Tigerprint

I decided to enter the Tigerprint Competition for January, which involved producing 5 surface pattern designs for a range of their everyday products, including cards, wrapping paper and bags. I used my current colour palette, and a mixture of motifs from this project and my Tron project to make fairly unisex design solutions that are still colourful to reinvent the stripe and show one floral design.

First day back in the print room

Today I prepared my fabric and colours for printing. The A4 and more store at uni had 2 shades of poly suede that matches my colour palette well and is £1.65 a metre, so I decided to get some to pigment print on. It reminds me of my grandpa's satchels and its low cost is appropriate for a war time theme, where rationing applied and the government restricted sale of clothing.

left: lighter suede, top middle: darker suede, bottom middle:
reverse side of light suede, right: back of darker suede

The darker suede matches Epaulette Red and the lighter suede Satchel Brown

It took a while to get the correct tones of pigment to print with, but colour is so important in forming a cohesive collection that I thought it time well spent. I added opaque white to the pigment binder, so hopefully the colours will look almost the same as they do in the pots when printed onto the dark coloured fabric from the store. I tried to make a wide range of colours so that my samples will be interesting and encompass the different moods related to 'sinister vintage'.

I also dyed my own fabric, choosing lighter colours made from sand beige and durazol yellow direct dyes. The fabric is suitable for devoré, which I intend to try next.

To achieve a light enough shade of yellow on some silk/viscose georgette, I followed the print department's recipe, and left the 3 pieces of fabric in the dye for just 2 minutes, 4 minutes and 5 minutes.

Jersey cotton was left in the beige dye for 25 minutes, but the effect was extremely subtle, and slightly uneven. This 'unprofessional' uneven look was intended, to mirror the aged worn appearance of war time clothes now.

Other Artists' Work

Alex suggested I have a look at David Bomberg's work. Breaking with pre- first world war convention he combined cubism and futurism with a limited, bold colour palette to make vibrant work with a lot of movement to it. His colour palette is very similar to mine, and he produces the kind of energy I am aiming for. If anything his colours are more subdued, so it might be worth revisiting my palette to make them slightly more sombre.

Ju Jitsu 1914

The Mud Bath 1914

In The Hold, 1913-14

Another artist who made bold paintings around the same time was Christopher Nevinson; below is one of his preparatory sketches for 'Returning to the Trenches' from 1914-15. The swinging legs of the soldiers resemble the 'seven' motif I formed from the numbering inside my Grandpa's cap from the war. The are angular and striking and again show movement.

Tutorial 28th Jan

This week I did some more drawing and collage in book - like sections taken out of a small sketchbook. I like them as objects, and they remind me of the soldiers' personal possessions displayed in the Imperial War Museum. Alex suggested incorporating this into the presentation of my project, as I did with my photographs of origami boxes in Unit X last year; it would be an interesting way to show my designs. Smaller versions of them would work well; a larger book wouldn't have the right feel to it.

I also produced motifs from my earlier drawings, and acclimatised myself to working in repeat in photoshop, which resulted in a range of different effects. I tried to use a variety of drawings as a basis for motifs; bold vs worn-looking ones, some produced with pencil, others pen, and then edited them in photoshop so that they were different sizes and arrangements.

Motifs from drawings of epaulettes, a helmet, and jacket material were repeated in a stripy pattern. They now remind me of biscuits or sweets. This is appropriate for a war time theme; sweets, like the soldiers were not part of normal British life. Home baking is also part of the traditional 'vintage' theme; here it is 'sinister vintage'. I intend to experiment with colour, using a 'military' colour palette, 'vintage' colour palette and mixture of the two, taken from my narrowed selection of colours.

 To make a more obvious statement about 'sinister vintage' and to fit in with the idea of arranging images together from 'Amelie', I assembled the above gun shape from the pretty, flower-like designs based on my grandpa's helmet.

For my photoshop designs I would like to make more motifs from my second batch of drawings, so that they will be more varied.

Tutorial Mon 20th Jan

This week I selected out colours from my grandpa's memorabilia, the war museum and 'Amelie'. I named them so I could tell where they had come from. I then whittled down my choices to 7 colours for screen print, and an additional 6 that could be used to add detail via embroidery and in digital designs. It turned out that the colours I chose were all from the war memorabilia rather than 'Amelie'. They are more sinister as a whole and go well together. Some colours do appear in 'Amelie', but they weren't the ones I selected out. 

 

I made these using a Photoshop brush, but the squares weren't aligned correctly, so I asked Alex for a way to do this. Once aligned the palette looks neat and professional, and adding the names make them feel like a collection.

Copyright Leahna Robbins Fleming

I had started drawing before choosing colours, but quickly realised that I was limiting them as I went, and to make my drawings work I needed a range to work from. This is a selection of the ones that work best in terms of texture, detailing and shape.

The right hand knot would make a good motif and the colours work well

Series of Parachutes, I tried to add texture and stop them resembling parachutes

Alex pointed out that a lot of my drawings are to do with fastenings, so I could create the illusion of fastenings on a single piece of fabric. This would be easier to play around with on Photoshop first before trying to apply it in the print room. Workshops this week have extended my Photoshop skills and I have learned about professional presentation for print for an interiors setting. This got me thinking about contexts; because I want to try using thinner, more delicate fabric, a good application for my work would be thin, net-like curtains, either for the home or for a business setting.

Tutorial 13th January

Several main themes are evident in 'Amelie'; dreams, loneliness, colour, detail and communication (or lack of it).

I will draw from my photos, and then make my own 'scrapbook', tearing them up and rearranging them to form new patterns and colour combinations. This should make for an interesting set of compositions. 

Detailing should be extreme where present, to mimic the rapid stream of thought in 'Amelie' and the pressurised environment of battle; this may achieved by hand embroidery. There are also long periods of inactivity in war time, and more mellow contemplation periods in 'Amelie'; to represent this there should be contrasting relatively plainer areas. 

An old - fashioned looking print could help to age the look of my work; Alex suggested looking at the patterned headscarves of 'land girls' who worked on the farm while men were away at war. New fabric will have to be used for devoré sections, but the rest could be recycled.

My main task for this week should be drawing, in colour and starting to collage.

Early Research

To start with I took some photographs of objects associated with my grandfather's time in WWII to capture some 'sinister vintage' images to draw from. There was a surprising amount of colour amongst the smaller items, which could contrast well with the darker shades usually associated with military memorabilia.

Epaulettes from military uniform

Water purification tablets

Duffel bag drawstring and detail

I then went to the Imperial War Museum in Salford, to look at similar items displayed there. The colours of the medals contrasts wildly with the dark brown and black of a revolver. I felt uncomfortable just photographing it because of the harm guns do in civilian life today, but the purpose of this project is to illustrate the sinister side of history and present it in a new way. The pure bright colours of the medals could be seen to glorify war and the victory contained within it, when there is never an absolute victory when it comes to war; at least the gun is 'honest' in terms of its colour - black, symbolising its purpose of death. On the other hand, the medals' colour could symbolise a form of release, an end to the bloodshed and so there would be no need for black any more.

Embroidery by a recuperating soldier in Alder Hey Hospital, Regimental badge of Hampshire Fusiliers

Brigadier Michael Harbottle's medals, awarded between 1937 and 1968

Revolver given to RAF servicemen for protection against Nazi lynch mobs

I re-watched 'Amelie' to analyse it more closely; the main colours used are red, yellow and green, and information from imdb.com revealed that this was inspired by the work of a Brazilian artist, Juarez Machado; the colour similarities are obvious, and some of the texture has also been used.

 

Poster for 'Amelie'

 

The ways that Amelie and Nino communicate are indirect, through letters and notes, mimicking the only available options in war time. He keeps a scrap book of discarded printed out photographs which are treated as precious, like the mementos of a soldier, while Amelie hoards pebbles to skim. Interesting facts are also collected throughout the film, and likes and dislikes are important; again, in war time it would be a struggle to maintain your identity and such things would help to keep you grounded. Details are noticed and poured over, with fantastical explanations made for them. Each character is isolated as protection from the scary, unfamiliar outside world, though drawn together they fit. In a similar way, soldiers manage to form a team to work together in the face of the unknown and terrifying.