New stencils

Here are some new stencils that I have created. I attempted to draw some of these stencils although the Marilyn Monroe and Mickey Mouse image was from the internet. I drew the turtle stencil. These three images will be apart of my final piece. I will test out these stencils sometime this week to work out what colours I will use and what words I will associate with them.

Experimenting with new stencils

I experiemented with the new stencils that I have created. They worked out better using acetate rather than hard cardboard. I noticed that the rose stencil was hard to use because the centre of the rose was really detailed so its hard to see the middle of it. I tried three different fonts for the text which all turned out good. The camera stencil turned out fantastic and I will definetly use this stencil as part of my final artpiece.

Exit through the gift shop !

I watched a documentary called "Exit through the gift shop" which is about Banksy, the stencil graffiti artist. It showed the inside story of street art through an eccentric shop keeper named Thierry Guetta turned documentary film maker as he attempts to capture the worlds most infamous graffiti artists. He comes accross Banksy and his work and is intrigued with his habits and artwork. Guetta becomes obsessed with Banksy and graffiti that he decides to create and document his own work adopting the name of "Mr Brainwash."

I found this documentary really interesting and an inspiration to my work. It showed the lives of the artists and how they create their stencil graffiti and choose the places in which the graffiti is placed.

New stencils

Here are some of my new stencils that I cut out of acitate. I drew the camera and the first set of letters. The other two are images I found on the internet. These are possible images and text templates for my final piece. I want to try and draw the other stencils free hand. I will experiement with using these stencils sometime soon.

Research

I have been conducting some research on the particular images that I would like to stencil for my final art piece. I have thought about linking a partiular word that inspires me to an image that I love and that represents me and my life. I could also associate a colour with the image and text.

Examples:
- Love and a Rose (Red/Pink)
- Wisdom and a book (Purple)
- Luck and a turtle (Green)
- Freedom and a butterfly (Blue)

This could be the final product for my assignment. I could have a series of canvas panels (5) displaying a word and an image on each. This will show my personal connection with the art pieces.

I will continue experimenting by drawing some of my own stencils of images and playing around with the different words to match the image. This time I will draw my stencils on acetate instead of cardboard.

Testing my stencils

The stencils worked out well. The images looked how I had imagined. The only thing I would change would be material I used for the stencil template. I decided to use hard card as a trial although the spraypaint seeped through and caused the stencil to rip. Next time I will experiement with acitate and stencil paper.

Stencils

I have created two stencils to graffiti. Both of them are images that relate to my interests. They are Marilyn Monroe which relates to my interest in female vintage actors and a cassette tape which relates to my interest in music. I found these two images on the internet and edited them by inverting the colours on Paint. I printed them onto cardboard and cut them out using a stanley knife. Later this afternoon I will test them out!

Banksy and Stencilling

I have been doing some research into Banksy and his stencil graffiti. I have watched some videos about him and his work and it really facinated me. I have decided to experiement with stencilling by finding some images that interest me. I have created some stencils in the past but I would like to develop my skills further by created more complex stencils.

My Brainstorms

Over the past few days, I have been brainstorming some images and words that I like and that inspire me. Also, some images and words that represent me and my life. First I will experiement with grafitting words and then Ill try images. Eventually, I will try to relate a word to an image in order to create an art piece. This is still a work in progess!

Banksy is also an inspiration to my work. I am hoping to create some stencils and create graffiti in that form. I have made some stencils in the past so I will experiment with them first.

My Graffiti Photographs

These are some of my graffiti photographs taken at Hosier Lane in the city of Melbourne.
The first two photographs have also been published in the Victoria University offset magazine during my third year of University in 2010.

Idea's behind the Project

I have decided to learn how to create graffiti for my arts journey project. The reason behind this idea is my personal connection because I have an interest in photography and in particular, capturing photographs of graffiti. I want to explore the “other side” of my photography by being able to create the graffiti and take some photographs of my own work.

The subject of my graffiti is yet to be decided, although I would like to incorporate both images and text. Some possible ideas could be using images and text that represents me and that inspire me.

The way that graffiti is portrayed in society is generally negative because a lot of people see it as not being art but instead, vandalism. I believe graffiti speaks of the influence and need for more art to liven up our often bleak urban world and I would like to portray this through my work.