear and distinct differences between the sections and gives both a fun and popping feel. I also like the use of eyes over the top of the figures because it doesn't feel like the women are helpless to the gaze of the viewers and that the eyes will watch over them even though their fungi heads cannot see. To further this however I feel I should probably make more of the realism and less cluttering of ideas on one sheet. 

This was done with nothing but POSCA pens directly onto the black card and reflects a more chaotic need to get ideas onto paper. I enjoyed doing this as it combined a lot of ideas I had previously considered and put them all onto one sheet. Its bold and striking with the minimal colour pallet and I like that when you look at this, your eye seems to be drawn to different areas at different times, almost always seeing something new.