Project 7: Visual Experimentation: Exercise 5: A Subjective Drawing

Whereas the previous exercise was to draw a realistic drawing, this one is to make a more subjective response. Going back to the list of objects from Exercise 4, where I chose a pair of spectacles, we had to choose a different one, and I chose a shoe. As this was to be a subjective interpretation, I decided to work with a shoe that is not my own.

My Mum and I share a general dislike for having to dress up, either for a formal occasion or for a party. We just about manage to get it together to sort out some appropriate clothing, however uncomfortable and awkward it makes us feel, but shoes are another matter. We both have the sort of feet that will really only put up with clunky shoes. The footwear tends to undermine the whole ensemble! For years we’ve had a running joke about the party shoes we would wear if we had the feet for them, becoming more fantastic by the year. I decided, for this exercise, that I would lay claim to such a shoe.

I began a Google image search for red high heels and soon found some extraordinary, and surely unwearable, examples. Each refining of the search brought forth more extreme iterations! I saved a few of them for my delight and consideration. We were asked to choose some adjectives to describe our item and I chose the following:

The word I selected to work with is ostentatious. 

The next step was to create a moodboard based on this word. I used the shoe images as a centre point and from there collaged various papers and fabrics that feel ostentatious. This was a way of pulling everything out that was a possible choice for collage, holding it and looking at it, and moving from a large selection to a smaller one. This is my usual process for collage, but I don’t usually make a moodboard. I’ve collected all sorts of snippets of coloured and textured papers and fabrics over the years and I have very few in large pieces. Most are smaller than A5, so I resented having to sacrifice pieces to the moodboard. I expect that at some point the moodboard will be recycled and I’ll use it either as it is or in pieces for other collages. I’ve been making collage from coloured/textured papers for such a long time, I know my materials and could see how they work together as I had them in my hands and on the table in front of me without needing to waste them on a moodboard. 

Having made a line drawing of the shoe, the next instruction was to print it onto a sheet of paper that echoed the quality of my chosen word. I chose some pearlised and textured paper of a muted gold colour. Having printed it I realised that, for the next step of collage, as soon as I started applying different papers, I would cover up my line drawing, so I also printed the drawing into red mulberry paper.

Then I began to collage. It was a different experience from usual as I was ‘colouring in’ a line drawing with paper, whereas I would normally work by eye. It wasn’t altogether easy to cut the smaller pieces to size in order to fit the lines. In the past when I’ve made large scale collages or created templates for collaborative artworks such as banners, I’ve drawn out a template that can then be cut into pieces and a section given to each participant to work on. For example, for a banner with lots of flames and sea waves each person took away a cut out flame or wave and drew round it to cut out their fabric. 

Here is my finished collage. I placed it on the red fabric background to add a touch of ostentation to my collage. I sent the photo to my Mum and she wants these for her next party!