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Another piece:

I saw this piece, where it once again went with the idea of posters/propaganda in the anti-oil movement. I wanted to bring this image to life with realism.

I done three different designs, the first one was a test run with just regular paper, the next with card and finally the last one with almost cardboard.

I had a bit of left over ink from dry printing and this is what I sued for the ‘oil’. For the first two posters I used green feathers that I had lying around. For the last one I used actual swan feathers to show the actual representation. To add the feathers, I covered them in ink and then stuck them to the spill.

I also came out with a headline which is: PREVENT OIL SPILLS.

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What is MOVEMENT to me?

I chose water, which is a somewhat basic idea, but not only did I choose to focus on the movement of the water e.g. ripples, bubbles and waves but also oil spills - how they affect animals and the world around them.

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What I could’ve done:

At one point I was going to do a painting of all the flags and what they represent. But I figured it didn’t have enough to do with movement.

I took these on the first day when I got primary research.

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06/03/25

Finishing up

Print

I wanted to finish up my oil spill that I made in print. I had the original oil spills that I kept and I also had a cut out of bubbles.

I done this by screen-print, I set up my screen print process and then I chose my colour, I chose blue. I then started layering, when it first went out it was a guess because I couldn’t exactly see where I was placing it.

It didn’t turn out exactly as I planned, but I’m not too disappointed in it. It only added a few bubbles on the spill, but I think it the outside of the oil spill being covered in blue makes a statement because of the shock that shows the drastic difference between what water should look like and what happens when an oil spill happens.

Ceramics

I wanted to finish up my wave design, I decided I wanted to underglaze it. I used the colours navy blue, blue, bright blue and white. I put these colours in order advise in from darkest to lightest blue to show how the waves get lighter as they come to the surface. I used the white to show the ripples coming in and the small details of other ripples.

I didn’t get time to glaze it but I’m really happy with how it turned out.

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Artist research

Daniel Beltrá

Daniel Beltrá is a photographer who captures beauty and vulnerability in landscapes and wildlife.

He focuses on aerial pictures with haunting details of earthly paradise in peril. He shows raw footage of environmental degradation.

Beltrá captures the intimacy of trauma due to oil spills, deforestation and climate change. He travelled all over the world, to all seven continents.

While he shows the beauty of the planets secrets, he also shows an urgent plea to protect it from further harm.

Oil spill #12

Oil spill #20

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02/03/25

Painting

This is my probably one of my favorite trios of painting I have ever done, these 3 painting represent oil pollution.

This idea came to me when I was working in B.Ed, I thought it would be a lovely idea if I represent my ideas in a simpler level like at a child’s level.

In primary school, I remember doing a project on saving water so we could get a green flag for our school and when we were doing this project we were introduced to a character named drippy the raindrop and he was like the mascot of the project.

So I decided it would be fun to make up some characters. Each character represents an effect of what the oil does and how it harms animals.

I have Peter, he’s a pelican and he represents absorption, this is when the oil leaks in the body of birds and also some young animals and it breaks down their protective layer of heat and they ultimately die of hypothermia.

I have Delilah, she’s a dolphin, and she represents inhalation, this is when usually a mammal like dolphins have to surface and unfortunately when they do they inhale the oil and this leads to internal damage to their kidneys, liver etc.

I also have Thomas, he’s a turtle, and he represents ingestion, this is when any animal that needs to eat and everything unfortunately is covered in oil from plants, greenery and fish.

These were the original drawings:

I done the same technique that I learnt in life drawing which is staring always on the background and then painted them.

To get it absolutely correct for Delilah, I done a new experiment:

I got a jar of clear water and poured dyed black water into it and saw how it dripped and how it affected the water and how it seeped through the surface.

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Ceramics

(How they turned out)

These are how my ceramic pieces came out. I really like the colours on both of them and how one looks a bit more faded than the other.

My swans and Venus survived as well. I ended up painting them with just acrylic as I thought there would be too much detail to colour them in glaze. I’m really happy with how my swans came out however I don’t really like my Venus and she just looks a bit off and doesn’t completely fit in with the idea of ‘Movement’.

She’s ok but from some critique I understand how she doesn’t connect with movement. I just the idea of personification of the sea.

Her colours aren’t great as she’s quite difficult to get it exactly right and her legs look all over the place.

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25/02/2025

Painting (day 2 continued)

I painted this ‘oil spill’, I really don’t like this painting but that’s ok, I wanted to add all the colours in it but it just looks really out of place. It did not work out the way I wanted it to unfortunately.

This is the reference photo:

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27/02/25

Painting (day 3)

Today, I done a painting, it represents the oil pollution in the water and how it affects animals specifically swans.

I took photos at The Marina in Cork, and then I had several photos of swans, and then I looked up dead swans on google.

I’m really happy with how this painting turned out, it looks quite realistic and how I had it planned out in my head.

I took the techniques I had learned in painting the life drawing of starting in the background and worked my way foreword. I painted the swans last so they were the thing that stuck out the most.

I don’t think I could critique it too much and I don’t think I would change anything about it.

Some reference photos I used:

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Artist research

Richard Wilson

20:50 (1987)

20:50 appeared as a holographic field- polished floor, infinite clear pool and a virtual space that absorbs and mirrors the gallery architecture. The room is in fact covered entirely by oil. It amplifies the disorienting and mesmerising experience of space.

20:50 took its name from the type of engine oil it is made up of. Richard got the idea from a swimming pool and thought that oil would look magical in a pool. He wanted to take the idea of hazardous waste and bring beauty out of it.

20:50 could be viewed as a contemporary visual version of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal, as both seductive yet corrupting. We know that burning fossil fuels is melting the ice caps, scorching our forests and that when this glutinous black poison escapes into the sea, it kills all marine life – but we just can’t give it up.

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Artist research

Miquel Barceló

He focuses on the effects of light and the ever-changing colours of the sea. He experiments with non-traditional materials such as ash, food and seaweed.

In the 80’s, he travelled the world and painted in a visceral way of relating himself to the world. His art transforms with each new experience around the world.

I liked looking at Miquel, because his work moved me in a way like how the water moves in his work.

A quote from Miquel Barceló, on his piece ‘Barceló’s World; ‘This is my world, my land, and my sea, I have known it always. All of the fish and fruits I know by memory, they have formed part of my cultural landscape since I was a child.’

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24/02/25

Painting (wk1)

Going into art I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to make, but for the first day we focused on life-modeling.

I chose the middle of the room for the lighting. From the angle I could see both the dark and light.

We were first asked to pour out a good bunch of paint of the primary colors and then white to show tone.

We started with underpainting, and focused on the background and worked my way to the foreground. I painted the background in the darkest Colour, the floor in the middle Colour and him in all three depending on the lighting. I also made sure there was a horizon line. This only took 15 or so minutes. I then let it dry.

When I was dry, I started at the background again making sure their was a darker colours were where they needed to be and then gradually blended into the light colours, I repeated the same thing with the floor.

Finally for him, I started on his back which was mainly dark, then worked my way down his legs, everything that needed to be in the background of him and added some subtle details. I painted his right hand and his stick last, and I wanted them to be the closest thing you see, which is how i perceived him. I didn’t paint his face as I’m not confident of drawing them and didn’t want to make it look out of place.

We also learnt how to place the images, which colours beside each other make others stand out etc, etc.

I really enjoyed this day and got a lot of information out of it.

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New primary research

I went to England recently and while I was there I was able to get some beautiful pictures of the sea. I also got to take photos of some local birds e.g. seagulls. I also took some videos of the movement of the sea.

One part that I thought was very cool to witness was the froth that came in with the sea, I had seen it before but never in this quantity.

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Ceramics:

Another piece

I worked from this reference picture that I took.

What I wanted to show here is how the movement of the water can be translated to clay. Obviously it’s not the easiest thing as clay is so solid. I got the idea from working with block pieces and making them 3d the week earlier.

I made this by starting out with a block square for the bottom, I then added a twirly piece of clay and scored it and dragged it out for the first wave. I done the same technique for the other two waves but just added more clay each time to make the waves look bigger and to add depth and bumpiness to the sea. I scored into the plain bits too to add another bit of texture.

I then put this into the kiln, to be fired.

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Ceramics

Continuation

I already knew I wasn’t in love with Venus, but I thought something that might add to it was the design of swans. So, I decided to make swans out of clay. The white of the swans represent purity and because I could work from my primary material, I thought they would make the scene better.

I made them out of clay, starting with their bodies first, and working my way up making sure the neck was strong enough and eventually added the head. I made two swans because I can place them either side.

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10/02/25

Ceramics (wk2)

To continue with our project of the boxes and squares. I got my pieces out of the kiln and they survived. This was the time to start under glazing. I chose blue for the background, the colours of the rainbow for the rainbow looking piece and yellow for the other pieces. I then dipped this in clear glaze to give it a nice shimmer finish. For the other piece, I went with the colours for a moon and sun, the box itself it red and the other accents representing the water are blue. I also dipped it in the same glaze for on top.

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Continued work of ceramics:

I decided I wanted to make ‘Venus’ from ‘The Birth of Venus’. She’s an example of purity and calmness, exactly as I planned for the personification of the sea.

To make Venus, I got clay and started mounding her, starting from her face, then her body and finally her legs. I made her a bit shorter because I had a feeling the body of her would be too heavy. I added her hair and made the creases of both her hair and her body.

Next I made a shell as I had my own primary source of shells and took drawing of it and finally making it out of clay. I attached Venus to the shell using slip and score technique.

I’m not happy with her face because it’s too small to make details, so she looks a bit off.