Priley Riley, Gouache paintings, December 2013

 

These are quick paintings that I did in my sketchbook in order to practise using gouache paint, which I hadn’t used before.

Priley Riley, Wax Casting, 2nd December 2013

I did wax casting today for the first time and I think that the process is long but very enjoyable. I made moulds of a pear and an apple, which can be seen in the photo above. To make the moulds, I covered half of the fruit with clay, built a tall clay wall around this, and poured a mixture of water and fine casting plaster into this. I then let it dry, removed the clay wall and base, and was left with one half of the mould. I did the same to the other side of the fruit, before putting a small hole through the moulds. I kept the moulds separate and brushed melted wax into them. I then placed one mould on top of the other and poured more wax through the small hole that I made, before pouring it back out. I then poured water through the hole, poured this back out, left the moulds together for a minute, and then took them apart and pulled out my casted fruit. The casts that I made are shown below.

Priley Riley, Swan sculpture, 25th November 2013

To make this sculpture, I drew the swans onto MDF and cut them out using a band saw. I then used a belt sander to make the edges more accurate, and fixed them onto a block of MDF so that the two swans at the front are fixed to the block and the other two are raised from it. I did this to add height to the piece, which allows all of the swans to be seen when the sculpture is viewed at eye-level. I also made sure that there was a gap of 1-2cm between each of the swans to add depth to the piece.

Priley Riley, Paper vs canvas for ink drawings, November 2013

I was using drawing ink in my sketchbook to depict Loughborough canal, but wondered what it would be like to draw onto a different surface using the same media. I decided to experiment with ink on canvas. I found it more challenging drawing onto canvas because the rough surface meant that the ink didn’t flow as well. It also caused the drawing ink pen to get stuck occasionally, flicking small dots of ink over my work. However, the canvas did have some positive aspects; the material allowed me to dab or wipe damp tissue over the ink to create the water and tree affects, whereas using this technique in my sketchbook only damaged the paper. I also think that the drawing on canvas looks more like a final piece of work than the drawing on paper does.

 

Priley Riley, Self-made 60 x 60cm canvas, November 2013

I made this canvas from good quality materials that I cut to size and put together myself. Having this facility at university and being able to use it will come in very handy for me (as this canvas is a lot better quality than a shop-bought canvas would be, so it will last an incredibly long time). After making it, I covered the surface of my canvas with rabbit skin glue because it works well with oil paint.

Priley Riley, Etchings, November 2013

 

To make my etchings, I used the same process that would have been used in the 17^th century by Rembrandt. I enjoyed making the etchings a lot because it involved using a zinc plate, acid, a flame on a taper, wax, etc, which made the process very interesting. The subject of my etchings is the swans on Loughborough canal. My photos show my etching plate, all of my etchings together, and my favourite etching, which I did by rolling a layer of blue printing ink over the wax on my etching plate before printing it.

 

 

Priley Riley, ‘Swans on Loughborough Canal,' November 2013

This is a 16 x 20 inch acrylic painting on canvas of the canal running through Loughborough. I referred to a photo that I took on the 30^th of October in order to paint it (this photo is shown below). My aim was to make my painting look realistic yet idealised. In order to do this, I made the shades of blue and green in the photo brighter.

Priley Riley, Photography, 12th November 2013

This photo was taken during a photography workshop, which was about producing self portrait photos. This photo was taken using a Nikon D5100 camera, a white background, and lighting from above. I like the plain background because it focuses the viewer’s attention purely on the portrait.

Priley Riley, A few pages from my sketchbook, October 2013

Priley Riley, A double page from project 3, October 2013

For my third project I was asked to consider how one object might look like or represent another object. I completed an A5 40 page booklet exploring this. I started this book with a representational sketch of a light bulb. I then considered what other object a light bulb might resemble, and decided that it was similar in shape to a rounded test tube, so I then drew a combination of a light bulb and rounded test tube. Next, I made a representational sketch of a rounded test tube and considered what object this looked like, repeating this process to the end of the book. This is a double-page, from the middle of my book, showing this process. 

 

Priley Riley, Work from project 2, October 2013

This piece is part of a printing project that I did in which I used a hydraulic press to print this leaf onto paper. I was happy with the amount of detail that the leaf printed, and I enjoyed using a hydraulic press for the first time.

Priley Riley, Work from project 1, October 2013

This photo shows a large watercolour painting of drapery over an easel. My aim was to capture the different tones that were cast by the folds of the material.

Priley Riley, Skull with Genetically Modified Roses

This is one of my acrylic paintings on canvas, of a skull with genetically modified roses. If you look closely, you will notice that the boarder of the canvas has been painted to give the illusion that the painting is presented in a wooden frame, which is why I set the painting on a table for the photo.  

Priley Riley, Oil Pastel Drawing of a Bearded Dragon 2

For this piece, I started off by covering a wooden board with red acrylic paint (I did this because I wanted the red to show through my drawing and make it more interesting). I then drew my pet bearded dragon on the board using oil pastel. To finish the piece, I painted the background blue, because I wanted a bright and contrasting background, before adding varnish over the top and sides in order to fix the oil pastel (which makes sure that it won't come off).

Priley Riley, Oil Pastel Drawing of a Bearded Dragon 1

This photo shows a drawing that I did, from life, of one of my pet bearded dragons. I used oil pastel on A4 paper for this piece. The most challenging aspect of producing this drawing was my bearded dragon moving! I decided to do a close-up of his head because I think that this is the most interesting and attractive part of a bearded dragon.

Priley Riley, Newspaper Piece

This is a piece that I made entirely from small bits of hand-ripped newspaper. To make it, I ripped different skin tones from photos of people in newspapers, and using a photo I had to refer to of my fiancé and I, I stuck the newspaper pieces onto a plain piece of paper taking care of where the lighter and darker tones were in the photo to see where they needed to be in my work. I find that using newspaper as the media takes a long time, but I think that the outcomes are always worth the patience!

Priley Riley, Acrylic Self-portrait

This is an acrylic self-portrait painting on A4 paper, which I painted from life (using a mirror). One of the more challenging aspects of painting this was the natural light around me changing throughout the days that I painted it.

Priley Riley, Quilling of Four Faces

This photo shows a quilling of 4 faces. I hung the quilling close to a wall for the photo in order to capture the shadow of the piece as well. Although quillings take a long time to complete, I enjoy making them and I think they look particularly nice when framed.

Priley Riley, Quillings

This photo shows all of my quillings together. I keep the smaller quillings in hand-made boxes, frame the larger ones, and use some on the front of cards that I make.

Priley Riley, A Bobcat, Black Tipped Jack Rabbit, Coyote and Pika

This is an acrylic painting that I did, on an A1 sized canvas in April 2013, of a bobcat, black tipped jack rabbit, coyote and pika.