First session of making my mock final piece

In my first session, I planned to cut the Tyvek to size and assemble it around the hoops by creating a channel for them to be fed through to create a sleeker finish. However, after the Tyvek delivery being late by days, I was not able to do this and so I had to start another part of m final piece- the watered-down acrylic paint onto acetate. I will be able to do the rest of the installation when the Tyvek gets delivered and I will continue to work in my sketchbook in the mean time. Working onto the acetate meant that I could make a start on my final piece but will have to put the rest of it on hold whilst the Tyvek is being delivered.

So, I mixed blue, purple and orange paint into pots which contained a small amount of water in them. I poured each colour onto the sheet of A4 acetate in small doses. I then brought these three colours together on the sheet by using string to manipulate them. This allowed them to mix slightly on the acetate whilst still remaining their original colour too in most areas. I wasn't aiming to reach a realistic outcome, I was aiming to create a sense of movement in my work and so I dragged the paint with the string making circular motions. By creating a sense of movement, I am reflecting how escapism can take place in the form of activities such as exercise or expression through art. Additionally, in places where the paint is in small quantities, I have made finer marks which reflect a subtle movement within the façade which reveals how the tiniest of events can alter he individuals' ability to maintain the upkeep of the façade. Furthermore, I have varied the densities of paint throughout the composition which represents how an individual chooses how much information they reveal about themselves due to some parts being translucent and some opaque. It also emphasises how there are sections of emotion that are completely hidden, whereas some emotion the individual doesn't mind unmasking. The bright colour palette that I have used shows how an individual wishes for them to be perceived by others, as vibrant and content. The translucency of the paint on the acetate promotes how this outside persona is extremely fragile and is ever-changing due to the fluid nature of the composition. I have extended this concept of altering the composition's density by layering them when they are dry to create an almost smoky effect which reminds me of the term 'smoke and mirrors' which reflects how a depressed individual is upholding a façade and that their persona is all tricks which outsiders believe.
I am going to suspend three of these layered compositions from the ceiling in front of the textural part of my final piece. These will be arranged, as if from a bird's eye view, in a triangle shape so that there is a balance in my final piece which also reflects how a façade is maintained. These are going to be suspended with see-through string and so they will be easy to move which will accentuate the idea of fragility. It will especially move when people walk through it and when there is a draft of air so it will almost be constantly swinging in the air which adds to the idea of a façade being unstable and easily affected by events that are happening around.

Working onto Tyvek

To extend the textural work that I have been doing, I needed to refine the material that I had been working onto to be able to make my final piece become an installation. I thought that using paper wouldn't be suitable as it isn't very strong and could easily tear if I stuck an abundance of layers onto it too. I also looked at working onto cotton drill as this fabric is strong and would be easy to mould around the hoop. However, I felt like this was only providing me with practicality, but I need to use something practical that is also going to create an interesting texture as the cotton drill is quite soft and so contrasts the overall distressed mood that I would be layering onto it. And so, after making my way through that, I began to experiment using a material called Tyvek which is somewhat of a half-way house between paper and fabric. The beauty of Tyvek is that it is malleable and so can be moulded to be in a round shape, but I can also heat it to create a rough texture which sets hard and so adds to the idea of a fixed mind set. I found that Tyvek is relatively easy to work with if I go through the correct stages to reach the desired end result. By going through the following experiments, I learned how best to use Tyvek to accentuate my textural work.


I started by collaging materials that I have been using, newspaper and my own photographs onto the Tyvek, sticking them down with PVA glue. I heated the Tyvek from the front (the side with the collage on) but I found that because the layering was quite thick, the heat wasn't getting to the Tyvek well enough to create any sort of effect. like bubbling. Therefore, I turned it over and heated directly onto the Tyvek which began to form an interesting texture, making holes and rough nodules in the Tyvek. This texture would really accentuate the theme of hopelessness and depression that I am trying to convey through my textural work as it looks distressed. However, because I had to heat from the back, the desired sections of newspaper and photographs were not showing through and so I was left with yellow throughout the composition which juxtaposes my theme of sadness due to its happy connotations.This therefore contrasts two opposing emotions in the same composition which I am not going to be doing in my final piece, as I am keeping juxtaposing ideas separate to one another to really emphasise the contrast between depression and escapism.  From this experiment, I did get to see how the newspaper would appear when I burnt through the Tyvek and so I can now see how it adds to the composition. However, I would like to have more tonal representation in my next compositions. Also, this composition lacks any element of line and so am going to add some marks that are influenced by Mark Tobey. The shape that the burnt holes create in the Tyvek are quite difficult to control but I like the sporadic nature of these as it reflects an erratic mind frame. Therefore I am going to continue with making holes in the Tyvek as well as heating small bumps into it. Overall, I dislike this experiment as my theme is not clear due to the confusion between colours and texture and so, going forward, I needed to think about the placement of the materials that I was using in order to get my desired effect.


For my next experiments I have lay the newspaper and my own black and white photographs face down so that when I heat the Tyvek, the desired parts show through. As I have been using charcoal throughout my work, I have made Tobey-like marks on the front of the Tyvek to allow me to add dark, rough textures. After heating, this means that the composition is overall dark as opposed to when I didn't add any charcoal, it was white. Therefore, the charcoal is building the idea of a Kafkaesque state due to it being black. When I heated the front for a while, holes formed in the Tyvek to reveal the newspaper and photographs underneath which almost give an insight into the individual's past experiences which have culminated to bring on their depression. This concept is something that really contributes to how I am going to show the difference between what goes on inside someone's head and how they portray themselves to the outside world. Along with this, when I heated the Tyvek for a small amount of time, it created breaks in the charcoal which look speckled, this gives the composition a hazy feel and could present how past memories are hazy and how the negative ones stick with the individual , which is causing their depression. A rough, bobbled effect is also formed when I only use the heat gun for a short amount of time which further accentuates the tough time that the individual is going through. Once the Tyvek has been heated, it sets hard and so it looks intriguing to touch due to its unusual texture and it's 3D nature. Therefore, if viewers decide to touch it, it adds to the experience of feeling in a bad place as they will find out that it feels spiky and sharp. This reflects the element of danger within not seeking help if you have a mental illness and so I am going to select this material to work onto in my final piece due to all the reasons I have discussed above. I have also tried adding red chalk to the Tyvek, however at the moment I am undecided if adding this colour is effective in representing my theme. Red has connotations of danger and rampage which are relevant emotions, but I think that as a singular composition, this works, however when brought together with my colourful work, I think there will be too much colour going on throughout the installation, instead of there being a harsh divide.