Changing Faces (M5 Chpt 6)

This time I managed to stick to module notes while completing the chapter, a definite improvement on the last! 


I started by jotting some notes on the course paperwork.....

Masks and face coverings are fairly widespread across the globe and are used for an enormous range of purposes. Some are intentionally intended to provoke fear and uncertainty whilst others are dramatic and beautifying appendages (think Venetian masks). Not easy therefore to make a choice of what to include and what to omit. I was drawn to masks from the Americas. Masks and face coverings from the far north have a totemic quality to them that seemed strong yet non violent in character, whilst those from Central America were  really quite unpleasant with grimaces and open maws. Not all masks were made of wood or paper, and not all were intended to cover the entire face, some were intended to sit on the forehead. Additionally I looked at masks from New Zealand, which seemed to be straight forward copies of tattooed faces, however there may be meanings in the markings that are beyond my knowledge.

It would have been great to have made a trip to the British Museum's ethnogoraphy galleries but alas Covid 19 made this impossible. In  general I was already thinking about options for Activity 2 whilst selecting masks to draw for activity 1.

Activity 1

Observational drawings

I made a number of these drawings, tending to concentrate the detail only on one side of the face.

Some of the pages have notes on them that I made, thinking about taking the mask forward to Activity 2.

Mayan Stone Mask

Stone mask from Copan

Aztec gold, forehead mask, pencil and pen

Inuit Totemic mask

I had thought to take this further as a piece with torn paper, but ran out of steam (sorry).

Maori Wooden mask

Activity 2 

Working up ideas

So many things to try with these masks going over ideas from previous modules..... I revisited a number of techniques I'd used and really enjoyed.

Scraffito

I chose the Mayan stone mask for this piece I first drew it out in detail, then coloured in using pastels, covered with black gouache and then finally scraped back:

I thought this piece turned out well

Intaglio Printing

I couldn't resist the possibility of a little printing here and had a go with dry point on acrylic, the photos haven't turned out with a sparkling degree of clarity but I think you'll get the idea. Aim here to revisit 'take a letter' covered in module 2, and choose random patterns from the mask to make an abstract compostition. I chose a wooden Maori mask to work from, not quite the same as the one drawn above though:

Picture of mask with 9 equally sized acrylic squares

Etching tools beside one square completed

Size guide

the squares completed

My etching / multi purpose press

I made a grid for spacing the squares. This stops any accidental movement taking place. Whilst its not a thing I've done for etching before. it's invaluable for registering linocuts.

Soaking the paper

Intaglio inks

The first print was lacking a little 

So I added some watercolour to this and then went back and worked on the plates a little more

The re-worked plate with more depth and a hint or raw umber.

Abstracting a mask, in the style covered in Module 3 (Bridgit Rileyish)

I took a half of the top part of this mask to treat as a subject for an op-art inspired piece:

I found it hard to read at this stage, and although I hadn't planned to do much more with this, I decided to add some background colour:

It improved the clarity of the piece, and gave it a rather art deco feel.

Pen, watercolour and crayon

Returning to one of the techniques I looked at in Module 4, which has proved really useful. Again working from a mask from another source, what looks to be a beaded mask:

Base drawing of cheek detail, going in with wax crayon

Going over this with watercolour

Finally I touched up with black biro to make the wax pop a little.

 Raising the Surface

In module 4 we looked at paper cutting. I revisited this this theme with the aztec forehead mask, concentrating on one of the sun's rays and a detail of the centre to make a seven petalled flower.

The ray:

Simple tracing:

Plan for flower

Cutting:

Stencils.

I didn't fare quite as well with stencils as I thought I might, but the technique is undoubtedly useful. I took the Copan stone mask as my source here and made two stencils:

I only used this stencil the once with this design, but I felt I was repeating myself a little

Gilding the lily

I wanted to teach myself how to apply gold leaf and what better opportunity than a mask from Copan which would probably have been covered in gold in any case.....

Imitation gold leaf of course

I used Fabriano Rosapina for paper, which has a slight texture. I guess gold leaf works best on something really smooth

Photographed at a bit of an angle or the gilding doesn't register.



Moving faces

I repeated half faces in a line and worked over them with water colour and colouring pencil. I apologise but I completely forgot to take early pictures.

Repeating Patterns

It dawned on me a while back that the books I'd orginally made in chapter 1 of this module were completely useless for storing the work I'd undertaken so far and decided on make a much larger book. I'll do a summary of my ideas in  another short post, but it did seem that using the stencil would be a great way to create decoration for this book.

I painted black acrylic stencils then quartered them and covered each square in small background patterns:

This paper was between A3 and A2 in size

Brushed with water,  dried and cut into strips. Some squares turned a little dark on account of the density of patterning.

Claire Gordon
08/07/2020