This year has been incredibly proactive regarding the new skills I have learnt. At the beginning of the year, I started off learning how to create sculptures using plaster. It was thoroughly enjoyable. What brought me to plaster was casting and creating replicas of things. For example, I plaster cast my arm. I enjoyed the fact that I could make something appear more realistic and plaster allows you to create these intricate details that otherwise wouldn’t come through. With plaster and alginate combined (alginate is a form of a moulding compound) you can make multiple of the same thing, as many times as you like. I was intrigued by allowing the plaster to set, but just before it hardens, I then throw it down onto the table and let the natural shape form. This proved a great experiment as it created these awesome lumps which I then spray-painted a skin tone onto.
I have also experimented with taking the surface of a canvas off the frame and how I can separate the materials and adapt it onto something. For example, I used the canvas sheets to make what looked like rolls, which I then placed onto a set of scales. In some way, this replicated my plaster sculptures. My photography skills have also come to a higher standard, I've been using it as more of a medium and realised that it can be a part of fine art instead of being used as a starting point in primary research.
Screen printing has taken a higher standard as well. I learnt how to print with a bigger screen and instead of using acetate, I've been using a clear vinyl. Fabric has been another large jump, I started printing onto fabric and learning about the different ways in which ink sits onto the fabric.
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