Plaster work

To expand my skills and ideas with in creative art, I experimented with plaster today and other new materials. The mind set I had on todays lesson was to just do it and see where things go, which is what I did. The two photos below are made use plaster mix and canvas fabric. The health and safety that was involved with this work was to wear overalls, hair tied back and have gloves on. This was so that hair wasn't caught in the plaster and so that it wasn't on my hands as it hurts when it is being removed from bare skin and is very messy. To make plaster you put the cold water into the bucket first then gently sprinkle the plaster mix so that it creates less dust as possible as this can become a safety problem for eyes and lungs. After mixing it to the correct consistency I placed it onto the canvas fabric and spread it across the sheet. After filling it I decided to experiment and add little streaks of coloured paint, then I carved lines into the plaster whilst it was still wet to create a weird abstract design. With the other image I used pink plaster and canvas fabric and played about with it and created some kind of sculpture. I then randomly added brown paint splats to it and took the glove off of my hand that I used to create this piece and wrapped it around the rim of the culture when finished, then to complete it I added a plastic flower I found in one go the college rooms. Finally I left them both to dry and become more solid. 

However these three images below were very different to the ones above, this is because these were experiments before I fully got an idea to use with the plaster. Underneath the plaster is a new material I tried which was called scrim, it is a net like texture and feels slightly like straw. It was good for the plaster to stick too however it didn't create a smooth background, it was very textural. Although, seen as I was only experimenting it did not matter as I was just seeing what it was like using the plaster. I tried different colours and tones and I even added glitter to certain pieces. From doing this I have learnt to just go for it sometimes when doing artwork and to not over think it. It has also given me ideas on how to use this material again and what to create with it in the future. 

In my opinion I feel this sculpture  is one of my best pieces using plaster, as I find it pretty and a little bit strange and random. I used plaster to cover the sculpture however the surface I used was a wooden block square I found in one of the cupboards at college. Seeing this block made me think of it as a platform for something to be presented on it, so I covered it in plaster and elaborated on it from there. Around the edges I added streaks of pink and blue, the when it was wet still I added a plastic cup that was next to me that I was drinking out of and placed it on the block in the top left corner. This added almost a secret area of the sculpture that I filled with bits of left over plaster that had dried up and a white plastic daisy. To complete this sculpture I tick some leaves from the plastic plant at the end of the cup to express something is coming out of it. I then used a materials I rarely use which was glitter. I chose pink as it went with the streaks of pink paint on the sides and sprinkled it over the cup and around the outline of the leaves. This made these objects stand out more which is what I mainly like about this piece. I will definitely continue working with plaster as I found it very fun and enjoyable laying and sculpting with it.