typography
Melbourne is rich with interesting street art and hidden laneways. The urban detritus always catches my eye with the textures and typography from torn posters. This is a great one I snapped with my phone in Carlton.
Getting back into some mixed media with this piece. Inpsired by the detritus of our urban walls. I've been drawn to working in a mostly monochromatic colour palette with small bursts of colour and torn pieces of type, similar to that of the torn street posters.
I'm going to leave this one for a few days and come back to it for some final touches.
Mixed media on board.
In 2018, I've set myself a goal to create new collages on a weekly basis. By creating parameters to work within, I can explore new techniques and allow for more experimentation in my work. This process allows for idea generation that can be considered further for a larger body of work. This week I've been working with monochromatic colour.
A monochromatic scheme, or palette, starts with a single hue. Any additional colours used in the palette are variations of that specific hue either its shades, tints or tones. The idea here is that there is only one colour.
You’re welcome to use any shade or tint of the colour/hue to create something invigorating instead of a literally a single colour. Black and white is fine to use in monochromatic colour schemes as they themselves are not colours.
Here are some of my experiments using typography from a magazine and a collection of photography using the colour red. It's a fun way to create compositions while also providing an interesting design aesthetic.
A little while between posts, but I've been busy working on variety of new projects. In contrast to my street photography where the focus is on people, I'm also drawn to the abstraction found on our urban walls. The marks, gestures, graffiti and urban decay combine to create a layered history of moments in time. I find this really intriguing as it helps to form a dialogue between city and people. I will be exploring this concept in more detail as I experiment with new work.
Recently I have become very drawn to abstraction and the visual explorations within the urban environment.
I have always been drawn to the simplicity of line and form of architecture and the abstraction found in the relationship between buildings and their surrounds. Typography and street art provide interesting marks and graphic elements that can be combined to create interesting results. The layering of street posters peeling reveal an interesting interplay with type, creating new narratives.
This piece was created using found torn street posters. The technique of collage and decollage were employed to created a balance of colour, texture and type. The challenge with a piece like this is for it to look spontaneous with a strong sense of composition, without overworking it. Below are some progress shots, tweaking until it feels 'finished'. This quote sums it up well...
'Art is never finished, only abandoned' - Leonardo Da Vinci
DETAIL - Mixed media collage using torn street posters
More layering - Mixed media collage using torn street posters
Final tweaks - Mixed media collage using torn street posters
I've been feeling very inspired lately. I'm discovering more and more how the various projects I'm working on connect and feed one another. I've been shooting new images consistently and they're providing me with interesting source material for my collage work. I'm drawn to the abstract details that leave clues about time passed and the juxtapositions created when layers are peeled back.
Using various elements from my photography, I'm drawing inspiration from torn posters and the typography found on the street walls. I'm interested in recreating the layering, hiding and revealing what appears beneath. Equally, I'm intrigued by the role that typography plays when its no longer legible and becomes celebrated for its form rather than function. Aesthetically I'm drawn to the abstraction of the letters, textures, and how these ordinary, everyday elements come together to create an exciting composition.
8 x 8" mixed-media collage on canvas
Details - 8 x 8" mixed-media collage on canvas
8 x 8" mixed-media collage on canvas
This image is one from my ongoing 'Urban Fragments' series. Capturing the rich urban landscape of Melbourne's streets has become a consistent source of inspiration for my work. I'm drawn to the layers on the street walls, the accidental collage of torn street posters, the texture and the typography all provide so much visual interest that is so often overlooked. I love the contrast of the pink and yellow against the strong black and white type. I hope you enjoy it too...
I've been experimenting with some hand-made urban collages. Taking inspiration from Melbourne's vibrant streets, I've been exploring the possibilities of using my photographs as the source material for new mixed media works. By printing them out and cutting them up, I'm able to open up to a new, meditative way of working and the results have been very rewarding.
Here are some works in progress that explore layering, with a focus on type and texture like that of the torn street posters that surround us every day. There is so much visual interest and history to be found in the layers of the street walls.
I have enjoyed exploring decollage techniques with these works too. There's a fine balance between adding elements and taking them away. It also creates unexpected results when peeling back the images in this way, creating some playfulness to the work. The type is illegible and therefore becomes part of the design, rather to be read. I'm excited to explore this direction further and share more experiments with you soon...
I've just recently started an online course learning new techniques in mixed media collage. The course is run by Randel Plowman who's known for his amazing blog, 'A Collage a Day'. I'm excited to expand my skills and make more work by hand, a new direction I've been wanting to take in my work.
We started off with some quick 5 minute collages using our preference of source imagery. I used a combination of magazine clippings and some printed textures. It was challenging being restricted with time but I enjoyed the intuitive way of working with these. I'm pleased with the results.
After starting my 'Urban Fragments' photo series, I've been finding inspiration from the streets. I'm particularly drawn to the torn street posters for their texture and typography. I like the idea of taking sections of type and joining them together in a new way. With more of a focus of composition than legibility, I enjoy moving the pieces around with my hands until I find a pleasing result. This one is a work in progress, using pieces of torn street posters. I will now scan this in to refine digitally, ready for prints.
Here are the latest landscapes from my my 'Urban Fragments' series, capturing Melbourne abstract and up-close. I'm engaging with the streets around me with a fresh perspective and framing these small details that draw my eye on a daily basis.
These street walls are in themselves a canvas for texture, typography and photography to be revealed in abstract and interesting ways. It's the smaller details we are surrounded with and the beauty in the ordinary that I'm celebrating with these images. They have a strong focus on composition and typography and by cropping a small section and creating an abstraction, a new narrative can be created. More to come, stay tuned...
I've started a new photographic series documenting Melbourne's urban surrounds. The focus is on the visual fragments surrounding as all on a daily basis, but are often overlooked or ignored. These details attract my eye and I have an irresistible urge to record them.
Melbourne in particular, has a very rich urban landscape of street art, posters, signage and architecture. The torn poster for example, in itself is not all that interesting, but occasionally the elements come together in a way that I find pleasing. This series aims to zoom in on the details and celebrate the ordinary. Here are a few new images shot around Brunswick. Enjoy!