For the physical versions of creating a mixed media photograph, I bought a range of materials to work with, such as marker pens, paint, sponge paint brushes, embroidery thread, fabric tape, cellophane, foam and plastic bags. I didn't get to use all of these materials, but I did use enough to do a successful experiment over the week and to decide where I wanted to go from there.
I started by printing out a contact sheet of multiple of the same image that I wanted to work over that I could do some kind of 'plans' with. I printed around 24 images with six on each page to work with. For these 'plan' experiments I used the marker pens that I bought and decided to just have fun and let loose with the experimentation, as when I did the digital versions I was more conservative and selective about how the images looked, so I didn't get to produce a huge variety of interesting experiments. I used bright colours and bold lines and just did whatever I felt would look interesting. For some I used a ruler with the marker pen to create straight lines, for some I used dotted lines, some geometric and complicated, etc. For one image I took inspiration from the Klimt paintings on my concept board, and created yellow lines with black circles over the top.
I chose some that I thought were successful and decided to play with embroidery on top of the photos. I used thick embroidery thread so that I could get the experiment done quite quickly but still so that they'd look nice and thick and bold. I decided to use the triangle shape and the two rectangle shapes as I felt they were simple yet effective. I first drew out the plan of the images and then punctured holes with a thick embroidery needle where I would feed the thread through. Because of the paper I printed the photos on, embroidering the photograph was quite difficult and often ripped the paper.
I feel that the triangle experiment was a lot more successful than the rectangles. This is probably because when I was producing the two experiments I took a much longer time to do the triangle shape. I'm not sure why this is, as I seemed to finish the rectangles naturally without rushing. I think it's because the triangle's embroidery pattern is at an angle and is consistent with where I placed the punctures, whereas the rectangles seem as if there's no real flow or consistency to the pattern of the embroidery.
If I was to do this experiment again I would print the photograph on thicker paper so that the finish would be cleaner and more successful, and I would make sure that the thread was flowing in a consistent and even manner so that I can avoid what happened to the rectangle shapes.
Process of embroidering photos
Final images
Paint experiments
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