When I saw my piece in its display area I decided I wanted my piece fixed in the corner between the two walls raised off the ground having seen my piece displayed how I wanted it, I cant wait to see it with the lights on. It is displayed in the dinning hall in the college.

The lights are now attached to the outside, the surround of my piece ready for display, I had a weeks holiday from college to think about my display plan and decided I didn't want my piece to be stood on the floor at an angle, firstly because it wouldn't have a professional finish, as it would if fixed to the wall, and secondly its a health and safety issue if left on the floor, all it needs is for someone to trip on it at the bottom or move it and it could fall on someone, although light in weight compared to a solid plaster cast, It is still a heavy piece.  I have requested that it be approximately 15cm from the floor I like the idea of it being raised slightly it will give the piece a more, not imposing but I am here feel to it. also the lights will separate the piece from the white wall behind.   Having tested the lights on the piece to make sure they work, I got a true idea of how it looks, I chose the bright white lights they make the piece stand out, the white is pure and innocent which represents my piece well.
 I originally was considering a dimmer light but having tested it find that the dim light does not have the same impact.

 

Today Wednesday, I have refined my work, I wanted to give it a finished quality for display and realise that small things such as this can make a huge difference, I will decide when it is being displayed if I want lights, I think I will as it draws attention to the piece, I have used lights before around a piece that is now displayed in Warrington Museum.

 

You can see the MDF around the edge.

 

Now painted it has a better finish.

 

 

On Monday I did some quick 3 minute drawings, some water colour paintings and I added acrylic and lastly I did a drawing using pastels all of these pieces are primary drawings of my finished piece or the samples I used, I have added them to my sketchbook.

The week just gone has been spent going through and adding my further research and adding photos of my experimentation to my sketchbook, I have been drawing additional primary observational drawings, and next week I intend to do my evaluation for my sketchbook ready for hand in on Friday.

I have worked darker shading around the body and picked up lighter shading with white acrylic towards the edges of the piece I have used more white acrylic on the body to tone it down this makes the body stand out from the background, I have now managed to make the back ground and body appear separate as they were two similar in colour before, the bodies seemed to disappear into the back ground, I am now pleased with the outcome.

 The piece represents the bodies of mother and daughter trapped in time for eternity like the love and bond between mother and daughter, the mother represents me the baby represents my daughter, the colours are the colours of the rainbow but can only be picked up under close inspection.

All of this week I have experimented prior to putting my experimentation to good use on the body mould, these are photo's of my progress so far.

firstly I added charcoal.

I rubbed the charcoal into the mod roc.

You can see I have started adding a little bit of colour and wax to the mod roc background.

I added wax to the baby mould first before the larger body mould.

 

I started adding coloured wax to the body working from the head down, I thought it to dark so added plain soy wax.

Still to heavy, I lightly added white acrylic paint.

At this stage I wanted to high light, I did this using more white acrylic paint, I feel this has softened the look and given the folds in the garment more depth.

I feel there is still something needed to give the body more separation from the background I shall give this some thought over the weekend.

 

Last Friday I started experimenting with colours on mod roc I used water colours, acrylic and some paints with a metallic hint to them. I have decided that I will concentrate my efforts on the mother and child piece, I don't want to see the mod roc it looks unfinished this is why I decided to experiment with new and existing techniques for example, I have never tried to create an aged look using paint as well as wax before, this is why I have experimented with both and material to get an idea of how it could work on the material on the body mould.

I also experimented with netting and wax to get different aged looks to my pieces, I tried tearing the material off which had set with wax which gave a skin like effect, I tried dark shading which almost looked like mould or weathered paint that had tarnished over time this is great as it reminds me of the bodies found in Pompeii, and to add to the connection between the piece and the model, she has visited and seen the bodies that where left from the molten ash from the volcano at mount Vesuvius.

I then chose to experiment with batik wax on existing casts and moulds I have made.

I added colour to the wax from the samples below, I then experimented with soy wax as well.

 

There is a piece of net over the face I am trying to get an idea of how the garment will look on the body mould with wax on it, the wax in this photo is still wet.

 

I love the marble effect on this sample.

This is left over wax from my experiments, I like the mixture of colours.

Today the 30th April, I can check off the health and safety the completed time line, the SOI in sketchbook, final costing in sketchbook, I plan to make an index for both sketchbooks on Wednesday in college, also I will try to record the who, what, why, how, when of the artists in my sketchbook and tie in the modern, contemporary, historical and cultural connections with the artists and my work. this I hope to complete by the end of next week.
I have been looking at my pieces and the more I look at them the more I can see that the heads in boxes are not in the same league as a previous piece I did that had a more professional finish that I had framed it and put little sentimental pieces inside that where well thought out, these pieces look inferior the boxes have a rugged finish although made well, I will focus on the body mould mother and child, they still fill the brief there is a crucifix representing faith, there a mother and child representing the bond the relationship, the mother holds onto her child nurturing her as for a mother it is a natural bond that is part of her nature to do so.

My UV lights for the white box arrived and are now installed, I went to college yesterday and put the face on metal behind the head cast in the white box.

You can see the UV lights which start at the bottom of the box and go up the two panels at the front of the box.

Unfortunately with it being daylight and me taking this picture at college, the picture in the background done on aluminium with a very low relief, and painted with neon paint doesn't look as it does when it is very dark.

 

I took this photo at college with the UV light, and the microphone attached.

In transportation the arm on the body cast split, I managed to fix it with mod roc at college.

I can't seem to leave the pieces alone I didn't like being able to see the mod roc on the leg and back of the body mould so used plaster glue to cover it, I think it looks better.  also I have made another cross for the white box as the head and neck needed one as the cross is displayed on the other pieces representing faith from mother to child and carried through public and private life. I am now just waiting for the UV lights, when they arrive and I get the low relief metal face from college and put it inside the back of the box my pieces will be finished, and I can concentrate on updating my sketchbook.

With the time I have had left this week when not busy with other things, I managed to do what I set out to do, I decided to use mod roc as the background for my body mould, I took on feedback from my last piece before the FMP and made it so there is no join and it looks complete, I have stood the piece up to check that the mod roc has stuck to the MDF 6ft by 2ft board as I hoped, It was a success. as for the face in the black box, although I used a sealer after the black paint because it was a cheep paint it continued to crack, I keep toping it up with more paint because I can't afford to buy a more expensive paint at the moment, as for the face in the white box, I ended up using mod roc to join the neck of the head to an upside down metal basket, everything else I tried as a stand just looked wrong, I either lost the neck in a tube or the shape of a stand didn't look right. after applying the mod roc, I used a plaster glue to disguise the mod roc.  I will add the low relief face I did on metal which is still in college, this will lean against the inside, back of the white box behind the head so the image is almost hidden.  I hope to receive yet another UV light for this box before the end of next week, this will light up the face behind the head. then I hope the three pieces will be finished. so that I can concentrate on getting my sketchbook up to date. Photos below.

this is the image I want to put behind the head in the white box.

I hope the UV lights come in time if not I may have to use the UV torch.

The face above this photograph will be going behind this head to finish this piece.

the first box represents the singer, song writer public life yet hidden, the second box is the private life hidden from view kept in a box, the two boxes are separate even though they represent the same person.

I have added a micro phone to represent a singer.

the beads are painted black to represent rosary beads with a cross.

This piece represents faith, religion, mother and child.  It will be displayed between the two boxes that I have done, without the child, the contents of the boxes wouldn't exist, to the mother her child or children are more important than anything else. although proud of her child or children's achievements in life the child will always be her baby that she loves, cherishes and protects. In my pieces I have tried to represent all of these things, the music