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The extent of Finland as an influence was affected by the time I was there. Within my four months, I was very embracing of the opportunities that were made available to me. To ensure the coherence of my message was maintained, it was important that I continued to explore the theme ‘Identity’ in my practice whilst I was abroad. For instance, I was able to delve into wood work as Tampere is filled with forests and trees, which are often cut in order to fuel saunas and fireplaces to help residents cope with the harsh weather conditions. Hence, I was able to explore the ancient technique of pyrography, something that has always appealed to me. I illustrated members from the future generation of my family (an important part of my identity) in a family tree formation, which directly links to the materiality. Using the burning tool was very interesting as it required precision. Through this did, I grew fond of wood work and aim to utilise it more in my practice. By taking these logs back go the UK, I feel as if I have a part of Finland with me. Thus, my experiences in Finland have broadened my material scope, which will forever affect my practice even after I return back

Family Tree

Finally I finished it and I places all the logs together, and I think they looks so interesting together! They had more power as a team! I sent the photo of the logs to my family and everyone was so happy. They were excited to see their faces as part of an artwork and wanted me to bring it back to the UK with me so they could use it as a decoration. In my opinion, Mahek and Daniaal’s were most on point, with Adil and Hassan coming next, then Hira and Danish, and me and Sahar coming last. All those late nights in the studio, lack of sleep, and painful wrists was worth it! I was pleased with the end result and my lectured loved it. She said that when she heard my idea initially, she was so excited to see how it would look and shes amazed by the end result. The effort I put was very visible according to her 🙂 If I was in Finland longer, I would love to continue the tree by using older tree longs (more rings) to create the older members. I really want to my pyrography part of my art practice when I return to Reading because I fell in love with this old practice. Finland allowed me to try something I’ve always wanted to do 🙂

Pyrography

I first sanded the wood blocks so that they would burn the designs in a clearer way. I was shocked as to how smooth the surface became. The department ordered me the pen and it came with different nips. I experimented with it on a piece of wood and I found that it pretty difficult to use because of the grain in the wood.

I started drawing my sister, Mahek, first. The outline came out fine but I did face some issues along the way. For example, certain places would have moisture trapped under and so applying heat caused the liquid to ooze out. This stained the would in places I didn’t want and distracts the viewers eyes. Another issue was that when I used the pen, at times the larger part of the pain would cause a huge mark onto the surface. Hence, I was forced to colour in certain sections to make it look like it wasn’t a mistake. Drawing the smaller features like the eyes and lips was definitely challenging. Then I moved on to my brother Adil’s face. What I noted was that it’s easier drawing a male face because their faces are more rectangular, as opposed to circular. My sister’s resembled her more than my brother’s resembled his, which kind of annoyed me. I tried my face and it looked horrendous. The picture I used was taken from a side angle and so made my face and features look imbalanced.

I then thought, could I remove the marks made with the sand machine and start again? To my advantage this worked. I removed the block marks of my sisters face, and completely wiped away mine and my brother’s face.

After redoing these I wondered who I could draw on the rest of the blocks. Since I have so many cousins, I could draw them to create the new starts of a family tree. There were 5 more faces to do. Daniaal’s came out as one of the best. Initially I was worried about drawing is beard but I used another nib to create light marks.Similarly, his brother Danish was also easier to do, although I was hesitant to do a picture with teeth showing because thought it might look funny. Sahar, on the other hand, was a challenge. Like mine, capturing the curves of the face were hard. The pictures she sent were from side angles and I had to hers over and over again until one slightly resembled. If I had more time I would do hers and mine again. I underestimated how long it would take and how exhausting the process would be. Having to sand the logs was repetitive, especially if I made a mistake. Doing each face took roughly three full days in the studio. Mediapolis is a lovely campus and so being there alone in the evenings were almost relaxing. However the one hour journeys back before 12 o’clock were draining. Also the studio had flies around because of the natural ingredients others were using, which were sooooo gross!

Hassan had glasses which were fun to recreate. Though, it was hard to get the lines straight. I was stuck only massive pieces of logs to use which was frustrating as I only had one more face to make. Then I realised the test piece is similar to the others logs I used and so I sanded the marks off, which too so damn long. Hira’s was not as bad. I made a couple of mistakes earlier and I sanded those areas. However, this meant the surface was bumpy and so I had to sand the entire surface in order to correct this which was annoying. I think I captured her age well because you can tell shes the youngest in comparison to the others.

Ideas

I don’t want to use paper as my canvas, but something more natural. Something I have always been keen to do is paint on log pieces. Luckily being in Finland, which is covered in trees, my teacher was able to get me slices of tree bark. All I need to do now is sand and prime it so it preserves.

I was thinking of ways I could turn this piece of log into art. Here are some ideas:

1. Painting natural landscapes in Finland with acrylic – This uses the theme of environment based on the content. However, I feel that using natural paints will not achieve the colours needed to recreate the landscapes.
2. Painting using natural paints – in terms of content, I could create a series of flowers or berries.
3. Carving the wood – this could be hard considering the circular grain.
4. Pyrography – burning designs into wood would require special tools.

I spoke to my lecturer and she loved the pyrography idea because it is a process that is no longer popular. It was different to the rest of the class who painting, and felt that my art could revive this method of creating images. In terms of the subject matter, I wanted to draw portraits of people that were important to my identity (a theme that has been consistent in my art practice so far). Family tree is a concept that could work really well with the material. I wanted to represent the younger generation (me, siblings and my cousins) as the wood is new and fresh.

Prints using Natural Ingredients

This workshop encourages us to use only natural and organic matter to create art. We were asked to bring material with us and I brought mud, leaves, berries, moss and rocks. We then experimented with it, adding mediums/ water/ egg etc…

This project reminded me the tie-dyes I created with the colour from fruit and vegetables – MIMICRY OF ANOTHER ARTWORK. Beetroot has a very strong colour and so I used it with water and with medium to see how it works on paper. With water you can create many tones, but with medium the colour is rich. Mud and water create a green shade, but with medium it has a strong dark brown colour. I created a flower and some berries, and my teacher loved the fact that I used nature to create nature.

I then decided to use the leaves, twigs, and mushrooms as a device to apply the paint instead of a paintbrush. In addition, I used turmeric to create a yellow shade. These are the patterns that were made.