Amy Lous Space: October 2015

Roisin Johns - Colours, Styling & Material Portfolio

My work is progressing a colour palette with the help from Wilko’s emulsion pots. I used what i learnt in a recent cad workshop to separate my CMYK and Spot colours from paintings and collages. This enabled me to expose painterly marks for possible backgrounds. I feel like a switch has click and i am now getting to grips with screen printing!

Roisin Johns from the University of the Arts London (and also from Leeds College of Art) was a guest lecture today. She spoke about her journey from BA to MA and how she took found materials from landfills, skips and factory floors and turned them into objects of desire. I am really fond of her concept of recycling and i particularly liked her colour palette of pink, purple and orange.

Manchester

Me and Adam were in Manchester over the weekend. We visited the art gallery and went to watch Fink and She Drew the Gun perform live at the Academy 2. It was a nice break for us but now it's back to cray cray at university.

Manchester with Adam

Manchester China Town

Dream Home

Lucienne Day

Kitchen Set by Albert Edward Gray

Matthew Darbyshire

This was one of Adam's favourite pieces

Ed Atkins

Grayson Perry

Fink

She Drew the Gun

Second Year at University So Far...

At the moment I am carrying on from my summer project which was originally themed around homeless people and their pet companions. However I decided to save this theme for a future project as I couldn’t draw from it observationally whilst in the studio. So in the end i chose to draw objects from the seashore (as i have quite a collection) in the style of fauvism. I chose this style for its expressive painterly qualities that have no colour resemble to their realistic values. I liked the idea of warm coloured shells..

Pink seems to be a default colour choice

A little bit of collaging with house paints

Painting with bits of card instead of a brush

For inspiration i have been looking at Britt Bass Turner, Katie Craig, Henri Matisse and Jenny Andrews.

Katie Craig

Henri Matisse

Britt Bass Turner

Jenny Andrews

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair

Lemon tart and a latte from Cafe Nero

Yesterday I went to the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair at the Old Granada Studios in Manchester. It was my first time attending the event and as soon as i had bought my ticket, i felt giddy and inspired! This event was named 'Tourism Event of the Year 2014' and i could see why! There was over 175 designers and makers. I took full advantage of the event and networked like crazy.

Two artists that really influenced me were Jasmine Simpson, an emerging ceramic maker and Claire Murray, a surface pattern designer. Jasmine Simpson is based in Staffordshire and i thought her pieces are enchanting, especially the paint splattered bear which i deeply regret not buying. She was really friendly and we had a good natter about university. Jasmine gave me some good advice - to use the facilities and support to their full potential. I guess it's what I'm paying for but i forget to ask for more. For more information, more guidance, more experience.. So now i've written a note on my studio wall to push for more. Thank you Jasmine!

Jasmine Simpson

I instantly fell in love with Claire Murray's work. There was a wallpaper called 'Flight' (it's the first wallpaper on the left, in the image below), it was so elegant and had a sense of life to it. As soon as i saw it, i was daydreaming about my future house with that wallpaper on a feature wall, along with a matching lampshade and cushions. It's truly a delightful design and Claire is lovely!

Claire Murray

I bought a card from Ruth Green (It's the yellow card with the sleeping dog on it, pictured below), her work is clearly inspired by the British countryside. At the moment i am overcoming my fear of using bright colours in my work, so it was refreshing to see Ruth's work at the Craft Fair.

There were many artists that inspired me at the craft fair and to name a few, Sarah Cemmick, a lino print artist, Abigail Bury, a recent textile graduate from Hereford College of Arts and Emilie Taylor, a ceramic artist that reminds me of Grayson Perry's Turner Prize winning vase.