The visit English artist Ian Murphy offers me the opportunities to explore different drawing/painting techniques.

- The words in his artworks, such as “The Pagoda”, are created through printing technique. There are two ways to print the words:1.Print the words/patterns onto a pa-per and glue the side of that is going to be used onto the artwork. When the glue is fully dried, remove the other side of the paper by rubbing it with water lightly.2. Print with laser cutter

- After drawing the image. Color and texture could be created by using wa-tercolor.

Idea Exploration - Ian Murphy

Ian Murphy, The Pagoda, graphite & mixed media on paper, 75cm x 75cm

Ian Murphy’s sketchbook pages

Enlarged

Enlarged

- Interesting texture is created through using tissue paper

- The words are printed onto the paper. It cre-ates a Chinese feeling. This technique could be used in my artwork to emphasis that the mo-ment of parents putting food into children’s bowl when having dinner together could only be found in Chinese family.

Enlarged

Enlarged

Through using graphite powder and changing the pressure of drawing allows to create gradient effect, therefore highlights and shadows can be created

- I learned the way to shade the drawing and adding highlight to the work

- Through tilting the pigment liner to different angle, the darkness of the shadow can be controlled. If the pen is more stiff, a darker color could be created.

- Paint lightly with white acrylic to create highlight allows to produce a glowing effect

- I also better understand on drawing hands realisti-cally. The lines of the hands are dark.

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Inspired by American artist, Mary Cas-satt and Hong Kong designer, Kan Tai-keung. I decided to depict the moment when my mother is holding the hand of me when I was a kid, to reflect that moth-ers’ nursing is existed, since the birth of

their children.

Initially, I want to portray the moment of the child putting its hand on its mother’s hand. However, as I’m designing the piece, I realized that showing the mother is holding the hand of her child can make the artwork more emotionally appealing.

I created an oil pastel drawing, in which imitating the style of Cassatt, who al-ways use splotches of colors to create interesting textures. However I am not happy with the outcome. I realized that creating a sculpture could make the art-work more interesting.

“Hand in Hand” by Hong Kong graphic designer, Kan Tai-Keung

- Never use black- Use complimentary

color to shade (create shadow)

Draw the hand more real-istically allows to better reflect the idea

Idea Exploration - Mary Cassatt and Kan Tai-keung

Mary Casatt, Emmie and her Child, 1889, Oil on canvas, 90.17 x 64.5 cm

Enlarged

I decide to create the piece in the style of Buddhist aes-thetics, in which circular shapes is used, because I want to emphasize the gentleness and care of my mother.

Soft and rounded/circular shape

The child’s hand should be higher

Inspired by English artist, Henry Moore’s “Mother and Child” sculp-ture, I began to look at the conflict between mother and child. After reading an article about parenting, I noticed that mother in China has a higher authority and power over their children. They can influ-ence their words and deeds and making their children to follow the pathway they desire. Although all the things that the mothers do for their children is out of their love for them, they neglect that every-one has their own thought and feelings.

It makes me to think of my mother and I, which sometimes she doesn’t allow me to make my own decision.

Through making the mother larger and the child smaller, it allows to highlight the power of the mother and the fragility of the children.

Initially created the sculpture with newspaper and masking tape, however it is too soft to sup-port itself. Therefore I change to sculpt the piece with clay.

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Idea Exploration - Henry Moore

Henry Moore, Mother and Child, 1953, cast c.1954, Bronze on a wood base, 51 x 23 x 23.5 cm

Photo of me and my mother when I was a babyThe subjects without creat-ing the eyes can better em-phasis the strength of their scream

The mother is hurting the child, while the child is staying quiet without any reaction. This re-flects that the children nowadays don’t like to share their feeling with their parents

Circular shape can better create the child a fragile feeling

When I was arranging the photo that only include my mother and I, I noticed that I cannot find any more photos after my sister is born. Though my sister is only one year smaller than me, in most of the old photos, my mother is holding my sister.

This observation makes me to be aware of our slightly estranged relationship and the thing that I often thinking about, which is sometimes my mother doesn’t understand my feeling.

This sculpture shows a crying child. The mother is fac-ing at the back, suggesting that she doesn’t understand the child. This is often what happened in the dispute between my mother and I.

However the idea is overused and unable to highlight the conflict between mother and child.

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Testing on clay

The tip is broken, may be due to it is too thin and thus fragile

The sculpture is broken when fir-ing.- Maybe the clay is not fully dried- Or the temperature is too high- Need to ensure there is no air

inside

Making the neck of the child more curvy allows to emphasis the tension, as well as the strength of its scream

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Zhang Xiaogang, My Mother, 2012, Oil on canvas , 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 220 cm

Idea Exploration - Zhang Xiaogang

Water-base printing ink is used to print the pattern of chicken wire onto the oil painting.

- Heavy shadow cast onto my face to emphasis my unhap-piness of being overly pro-tected by my mother

- Using Watercolor and ball pen is unable to create the effect that I want (oil can bet-ter emphasis the subjects and a stronger contrast could be created)

Investigation on shapes

Effect of using laser cutter to cut out the wood as the stamp

Testing on the printing ink- Print by using rubber stamp

Originally I also want to print the pattern of chickenwire on the mother, however it makes the characters blend in with the back-ground.

Inspired by Zhang Xiaogang’s “My Mother”, I want to alter the size of myself to suggest that I think I am matured enough to make my own decision, but in my mother’s view, she still think I am a child.

Test on the property of water-base printing ink is con-ducted. The paint could be washed away after printed on the paper. This material works well with acrylic but doesn’t with watercolor.

I created a stamp that is made by laser cutter. I want to test the effect that a neat chickenwire pattern would create. In the end I didn’t use this idea be-cause the outcome is dull and boring.

The initial design is inspired by my previous art-works. However it is too rigid. Therefore I investi-gated on different shapes, with Moore’s sculptures as my inspiration. Eventually I want to keep the shape of the mother figure simple as it could better create a quiet, calm but cold atmosphere.

Material: Watercolor and ball pen

Henry Moore Mother and Child: Hood. 1983, 183 × 400 cm, Travertine Marble

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Idea Exploration - Henry Moore and Barbara Hephorth

By sketching the artist’s artworks, it allows me to better understand how their sculptures are made

Barbara Hephorth, Mother and Child, 1934, Pink Ancaster stone

Barbara Hephorth, Large and Small Form, 1934, White Alabaster

Barbara Hephorth, Two Forms, 1937, Serrarezza marble

I am exploring different shapes and compo-sitions to present the warmth between mother and child. Inspired by artists Henry Moore and Barbara Hephorth, I decide to present the subject in an abstract and or-ganic way.

I also use the old photos, when I was a kid and my mother is holding me in her arm as a reference. I develop our gestures into sim-ple shapes.

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Study of hand’s texture, shape and texture.

Should be aware of the thickness of the hand

Reach out

Independence

Study of Plaster and clay

First attempt of using plaster

Second attempt of using plaster

Plaster is very hard and brittle, there-fore I cannot remove the piece at once. However I can sand the surface to make it smooth and also stick plas-ters together by using glue.

After the two attempts of sculpting plaster. I would be easier to shape the piece by drawing the areas that will be removed on six sides first before sculpting.

In addition, saw could be used to re-move the big pieces.

Each pieces of clay can be stuck together by using water. However it is very soft, so I need to make sure the base of is strong. More clay needs to be used around the wrist to support the hand. Through wet-ting the clay with a lot of water and scrap-ing the surface of the piece with steel scraper, I can create a smooth surface for the work.

Besides becoming more familiar with the usage of the tools and the structure of the hands, the study of hand and clay in-spired me the way to reflect the theme of “independence and dependence” (I want to become independent but at the same time I need my mother to live).

- Using tree as a motif, which the root of the tree is connecting to the hand the the child. Thus reflecting that the child need its mother to survive, because tree needs root to survive.- Tree is often used to describe human in Chinese literatures.

Materials:pencil, newspaper, trac-ing paper

Creates a feeling that my mother is being trapped in a small space.

Study of lights and shadows

Real life drawing practices

Mother’s attention is not always on the child

Sketch and Composition

I interviewed my friends of their relationship with their mother to gain an insight of mother and child on a cultural level. Most of them regard their mother as friend, but some don’t. Most of their mothers don’t care about their academy/future pathway (e.g. Jobs), which is different from my mother. Many of their mother constantly focus on their phone.

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Study on the medium/color/method that can better convey an isolated feeling.Graphite pencils, soft pastel and pigment liner are used.

Back and white can better create an the isolated feel-ing. Hands should be real-istically drawn.

Printing newspapers onto the paper, as the back-ground of the drawing is learned from Ian Murphy’s printing technique.

Using white acrylic to cre-ate the reflection of the light from the phone. (paint lightly to create glowing effect)

By making the surround-ing dark can better reflect that my mother is concen-trating on her phone.

I want to show that so-cial media can isolate the relationship be-tween mother and child.

Study on Composition and Texture

Using newspa-per to suggest that my mother always focuses on her phone is because she is working

Interesting texture is created through glu-ing tracing paper onto a paper with PVA glue

To simple, can’t create an isolated feeling and the sense that my mother is focusing on her phone

By only shading the hand, I want to test if it makes the hand of my mother stand out, however it does not work

- By arranging in this way, its creates a feeling that my mother is trapped/isolated- Texture (winkle of the shirt) is created by gluing tracing paper onto another paper

Experimentation on different way of shading is conducted. The facial features of my mother are not drawn because she doesn’t like me to draw the portrait of her.Interesting texture is created through using PVA glue and tracing paper.However, the subject is not focus enough. Through increase the sense of isolation might make the work more interesting, and this can be achieved by only depicting the hand of my mother.

Originally I want to depict the activity of my mother for my artwork. How-ever it doesn’t reflect the relationship between my mother and I.

In the beginning, the shape and scale of my mother’s facial features are not accurate. I always make her eyes too big. After several practices, I become more familiar with the structure of face.

After study the effect of lighting, I gain a better understanding on the way to manipulate lights and shadows to create interest effects.

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Drawing practice and study of lighting

Graphite pencil

Watercolor and pigment liner

Using different material to present a same scene.- Water color provides a

softer feeling

Based on old photo of my mother and my sister

Testing the draw with marker

- When the light hits on the face, a delightful feeling is created

- Able to clearly see the fa-cial expression (hence able to emphasis the subject’s emotion)

- When the light comes from the back, it drives audience’s atten-tion away from the subject’s face. A more negative atmos-phere is created.

Study of lighting

From these two practices, I learned that I need to paint my face based on color in-stead of shapes. The difference between highlight and shadow is subtle. Blue/brown can be used to paint the shadow. While drawing the portraits, I should keep my brush clean to avoid blending the colors together, and thus tone down the im-age. In addition, I need to be aware of the lighting. Through understanding the structure of face, it can easier for me to apply highlights and shadows.

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Self-portrait practice I am learning painting self-portrait with acrylic. I use a mirror to help me with the painting.

I am also testing the tone and color that should be used for the self-portrait to create a cold and emotionless feeling, but not horrible.

Through the experiments, I realized that pale orange color could be used to create highlight, and blue/brown to create shadow, allows to avoid a huge contrast between light and shadow, making the face realistic and natural.

A pale tone should be avoided. This could be achieve by not over blending the warm colors with the cold colors.

I noticed that I am not familiar with painting lips and noses. Therefore I did some practices on them.- I realized that I should use pale orange to create highlight, instead of white.

The tone of the face doesn’t work well with the orange background. Perhaps I need to use more warm colors/paint the color realistically.

The face is too pale, that creates a horrible mood, w h i c h i s n o t what I want. I need to use pale orange to create a warm tone.

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Reflection on pieces

A delightful mood is created in this piece, that reflects the warm nursing and sup-port of the mother to the child. The document that my mother has to read every-day is used as the background as well as the pattern on the mother’s hand, to indi-cates that her hard work has provides me a good living environment. The way I color the words is to imitate stars, that suggests the guides of my mother, because star is often being associated to guiding/leading someone to some places.

However this painting is not focused enough and the nursing of mother is not well reflected. Perhaps I can look at the actual things my mother does for me.

Digital painting

The two pieces are created by acrylic. Inspired by Zhang xiaogang, redlines were drawn to suggests the bloodline relationship between me and my mother. I’m ex-ploring different style of painting, in which the right is done in an impressionistic way. To create this effect, I need to paint with splotches of color, and avoid smoothly blending colors together. Newspaper is sticked onto the canvas in the painting on the left to create textures. I am satisfy with the result of it.

Three bars were drawn in each painting to suggest sometimes I feel being caged by my mother, as sometimes she is very strict on the things I do, such as I should not go out alone. However, this “bar” idea is overused. I should brain storm the ideas that are related to “restriction”. On the other hand, the shape of the subject is too rigid that makes the painting a little bit dull.

Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas

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Reflection:

The paintings are not emotionally ap-pealing because they are not based on ac-tual moments be-tween my mother and I, but my imagi-

nation only.

I should observe the interaction be-tween us more carefully.

I also need to think the idea culturally, for example, the way mother holding her child in Hong Kong/China.

Composition test + reflection

The subject can be more stand out by having it almost fill the whole canvas.

The shape and color is not prominent enough, which a stronger contrast should be created. I need to consider the light source

I don’t want to show depict the moment when my mother is hugging me because it is overused. However this watercolor painting cannot reflect the theme clearly in a powerful way.

I need to focus on the interaction between my mother and I, perhaps our daily interaction.

- This painting is created by watercolor. The style is inspired by Henry Moore.

- The painting shows that moment of my mother is working to reflect her hard-works has offered me my good living condition, thus showing my thanks for her

- Carnations and hydrangeas are painted because carnation stands for thanks and hydrangea is my mother’s favorite flower

Reflection on pieces

Bibliography:"34+ Incredible Broken Clock Tat-toos." AskIdeas.com. 9 June 2016. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.Goodwin, Jade. "Tattoo." Pinterest. 06 Oct. 2016. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.

The pieces reflect that I want to s tay wi th my mother. I am exploring the background of the artwork.

The clock in the background should be meaningful and should not be drawn from memory.

The clock at the background is based on my mother’s watch. I searched some pictures of broken clocks as references.

Medium: WatercolorThis material is not suitable to paint the image that has a large size due to the color will become too light

Inspired by the negative painting by Linda Kemp and English artist Henry Moore’s drawing of hands, I am exploring the way to present the moment between my mother and I on the dinning table. I imitated the technique, in which only drawing the shadows. I also tried to draw with loops and straight lines. However, I am not happy with the outcome, as it could not define the shape of the hand, and help me to convey my message. I used highlighters and black/blue ink pens to draw the hand, to see if interesting effects could be cre- ated. I realized that should use black ink pen as it can clearly define the shapes of the hands.

Sketch of hand by Henry Moore

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On the dining table, my mother always put food into my bowl, which is a unique moment that of-ten happen between Chi-nese family.

I also want to make this moment into a sculpture.

Experimentation on materials/textures

Pigment liner on tracing

Hand Holding Bone 1981 HMF 81(181) ballpoint pen, conté crayon (rubbed) on Cotman white hand-made wove 258 x 199mm

After rubbing the tracing paper, it becomes shapable, which allows me to create a 3D effect. However, at the same time, the paper be-comes easy to break.

Through using 3D effect, I can emphasis the muscle of the hands

Comparing tracing paper and Xuan paper, the first one will become hard and shapable, while the second one will become very soft. Textures could be created on both paper.

Using yellow highlighter to draw the shadow cre-ates a glowing effect.

Strong contrast between color could be created.

I copied the drawings of Henry Moore. To study drawing hands.

Experimentation on using different type of paper to create textures as well as the effect of different materials is conducted.

Pigment liner could not dry easily on tracing paper, therefore need to be careful when drawing

I create the moment on the dining table with different materials. Inspired by Henry Moore’s artworks, I turn this moment into an abstract form and make it into an sculpture. At first I want to use clay to sculpt the work, however the material is too soft to sup-port itself. Therefore I use newspaper to sculpt the piece. The result is better, but still too soft to make itself stand. Plaster bandage need to be used to wrap around the paper sculpture. After soaking the bandage into water and shape it into desire shape, it will be-come very hard after dried, but sculpt able. I can also add pieces onto it.

However the abstractive sculpture is unable to clearly convey my message to the audience.

Through using ink, the material provides the piece a Chinese feeling. I could use this material to cre-ate the final artwork.

Using ink on tracing paper and glue the tracing paper with another paper together allows to create interesting textures. However, one disadvantage of this drawing method is that the ink is hard to dry on the tracing paper, so I need to be careful with smearing the image.

While I can use this “smearing” technique to create a gradient effect for drawing the part of the hand that covers with shadow. xv

Shadow crated by smearing the pastel. This tech-nique allows to create a “transparent” effect, which makes the bowls as if they are on a glass.

Medium: Soft Pastel- The hand of my mother should be brighter and the bowls/plates should be drawn more realistically to better create depth.- I should create a larger contrasts between highlight and shadows, to create depth to the drawing. I can cre-ate the piece with acrylic in the style of Cassatt.

Done with acrylic. The color of the hand should be brighter to make it more standout from the painting. I also need to be aware of that the dif-ference between light and shadow is subtle

Ink on tracing paperTablewares should be drawn realisti-cally

Experimentation on materials/textures

Materials:Newspaper and masking tape

Color test:

I wanted to paint the sculpture into orange/pale orange to reflect the color of hand. Perhaps I should paint it into white to make the audience better focusing on the shape of the sculpture. Hence emphasis on the movement.