Childhood more ideas

I am still exploring ideas, I am undecided whether to produce work that is purely aesthetic or to produce something that is more conceptual.

The thinking behind this piece if I choose to go ahead with it, is about being considered a commodity as soon as a child is born. I can remember when my children were born I was innundated with samples and coupons for various baby consumables. This I feel is something that has become worse as time has gone on . There is a tapestry produced by Grayson Perry that explores the labels and brands that follow you through your life journey and this is very much thinking along similar lines. Its kind of about being tied to and trapped by marketing and money from a very young age and this is something that becomes even stronger as the child gets older, with peer group pressure and fashion and electronic goods etc the young consumer is even more trapped and apparent. This would serve as the idea for the second painting with the impact of lost childhood as they are forced to grow up so quickly.

So for this first piece of sketchbook work I have painted a rough shape of a baby on acetate as I am going to experiment with placing it various backgrounds to help give me an idea what to use. I am considering collage and image transfers at the moment.

final project CHILDHOOD.

My final project is going to be on the theme childhood . Throughout my course I have been doing some background work, investigating different ideas and themes . I am still not entirely sure at this point what I am going to decide upon. These are a few ideas and sketches from my sketchbook that i have jotted down while the thought was there. They are not finshed products by any means and are just the beginnings of what is proving to be a very diverse theme.

My first idea was to create a theme of fairy tales and a childs imagination. This would involve investigating both the fantasy world of dragons and castles and traditional fairy stories . The second would involve a rather more nightmarish quality of monsters under the bed and dark shadows. The traditional fairy tales that have been told to generations of children are themselves often quite gory and frightening. Hansel and Gretal is one tale in particular that remains in my head that takes on the quality of being a nightmare with the witch fattening the children up so that she can make them into a pie.....

So thats my thinking so far, and it may be that this is the theme that I will return to I can see that it has much potential ...

Gabriel Orozco Samurai Tree

I have found an interview with Orozco and the thinking behind his paintings , The Samurai Tree.