Meeting

Besides having done lot's of work over the past few weeks I also managed to set up a little meeting with one of my former tutors (Andrew Sneddon). I wanted to ask him something about the final portfolio but the meeting ended up being more of a tutorial/talk about all the stuff I have been doing in the last semester.

It was very good to talk about this and it made me realize how far I have come the last couple of months. I even surprised myself by seeing how much my trip to Japan has influenced my work. When I went to Japan I had a very clear view of the kind of image that I was looking for, I just didn't expect to find so many of them. The weather conditions also helped alot in getting some amazing pictures which then translated into some very nice prints.

I also realized how much I enjoyed talking to some of the people who actually read my blog and where guessing the car's that I had taken pictures of. I also learned alot more about the Japanese classic cars and how many of them where made as an "answer" to the british car's that came out at the same time. Growing up with mainly British classic car's I had never seen most of these and so a whole new world opened up for me.

I also talked about how I like the use of the blog as an method of research and a way to write down my ideas which I can later look back at. At my previous college we always had to make a logbook but I found that that never really worked that well for me. I guess the easy typing and adding of links and images helps alot. aswell as the feeling that there are people actually reading what I write down.

In case some of my new Japanese Classic Car friends are watching, here's a picture for you:

I decided to go with this colour as I felt the other ones where to distracting.

Time

It seems like it was months ago since I was in Japan and due to all the things going on I just couldn't find the time to write frequent update's. Last time I was working on my classic car models to go with the prints I have made (and I have made many). I used some of them in the Talbot Rice model and already screenprinted the picture I took of that. I have also been working in the glass department where I assisted the technician. She blew some large spheres for me which I cut in half to create a dome with the help of Kirstin (she is a 4th year graduating glass student whom I have been talking to alot while up in the glass department). I want to use these created domes to cover the model cars and thus "preserving" them. As I have mentioned many times before I think that scenes like these will not exist anymore in the (near) future.

I have also been expirementing alot more with airbrushing colour onto the screen prints I made. I feel like I have progressed alot and start to understand what works and why. I don't like to colour the big billboard one of the Plymouth Duster in the garage as the car is almost completely in the picture and thus it will be to obvious when it's coloured. However on the more abstract zoomed in pictures/screenprints I made I feel the colour helps to show the detail/shape of the car. I am making alot and am looking forward to making a final selection for the show, as I am a ferm believer of not showing everything I made just to show it.

I am also trying to make a tri-face billboard (on a small scale) that I will freeze inbetween 2 images as if it broke down. I think this emphasises the whole shift/breakdown in the automotive industry. Unfortunately I'm not sure whether I am going to be able to finish this little project as the woodshop technician is very busy with building up for the degree show, and I might not be able to use the woodshop.

On a brighter note I do have all the wood cut to size for my big billboard and will try and arange the image I screenprinted in small size to be printed up large to fit it. As we had to clear our studios over the weekend I am now located in one of the spaces where our final degree show will take place. later this week I can move to the actual space where my billboard will be and I can start putting it togheter (as it is so big it has to be constructed within the room).

I know it might all sound a bit complecated at this moment and I have done so much in the past few weeks that I probably forgot to mention a whole lot.

So to make up for that let's just look at some random pictures I have made during this period.

First some more screenprinting action

More work done on one of the models 

A colour/texture test for some of the A0 prints

 My technical drawing for the to be constructed billboard

Another A0 coloured print 

And finaly the clearing up of my studio 

A beautifull day

Too bad I didn't get to see much of it. Early this morning I went to a printshop to get some originals printed to expose more screens for screen printing. The print shop in the college hasn't been up to standards and I have had to re-do alot of prints (wasting time I don't have). Right now I think I should have done this way earlier as the quality of the original is way better. This week I have already printed 4 different images (some of which I have done before but due bad quality wanted to re-do), including the one you can see in the first picture (made with the original from the different printshop).

After the printshop closed I continued with my by photograph inspired car models. I am starting to enjoy these but also need to hury as I am planning to make a picture of them in the Talbot Rice model this weekend. When I finished with that I am planning to make some little diorama's of them to reproduce the way I found the actual cars. I then want to place a glass dome over them as a way of preserving. As I fear within the next 10 or 20 years due to environmental laws almost all of these scenes will have been cleared. I feel that in this way we are destroying part of our own history. I am also getting more and more interested in the youtube "barnfind" movies and plan to make more of them myself. I will post them if I did but in the meanwhile I would like to ask you to go onto youtube and search for "Japanese Barnfinds" you will probably recognise the video I posted on here before. don't be shy to watch it again and share it with your friends. I am hoping to get as much views as I can so it will be shown with the other "big" barnfind movies. I am very curious about the effect this can have.

Little update

I've been doing all sorts of stuff (mainly at the same time aswell), but the things that I can show at the moment are a second try at the airbrush over my latest screenprint and the continuing work in progress on the Mini model. I am trying to do some more screenprinting this week so more on that later.

Back on Track

Just got back from Japan and hit the ground running. This week I already managed to get a new screen print done, and found the time to airbrush on one of them.

Other than that I am working on some classic car model's which I want to use for the show in the Talbot Rice Gallery. For those who don't know (or simply forgot), besides having a degree show at the college, we are also having a small group show at the Talbot Rice Gallery. For this show I made a modell of the space we are showing in togheter with Lindsay, Despina en Yao Lung. Erveryone is then to set up whatever they want in this modell, take a picture of it and this will be shown in the actual space.
So since I am working alot on classic cars I decided to make some modell's and put those in the space. I am letting my choice of car's being inspiried by my earlier work as you can see on the pictures below.

 And the first screenprint with airbrushed colour:

Japanese Barnfinds Video

It's been 2 days since my trip to Japan has ended and I am back in Scotland. As a small closure to my "Barn finding" adventure I decided to make a youtube video containing my "easter eggs"

I hope you all enjoy watching it as I have enjoyed finding all of these.

If you get this message by e-mail and you don't see a video please click the title of this post to go to my blog's website.

Sunday Classic Car Meeting

Sunding I went to a local classic car meeting which is happening here every month. It's usually held just 5 minutes away but due to a local festival they had to re-locate a bit further this time.

I was amazed about how many different car's there where and that so many people turned up (even after the location change and the fact that it's held every month). We had send an e-mail to the organisers when I was still in Scotland and after the meeting they invited us over for an amazing lunch.

I had a very good time and made some nice new friends with beautifull cars.