Lisa Milroy

Milroy.L. Melons (1986) oil on Canvas. Location Southampton City Art Gallery


© Milroy.L. Shoes(1985) oil on canvas

During the 1980's Lisa Milroy created a series of paintings of everyday objects arranged carefully on a neutral background. They are arranged in such a way that they almost begin to take on abstract qualities. The apparent realism of the paintings is questionable as the paintings consist of painterly tone and texture she does not aim to paint them in a photographic way, and she often paints them from memory.
These paintings to me are as much about the space in between the subjects as much as the subjects themselves. The melons have been arranged in such a way that they have more spontaneity to the arrangement. Whereas the shoes are arranged with slightly more regimentation.

the single object finished painting

The idea behind the painting
My thinking for this painting was to try and convey how the so called innocent pair of shoes can be considered. Firstly the aspect of how the must have pair of killer heels are displayed provocatively in a shop window, strategically placed and lit in such a way that is so tempting. They take on a life of their own with the magical ability to change all aspects of your life with skinny models strutting down the catwalk and being advertised in all the glossy mags. Also the male reaction to a woman in heels with the added sex appeal. This is of course an over exaggeration but it is true that all adverts certainly aim to sell with this attitude. Just thinking of the perfume advertisments which offer pretty much the same.

The use of collage in the previous project has inspired me to try something a bit different and to try and incorporate it into my painting.

The composition

The composition is loosely based on the placing of shoes in a shop window with the collaged images of figures looking into the window with varying expressions.
I think that the use of collage in the work has really enhanced the finished image. The images of people looking at the shoes has changed the mood from just a painting of some shoes to a painting that has some more surreal undertones, which I hope will make the viewer question what its about.

To make the shoes more interesting, the addition of pattern created out of texture paste and overlaid with gold, give the shoes a rich and textural appearance to make them even more inviting, and to make them stand out even more strongly.

in this project I wanted to move away from just recreating a painting of a single object I wanted to try and get deeper into something and to try and create something with a little more magic and mystery even through the portrayal of a relatively simple object.

I personally am happy with the collaged figures looking at the shoes, I feel that it works on a slightly creepy surreal level.

In my quest to try and find my individual style I find myself questioning more about what it is that I want to try and portray in my work. Before I start I need to question the underlying concept or idea that I wish to incorporate in my painting. This is leading me to investigate more techniques and media in an attempt to try and create something individual .

sketchbook studies and colour studies for 8: painting a single object.

Having been inspired with the previous subject I have decided to incorporate some collage into this painting as I want to have some faces looking at the shoes showing the different reactions. I have experimented with tissue paper to create texture and ripped pages from a glossy mag.

8 Painting from Objects

I knew straight away what subject I wanted to paint for this project, it has been an idea that has been floating around in my head for a while.
Its quite a simple idea, a pair of shoes and the reaction of both men and women to the stiletto. So what I want to capture is a whole mixture of issues, from that amazing pair of shoes that is presented in a shop display that almost takes on magical qualities until they are bought, the must have fashion accessory advertised in all the glossy mags that is hugely uncomfortable and inpractical and the mens reaction to a woman dressed in killer heels. Thats the thinking behind the painting I have a vague idea of how i want to create this but I am going to see how the work develops along the way.

collage

I have found working with collage and researching other artists who use this media really interesting. I can see the importance of a strong underlying structure in order for the collage to be successful, particularly in a completely abstract piece. It is a lot harder to make what is essentially a completely random collection of pieces into something beautiful and harmonious.

What I have also discovered is a lot of collage artists often have quite a strong message within their work I particularly like the artist Hannah Hoch and the contemporary artist Peter Kennard.

I would like to work more with combining collage into some of my paintings as it creates some interesting textures and some unusual abstract qualities particularly when it lays under translucent colour.

Staek Klaus

Staek,K.(1982)Bet we Can Smoke the Most. collage:
Image courtesy of http://homepage.ntlworld.com/davepalmer/cutandpaste/staeck_big5.html
Klaus Staeck is a political artist, who for over thirty years has created many photomontages in the form of posters and taken his art onto the streets in the form of postcards, stickers and flyers. His political stance has remained throughout the years based on freedom of speech,the environment, poverty and peace.He aims at educating the people to the madness in which we all live. The works are simple but the messages are clear, and his work has been the subject of many court battles in an attempt to gag him.

Kennard Phillips

I have discovered this current collaboration of artists who work with photomontage they create work with a very strong and clear political message. I absolutely love this work and the message that is conveyed and the methods that are used to show the work...
Like some of the work by the Dada artists, some of their images have been used in magazines and newspapers to make a strong political point.

project 10 Painting and collage

What was the concept behind this collage?
This collage is based on the theme of the city and travel and the way people become invisible when in such a busy impersonal environment. Hence the headless body running to catch the train. The headless figure was actually a bit of an afterthought as the collage became more developed I chose to rip the head off to further the concept of invisibility in a crowd. Particularly how the commuters on a train always go out of their way to avoid any sort of eye contact. It always has struck me that the commute to work that most people endure is an almost inhumane way of travelling. By removing the features of the figure that would normally be the point of expression in a human makes the whole concept stronger.

The basic composition
To aid the composition of a collage I found it useful to create a couple of basic sketches. Of course this is a lot easier to do if you know exactly what materials you are going to use. I found that with my blue collage based on how the female is perceived was created more intuitively as I wasn't completely sure as to what materials I was going to use. I think the composition should still take into account the rule of thirds and leading lines to a certain extent otherwise the image could end up a bit messy and haphazard.

Different materials
In some ways it is harder to create a collage, as you have to also take into account the textures of the materials. It occurred to me that a piece that was too thick, too thin or too textured can throw the whole composition out of balance. Just by moving a piece a little too much to the right or to the left can make all the difference between success and failure. it is based very much on intuition and it is difficult to put into words exactly.

Problems I encountered
Apart from the challenges I have already written about. A further problem of a more practical nature was fixing the heavier materials. In the end I found by applying sticky tar gel thinly, this seemed to be the most successful way of adhering the heavier pieces. I also discovered that when lifting images with image transfer, the colours can become quite dull. I discovered however that if they are transfered directly onto silk and then varnished the colours seem to retain a lot of their vibrancy.

Further use of collage
I thought it would be quite a challenge to create a large piece of collaged artwork at some point in the future. Most of the pieces I have seen have been quite modest in size and I thought it would be an exciting thing to try one day. It has also occurred to me that there is nothing to really stop me from incorporating collage into my paintings. I have been interested in using texture in my paintings and I think the use of collage would be quite an interesting idea to explore. I also like the surreal aspect that collage often creates it does seem to make the viewer stop and question the concept.

I actually really enjoyed working in collage and using mixed media in my work. It has been interesting researching and working in such different styles, from complete abstraction to using images to convey a deeper idea.

project 10 Painting and collage.

For this collage I have combined both paint and ink with collaged pieces. I have used image transfer onto silk as it keeps the colours so well and doesn't smudge when the ink/glue is applied. The various layers of blue has been applied in such a way as to draw the differnent images together.
I have based this collage on the so called role and perception of women in days gone by. Has much really changed in that time ?, so very much through the eyes of Hannah Hoch but the techniques of application inspired by the American artist Rauschenburg.

7:project 9 a collage

This collage has probably kept to the brief a bit more . I have used "found " products to create a collage. This has been inspired by Schwitters and you can see by the sketches I have tried to keep the scraps balanced within a grid paying attention to the diagonals and verticals within the composition.
It is very difficult to keep entirely to the original sketch, as although I have a vague idea what materials I am going to use, until you put them into place its tricky to see what the impact is going to be. The textures and colours have to be balnced out as well and it seems to me that it is something that just takes a bit of adjustment with pieces added and taken away until it looks and feels alright.

7: A collage finished .(project 9)

By cutting the Mountboard into triangular shapes I then used gels and drew textures into the gels. Waited for it to dry then used acrylic inks, This created an interesting effect, which resembled broken china. I have kept the colour scheme simple as I wanted the shapes of the mountboard and the negative space of the white to create the impact.

The thinking behind this was to attempt to try and create a sculptural feel to the image where the two shapes are almost merging together. The finished piece resembles a mosaic, but I have discovered some different materials that can be worked with that would otherwise be scrapped. I am pleased with the effect of the straight edges of the triangles forming the circles, and the overall fragmented feel to the image.

7:A collage preliminary studies

The shapes I have used here are cut from waste bits of mountboard and I have experimented with various gels and pastes to create different textures and also depth of colour. When acrylic ink is applied it depends on the texture how the colours shines through. The black background makes the colours stand out well. This exercise was to see how the different media react when the colour was applied.

These are a couple of ideas from my sketchbook. Inspired by the simplicity of Arp, particularly his sculptures. I wanted to create an organic form/s using collage I would like to use wood if possible, but I am going to investigate other media and textures and see what would be the most interesting.

7: Arp theoretical studies

Arp Hans (Jean) Before My Birth 1914, collage.
Arp Hans (Jean) The Sun Recircled 1966 colour woodcut.




Jean Arp who is regarded as a Dada artist, was essentially a poet, sculptor and painter who became involved with the new abstract art. He played a major part within the Zurich Dada, and later, with Schwitters he became invoved with the Constructivist groups.

The most revolutionary of Arp collages were the ones he made according to the laws of chance, where he would rip up materials and throw them on the floor he would then stick them down, this was in direct confrontation to the finely tuned eye of the artists and was essentially, Anti Art

I am interested in the simplicity of his work, particularly his later woodcut prints and wood reliefs. I think that I would like to create a collage using a similar theme, simple shapes and minimal colour.