Insomnia // Part One

I found during exams that I was not sleeping properly. And that when I was forced to get up early for my mathematics exams doing maths was not what I wanted to do. But instead I wanted to create. I ended up doing some drawings in my exams... Honestly, this year has been my work year academically. I severely need a break from maths, or at the very least some time to just create. And get into the habit of doing art and maths. Because art keeps me sane.

So I started work on this piece, whose working title is Insomnia as it was created by my lack of sleep. It started off with an initial eye. Eyes are my favourite thing to draw and I often have this illusion kind of thing going on instead of a normal eye. I am not sure where this comes from but it is something I have been doing for a good number of years. From this I also decided I need mouths. Multiple mouths! The real, human mouth just neutral in expression and the other two a little more manic in their appearance. Laughter!

This is the first, original sketch. Here I was very uncertain to what I wanted 'underneath'. I thought about perhaps having something more real, though this drawing does not show that at all! Maybe when I am a little bit further into my realism sketches I will do something that represents this other way of thinking. 

The eyes are a lot more like how I intend to include them in the 3D piece. Though at this point all I knew was that I wanted some escaping from the head. What exactly? I don't know. Rainbows?!

Straight after one of my exams I rushed to the art shop to buy supplies! So I could get started straight away. White acrylic paint, newspaper, glue, a mask and paint brushes. Stuff that I have in the UK, but had convinced myself not to buy here in Sweden due to cost. So I got working on it. I layered and layered newspaper onto the canvas, there is something a nice about the canvas not being completely clean, or white, it adds more depth. A distraction. I also then love to layer the paint on top.. Not with brush strokes but with plastic. It leaves lines and cuts. Scratches. Something that I did not wish to be perfect.

So the illusion eye. Controlling your thoughts. Mindwashed. Ink on plastic smudges... Something moist just needs to be near it and it hates you! 

Face! This is before much altering of the head shape. You can see that I have cut open the head, just. But that is about it. Happy layering on the canvas!

The eye is something different. I worked with ink and plastic. You can see though it. I am not sure how clearly you can tell. You need the right amount of light. Light and shadows, hole in my sculptures and gaps, space are all things that I tend to play about with. I will do a post about it when I am next with the relative pieces of work. Hopefully by that point, this will be finished and can be included.

Perhaps the other eye. Ink, plastic & yarn. The 'eyes' may get coloured... Somehow (not sure if I have the resources here)

4am. Late Night Art. This was just a photo, the work had done previously. Some needs to be edited. But here you can see that the eye is transparent. 

As the above photo shows, in all of its high quality.. The lips... Mouths, three mouths. These were shaped onto the face. At this point I need to cut the mouth. And finish achieving the desired shape. I think I want more plastic here so the mouths also have some transparency as they will be open. I just need to consider the teeth. Acrylic on plastic?

The 3D mouths have began to have been added. And ears.. Though I think I will removed the ears... The mask mouth needs reshaping to match the more elaborate extra mouths. And so they all link together. 

I took a step at actually thinking about what I wanted to do inside the head. I had thought about it a little and was kinda thinking something about ideas and escaping.

The quality of this image is just generally bad as it is a sketch with words. Something I do to get all the information I need down when the ideas are hitting me so I do not forget. This is making the head transparent, for purpose of what will be beneath. As you can see there are lights and mesh. But also the idea of having little notes that sit on the mesh saying stuff... What stuff? Who knows! Perhaps dreams that are YOU have yet to achieve. Or obstacles stopping YOU.

I thought about lights. Maybe white lights or different coloured fairy lights. A layer of mesh or netting just trapping the lights. A clock. Tick. Tock. If you have ever been unable to sleep. Or have had a deadline stopping you from being able to sleep. Or knowing that you need to get up in X about of hours. Then you know. The ticking clock. As I have been writing this I have been watching the time. Seeing it progress from 4am, then 5am, and now.. it is close to 6am. I still think that maybe I should sleep. But the sun is already rising. I may have missed my window. I have also had the idea of trying to escape. The person who wants to be asleep, or perhaps the person to whom you become when you cannot sleep escaping. Their hands clawing outside of your mind.


And this is currently all I can add about this project. Really. I will have another update when I am a little bit further in.