My visit to Modern Art Gallery 1 Edinburgh

Wretched War 2004 Bronze

Damion Hirst b. 1965

Frank Dunphy, Hirsts friend and business manager presented this to the Gallery. 

This sculpture is based on Edgar Degas's famous sculpture of a dancer.  Hirst has created an anatomical model of a pregnant woman.  Possibly referring to the Iraqi war with the title. 

To me this could be celebrating motherhood and woman hood.  The disembodied head and arm could represent some kind of detachment from the world around us or self.  She looks to be deeply wounded on her leg and arm which could reflect the state of the war at that time.

Long Loan in 2017 

Oil Acrylic Polyester resin and Elephant Dung.

Chris Ofili b.1968

Ofili became well known through the YBA (the Young British Artists) tho he didn't conform to any specific group.  Ofili had to deal with issues of race, being multicultural he pushed through into his own niche.  Ofili began encorpirating elephant dung into his works as a dadaist gesture.  

When I saw this I felt it was very bold and stood out from the rest of the Art in the room.  I really like it. It just goes to show anything can be turned into a medium within Art.  Keeping an open mind, exploring and creating is what it's all about.

L'Appel De Nuit (The Call of the Night)

Oil on Canvas.

Delvaux started creating surrealism in 1933.  He wasn't that interested in the political aspects of the movement.  He claimed his works had no meaning or story behind them.  He just wanted to create works that where dreamy and poetic.  Tho there are similarities shown through his works.

Nude female with a headdress made from live plants which flow into the landscape into the backround.  The Artist shows an influence from the paintings of Georgio Cherico and Magritte.

Dalvaux has invented his own world through his painting.

I see a few nude Women with life all around them.  Portraying youth and beauty.  But then in the backround it's like a wasteland with bare trees, skulls and rocks dotted around.  The world looks dead, a vast empty space

Art is more than just a pretty picture on the wall

The Definition of Art to me,

The Definition of Art to me,

Art is a visual language, a sensory language, an auditory language. Art is stunning, Art is dangerous! Art can be painful to look at! Art can be absolutely beautiful! Art can be a teacher to the world. Most of All art is an outlet for Everyone not just the creator! Composition, Style, iconography, I could name more terms but there's only so much I can say that will make people think more about Art and on How many levels it matters not just for us, the children but for our older generations also. Art comes in many forms not just the one we see in the Tabloids... <3 not just the one that makes us think, or makes us angry... Art is there to make the world think.. Its communication to every soul that's willing to let it in <3 <3 <3

For some people it can define them, for some people it can rule them, for some people it can scare them.... For Me I love it on all levels I cannot understand all of it. I know that there just some pieces of work that I'll just never get and I understand. But I do get that Art is designed to make people think even if its not nice.

There are many Artists out there communication on a level trying to help people see the Damage, pain and hurt they see, Every day. Aka World Hunger, War, Capitalism, Death, Bombs, Environmental issues.... These are just to name a few...

I'd just like to shout out MEGA RESPECT for all those Artists that can do this its very beautiful <3<3<3<3

Art is more than a pretty picture on the wall... <3

LOVE, PEACE AND LIGHT <3<3<3

Sensory Walk

Time us an Illusion!?!  You don't see the birds, dogs, deer and Squirrels
walking around tapping their watches....

Personification is not deemed in the natural world.  Only realism and
life.  There is no egotistical value in an animal? Or is there?

They don't house them selves in amongst concrete blocks with ridged lines
and angled corners....

Time is an illusion to humanity, once free from a shedual or time table or
plan or data or building.  We stand timeless

Soaking up all the noises around us be they nature or machine...  Nature
calls us all to come shine in her wings as they fly free across the
cozmoz.  The idea may make you laugh but apart from our Mother nature we
Die....

I was given a task to re-design the logo below for my friends Theatre Company SpartaKi.

The Pen Nib in place of a sword blade representing that the pen is mightier than the sword. 

The first idea I had was to draw up a pen nib sword with a blot of ink that I thought might look good with SpartaKi written in it.  I found an ancient Greek symbol online and encorporated it into my design.

 After conversing with my friend,  we decided to keep the hand holding the sword so as well as the ink mark.  So I incorporated the hand on to my sword.  Thus started my journey on learning how to use the software Gimp on my PC.  I was clueless so this took me a while.  Once I figure it out I became well versed in how to create digital collages with the software.  Just Google Gimp and you should be able to find a free download.  There are plenty tutorials on how to use it on Youtube.

I then sent the image to my phone added a filter to make my image more anime like it so I could get the lines of my image bolder.

Once I had line as they where I then began to white out my design in a bid to make it more simplified

I sourced myself an Ink Splatter which I quite liked.

tried out some other fonts with he splatter but decided the original SpartaKi was the best one.

So I began to cut this out and fix it all up for my splatter.  Which took me a while due to being a novice at this image manipulation game. 

Once I got the writing all neatened up and on the splatter I added the sword playing around with various angles until I was happy....

Here is the final Logo design which has been used for a business card and will be used for all of SpartaKi's promotional material.

I'm feeling pretty happy with this work,  I have learned some way to use image manipulation software.  Hope I'll get better and better the more I work on stuff and I'll be able to create more.

If you guys have any thoughts or tips please do share as I'm all ears..

Cheers :)

Nature and its connection to me...

Nature and its connection to me... Shevan Wells-Jansz (SWJ-ART)


Nature to me is the life blood of my soul.   I am in awe of it everyday as it mesmerises me with its wonderful enchantment.    I pity over Natures destruction as we humans flourish in our bubble of technology.   Yet I still go on living the life of consumerism and capitalism.

The din of the winds wrath upon my house reminds me that nature will bite back. Claiming the innocent lives of those in worse off places.

Mother nature has always been a great muse for me, throwing her sensory atmosphere around me, immersing myself in the sounds, smells, shapes and colours. This always clears my mind and plants it with many inspirations.

My works may not look like nature itself as its my perception of what I see around me. For instance if I see something I like, I photograph it, IE tree bark or the skyline. Later when I go through my photos, particular ones with give me ideas for a drawing or of late its been photo editing, I will go through some processes be it paint and pen or the click of a screen.

Usually it doesn't end there as I will constantly find more ideas within these, which often results in more experiments.   Also I'll pick things up that have caught my eye these will be incorporated into my art, such as stones, twigs or crushed leaves.

If nature did not exist or if I was confined in a place where there is no natural then I would not cope well. Its intrinsic that I have a lot of organic influence around me for my creativity to be.  

Breaking loose with the Palette Knife

First photo is a 16"x12" Acrylic on Canvas. 
Second photo is a 10"x8" Acrylic on board.

So here I am experimenting with my palette knifes... I have never really been brave enough to just let go of the constraints of the paintbrush to the knive.

Here I am today and already I feel that it's a worthy thing to keep experimenting with.  Originally the one of the canvas was an attempt at a random landscape purely made up of course.  I was stuck with it as I felt I was making loafs of mistakes with it.  As soon as I started using my knife I felt a huge improvement it has brought it alive. 
good
I'll definitely be doing more of this.

Crystals and photo editors

So playing around with my crystals, I find their beauty mesmerising.  Threw em through a symplectic photo editor and come up with some possibility for compositions. 

A simple  shot of crystals

Tweeked with contrast.

Mirrored then rotated and mirrored again.

Here are more examples of how a simple shot can look quite

beautiful from just being mirrored.

I have taken this one further by adding a filter then Tweeked with hue and contrast.  The next thought for the lighter one below is to print it out and start drawing a design on top of it.