This assignment required me to collect objects that had some sentimental value, I looked around my family home to find anything that would resonate.
The camera belonged to my late father, he used to enjoy photography as a young man, he developed his own photographs in a makeshift darkroom.
After my younger sister was born the pictures seemed to get fewer and fewer, we do have some lovely pictures of Mum, my older brother and sister and I believe those were all taken on that manual camera.
No Memory cards back then of course, just the prints and negatives remain as a record of those times, we lost my older brother in a road traffic accident when I was three years old, I have only a couple of memories and they indeed may be false, generated from stories and the old photographs that this camera caught with a wink of his one big eye. It’s nice to think that this camera had captured some precious happy times, and while the images captured on the negative are reversed, swapping light for darkness, the memories captured on the cellulose acetate or negative, are far from that, what a badly named part of the photographic process.
I picked up my first real acoustic guitar, this was given to me by my father, my father was always supportive of my creative endeavors and this guitar while certainly not being the high end of acoustic guitar price tags it was certainly a lot of money to me and a most appreciated and cherished gift, a guitar is more than wood lacquer and strings it really is a friend, someone to keep you company, a companion. Even the language used when naming the parts of the guitar are based on a living being, a body, a neck and a head, the chords have different voicings, it can tell a happy or a sad song or just be held while listening to music or watching a film. I even named her Prudence, not because she is careful or cautious, all the guitars I have owned since have been assigned names from girls from Beatles songs, Jude, Molly, and Rita. Maybe, if finances permit, one day I will cherish a Lucy.
The final part of my image is a black glossy piggy bank, this belonged to my older brother, I remember as a child it being an almost sacred object, I wouldn’t touch it, on the rare occasion I did it was heavy and smooth, a few coins remained inside, by brother had two dreams he wished to fulfil, he wanted his own judo dojo’s all over the country and a TVR sports car. This little collection of coins in this smiley little pig represents the determination and plans of an 11 year old boy who had his whole life figured out, a dream I know from the few stories I have been told about the spirit of this young man he would have exceeded again and again. Until it was taken from him by the carelessness of another.
My image represents the fragility of life and the fine fibers that hold them together. Past present and future.
I used Conte crayon, white pastel and acrylic paint for the brightest whites as in my last exercise.
The soft mediums when rubbed and worked into the paper do a good job of creating soft gradual tonal shifts, the tooth of the paper when applied directly with no smudge or smear allows for some nice textural effects. The money box is a little of both, some softer application around the dark areas and where the light hits sharper and brighter reflected light.
This image did get my emotions running quite high, it would be hard to understand why without any context but never the less I was happy with the outcome, there are a few bits I would change, the guitar neck ad floral decoration would benefit from some more accuracy. The areas I’m most happy with are the difference in approach used with each material.
