During the week I have been collecting daily visual references/ research

Due to the strong natural light the swans appear whiter especially on the areas where the light reflected the most.

The neck area shows a yellowing, the reflective colour being wet and less reflective area?

The colour is also impacted by the light conditions, and seems relative to it’s surroundings.

Recently I got in touch with Little Owl Farm Park, near by farm in relation to sheared wool.  The wool needs to be unclean, I don’t know why, I think I like the idea of seeing and feeling the wool in it’s natural state.

The farm got back in touch! I was able to collect 6 fleeces of wool. I had no idea that the natural oil that sheep, lambs give off is yellow and the closer the wool is the the body is an fawn colour. I took notes as Mandy provided me with the information about the sheep they produce lanolin oil which prevents rain from seeping into the coat making the sheep’s coat water resistant.

As we were shown through the park we passed the sheep, with the black bags of wool in hands, the sheep must of recognised each others smell/their own smell, as the sheep started what sounded to be a singular noise, walking towards us.

Wood

starting with the material wood, I want to make appendages for my arms and legs, similar to a horse that’s collapsed outwards, ‘Flogging a Dead Horse.’ Originally thinking  flat wooden blanks, then I saw these at HomeBase, stair spindles. The shape resembled a horse leg. If part the bottom part of the spindle was sawn, made shorter, the spare piece of  wood, attached at a flat angle could be the feet.

I’ve chosen white gesso paint, as it’s known for being one of the whitest whites.


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photograph taken by Robin Woodward

Still from video

The performance sees a white pigmented figure walking towards the river, the figure is non idyllic due to the folds in the clothes. However the whiteness somewhat masks this, that is until she washes away the white paint in the river, revealing a pink layer of skin, her skin. The clothing, alone, now shows a whiteness detached of royal implementation, object white, identifiable by the surroundings.

 


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Walking into Birmingham Museum and Art Galley, one can be faced with many white faces. One painting that strikes me, is The Roffey Family by Sir Joshua Reynolds 1765–1769 , although after time a painting can indeed bleach, Reynolds paintings often lack red pigment, showcasing clown white flesh. Most of Reynolds paintings identify with a bizarre nature of the application of white. The people only recognisable by eyes, nose , mouth and other bodily parts and clothing, inhumanly white, no longer do the figures reflect an implied natural generated light but instead are made of White, and if God is simulated in most paintings as being the light generated white, these absurd creatures are perceived as being closer to God. ‘Embodying’ His glow, God is referenced as being ‘the light of the world.’ Whether or not this is the modern take on passages in the Bible (I will have to do my research) he is implied as being light generated white. Which is only possible through the use of bare canvas, allowing light to travel through, thus the idea is ‘painted’ ( pigmented white.) However this could also be a social political invention to employ power to ‘white’ people.  In the attempt of becoming or being seen as ‘Godly’, the artist has painted the figures extremely white, bloodless, inhuman in appearance. These four figures are posed in ‘royal’ attire. Simulating the idea that royalty are naturally closer to God.

Mark making, sculpture and paintings were born way before photography these constructed ideas have been lingering in the air for centuries. Sadly Art has been the driving force to these ‘ideal’ perceptions of beauty. And is still the most ruthless contributing factor, if not the factor in which the market depends upon.


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