Killer Whale

For my Research Methodology project,  I chose to look at the Killer Whale (Orca) because I have always been intrigued by them and knew that there would be so many aspects and research to experiment with.

 

 

I took some pictures of ice and rain which I thought looked like the skin of the killer whale up  close, the details of the water on their shiny skin and the scars from other sea creatures. I researched further about why they are black and white, and experimented with acrylic paints on black card, making symmetrical patterns which I hoped would represent the patterns on the killer whale. 

 

 

I looked at artists like Dave White, who produces pieces of animals in acrylic paint. It encouraged me to experiment with acrylics and watercolours, the image above is in response to my artist research on Dave White. I really like the effect of the paint dripping, it could represent something falling apart making the meaning of the image more powerful.

 

 I experimented with marbling using inks and black nail varnish to try and portray the texture and look of a killer whales' skin. I found that the nail varnish made it really smooth and shiny which contrasted really well against the coloured inks.

 

 For my final piece I used the marbling technique on pieces of card, and individually cut out the pieces to make the killer whale and the background. In this piece I focused on the patterns made by killer whales when they move in the water, looking back on the experimentation I did I decided that the marbling technique would be the best way to create that effect. I was pleased with the way each pattern turned out, especially the vibrancy of the colours which made it exciting to look at.