These are a few of the things I have been doing recently in my spare time. I have experimented with different techniques to keep it interesting. The first photo is of a simple design I drew. I quite like the simplicity of it, though I know it has been done a lot.

The second photo is of a mixed media piece I created using wall paint, acrylic and charcoal. I layered the wall paint on thickly to start with and used tape to make a hard edge to the shape. I added the blue acrylic and more wall paint with my fingers and again using tape at the edges to keep it straight. I then added the charcoal sketch on top smudging it in places for effect, and finally adding the highlights on the eyes and lips.

The third photo is of a card I made. I liked the idea of making it slightly 3D by using string for the hair and the head and guitar are cut out and suck on. I then painted the body as an outline and the crazy hair. I really liked the effect it gave thought I think I could have been neater with the paint.

The last photo is of an A3 sketch I did of my feet. I really enjoyed doing this because I feel like I don’t do enough life drawing and it always helps to practice.

As part of my college work I had to research some artists work and one of the artists I found was Cy Twombly. I have fallen in love with his strange conceptual pieces of work and as a response to this I created my own pieces of artwork inspired by his. These are mixed media pieces with wall paint and pastil. I am particularly happy with these because they feel like my own work and not something I simply copied. My favourite pieces of work that Twombly made were his black board series simply because they were so simple and yet so intricate.

Screen printing is a way of printing onto paper or cloth. This was my first go at it and I really enjoyed getting messy with the inks! I found it amazing how messy I could get and still have a clean print by the end. The design for the print I drew was of my necklace and I like the simplicity of it. I can’t wait to do some more screen printing because it is so much fun and I am going to be doing a portrait in different colours!