Oxford Trip

A = Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology

B = Modern Art Oxford Cafe and Bar

C = Pitt Rivers Museum 

At the Ashmolean, (http://www.ashmolean.org/) I was particularly interested in the Lower ground sculptures of the Human image.

Master ES 

Consolation through confidence (from the Ars Moriendi)

Cast of the Aphrodisias Fisherman 

Double sided mummy portrait 

c.AD 100

Cycladic figure

Raphael (Raffaello Santi 1483 - 1520)

Studies of the heads of two apostles and their hands

Modern Art Oxford, (http://www.modernartoxford.org.uk/) I liked the conceptual installations.

Kerry Tribe 

Dead Star Light (still)

Abraham Cruzvillegas 

Autoconstruccion: The Optimistic Failure of a Simultaneous Promise

Pitt Rivers Museum, (http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/) I liked the tribal photography.

Portrait of a thirteen year old Hopi girl named Modisi

Schomovi, Arizona, US

Photography by John Hillers 1879

Alberto Giacometti

'Thats the terrible thing, the more one works on a picture, the more impossible it is to finish' Giacometti

I wanted to experiment more with texture and so I explored Giacometti's techniques of layering and veiling etc. As he uses the many different angles to build up his work, this is because he is a sculptor.

• Firstly, I stretched a piece of thick A1 cartridge paper onto a board.
• I then laid a basic mixed media surface over the paper, I kept the colour scheme white and added plasterer's scrim and tissue paper with PVA.
• The subject matter I chose was some of my life drawings from different angles.
• My concept behind this piece was to focus on the word vulnerability.
• I used a range of media such as fine line, biro, graphite, charcoal and ink and stick. These mediums enabled me to work quickly and fluidly. 
• By overlapping and veiling my drawing, it gives a multi dimensional element to my piece 

Camilla Engman's illustrations

Engman lives and works in Sweden as an illustrator. She uses simplistic forms - line with minimal tone. She uses emulsion to veil and simplify the drawings further.

I also tried to simplify my images of the secrets, using mdf covered in emulsion and transferring my image with cellulose thinner.

I then emulsioned out the background colours except skin tone. Graphited outline. Although my new image was a mirror image so writing the wrong way round.

Then used charcoal to emphasise the ghost of colour and shadows and depth.

Finally i rewrote the secret to reiterate the message. Also smudged the charcoal for depth.

Video installation by Sedira

After her boyfriend split up with her, Zineb Sedira produced the video 'Don't do to her what you did to me' of 8 minutes in 1998- 2000. In which she ripped up her diary, soaked it into water (see the still below) and ate it.

In response, I ripped up my old diary aswell, but instead of consuming it, I recycled it and made a new diary.

I didn't completely blitz the paper, as the little snippets of words give the audience clues and a sense of mystery.