week 2.

In week two of the 'Hands On' project the brief was extending onto also producing glossary pages of the principles of design: Pattern, Rhythm, Balance, Contrast, Emphasis, Unity and Proportion. We must also produce six glossary pages from words we have learnt within the workshops.

This week I started pattern. For pattern I knew straight away that I wanted to draw Henna. I drew around my hand and then started to draw the henna, making sure that the pattern was as symmetrical as possible. As this pattern was based around an Arabic theme I wanted to keep the rest of the piece orientated around the Arabic Culture. For the background, I used a recent picture I had taken from a trip to Abu Dhabi as inspiration. The picture was taken of a wall in the Grand Mosque, a huge part of their culture. The definition of pattern is also written in Arabic; meaning 'A regular and intelligible form or sequence discernible in the way in which something happens or is done.' The circle it is within was influenced by the circle on the picture. The picture represents God and he is within the circle because he was believed to have shown the meaning of life. In my art work, the definition is within the circle because it describes the meaning of the work. To draw the outline of this piece, it took me a total of seven hours.

During the second week i also restarted colour as I didnt not like what i had previously done. Instead I wanted to use melted wax to create the effect that the colour was raining on top of the hand. I used this picture from Pinterest as a starting point of how to draw the hand. Once the hand was draw I then covered it masking tape so the wax would not run over. I then sellotaped coloured wax crayons together and on top of the page, using a hairdryer to melt them. However, the power of the hairdryer caused some of the wax to splash and merge into one. Also the orange, yellow and green wax wouldn't melt. So instead I cut a small piece of the wax on, stuck it to the top of the page and melted it on a low heat on the hairdryer so it wouldn't spread across the page. Melted wax is very hard to control. Another problem that occurred using wax was that the oils within the wax leaked onto the paper.

I then took the page back to college the following week where i could paint the background white, covering the leaked oils. I then finished the piece by painting the hand and writing on the definition in sole. I found painting the hand very difficult as I have not used paint for 3/4 years.