Adding Text

I have considered using text in my piece to add more of a deeper meaning to what I am trying to create. From the sections of text I have researched, the one that I had the most personal connection with was certain lyrics from Bob Marley's "Redemption Song". At first I wanted to avoid using Marley in my work as it just looks like the most obvious, easy choice to base around Rastafarianism, but these lyrics really caught me;

"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our mind"

And

"How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look"

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery means to free yourself from something that is no longer physical, but is mental and emotional. My personal interpretation of this is that although we have fought past physical slavery, we are all still slaves of the government and the system, just not bound by chains. And if you believe yourself to be free, you will be.
How long shall they kill our prophets also refers to those at the top of life's hierarchy, government systems, referred to by rasta's as the "Babylon". These lyrics state they try to stop anything that enriches the public and makes them happy, which, analysed to a further extent, brings up conspiracy theories. I believe this statement to be mostly about the illegalisation of marijuana, the plant which Rastafarians spiritually smoke. This section also asks why we are not doing anything about it.

Next I will experiment with how I can pUt this text into my work most effectively.

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Final Piece Idea

I have experimented with portraiture, ink backgrounds, rastafarian symbolism and the form of my piece, which has lead me to a clear image of what I would like to achieve in my final piece. At first I began with the idea of a portrait with attention mainly on the hair, in which I wished for it to have dreadlocks, male or female. I then decided to create a self portrait, as my life has been intensely inspired by the Rastafarian culture. I believe in the religion, but I do not practice what I believe in, although I plan to travel whilst immersing myself in the religion completely. In the future I wish to have dreadlocks, to show openly what I believe in, so I chose to group the ends of my hair, in my experiment sketches, to give the illusion of dreadlocks.
The idea I had for the form of my final piece was, to begin with, the basic square the wooden board  is cut in. This would have prevented me from stepping outside of the box by having subtle and obvious statements of culture writhing my piece. I experimented with removing a piece from the composition, in the shape of Africa, but this made it difficult to draw most attention to the portrait, so I considered making the board itself into the shape of Africa. To do this I created the ink background I decided to do, and quickly sketched the portrait towards the left. After I cut out the shape and this looked very effective. It gave the illusion of me being in Africa, which correctly shows my ancestry.

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Sketchbook Experiments

Here is a background of blown dripped ink. On top I have printed black facial features using printing ink and polystyrene sheets. I have tone this so I can begin experimenting with portraiture and features of Rastafarians. Next I hope to combine printing in with another medium.

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Reggae Album Covers

I have been looking at reggae album cover designs to inspire the background I am aiming to do, taking a particular interest in "Bob Marley and The Wailers". These use a circular "target" pattern in red, yellow and green which looks "trippy" to Rastafarians who frequently smoke cannabis. The aim of the album covers is to look hallucinogenic. The centre of the target is an image of Marley. I have tried to show my own interpretation of this in my sketchbook using white emulsion for texture, acrylic paint and a tape transfer of Bob Marley.

Next, I will experiment with portraiture and how I will show the positioning Rastafarian man I wish to include. I would like to show emphasis on the dreadlocks so would want them extended across the piece somehow. This is so as in my eyes, dreadlocks are the most iconic feature of a rastafarian.

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Interpreting my Chosen Artist

I have decided for my final piece to have a colourful background with a portrait of a rastafarian man in the centre. To show this, I have transferred "Ras Dizzy" (1974) Judy Ann MacMillan, onto a background experiment I have created. I have done this using transparent tape and removing the paper using a sponge and water.

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Background experiments




Layered white emulsion, watered down acrylic splattered over



After choosing the appropriate colours, I increased the scale of my experiments and tried using techniques I don't usually use. This included mixing acrylic and water to paint diagonally dripping lines. Underneath I had layered white emulsion to create an unusual texture to paint on. I did the same emulsion backing on another page where I splattered watered down acrylic onto the page with a paint brush. As I thought this looked best, I did the same but with layered black emulsion as a background. This failed as I think it looked very heavy and darkened the mood of the experiment.





As I enjoyed using watered down colours, i chose to soak a page in water, and drip ink on to make the colours fuse together. This was my most successful experiment as the colours were bold and vibrant, but still looked gentle and didn't over crowd the page.

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Layered back emulsion, watered down acrylic splattered on top



Layered white emulsion, watered down acrylic left to drip down



Ink dripped onto wet paper

Ink dripped onto paper and blown

Experimenting with colour

My final piece idea is to create a background using expressive marks in red, yellow and green. As I have not used colour in much of my art work I decided to experiment with how I can show them in the best way. Vibrant colours will be hard to show without making it look over done. I began by using card to drag the colours across the page which gently blended the edges of them. I believe this experiment looked very bold and opaque. Next I used my finger to smudge the three colours. This infused the colours together without mixing them, which looked hallucinogenic. The third small experiment I tried was dabbling the colours onto the page with the tip of a ruined paint brush.

I decided to then change the colours to those of the Jamaican flag. This was unsuccessful as the colours were not as vibrant and I aim to make a "fun", reggae inspired painting.

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