Recent paintings

Ornaments

I am currently working on a new work titled "Affy bonnie" a  term that my Gran would often use to describe her dog, jewellery and of course her vast collection of ceramic ornaments. I thought it would be fun to make my own mantle-piece ornaments and to have them displayed on a glass cabinet. I want the cabinet to be full of Rice Krispies playing with the notion of urge, the urge to break and ruin organisation within the placement of objects. It was always tempting to break things at my Grans because everything was so organised and neat, nothing was out of place. The Rice Krispies represent the temptation and urge to cause trouble.

These are images of the sculptures that I took while the clay was drying. I have fired these sculptures in the kiln and have given them a white ceramic finish. More photos to come.

Atomiser

I have started creating sculptures for a show that I have in mind. I have already completed mixed media Lithography prints, a few ceramic sculptures and I am planning on doing four large paintings plus four more sculptures. 

A day at gran's house was the most painfully boring memory of my childhood. While most children were being treated to days out to the park, long walks and the odd visit to the local swimming pool I was dragged to Farmfoods in Lochee. Once the trip to Lochee was over I then had to endure hours of watching my Gran clean, watching Wimbledon and eating the same lunch, black pudding roll and a fudge doughnut.  

I can still remember how I would try and turn the tedious situation into something exciting in my head. Through my imagination I added humour into everything in my Gran's house to stop me from going mad.

This sculpture that I am working on is called "Say it, don't spray it". The home-made atomiser has been filled with Coka Cola which I plan to have sprayed on the wall followed by residue of dead flies.

I still have a lot of work to do on this piece but I am happy with it so far. 

Works

Here are a few little paintings and a felt pen drawing that I have done just to get my hand back in the swing of things.

Sherbet

Flooding the plant

Studio

I have been slowly moving myself in to my studio space at Tin Roof. I am now currently juggling part time work and studio time at the moment. Although I miss University life, I am coming to terms with the fact that I will no longer have a studio there and in return I am enjoying having my own space even more. It is great being able to do my own thing without pressure.

My boyfriend is building my studio. I now have a door! I will be helping out to build the wall and roof at a later date.

New studio space

I finally have a new studio space at Tin Roof in Dundee. Tine Roof is an artist run studio and arts collective, it is in place to provide space for artists in Dundee to work, collaborate and commune. It also has a white space and a work shop which is a great facility to use.

I am overly excited and so pleased that I got a full space to myself. The space itself needs a bit of work, I intend to insulate the walls and roof. I am also going to leave enough room above the roof for storage as well. It is great to have a space like this, at University I was working in a small corner and to come from that to this is just amazing, I can't wait to start working in here once the space has been built properly. So far, with the help of my partner, we have managed to fit a door and also tidy the walls up a bit. 

I have also been given a work bench which I will use a lot!

I will update the progression of the build.

The Stars Were Aligned

"The starts were Aligned" is a sketch book project that I am involved in with everyone in my year at University. Everyone is given a sketchbook which we have to sketch on and then it gets passed on to everyone else in the year each month. Each person has been put into a different group for this too. At the end of the year there will be an exhibition of all the books and we each get to keep one. The books will be a nice memory for everyone and a good way to keep in touch. 

Here is a quick sketch I done on one of the pages of a book, looking forward to receiving another book to fill next month. 

First to spill the wine

This painting is just a small piece that I made in my flat a few weeks ago. I have been sketching ideas for other paintings and also ideas for an exhibition that I have in mind. I have already made ceramic sculptures and lithography prints for this. More updates on this later!

An appearance in the Guardian

Click here to visit the Guardian article

A trip to McDonalds

During the last semester of Uni I managed to make a large ceramic melted, oversized cup like form which depicts my first exposure to McDonalds and the memory of going there with friends, having a happy meal and getting overly excited about the free toy. For me the sculpture sits as chalice and tells a story of a once innocent and naive view of a fun day out.
McDonalds isn't what I would call a fun day out any more but it is still pretty tasty given the right circumstances

Small Ceramics

I made these little butter dishes ages ago as tests and have recently rediscovered them in my flat.

Sketches

I found these little paintings that I done on polythene last night in my sketch book. I loved painting on polythene this year and will continue to do so. I especially like the painting at the bottom, I will probably do a large version of this.

Honey, I shrunk the kids!

The Degree show has ended!

The Degree show was a great success. I had really good positive feed back about my work. There was so many great works in the Duncan of Jordanstone this year. Tutors and members of the public have always said that out year group is really strong, it makes me feel proud to be a part of it.

 Now that the Degree show has passed I feel like I need to start focusing on the future a little bit. I have been applying for jobs and creating small works in my flat for the time being. 

It is always a difficult time for any new graduate coming out of University because its almost like leaving a second home, everything was handed to us on a plate for free. I am feeling hopeful and excited for the future, I am more determined than ever to keep creating art, I want to really go for it now. 

I wanted to just keep this post short, so here is a picture of the black lilies that my mum bought me for my degree show opening night in my hall way.

A few shots of my work in this video by The Courier

Degree show promo video

Climbing blurs

Acrylic on polythene 

Unearthing the fall

Sculpting ceramic sculptures has become one of my favourite mediums this year and I hope to continue it after I graduate.

I have vivid memories and dreams of growing up as a child and experiencing many new factors of life such as new tastes, sounds textures and of course emotions. I still remember the first boy I had a crush on, he lived next door to me and I recall pestering him badly. I remember watching him play football and I would hide and wave from the fence. Of course, as any boy at his age would and having no interest in girls what so ever found me extremely annoying.

One afternoon I went to see him play football again, I watched him as he ran out of his garden and towards me. I ran faster than I thought I could but I was still too slow, he then pushed me into a muddy rock garden outside my door. The taste of soil and plants filled my mouth, I watched him run off laughing. 

This event marked the first day of rejection and heartbreak for me.

The taste of earth is horrible, I sometimes dream about drowning in it. I felt that I should express this emotion in the form of sculpture using clay. I want the sculpture to look innocent and quite but at the same time to remain a vesil containing a deep hurt.

This is a group of photos of the sculpture at its second firing stage.

What are you staring at?

 After the Christmas break I began creating another clay sculpture. I wanted the sculpture to be sitting in a pool of water and staring at his own reflection. The creature that I created has no arms and yet he has some how managed to put make up on his own  face...or did someone else do it for him? The rest of his body is black, along with the water and the white mound in which he sits in, the rest of the sculpture is very monochrome and so the only colour to be seen is if you peer into the water to see his rather glum face.

I really enjoyed making this ceramic sculpture. I created three little maquettes so I could decide which colours to use on his face. 

I then tried the tests with the mirror. 

Over all I was pleased with the tests and it allowed me to plan the mound/volcano that the sculpture would sit in. The base for the sculpture would have to be both water tight and strong enough to support the heavy sculpture itself.

Here are a few shots that I took of my sculpture after its second firing process in the Kiln room. There was three firing processes in order to make the final body, it weighs a tone! 

I'm pleased with the facial expression and the slap dash make up job. The pencil  circle that you can vaguely see under the sculpture is the size that I want the pool to be.