Changing My Mind (Again)

Shock horror.

I might have changed my mind as to what direction I see this project going in.

I am aware that I've said this about 13 times already during this brief but I'm confident that this is the last time. I've been doing a bit of soul searching about what I want to portray during this project, AND although I am so happy with the images from the last blog of the shadowy figures looming over people, and its different to my usual stuff and I know its good to branch out. I cant help thinking that the main thing that came out of the feedback session was that everybody really liked the idea of playing with the mundane-ity of the 'haunted York attractions'. This is still something that I'm really keen to look at in my work as it really fits the sense of humour that seems to come through in a bit of my work, and I see no way to incorporate the mundane haunted locations into the darker, shadowy work I've been doing. It just doesn't make sense and in trying to combine the two I think it makes it glaringly obvious that I wasn't settled on one idea in particular. I also think the less spooky stuff has more of a narrative to it, looking at the way haunted locations in York are being exploited to make money, which is easier to understand without the use of text so will make for a better picture book. 

So now:

My plan is to go full speed ahead with the mundane haunted York idea, and start working out which locations I can use, and what kind of structure the book might start to take. When I was sketching today, I got really caught up with trying to make a ghost character that didn't look too typical e.g. too cute or like a wannabee sad ghost club ghost, that I could fit into my book. I think I might have cracked it. I want my ghost to look just as worn out as I felt being around all those people trying to make money out of 'haunted' attractions, so currently, my ghost is a little bit chubby and sad looking. 

my initial ghost character sketches

Narrowed down to the best three

Narrowed down to this little guy

Whilst I was out the other day I had a brain wave that maybe my book could follow a little ghost, whose really jaded and dis-illusioned from having to live as a ghost for so long. Who takes a little trip to York, to try and find some ghost friends but he doesn't see any ghosts, and no one can see him so he's really lonely. He even goes on a ghost walk to try to find more of his kind. Then maybe at the end he scares a child or something and realises how satisfying being a scary ghost can be? 

This is what happens when I have good ideas while I don't have a notepad near me

I don't know this is all just rambling now and I'm starting to sound insane so I'll leave it here. But either way I'm more excited about this project now I've had some time to sit down with it and think properly about which direction is the best for it. My head feels a lot clearer, even though I definitely haven't articulated it that well in this blog! But don't worry, dyslexia tests on January the 4th so hopefully I can get some help on my blog writing skills.

but for now, this is how I'm coping with things

Finished!

The deed is finally done! I'm actually so pleased with how this has turned out, even though this one has taken a long time.

What went well? 

• First of all... I USED POLYMER CLAY! and it didn't go horrendously wrong. I thought at least somewhere along the line it would whether it was modelling it or photographing it or even setting it in the oven. 
• The food looks more realistic than I'd thought it would but still whimsical enough to not just look like real actual size food. And the fact that its such extravagant and elaborate food makes the picture look even more bizarre, I look like I'm at a mad-hatters tea party which is kind of the vibe I was going for.
• The paper cut out of me doesn't look awful! I didn't have any cardboard to stiffen it with but actually you cant tell in the picture, its turned out the right size for the table and everything else as well after only a bit of trial and error
• I think all in all, I communicated a pretty strong sense of narrative using a photographic image, which is some thing I don't specialise in, I mean this was taken on my Iphone which is a true mark of exactly how often I use photography... The combination of found items like the table, chairs and old dolls, the handmade food and the printed photo look a bit mis-matched but I think that adds to the unsettling element of the image and makes you look a bit closer to figure out whats happening. Something that always appeals to me is an image where lots is going on and you have to pay close attention to pick it all apart and appreciate different parts of it, like those puzzle images that every time you look at them you notice something new? If I can get close to replicating something like that then I'm chuffed.

What could have been improved?

• MY TIME MANAGEMENT- as bloody always, I spent way too long getting stuck into this because I was so worried it wouldn't be as good as everyone else's, and neglected a few other bits of work in the process which I now have to catch up with. 
• Similar to the point above, I know I've probably over complicated this project and this image and there will be other people that spent way less time making things but their images might be just as or more effective than mine. That is a fault of mine that I'm beginning to recognise, I think its in my nature to try too hard at making things look complex, whether this is actually a good thing or totally bad I haven't yet worked out. But part of me thinks that's what makes me unique? Or maybe I'm just telling myself that to make myself feel better.

Polymer Clay Injuries

First of all let me just say, moulding with polymer clay is bloody hard work on your hands. But at least I know that for next time, maybe in future I shouldn't roll it all out with just my hands? 

BUT- I'm finished moulding my tiny foods! 

Theres so many now! I had to make a few more than I'd planned as the few that I had didn't fill the table up completely. I don't know what to do with them all now... Next step is to photograph myself and then print it out. Feeling challenged but very rewarded.

Planning For 3D Image

Yesterday and today has been spent planning for the photographic image with some kind of 3D element, because its been clouding up my head for a while now. I think its the kind of thing I wouldn't usually even consider doing so I'm pretty sure thats why I've been putting it off for so long, but with things like this its always best to just get stuck into it and hope you get more excited about it as the project goes along I think. 

I wanted to do something that reflected one of the main parts of my personality, and I had a little brainstorm to try and think what my biggest traits in life were and the obvious things came up like sloths, and food. So this time I decided to focus on food as its something I'm not as openly passionate about as sloths. At first I thought about just doing a bit of camera trickery and putting a massive cake close to the camera and standing behind it with my arms out to make it look like my body was the cake. 

However

I'm quite limited as to what I can do with the camera work because the only thing I have to work with is my phone camera :(. Therefore whatever I decided on needed to be on quite a small scale to be photographed well. So I thought about the fact that all my friends say I should be a competitive eater and that theres so many types of foods I'm obsessed with. 

My plan: 
OK so I'm planning to have a cutout of me sitting at a dolls table with lots of crazy, tiny food on the table and maybe some part guests and decorations? I also obviously wanted it to look super weird to reflect my personality. I was lucky enough to find a dolls table and chair set that my Great Grandad made years ago, in the loft, as well as a ridiculously creepy doll that went with it (bonus). I also thought this idea was one of the most playful and fun, which not only reflects my personality and way of thinking (I hope?) but also seems to be a running theme throughout the work I'm creating. I'm quite happy with this because personally I'm always more drawn to work with a playful element to it, maybe I see it as a form of escapism?

Polymer Clay:
To make the food I knew I'd have to get it to quite a small scale but also have a range of colours to make it look realistic, and having already used air-dry grey clay to make some figurines before, decided that wasn't the way to go. This is a project that needs to be completed quite quickly as theres so much else going on so polymer clay is so much better as it drys so quickly, and is already coloured so doesn't need painting. Its so easy to work with I don't know why I've not used it before, but I'll for sure use it again, however I am aware that it requires a high level of craft which might take me a few days to master. For me the spaghetti and meatballs were the most satisfying to make because, well, look at them. SO TINY. And theres something so satisfying in the fact that they're so instantly recognisable as meatballs and spaghetti even though they're not!

Wooden chairs, doll and friends

Teeny tiny food

Next: 

Next step is to fill the table with more food, or possibly plates and cutlery and things just to make the table look a bit more exciting. Then I'm going to dress the scene, with tiny paper decorations and find a nice setting for it, with good light! Then I also need to photograph myself and print it out to scale. 

Playing With Ghosts

For literally the entirety of yesterday and the day before, I've just been using my sketchbook to play around with any ideas I had in my head or that were written on the feedback sheet from our group tutorial. Honesty I've had SO much fun doing this, just getting stuck into the subject of ghosts and using different materials instead of just sketching and fine liner. I'm finally starting to realise the value of letting the materials you're using dictate the theme of the images you make. 

My hands hurt now.

But its been really worth it! The most successful experiments in my opinion have been the two studies of spooky places in York, done in watercolour pencil, ink and water. I think because I consciously was trying to make an effort to portray the moodiness and creepy feel these places have in real life, this is reflected in the images and they've turned out very different to the happy-go-lucky images I usually churn out. 

I also really like the fine liner drawn images with ghostly shadows layered on top in charcoal. Again I think the reason for me favouring these is that they're such a far cry from my usual style and its pleasing for me to see that even if I'm not working in the style I'm comfortable working in, I can still make powerful pictures. 

Next:
Next I seriously need to work out which route my works going to head down because I thought I wanted to make it really jovial and lighthearted but now I've trialled some different styles in my sketchbook, I think the darker style stuff has a bit more weight to it? I think the best course of action might be to mock up a few scenes in a comic style and a few in the more sinister one, then show them around to people to see which go down best?

Mundane setting number 1

Mundane setting number 2

Some of my spookier settings

Hiding some ghosts

Hiding more ghosts

Spooky feels

Zine And Feedback

For our big group crit on Friday we all made a little zine kind of outlining our intentions and findings from the research. I'll be honest, while doing this I hit a bit of a wall, I really didn't know what I wanted to do with all this research now I had it, my natural instinct would be to come up with some kind of narrative to do with what I'd seen, especially as we know that the end product of this brief is a picture book. But I'm really trying hard to push myself to not just rush this project and let myself get carried away with the first idea I settle on (pick the easiest option). I'm really trying hard to let the process dictate what kind of project this turns into. 

My zine:
In my zine, although I used a range of materials, the outcomes of the images were all quite similar, delicate images of streets in York, and tiny little ghosts scattered about. I have to say, even though its my work, even I think its a bit boring. And you can tell I've been heavily influenced by The Sad Ghost Club which is cool but makes me worry its not original enough. 

My feedback:
Although a lot of the feedback I received was very positive, I used received a massive amount of critical (in a good way) feedback. Some one suggested playing up the mundanity of the scenes, like the ghosts in Greggs I'd planned to do, someone also suggested hiding the ghost within items in the scene which is an idea I really liked and isn't something I've ever tried to do before so I'll trial that in my sketchbook. And then someone else mentioned making a little 3d set to have the ghost walking through and photograph it to make the images for the book. They also suggested using a tampon for the ghost character which I think is ACE. 

My next steps:
- decide whether I want to story to consist of a scary, realistic or mundane background
- trial different ways of portraying the backdrops and ghost, maybe adding functional elements like flaps?
- play more. Experiment with materials and don't be dictated by my usual style

Ephemera- My New Favourite Word

I collected some things on my adventures:





Bonus: You can see the lady called Claire who took us for a guided tour of the haunted cellar in The Treasurers House in the bottom right

Group Tutorials

Today we had our group tutorials to discuss the research we'd been doing over the last week. This was my feedback sheet:

Good points:

-I think everyone found my idea of mundane ghost stories quite funny which is what I was hoping for! 

- The feedback would make it seem like its a better idea to go down the route of a funny/ lighthearted approach to this project which is great 

- Everyone gave lovely constructive feedback and gave me a lot of visuals to work with like the idea of a haunted Greggs and other mundane shop fronts, or a lonely ghost having a pint on his own

Points to work on:

-Most other people had a few more detailed interviews, so I was thinking I could now just interview people about ghost experiences they've had or haunted places they've been just to establish a visual

What next?:

- Next I'm going to ask more people if they've ever seen a ghost, and also work on doing what Jamie suggested and using tone to communicate ghosts being there but not being seen. How can I make them stand out? Could colour help? Could I make it seem like the ghosts and people were on two different levels? Maybe by layering translucent material over a scene and drawing a ghost on the top layer?

- This can all be worked out in my sketchbook and through my zine, but for now I'm excited to get stuck in and trialling different materials!

The Ghost In My Wardrobe

Either I'm going insane and keep leaving one door of my wardrobe open and forgetting I've done it, or I'm being haunted. I keep walking in after I'm sure theres no reason for my wardrobe door to be open, and like 50% of the time, my right hand wardrobe door will be open?! But only ever the right hand one, it would appear I've got a very picky ghost. Or whats most likely is the stress of looming deadlines in sending me insane. Who knows. 

Primary Research

Before I went to York to do my research on haunted locations, I literally just googled 'haunted places in York' which came up with a ridiculous amount of things. Most were a list of the most haunted places that you could visit in York, a majority were pubs (classic haunted Britain). From this list I wrote myself down a little plan of action, which I actually stuck to pretty well aside from getting lost a few times, to consult on the day. 

One website which was pretty helpful was Spookyisles.com which have a range of information on haunted places, but had a run down of hauntings in York and the story behind them.

Haunted Frogs and Taxi Drivers

The other day I spoke to Imogen about my project and the idea of ghosts and asked her if she had any ghost stories or experiences. To my surprise (because Imogen is the most logical human I've EVER met) she had the most hilarious story about her and her sister when they were younger at their Nans. I'll insert it below. 

Like I know this is was probably terrifying for them when they were younger, but when I first read this I couldn't stop myself from laughing. But then I realised when I was younger my Grandma definitely had ornaments which creeped me out. I cant think of a proper word to describe it but I've become really obsessed with these little 'quirks' that we all had when we were younger. I also think its so ace how peoples ghost stories have become so common, and don't always shock people? Out of our table of 8 in lessons I think about 5 people had a ghost experience to tell me, or a friends story to relay which is so cool. Then when I started just asking around, it turns out most people have at least one. 

I remembered a really spooky one the other day from my ex-boyfriends mum. She lived in a guest house in Roundhay that her parents ran when she was younger, about 5-6 years old I think, and her dad went up into the loft to clear some stuff out that the old tenants had left and make room for their Christmas decorations and general junk. Once her dad had finished clearing the loft out, closed the loft hatch behind him and brought the old things down to get rid of them. He threw them out onto a skip outside and then got distracted doing something downstairs and by the evening he realised he was supposed to be moving their things into the loft, so he set about doing that. But when he went upstairs into what was an entirely empty loft earlier, he saw a set of child's playing skittles in the middle of the room and a ball sitting beside them. He said they looked like they were quite old (not something that anyone from that era would have been playing with) and that he'd never seen them before. Well apparently it freaked him out so much that he took them outside and threw them onto the skip as well and didn't tell anyone until about 15 years later because he didn't want to scare them. 

It literally gave me chills.

I've also started asking taxi drivers whether they've ever seen any ghosts, and one the other day told me how he always used to see a man in navy uniform at the foot of his bed for years and never understood why. Then one day his grandma mentioned that his grandad (who had died before he was even born) had been in the navy. 

I've become that weird girl who asks everyone about ghosts. Basically Luna Lovegood...

Interview In Pandoras Box

Recently on my trip to York, I was fortunate enough to come across Pandoras Box which is a shop that sells antiques and oddities. Their tag line on their business card is "Your one stop weird shop" which I feel describes them perfectly! The lady in there was super cool and chatted for a while AND didn't mind being recorded which was ace. Her name was Heather :)

Their buisness card

Shop front

Me: So whats your favourite ghost story from around York?

Her: Theres arm a building one of, one of the ghost tours touches on it and I wish I could remember which building but it has a little tiny window, and the story is that the little girl always look out that window.

Me: oooooooh

Her: But its funny cause its stayed with my five year old and every time were walking past she says that that's the little girls window, and I, I always think it’d be kinda funny if I like, let her wear like a long night-gown and just run past the ghost tour when they’re right at that point. 

Me: hahahaha

Her: But, but its a very distinctive window, its near, its near um, its somewhere near the back of the minster

Me: oh OK, is it like an extension or is it a totally different building?

Her: Maybe kinda near the treasurers house,

Me: Is it like a little kind of like porthole one? 

Her: Yeah, yeah

Me: I think I might know the one you mean

Her: Yeah its tiny, its a tiny window and its just sort of at the end of a building, on this side (gesturing with hands) of a white building. But they always point it out on the, on the ghost walks but its really the only one that's stuck out in my daughters mind (laughing)

Me: that's so interesting that she's picked that up, why, what do you thinks made her focus on that? 

Her: I know! I dunno, I feel like kids are kinda more susceptible to things than us

Me: Yeah that's spooky, have you and your daughter been on many ghost tours around York then?

Her: Um, only a couple of ‘um, but the one that starts at the minster at 7:30 is really good

Me: oh cool thanks I might try and catch that tonight

Her: Yeah that ones really good and he's there most nights and it doesn’t get to be like 50 people like some of the others so…

Me: Thats really good! 

Her: It makes it nice and peaceful and he's actually really nice as well, I think his names Greg, but he's very nice you know, just to chat with

Me: Ah thats good, well thank you so much you’ve been really helpful! 

What did I learn from this interview?

- Firstly, considering I used to pester people in the streets for charity donations as an actual job, its safe to say I'm pretty cack at giving interviews and generally conversing with humans that aren't within my close circle. 

- When theres a silence in future when I'm interviewing someone, I now know if its me that's leading the interview, its my bloody job to fill that silence. Otherwise its just A) awkward for both of us, and B) makes me look like I don't know what I'm meant to be saying

- People are literally fascinating and have so much to say for themselves usually which makes them such an amazing resource that I need to utilise 

- Next time I interview someone I really need to have a list of questions ready rather than just a general idea of what I'm asking

Research Day In York

Today I went to York to do research around the subjects of ghosts and in particular all the hauntings that have been said to go on around York. I didn't really have high hopes because all the ghost tours start at around 7:30pm and I couldn't stay there that late, so I just decided to try and track down all the spots that were supposedly haunted myself instead. 

1st stop:
Straight away as I got off the bus I remembered that there was a little shop I'd been in before that I couldn't remember the name off that had sold lots of paranormal paraphernalia so I hunted that down and found it within a few minutes! Its actually called Pandoras Box and the lady that owns it was lovely (I didn't get her name because I'm socially awkward and forgot to ask or introduce myself.). But I spoke to her about my project and she agreed to let me record her telling me her favourite York ghost story, she told me about a little girl that walks around the minster. I took a few photos as well, it was a really cool shop.

Pandoras box

2nd stop:
Then I headed to the Treasurers house which I'd heard had a few ghosts but most famously was home to some Roman soldier ghosts that were seen in the basement by an electrician. The house is now owned by The National Trust so I could pay to get in, and then even better when I got in a found out there was a ghost tour of the basement! This was so interesting and I managed to record a bit of the story of the ghosts being told in the basement so I need to try and write down what was said.

inside the Treasurers house

3rd stop:
Then I walked out of the Treasurers house and went straight into that gardens of the minster, which were beautiful, but I also stubbled upon the window where the little girl was seen in story I heard from the first lady I spoke to, so I photographed it. Then I sat in front of the minster and drew it as it was CRAZY expensive to get into. This as well is meant to have its own ghosts.

The building with the little girls window

4th stop:
It was now around lunch time so I headed to the Golden Fleece to eat as loads of ghosts have been seen here over the years. I went in and they've really monopolised on that theme, there was fake skeletons everywhere. I got a sandwich and sat at a table in the back and drew the bar, it was really atmospheric. I also asked one of the bar staff about the ghosts and he kinda rolled his eyes (I'm guessing he gets asked a lot), he told me about them but didn't want to be recorded. 

The Golden Fleece

5th stop:
After my lunch, I walked over to Stonegate, which is home to not only 35 Stonegate which is supposedly Yorks most haunted house, but also The Punchbowl and The Olde Star, which both claim to have their own resident ghosts. When I reached 35 Stonegate I was puzzled to find it had been occupied by an Oliver Bonas which made me laugh a bit. I wondered if they still got hauntings. 

35 Stonegate

In conclusion:
After all this I did have to go home as it was getting dark and very cold, but I think what I was expecting to be a slightly disappointing day actually ended up getting me some good information, and I managed to speak to a few people. After all this, I definitely know that this is a subject I'm interested in very much and I think theres a lot to say about it, I'm just not totally sure which direction I'm going to take it in. At the moment I could see myself telling the untold stories of the ghosts in the places I visited, maybe still floating around, feeling ignored because no one can see them. But I'm going to talk about it in my tutorial and see what everyone thinks.

Collage Task

Today we did a collage task in our CP groups which I really enjoyed. I love collage anyway but we had to go to the library to find one motif that related to our theme (mines american wrestlers) and then make multiples of it to use in any kind of collaged image we wanted. I started off by using an image of Joe Louis I found in an Americana book, and I just photocopied it loads of times. I didn't really know what I was going to do with it at first but then when I'd cut them all out and had them on my desk splayed out, Matt suggested I photocopied them into different arrangements. 

This was one of my favourite outcomes. Although its really not something I would usually do, I really like how simple this method is, I was going to add some hand stitching or some colours but I don't really think it needs it. I know I've said it a lot in these blogs but its so amazing how effective the more simple work is, and I'm just starting to realise that if the image is powerful enough then it doesn't always need a lot of detail. 

Having just said that I didn't think they need colour, I did add some graphic crayon lines to this variation on one of the prints. Again so not something I would do but I thought it suited the graphic theme and black and white colouring of the image. 

Lastly I did this one, just for the comic relief. 

What I've learnt:
- How quick and easy but effective photocopying be
- Simple is better
- Collage doesn't always have to be a finished collection of things on a piece of paper. It can use digital elements or repeated motifs.

Field-trip Planning

Today I did a bit of research into haunted places in and around with Leeds and so far York has stood out as a great place to go. The city has been described as one of the most haunted places in the UK, if not Europe and most of the supposed hot-spots are open to the public as well which is ace. My plan so far is:

- The York minster
- York Museum
- 35 Stonegate
-The Treasurers House
- York Dungeons
- Maybe a ghost walk?
- Lunch at either Ye Olde Star Inne, or The Golden Fleece

I'm also planning to ask around at these locations to see if anyone else has any cool stories that they can tell me, or any more information about the ghostly folklore around York. Theres also a book shop that I came across last time I was in York that I'm pretty sure had some paranormal books in it so I'll also pop back there.

Tell An Untold Story Briefing

Today we had our briefing for our next task in the visual skills module. Were going to be doing a few weeks of research with a view to making our research into a picture book. 

My theme:
I was given the choice of the themes of evolution, consumption and folklore and after much consideration I chose folklore because although I thought a lot of people might be doing int, I could put my own spin on it
Starting ideas:
At first I was going to go just with the idea of traditional folklore told in small towns like the werewolf that supposedly terrorises Beverly called Old Stinker  and I still might go with this if I can find enough interesting local stories, but talking to Camilla in my class made me really excited about the idea of ghosts. This would technically still count as folklore as thats defined as a story passed down through generations of people through word of mouth. I began thinking about the large amounts of people that I know of that had some kind of ghost experience to share and wondered if it might be a good idea to ask a few more people if they had any stories to tell. Almost everyone I asked either had a story or had one from someone they knew
Field trip ideas:
My initial thoughts are that I should go to do research in York as I know its supposedly one of the UK's most haunted places and its also very historical so surely people there would have a lot of tales to tell. Tomorrow I'm going to put together a list of places to visit whilst I'm there and see if theres anyone I could speak to about their experiences. 

Finishing The Screenprint

On Friday we finished our collaborative screen print during our print room induction:

What I learnt:
- The process of screen printing (although I'd already learnt a bit at Vernon Street, I'd just forgotten most of it)
- I really really like screen printing, and I can definitely see myself doing it more on my own in the future, I just need to practice it a bit more
- That chunky images and thick lines look most effective on screen prints, or maybe a mix of thick and thin, rather than just all thin lines like we used
- Chinograph is a great way to achieve great, hand-drawn looking line qualities in a screen print

What could have gone better:

- The design of the screen print was great in practice but when we can to apply it I thought it looked a bit lifeless as we intended it in the middle of the page. I preferred the prints where we repeated the mark making layer across the page
- The colours could have been kept separate more as the blue and pink were great individually but mixed to make a purple which wasn't awful but wasn't what we intended.

Layer 1

Layer 2

Intended outcome

Design after the colours had become mixed

Favourite experimental outcome

Another experimental outcome

Second Print Layer

Today we finished our second layer to be screen printed. All we did for this layer was make marks inspired by the sound maps we made during our research, but they've turned out really well in my opinion. We used a mixture of fine-liner, chinagraph pencil and ink to make the marks and I was really pleased with the line qualities as its something I'd never normally do. Ready to print on Friday.

Screen Print Planning

After yesterdays grim rainy day, today felt so much better and I think we got a lot more done. After we had our print room tour we went into our groups to try and come up with a plan for our print. We came up with the idea of basing our image around the shape of a foot-print, and have all the materials I'd collected around the feet as if they'd been left on the floor. This was the initial sketch of that idea:

After we'd decided to go with this idea we made footprints on paper outside and then photocopied them to make them grey scale. We traced the patterns of these on to the clear plastic stuff using chinagraph pencil, this looked ace because you could see all the pencil lines. Then we added the photocopied leaves and receipts and drew on some puddles. 

This was our outcome, we're going to do more work to it tomorrow, then start working on our second sheet which will be a noise map made using different mark making techniques. I'm really excited for it, I'm also really going to try and pay close attention to how to use the print room as last year I only used it once and I'd like to challenge myself to feel more comfortable using it.