Wangechi Mutu and her disturbing surreal collages.

The problem with any kind of artistic pursuit is that when you're feeling down you tend to block yourself creatively. Suddenly whatever artistic thing you are engaged in seems stupid and pointless because you feel stupid and pointless. Why paint pictures when other people are better artists than you? What's the point of writing a blog when there are people who are actually paid to write blogs and research their subject matter all day? 

This year I've struggled with these doubts. But I'm happy to say that the fog has lifted. I feel happier than I have done in years. I'm starting to feel creative again. And what better way to start thinking of new and interesting things than to look at a weird and wonderful artist. 

Wangechi Mutu is an african artist who works in New York. Whilst she also does sculpture and moving image, her most famous pieces are her collages. Her images often focus on a disturbed image of the female figure - sometimes with monstrous spikes, plant-like growths, mechanical cyborg elements and animal features. The result is of women who look grotesque and disturbing but yet still beautiful. It makes me think of the nature of women in the world today - told to embrace our sexual instincts, obsessed with technology which has become an extension of ourselves and constantly trying to refigure our own images - through surgery, Facebook selfies and makeup. 

The collages are built from magazine cut outs (images of female beauty cut out of context), from sculpted and painted surfaces and found materials. The collage helps to portray Mutu's idea that: "Females carry the marks, language and nuances of their culture more than the male. Anything that is desired or despised is always placed on the female body."

Here are some of my favourite pieces of her art: 

For more on Wangechi Mutu check out this Guardian's article:

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/sep/25/wangechi-mutu-artist-interview-africa-snakes-mermaids

iPad Brushes Animal Paintings

Since my post on my iPad Brushes portraits went down so well, I thought I'd post some of my iPad Brushes animal paintings. These were unfortunately not done from real life like my sketches of Fiance and my self portrait but from pictures. In art lessons I was told this was less artistic as the photographer has already made choices. In my defence, who has asked a lion to sit still for a picture recently?

This butterfly was at least a self-taken picture from Kew gardens I think. 

I posted this tiger a while back but it turned out really well. So I thought I'd show you the process that created it. One of the really great features of Brushes is the replay which lets you see your drawing process sped up. It's also helpful to see when your changes stopped improving the picture. 

Here is my initial sketch with one guide line.

 Blocking in colour and starting to add black lines which really make all the difference and is probably my favourite bit.

Again here blocking in colour. Its generally best to block in background colour earlier but I didn't start with the intention of including a background. I changed my mind because I need a coloured background to make the white hair of the tiger visible. 

The finished iPad finger painting. 

Here is my initial and very minimal sketch for a lion's profile. In fact its the background on my MacBook.

Blocking in the colours for the background and face.

With different shades added to create shape. I usually use only three brushes on Brushes - the first solid one, the second opaque but circular one, and the 5th circular but graduated towards the edges one. This last brush obviously creates the most subtle shading.  I also vary the opacity of the brushes and the size - ranging from one pixel to 20.

The finished picture. The colours actually look a lot better on the iPad's screen - less yellow but whatever I do it seems to come out yellow rather than orange here. Believe me - my colour pallet is more orange/beige - as you can see above. 

 So there we go. More iPad art in the making coming to a blog near you soon.