Another week has gone by...

... and Becca's back again!
So a week has gone by and I am now well on the way of making my 3 final pieces: canvas is now complete (as of yesterday with much effort!) and the chair is getting there! (the lampshade is still non-existant ... still need to decide what to do with it!!)

So here is a picture of my finished canvas:

Unfortunately, it isn't the best image of it but you get the idea. It is about A1 in size and has been put together by placing my photo onto white acrylic paint, leaving it to dry and then rubbing the excess paper off with a wet sponge :)
It definitely seems to be a popular technique for this project, and fairly straight forward (hint why I decided to do it!)
However, what I liked most about it was the 'destressed' look that it could create if you really put some elbow grease into it and rubbed away the ink! This chipped effect works perfectly with my most inspirational photo (image shown last week) as some of the paint from the pier was starting to waste away... In true Becca style however, I did do some smaller samples before starting this big boy!
I originally wanted to do the wall piece on canvas (meaning one of my samples was done on fabric) however, when I finished it, I chose to destress parts of it with sand paper, which annoyingly created a very forced appearance. This is when I decided to try it out on cardboard ... and the rest is history! (It also is free compared to buying a canvas! Hey!! I'm a student, I'm not made of money!! :P)

Now, since cliff hanger from last week, I know you are all sitting on the edge of your chairs to find out what the bloody hell I was showing you and talking about for my chair design ... (I hope the suspence has been killing you!) Anyway, now it shall be revealed ...

Designing, measuring and drawing out my design.



Now its cut out of wood! Exciting stuff :D

If you remember the photo that this WHOLE project is influenced by, hopefully you will get the idea that this back piece is inspired by the railings on the pier. Many people have used this in their final pieces however, hopefully I have taken it in a completely different direction!
(It is one of the wonderful things about this course, that even if everyone's inspiration is the same, the final outcomes are bound to come out completely different, depending on your ideas, personality and skills.)

So, hopefully you have gathered that I have made a different back to my chair. I have never done anything with wood before, and at first, I was a little scared about it ... pretty much because I was bound to screw it up!! (This is me after all!) But the whole point in this course is to push yourself out of your comfort zone right?? And it's probably the best and maybe only time that we will be able to do this before going out into the big, wide world, so I'm gunna try my best and take it to my advantage!
It definitely shows that I have grown in this last year (hopefully not in height :S I'm tall enough!) but a year ago, I really don't think I would have jumped at this task, and would have stuck to doing something I knew I liked and could do well...

So after that, at the moment, I am doing more samples and experimentations to decide what colour the frame and back of the chair will be ... possibly some more destressing to relate it back to the canvas??

Now, I can hear the eager questions: but what about the seat of the chair?? But have no fear, this has of course been thought about too!

This is a really quick sketch of the burnt down pier (which featured in the background of my photo). I was inspired by this German guy called Florian Bayer, who I had never heard of before. Here's a link to some of his work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/florianbayer/page9/
When looking at it, I loved the 'scratchy' illustrations, and combined with the work of Gillain Bates, this is the design I came up with for the seat.
At the moment, I am not sure what the composition of this design will be (I want to get the back of the chair finished before I cross that road!) but I have been doing some experimentations:

However, the back fo the chair is my top priority at the moment, and depending on what the finished result looks like, this seat composition may be too busy ... perhaps just one?? or half of one, enlarged and emerging from the side of the seat?? We shall just have to wait and see! (Oooo more suspence! :P)

So thats pretty much what I've been up to this week. I need to doing some book work now, as I have got WAY too excited with the practical stuff, so thats my job for the weekend!
Becca xxx

P.S ooo gayle, do you remember where I can find that 'Rachel's blog' website?? (Pretty much featured loads of really cool Brighton drawings and sketches that I'm sure you guys might want to see. Problem is ... I can't find it!)