Connections and Continuity

This a sample of my work from our first project at uni.  We had to come up with an idea that was personal to us and make work based on that idea.  I took inspiration from my photos of 'Love Padlocks' taken in Prague, Czech Republic.  Each padlock has been put on by someone to represent an eternal relationship, the key thrown in the Vltava river.  To me this represents my close friendships and brings back memories of an amazing trip with a close group of friends.  I have also worked from photos that I have taken of keys. 
Here are some of the photos:

When drawing the padlocks I noticed that complementary colours were next to eachother, which helps to enhance them and make them appear brighter.  Therefore, when I moved onto use acrylic paint, I looked at the image in a different way, painting coloured shapes rather than actual padlocks, making the piece more an exploration of colour harmonies.

In print I created an etching plate based on key shapes and used various techniques to print with it.  I had never done etching before so was very pleased with my results.  When using colour, I contrasted the blue and orangey yellow to enhance the shapes, continueing this exploration of colour harmonies.

My work continues into sculpture, where I constructed some padlocks from chickenwire and modrock. I continued this idea of contrasting colours, using the paint in layers to try and get a rusty effect.

This also translated into plaster pieces, made by pressing locks and keys into clay and filling it with plaster.  I decided to keep this the original colour so as not to complicate it.

In ceramics my work became more abstract as I began to make box structures based on key shapes.  This is currently unfinished as I  haven't decided what sort of glaze to put on it yet.  I have also made paper sculptures like this, and these fit together to represent this idea of locks.

 

I have actually been developing some of these pieces further and made some more bits but I have left them at uni, so they will have to be added at another time!