Kathryn Hopkins. Ostrich!

After searching through 'The Animal Lore of Shakespeare's Time' I decided to focus on the ostrich as it seems an unusual choice of animal to use in literature. I found quotes in Shakespeare's plays 'Cleopatra and Antony' and 'Henry IV' where the ostrich is being referred to as strong and ready for battle using metaphors which compare it to a ship and a sword eating knight. These unusual comparisons, the birds historical facts and my own related words created an array of unique ostrich characters including a half camel - half ostrich, Egyptian sword eating ostrich and many contorting ostriches. I explored a range of media to match each of the different personalities such as water paints for the half camel - half ostrich, to show its historical connection through their shared ability to hold water for many weeks gaining its scientific name 'Struthio Camelus' - ostrich camel. After developing each of these characters, I decided to celebrate Shakespeare by placing them all on a stage as though preparing for a play. My mix of inspiration worked well to create a variety of fun and theatrical characters.

                 

                                                    

Manticore- James Kirby (megababe53) #eggs

I chose the manticore for my research methodology project, basically because i think mythical creatures are interesting. The Manticore consists of the head of a man, body of a lion and sometimes a scorpions tail and bat wings depending on its origins. I decided to go into acrylics and oil paints as i wanted to give an air of the old but also the dark, as the Manticore is an ancient mythical creature but also a man eater. What really interested me was morphing human features with that of a lion, but keeping it sinister. I also like making the woodblock print, as it looks like it could be in an old book about mythical beasts in some crazy bookshop. Thanks for looking at my Manticores, you're a true friend.

Alexandra Farley - Elephants

 Elephants

For this project I chose elephants as the animal from one of Shakespeare's plays. I find the animal both elegant and graceful despite its size. Yet its playful side reminds me of our innocence as mammals, the joys of the simple things in life like water or sand. However, there are also issues around elephants such as ivory trade from their tusks and entertainment in circuses. 

I attempted to show these issues by excessively adding colours, fabrics and embroidery to the point where it may become uncomfortable with the juxtaposition of a simple, but elegant, image of an elephants in its simplest form beside it. 

During the process of creating this piece, i was able to experimented with print, digital and embroidery. The mixing of these mediums and techniques was exciting and helped me capture certain elements of elephants. For example, the shape of an elephant using Lino, the possibility of exaggeration of features within digital and the line and colour in embroidery. 

Final Piece - fabric, paint, print and embroidery

Lino print - Black ink on paper

Digital trials - Using a scanned drawing on Illustrator 

Alex Sodinca - Shark

For my project I have studied sharks and their voracious character. I approached the subject in a traditional manner experimenting with techniques and materials.I focused on the animal's violent nature ,emphasized by Shakespeare in his works:
   
"Would shark on you, And men like ravenous fishes
 Would feed on one another..."

Watercolors and acrylic markers on paper

Coffee and Markers

Pen and Watercolor

My final piece was a series of prints with ranging colors and layers.

Emilia Royal: Blue Whale

In this unit is decided to research and visually investigate the Blue Whale. I based my findings on the mammals skull structure and baleen plates. With a lot of experimentation with different media and techniques I decided on a clay like substance to create my final piece showing the depth of my research in a sculpture. In this blog I would like to share some of my works.

Wire Whale

This is an experiment I did where I created a basice silhouette of a Blue Whale made completely out of one flowing piece of wire. For this I used a reasonably thin piece of wire and bent it into shape using tools so that the outline is smoother and the corners are as sharp as I need them to be. I included the main features in the silhouette such as the tail and the largest based body.

Tin Can Whale

I created this tin beer can Whale when we had a very eye opening visit from 'My Dog Sighs'. I searched the streets of Portsmouth to find a squished or battered up piece of litter, I found this slightly crushed beer can and brought it back to the studio. After looking at the can and thinking of how I can transform it ino a Whale, then the idea came to mensure to make the large flat end it's mouth with all the balien plates showing as if it has its mouth wide open. I created it by painting with acrylic pains on top of the can.

Lino Print Blue Whale

To create this lino print it took a lot of thought as to which technique I need to use in which to have the whale be manly ink. I used the technique where I scrapped away all of the water areas and the details so that the only parts that got inked up was the whales skin and the sky. I wanted the water to look like it was moving around the Whale so it didn't look motionless and I did that by leaving in some areas of lino that could pick up ink, it turned out exactly how I wanted it to.

Clay Skull

This is my final piece that I created to represent my findings, it is a clay like material that has been shaped into a Blue Whale skull and then I added paper strips to create the baleen plates. I decided to do this as it is something most people are unaware of how it really looks, so I decided to show them the deep down look of a Whale skull and how the baleen plates look attached to it without the rest of the whales featureskin there to distracted you. This turned out exactly how I wanted it to.

Carina De Sa - Leopard

For my Research Methodology project I had chosen a Leopard, they are attractive elegant animals with have a great amount of strength and fierceness to them. The leopard appears in Shakespeare's play Richard II, page 175 "Lions make leopards tame,""yea, but not change his spots." A metaphor for someone who is incapable of changing their ways. From this I experimented ways in which I could portray their wild instinctive nature.

After having 'My Dog Sighs' present a lecture, he later did a workshop which consisted us going out and picking litter from the streets to then create our animals from it. I really enjoyed making the leopard in a 3 dimensional representative model, its fierceness is shown threw the opening of the box showing off the teeth, as if it were growling.

Here is one of my experiments where I played with the idea of having a 2D images in a 3D model.

For my final piece I continued having 2D images that made up the foreground, middle ground and background. I photographed the model and edited it using Photoshop to emphasis the 3 dimensional effect. I did this by adjusting the focus point and depth of field that blurs out what is in front of the camera and focusing on what is behind.

Megan Macdonald - Bat

Shakespeare's Animals

For our Research methodology project I chose to look at the bat, I've always been fascinated with them but have never had the chance to explore them in more detail. The bat features in Shakespeare's play Macbeth, act 4 scene 1, where the witches use it's wool as part of their infamous brew. Because of this I started to look further into the bats role within the supernatural world and why they are so frequently associated with the world of witchcraft and the occult.

Bubble bubble toil and trouble

Fire burn and cauldron bubble 

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Eye of newt and toe of frog

Wool of bat and tongue of dog. 

Lino print of a bat's skeleton 

For my final piece I produced a lino print of the animals that the witches include in their gruesome brew.

Lino print of a bat's skull