Background Experiments



Last weekend, I decided to have some fun by experimenting with potential backgrounds that I could later incorporate to future art works. I wanted to do this as I was inspired by Antonio Lopez's prints that had borders of interesting, vivid patterns. 
Firstly, I had to gather some visual images to gain inspiration, luckily my house is filled with patterns! 
I used the pattern on my staircase as I also had the stencil for it.

The main materials  that I used  were: acrylic paints , coloured paper, lint roller, paper mesh and a fine liner. I had a limited choice of colour for the background so I used the same colours again yet the outcome would be different. 
In this picture I am using a stencil and dabbing white paint as I needed one colour that would create a good contrast for blue and red. As for the other pieces, I used 'gold' paint and dabbed it again with the same damp paint brush. I really love this pattern as it gives a royal type of look/aesthetic. It's simple yet effective for a background.
Inspiration can come from many sources, anything and everyone can become a pattern. This is how patterns originally started. I went back to my visual research and chose a picture of my friend posing, I thought It would be interesting to create something with the outline of her body.
 I used tracing paper and drew the outline, then used scissors to cut it out. I made the pattern by drawing around her in an upward and downward position to create that illusion of a real pattern when you look away. 
I filled in the gaps with a black sharpie pen on one side focusing on the inner shapes, and the other on the outside shapes.
I loved how it turned out and I feel this is something that I will do again, perhaps when I'm back at college I could create some screen prints or cyanotypes. The downside is that it's very time consuming to create it, next time I may consider creating a proper stencil and using spray paint. 
For the last two samples, I went ahead by wrapping paper mesh (that I got from an old parcel box) around the lint roller, then used black and white paint. My first attempt for the black cardboard paper didn't turn out nice (quality wise), however the second attempt with black paint on beige paper went really well. Sometimes technical issues can occur since the roller is too sticky when you are rolling it. Overall , I think it all came together when I realised the sticky side of the lint had some marks as well, So I cut it out and stuck it in the middle! I feel like it looks more complete now.  


This is the final double-spread page of these patterns. I really enjoyed the process and it will help me with my upcoming ideas for a final piece. 

Comments