Water Lily Sink

I had two options with this - either make a fake water lily and not show that it's floating in a sink, or to use a real lily and show the sink. This is because the leaves and lily would match and then be placed in a man made environment and if the lily wasn't real it wouldn't have the same effect. However if the lily is simulated, then the sink can't be shown because the environment needs to look real, and this is why I coloured the water and hid the plug etc. Despite this, I do prefer the last photos where the lily os obviously not real but your can see that it's in a sink.

I cut the leaves off this plant and cut the pointy bit off.

Floated them in the sink.

Started with screwed up paper but it looks too big and too egg-like.

Coloured the water with the paint for realism and to hide the plug a bit.

Out of Ink

Next

I think it's important not to just make up the scenes, but to create them like a real one. Otherwise it's basically like drawing a portrait but not looking at the person.

Snowy Landscape

Rocky Mountains - Plastic Ikea Bag

I used a large Ikea plastic bag, upside down to try this. Since I had to photograph it close up to avoid getting the background in, it appears to be sharp rocks, especially after being edited so it isn't blue.

Snow Peaked Mountains

Started trying to make a snow tipped mountain range out of clothes and flour. Not sure if the sheet in the background of the last 3 ruins the effect, as light colours appear closer than dark.

Christopher Boffoli

I want to create similar scenes to this except WITHOUT the little people. Scenes that don't need humans to make it look real. For example the cracked egg with a few more cones round it would suffice or similarly a 'wet floor' sign with a spill of liquid.

Nature

Fischli & Weiss

Whilst this piece appears to be simply a table or workbench surrounded by tools, every part of it has been made by the artist from scratch. The paint marks and stains and everything else are synthetic and have not occurred over time through use. The value of this work is in the accuracy and realism as well as creativity in the blemishes.

Locations

I started to list locations which would be suitable for what I want to do, trying to take into account the fact that I will have to be transporting materials there and take photos. 

One of the many abandoned and derelict buildings in Birmingham, but is it possible to go inside and is it safe? 

A work by Jane and Louise Wilson, taken in Dundee.

 

This is a sketch of an idea I had where my window is shown with rain pouring down outside and then instead of rainwater leaking in, blood is pooling on the table. I tried it below however and I don't think it's obvious enough that it has actually leaked through the window. Also it's not subtle enough.

Birmingham Beach

I found this news article from a few years ago when a fake beach was set up in the centre of Birmingham.

To Do Next...

The next steps in my work should be:
- Photograph suitable ideas for things that could be recreated
- Collect samples of materials and fabrics that could be used

Susan Collis

'Made Good' (detail), 2007, reclaimed coral, white gold, diamond, silver

Untitled (Tony Amore), 2009

Appears to be a normal plastic bag, however the pattern has been drawn on in biro pen. 

White Lies 2006

A wooden step ladder which appears to be splattered over time with paint and other DIY materials you might find on an old ladder however the marks are actually opal, pearl, diamond and moonstone paint.

Baptiste Debombourg

This French artist creates visual spectacles which are based around the idea of deconstruction of man made structures almost as if some kind of natural disaster has hit and caused the damage. Walls pushed inward or outward by some unseen force and broken into pieces are actually carefully put together by the artist without any destruction occurring at all. The same goes with his large glass pieces, in which windows or bus stops are shattered and shards are spread everywhere.

http://trendland.com/baptiste-debombourgs-aerial/

Tutorial

Through the discussion we had at group tutorials this week I decided to steer away from creating a beautiful thing from nature by simulation and instead create something unpleasant, for example moss or mould growing on old buildings, leaks or broken parts. I will attempt to create simulations of these using appropriate materials.

For example, a different piece of Noemie Goudal's show a leak in the roof of an old building being simulated by fabric cascading down through the hole.

Rainbow Making - Plastic Box + Bigger Mirror

Next I got a bigger container (this acts as a prism to refract the torch light) and a bigger mirror. I started off trying the torch as it was before with a pen tip sized hole and got a rainbow which had a lot of red and yellow and not so much blue, green violet and orange. So then I took off the black card but this gave me  a rainbow even further from what i wanted. Finally I cut the black card in two and left a slit about half a centimetre wide and this gave a much more even rainbow (last photo).