The first contextual research sheet completed, was an interpretative reproduction of the "Strawberry Thief" print by William Morris. This contextual study was completed using Gouache, Ink and colour pencil. My logic for this sheet not being a direct copy, is that Morris's work is renowned for being incredibly complex. Instead I took the clearest elements of the original, and added some of my own-in a similar style and colour to the original. Bright and with a unique twist on the original source, I do enjoy, what was 12 hours of graft. If I could reproduce a piece of Morris's work, I would select a less frantic piece to produce a study from. However this piece was chosen not for ease of composition but as a challenge-how would I interpretably approach a piece I didn't much like the look of?
But from my personal perspective- I don't enjoy looking at Morris's work, the intricate patterns and detail of his work feels-to me-to be too ornate, overcrowded and is a tangled and tight composition, that eerily echoes the middle class aspirational Victorian household. A suffocating example of how the Victorian's wallpaper reflected their views of proper social conduct and behaviour.
Despite being a heavy influence in the Arts & Craft Movement-which was a dominant process-alongside occupation therapy with asylum inmates. The two topics focused on directing suitable inmates, to work that was therapeutically beneficial as well as an opportunity to evidence their talents.
The second contextual sheet completed, was two studies of Georgie O'Keeffe's early abstract works. These pieces were completed using charcoal and watercolour. Why I was drawn to these works rather than the infamous interpretations of her macro flowers, is that they are intriguing to look at, and both of these studies as being interpretive works of the "monsters" behind my mental illness. Physical manifestations of my psychiatric demons, which are made of smoke, ash and shadows. The phantasmal result of their vicious voices, violently fuelling the fires of agoraphobia and social anxiety. If I could complete these studies again I would complete them on One A2 stretched sheet- rather than on two separate A3 sheets.
