October + Éilis = work resulting from leaves

Berries & Gravel

I noticed some digger tracks on the gravel outside of my apartment. I filled in the tracks with red berries. They really stood out in contrast to the grey. I did this to learn about the shapes the tracks created.

Showing depth in a field

I walked the fields which I'm surrounded by at home. When the weather is wet the cattle poach the land (leaving deep hoof-prints into the soft ground. I wanted to show and learn about the depth and shapes these hoof prints made into the ground. I gathered bright red and orange leaves and pressed them into the bottom and all around the sides of them. 

Working with leaves

If you look at a tree, what do you see? It's trunk, branches, leaves.. But that's not all of the tree. Underneath the roots take up approximately as much space as the branches do. The photos are my way of visualizing this. 

Trail #3!

I tore up strips of an old bed-sheet and tied them all together to make one very long line. I took to my bike and cycled to my granduncle's (now passed) house and land. There are a lot of trees at the side of the house and junk too; scrap metal, car parts etc.). To make sense of it all I used my bed-sheet-rope and wound it round the area. It made me actively look at what the space contained, where everything was and the shape of the land. 

Trail #2!

 I collected a bunch of stones and made trail to show the shape of the land. I had a general idea what it would turn out like but I let the land dictate where to place each stone (a dip in the land, a large tuft of grass). So there was a hint of unpredictability to it. The reason for doing this is to gain information about the land.

Making a trail

The greenery that grows in this area spends the majority of the time in the shade, so to get light it grows tall- plus it's undisturbed by livestock. It conceals the ground beneath it entirely. To show the true shape of the land I made a trail by walking and jumping (obsessively!) back and over. 

Stop-Motion

With this stop motion I cut up the reflective strips off of a luminous jacket. Basically all I did was blu-tack the strips one by one to the wall creating a line. I'd take a strip of the luminous material from the back of the line and put it to the front each time to make it seem like it was moving.

To get the effect I got I;
- switched off the lights
- set the camera for less exposure
- made sure camera was on flash - duh!
- shone a light at the luminous material but not directly otherwise the photo will blur.

The stop motion was a way to show the depth and shape of a space (my room).

Natural forms can show shape

With this image I was looking at how natural forms can show the shape of a space alone. I took a photo of an abandoned house and noticed the creeping plant (?) taking over it. I whited out the house and left the plant alone to. Just by looking at the plant you can tell what the whited-out shape is. It's the same theory as contour lines - they give you an impression of shape and depth.

What I'm currently working on...

I took snapshots on my camera of my journey from my flat to my college. This is the first one.

Before....

I then opened it up in 'Paint' and contoured the space. I feel like it looks as though you are walking through a 3 dimensional map. I'm going to do the same process for the rest of the photos and compile them together. 

After!

Playing With Paint

Paint on paper wrapped in cling film. 

My go at giving aerial maps a 3D feel.  

Andy Goldsworthy

Andy is a British artist that primarily works on site and with that site's natural contents (e.g; leaves, twigs, ice, rock, petals etc.). His work makes me think about depth, form and documenting a space. I absolutely love his work and his philosophy of not leaving 'his mark' on the land, but working with the land. His work may seem temporary, what with the elements inevitably taking hold, however it is actually being reclaimed by the land once more. 

''Fourteen years ago I made a line of stones in Morecambe Bay. It is still there, buried under the sand, unseen. All my work still exists in some form.''

Mapping My Environment

 Sketch of outside the studio (first floor) through contour. 

 Contour sketch of landing on first floor of college. (Tilt your head to the right - it won't rotate for me!)

My Stomach!

Contouring The Body

 Knee

 Outside of ankle

 Stomach

 Knee