Guess Who's Back?!

Hello Everyone!!

 

I'm sure you've guessed from the title and the fact that I've posted this that BLANK KANVAS IS BACK!

 

I took this on my Canon DSLR 1200D at Sky Gardens in London. This was a great photography day out! I'll blog about it to show more photos and I am definitely going back!!

I had to put the blog on hold while I sorted my life out, haha! But all is going well! I worked hard and passed my A levels with an A in Art (Wahoo!). I also had to apply to art college. After working on my portfolio and going to many interviews, I was accepted into University of the Arts London and I am now studying an Art and Design Foundation Diploma at Camberwell College of Arts. (Wow all of that sounds so official - in a nutshell I now go to art college).

 

So, there is a lot to catch up on and its all very exciting!

 

I thought for todays post I'd like to reintroduce myself  because it has been so long and I feel like it will be nice to start again. So here goes......

 

Hello everyone, My name is Katherine and I am the writer and creator of the blog Blank Kanvas. I am an art college student and I have recently specialised in 3D Design: Theatre, Screen and Performance. Art is my life and I know it sounds cheesy but it is very true! Look around you, everything has been designed, everything is art. Isn't that exciting?!

 

Here is an outdoor installation I created in A level. With everything going on I never got a chance to blog about it. Better late that never right?!

Don't worry I'm not going to change the existing format of the blog too much but I have got so many new ideas!

 

Here's a little taster of what's to come!.. 

• My First week at art college

This is my favourite photo I took of a sculpture we created in the first week of art college. Can't wait to blog about this!

• Explaining the different pathways in art

As brilliant as Painting and drawing are there is a huge world of art out there. This is a section of a 3D piece I worked on a few weeks ago.

• DIY room decoration
• Gallery visits (because you can never have enough!) and I'm hoping to collaborate with other bloggers! 

I have been going to so many galleries so I have a lot to tell you about! In this photo is the lovely Isabel (aka Izzie the illustrator) She is absolutely brilliant and we have so many plans for collaborations, so watch this space! (I'll put a link to her blog at the end)

• Photography days out
• Experimenting with new and different materials in art

Here is a little experiment using textures.

 

One of my favourite weeks at college. We made the wall in to our sketchbook, anything we made went on the wall. I loved this project and will definitely blog about it soon!

• Experimenting with baking and cooking (I'm not a pro but this way, I can make the mistakes so you can keep your kitchen clean when you have a go! haha!)
• Drawing in public
• Life drawing

Sorry about the nudity (you can scroll past if you want haha) this is a few 10 minute paintings I did in a life drawing course.  Life drawing is a brilliant way to improve your observational drawing skill, once you get past the naked people fact... 

• Explaining my specialism

This is the first ever maquette I made in my specialism of design for stage and screen. I am hoping to one day go into model making. This project was all about developing characters. I learnt so much and will definitely pass on my knowledge to you in a blog post!

• Looking back at old A Level work (advice)

Here one of the pages from my old A level sketchbook. Oooo it will be wired looking back and seeing how far I've come!

• AND SO MUCH MORE!!!!

So there you go! I'm back in action!

 

If you are reading this now then thank you so much for sticking with me! The future is very exciting and I can't wait to share all this creativity with you!

 

As always Blank Kanvas has been about inspiring creativity between all of us. I'm still only learning and so we can go on this creative adventure together!!

 

Here's a link to the wonderful Isabel's blog https://izzietheillustrator.wordpress.com/

 

Thanks again!

I hope you have an absolutely brilliant day!

 

 

Visiting the Saatchi Gallery

Hello Everyone!

You've probably guessed from the title... but today's post is all about my visit to the Saatchi Gallery. I took a lot of photos with my new camera and wanted to share the experience with you

 

 

The Saatchi gallery is an amazing contemporary gallery in the UK (it's my favourite gallery!). Here's a little description that is from the website:

The Saatchi Gallery aims to provide an innovative forum for contemporary art, presenting work by largely unseen young artists or by international artists whose work has been rarely or never exhibited in the UK. http://www.saatchigallery.com/gallery/intro.htm 

 

I had been to the Saatchi gallery before; however, the first time I went, part of the building was closed for renovation. Going a second time was even more exciting, not only because I could see parts of the gallery I had never seen before, but also to be able to see the art again and see if I have a new perspective on the pieces.

 

 

Personally, I think that the Saatchi gallery is brilliant because I love the fact that there are no restrictions to how close you can get to the art work; the whole gallery is completely free; and there is such a huge variety of work, styles, artists, techniques, and mediums. I always feel so inspired when going to galleries and I am especially inspired when visiting the Saatchi Gallery. There are all types of art at the Saatchi Gallery, form painting and sculpture, to collage, installations, photography, and so much more.

Here are some of the photos I took of the work exhibited in the Saatchi gallery. Feel free to scroll through and look at what you like. I would love to hear what you think of the work in the comments.

 

If you want to know any more about the Saatchi gallery check out this link to their website http://www.saatchigallery.com/

 

Jean-François Boclé

Everything Must Go

 

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/jean_francois_bocle.htm?section_name=pangaea_II 

 

This is a photo I took of the huge installation that filled the room. It was made of plastic bags. This is the first thing you see when entering the Saatchi gallery and I think it is very striking.

 

This is a close up section of the installation.

 

Federico Herrero

Barco

 

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/federico_herrero.htm?section_name=

 



This is a photo I took of a section of a very large painting by Federico Herrero. I think this abstract style is very interesting and I love how the more you look at it, the more your imagination creates different images from within the painting.



 

The Saatchi gallery is very minimalistic in it's layout. I think this helps to make the whole room become art in it's own right; not just the individual pieces of art work.

 

Pia Camil

 

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/pia_camil.htm?section_name=pangaea_II

 

I found her Sculptures very abstract. They were strategically placed throughout the gallery and I wondered if they spelt something but I couldn't find any words within. Let me know what you think.

 

 

Armand Boua

 

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/armand_boua.htm?section_name=pangaea_II

 



I love these mixed media paintings. They are created with tar and I think they are amazing!! I would love to try something like this, I think it's so clever!



 

Aboudia

 

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/aboudia.htm?section_name=pangaea_II

 

 
 
 
 

Alexandre da Cunha

Marron/Celeste

 

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/alexandre_cunha.htm?section_name=pangaea_II

 

I thought these sculptures were really clever and unusual. Gloss paint on a rubber tyre was used to create this effect.

 

Ephrem Solomon

 

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/ephrem_solomon.htm?section_name=pangaea_II

 

 I loved the technique used to create these. The board was carefully chipped away to create patterns and skin tones in the portraits.

 

Boris Nzebo

 

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/boris_nzebo.htm?section_name=pangaea_II

 



I thought these paintings were so beautiful!! I loved the bright and bold colours created with acrylic paint on canvas. I also loved how the more you looked, the more you would find within the paintings. I bought a postcard of this in the shop and now I have it on my wall! Haha!

Eddy Ilunga Kamuanga

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/eddy_kamuanga.htm?section_name=pangaea_II
 



 

 

Diego Mendoza Imbachi

 

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/diego_mendoza_imbachi.htm?section_name=pangaea_II

 

I think the technique used to texturise the trees is beautiful. 

 

I took this photo using a low shutter speed and zoom. I talked about how to do this in my previous blog post, feel free to check it out http://blank-kanvas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/my-first-professional-camera.html

   

Dawit Abebe

No.2 Background 1

 

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/dawit_abebe.htm?section_name=pangaea_II

 

I love this style of painting! I used an intense setting on the creative mode on my camera to bring out the colours in the skin tone.

 

Jorge Mayet

 

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/jorge_mayet.htm?section_name=pangaea_II

I love how these small trees seem to hang from nowhere, it looks as if they are floating.

 

 



I thought I would be a bit arty and I used a low shutter speed and zoom to take this photo.



DEAD: A Celebration of Mortality Exhibition

 

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/dead/

 

WARNING! Some of the following photos might be a bit upsetting (I tried to pick the nicest ones but the concept is death).

 

This was an exhibition within the gallery. I found it very haunting at times; however, the techniques, skills and mediums used to create this art work was amazing.

 



This was the first thing I saw of the exhibition. 'Bodies' were on the ground and this idea of death was represented in different ways using different mediums e.g. clay, bin bags, wax, etc.



Personally, I thought this sculpture could represent the soul rising. I also noticed the clay was wet, could this represent how constant death is? Let me know what you think.



 



You may recognise this painting from my last blog post. This is the image without the low shutter speed and zoom.



 

 

 



This was an amazing mixed media charcoal drawing. I thought it was very haunting because the closer I looked, I could see there were eyes in the ball staring out.



Oil Installation

 

http://www.saatchigallery.com/current/richard_wilson_20_50.htm

 

I definitely recommend seeing this installation in person because it is breath taking!! The whole room is full of oil and it very cleverly reflects the ceiling, creating amazing geometric shapes.

 

 

So there we go! Thank you for getting to the end, I hope you enjoyed visiting the Saatchi Gallery with me (you know what I mean, haha!)

 

I definitely recommend visiting the Saatchi Gallery if you are ever in the UK!

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the art work so feel free to leave a comment.

 

Thank you so much for reading! If you want to check out the Saatchi gallery here's another link (to save you scrolling back) http://www.saatchigallery.com/ 

 

Thanks again, have a great day!