Geraldine George Responses

These are my response of a Geraldine George piece to do this i watched a tutorial and also experimented with tools in photoshop. 

To do this i first cut the background out of the image then transformed it into black and white.

Then i created a background layer and added a black stroke to the image using blending options. 

After this i cut out most of my image using the quick selection tool then i created drips with the black pen tool, once this was done i went back into blending options and added a white glow around the inside.

This is my hand draw geraldine george response to do this i took a image i had already captured and doodled around it, in this piece i made her a Egyptian queen

Geraldine Georges

Portrait of Géraldine Georges by photographer  France Dubois



Geraldine Georges is a young Belgian illustrator and graphic designer that uses a blend of illustration and photography in her work, creating an appealing mix of mediums.  Her work often abstracts the female form, capturing the eye and various body features.In a interview she was asked about why this was that she chooses to only focus on the female body and in response she replied 'She doesnt know shes a girl its as simple as that'.  



She was also asked about the elements to her work like animals, trees and blurred shapes in her work and if she thinks its important for people to come in touch with this other dimension in their everyday life and in response she went on to say how she grew up surrounded by farms and animals as shes a country girl and she finds it difficult to go back to that sort of life because of all the technology and facilities the city life brings you.
She also describes her Procedure by stating its no secret 


'I just mix collage/cutting of pictures with drawing made with a Rotring, trying to inspire a certain feeling and emotion to it. I put everything together and I try to find the perfect balance and purity. I don't like over-ornated and loud work. I like simple, clear and direct things...there is no need to overdo.' 
 The full interview is here

This image is one of many from her website, Ive picked this one to analyse because i think its one that is the most interesting in the sense of meaning. Its named Life and that is the only clue of the meaning there is no further details or further clues to what the meaning of the image is which leaves me to use what is here to try to put together a meaning.

My first response to this piece was 'Wow' because after reading the interview through and understanding shes produced this out of using a rotring-which is a pen with a thin tip its amazing she can create this with so much time and detail. What i also love about this artist is that she has actually taken this photographs herself which she has then transformed unlike Julie Cockburn who simply creates art from secondary resources.

To create this piece Geraldine would have taken a photograph of a woman from the waist upwards leaving the stomach exposed. She then would have began cutting out her chosen pieces to work from and stuck them on a separate piece of paper and begin doddling. I love the detail in the head scarf she has made this could symbolize that this woman is a muslim or maybe a nun. 


On her head this woman has two Daisy or Asteraceae like flowers. Daisys symbolize Innocence and gentleness. There are many stories about where daisys orginate from but from these sources 1 ,2 ,3 it is said that daisys derive from a Dryad who presided over forests, meadows, and pastures. A Roman legend states that the nymph Belides caught the eye of Vertumnus, the god of orchards. This happened when she was dancing with other nymphs at the edge of a forest. Belides didn't want to be the centre of attention, so she  morphed into the flower bellis. Which is the daisy's botanical name.

 Going with this conspiracys this could mean that this woman pictured is infact Belides the Dryad described. This could make perfect sense for the illustration the fact that the woman is bowing with a sad expression could suggest she is about to morph, Then the fact that the bellybutton is connected to a daisy could suggest a she has morped and that is now her life,the bellybutton being the part of belides that remains in the flower, the bellybutton could also symoblize the soil in which it is in.These two pictures with the word life written above them could be before and after illustrations of this transformation. The life above the daisy symolizling the new life she has chosen to live.

Overall i really like this image and this artist and really appreciate her work, she has inspired me to try a go at illustration because it looks really exciting and the end product looks beautiful.

Norm Magnusson Analysis

Norm Magnusson is a American Artist and Founder of the art movement Funism.The main focus of Funism is that art should be as much fun to look at as it is to think about which is what Norm tries to convey through his artwork. He began his career creating animal painting , Eventually he became more and more interested in political art and its potential for persuasion.

One of Norms projects was called 'Decorating nature' this project consisted of painting pieces of nature and capturing it with his camera.There are over 90 pieces to this collection each were painted differently to the next, subject matter included Leaves, Stones, Shells and trees. The collection can be viewed here, under every photograph is a small caption.

Under this image is a caption that says: 
 fig. 68: some stones "blue up" when the water gets cold.

In this image pictures a striped blue rock under he water. I particularly like the way the water makes a patterned effect on the rock and how the rock being coloured blue links into this well. 
The colour Blue conotates peace and tranquillity and those are also things we associate with the sea so the blue was used to recreate this label.

This idea links into the mood of the piece which i think the artist was trying to convey in a sense rocks are part of the sea and they play just as much part in creating a calm feeling.
The stripes also give a good effect because they relate to the design the water is making,The stripes aren't straight down the rock either they produce a little pattern on their own by being diagonal lines across this rock.

To create this Norm would have painted the rock using strong waterproof paints and then simply placed it under the water.The photograph has been taking portrait which allows us to see more of the location where the rock is placed.

The main subject matter of this photograph is the rock we know this because it is placed with other rocks under this water but yet still it is larger than the others and colored to make it stand out. 
Norm Magnussons work aims to draw the viewer in and find it interesting a fun on the website i previously mentioned he says 
'If a photo is pretty, the viewer will spend more time with it. If a viewer spends more time with it, they will begin to think beyond the surface of it and into the meaning of it. That’s the dynamic I hope to create in viewers of my work.'

Therefore when creating his work he has the viewers good intentions to mind.
Although this is a wide shot captured it also seems a little zoomed in as rocks aren't normally that big so this is quite zoomed in to make it seem that way.

I think the meaning of this and the project is to show viewers how beautiful nature is.
For example you may not find a rock with these huge blue lines placed on it but there are many rocks with very different and interesting patterns on them, The same way your not going to necessarily find a tree with a polka dot pattern on it but the bark of each tree is different and are detailed with unique patterns.

Some people just don't see that all they see is nature for nature a rock for a rock so by making this rock and other subject matters the focal point people can start to appreciate nature in it naturalist form.
Overall i find this image and this project pleasing i think its a excellent way to produce art and photography by being resourceful.

Henrik Bonnevier Analysis

Henrik Bonnevier is a Swedish s Photographer.Hes worked for alot of major companies such as Condé Nast Traveller, Bon Magazine, Gourmet, Toyota, IKEA, and many more.He photographs most nature / adventure, still life and for advertising. 


 In 2008 Henrik embarked on a journey to the north of sweden for 100 days to document the untouched waters in the area of seven national parks and fifteen Sámi villages. The images from the trip were said to appear in a book about the project and a exhibition. In a interview about the project Henrik Disclosed the hard ship and brilliance of the project. He also states in the interview that hes dream is to work for the national Geographic because of the love he has for taking pictures of nature in its naturalist form.The full interview is below.

100 Days in the North Of Sweden

Here are some of the photographs he took out there.

Although Henrik Specialises in a lot of photography areas i am looking particularly at his still life work, This picture for example is one of my favourites of his work I love everything about it from the background watercolours to the com placement of the still life objects.This Photograph was for a interior design firm called 'Between walls'. A interior design stylist named Camilla Krishnaswamy actually designed the shoot and produced this background technique which is called 'Colour Drip' which is from one of many of the company's 'Watercolour' range.

Its quite a contrast to have this work after the work before as in the work before everything is in its natural form and not stylises the only technical aspect is the camera shots being extreme close ups and the com placement of the fish whereas this shoot is completely organised and posed and everything is well thought about before the final image is taken,

To create this shoot the background would have been created first to do this i think Camilla used watercolour paints and mixed them with a lot of water so that they would drip and bleed into each other, secondly the table was arranged i think the table layout took inspiration from the paintings of Paul Cezanne where there is often a cloth draped over a table. The layout of the com placement is perfect everything fitting together in the space.The colours used on the table link in nicely with the colours of the watercolours,although there is a mixture of colours the colours seem quite neutral in the sense that they aren't bright or dark just in between like baby colours. And finally after evaluating everything the photograph was taken here are some pictures from the photo shoot.

 Photographs found here

The colours are what gives this piece a calm and peaceful feel  as this is a commercial photograph for the wallpaper design , it links in moods for the wallpaper and therefore suggests its target audience or place to put this wallpaper. 

In my opinion gathering the moods it portrays id feel obliged to put this wallpaper in a nursery room/child's room or maybe a bathroom as since it calms it would be a nice thing to take in whilst having a relaxing bath.

This piece has been framed in a wide shot with the chest being centred slightly to the right this is effective because it lets the viewer view the wallpaper more.Tools and equipment t used in this composition would be paint brushes a studio and a camera.

Overall i think this is a really nice and effective way to advertise this wallpaper and the photograph is very beautiful.

Julie Cockburn Responses

These are some of my digital and handmade Julie Cockburn responses.


This one was made digitally using photoshop and following a photoshop tutorial to do this i chose a slash shape and used it as my clipping tool to make this distorted effect on this picture.This image is originally a image of Marilyn Monroe a famous actress. I think the fact that the picture is black and white makes it more interesting as well.

This is another digital response i made with the same model Marilyn Monroe to do this one i was more confident so i straight away i used the triangular shape tool and began designing my picture. The difference in this one is that this one is in colour so the distortion is more visible.

Here are some handmade responses i made in this one below i used curly string to go over the locks of curls in her hair i think this idea is pretty effective as it gives the hair a 3d look I've also cut out and placed tissue paper on her lips to reiterate the red lipstick trend they had in those days.

In this image i've tried to add depth and levels to this composition i did this by printing out about 6 copies of this image and cutting out a triangular pattern in the face i then did the same to the rest of the copies and layered them on top of each other producing a clever 3d effect in the face.

In this image i started simple and just used string to go over her clothing,this is effective as it adds texture to her dress, i have also stuck pinkish tissue paper on her lips to reiterate the red lipstick trend again in this image even though it was in black and white the colour red really contrasts with it.

Julie Cockburn Analysis

Julie Cockburn is a English photographer she lives and works in England. She studied at Chelsea college of art and central st martins college of art and design. Her work is unique in the sense that she takes found photographs and through cutting, embroidering and collaging makes them her own.There isnt much information on her, herself but i suppose this is because she prefers to keep her personal experiences and private life to herself. However for this information i used her website below.

Julie Cockburns Website

This Photograph is called 'Tattoo face' and was made in 2010 this piece relates to her theme as it looks like a found photograph and it has been tampered with in the sense that it has embroidery on the face.This photograph is different however as it is in colour which suggest that it cant be a really old photograph as digital cameras weren't invented and neither would be colour prints. So the fact that this piece is coloured and not black and white suggests that it is a fairly contemporary photograph.

The subject matter in this frame is a young woman who appears to be smiling, she wears a polka dotted shirt which looks formal and her hair is out short and slick.

 Her lipstick is a bright red colour which is similar to the 1920s lipstick fashion trend which could hint that this photograph could be from that era.However like i mentioned before colour photography wouldn't have been invented yet so this photography would be impossible to have been taken then.

This photograph in its natural form is very similar to a 1950s commerical for example this one below the sarcastic expression on this models face is very similar to the sarcastic smile on Julie cock burns image.The models are also similar looking in the sense they both look of British orgin and have brown hair in similar styles.

To create this piece Julie Cockburn used a embroidery technique to sow inside this image creating a cool pattern, the embroidery on the face is very detailed and looks like it took a long time to create.The background of this image also looks collaged with pieces of blue tissue paper the colour blue is used alot in this piece which is probably why Julie decided to use blue thread to thread this design on this models face.This piece would have taken a while to complete because of the finery in the face which would have required a thin needle.

The Phrase 'Tattoe face' refers to the action of having tattoes all on your face which alot of people see as a deviant act and the people who do this to themselves often are wild, rebellious people and maybe using all of the information I've gathered about the similarity between this and a 1950 commerical this is what she was trying to convey in the act of how she stylised her image.The meaning behind it could be that comericals like this one make women seem like housewives passive and obedient to their husbands by embroidering the woman's face Julie is making a statement that women can be rebellious and wild as well and aren't passive human beings

I think in my opinion that Julie Cockburn is a artist instead of a photographer because she relies on secondary imagery she doesn't take the pictures herself. For example this idea is similar to the Rankin destroy project whereby Rankin took photographs of celebrities and encouraged them to recreate them using what ever they wanted to display traits of who they are and what they think of themselves. 

In a similar way Julie has taken these found photographs and recreated them as her own the only difference being Julie doesn't necessarily know the people in these photographs and these photographs aren't actually captured by Julie.

This is why i would say she is more of a artist than a photographer as shes only designing the already taken photographs in some respect shes taking credit for somebody else's work or bringing somebody else's work back to life.

This piece amazes me that someone can put that much time and effort into designing this piece,However,  id be more impressed if there was some sort of historical background on each of the people in the subject matter she chooses to work on for example a photograph of the second world war which shows nurses helping soldiers, if Julie were to recreate and stylise this by maybe creating halos around the nurses heads to show how much help they were that way that end photograph would have meaning and historical relevance.

Lin Osborn Response

My theme for this piece was 'Family' to do this i imported these images separately on photoshop and followed a tutorial to edit them into this grid. I coloured these images separately on photoshop and placed them in colour order like this

Documentary Photography: Lin Osborn analysis

 Lin Osborn first began her career in photography after graduating from the surrey institute of art in 2001. She uses a series of small photographs with paying attention to detail,to create her artworks. The focal point of her images is everyday life or the natural world. She repeats her series of images to change the original context of the images making the images together have power. As well as photo montages Lin uses a range of mediums such as light blocks and mixed media.

On first viewing this image and after doing some research on it i discovered that this image actually costs 900.00 pounds, to some people this effects what they see off the image, for example if i were to view this piece in a gallery with the price underneath i would suddenly start thinking if the piece is actually worth this price which in my opinion its not.

In these images are household food items such as chocolate and fruit and from what i can see they are all in there original colour which is without adding photo filters. The colours she has used follow the pattern of the rainbow and i think they each conotate something.

For example in the first row she has used reds and then placed subjects such as fruit, chocolate and a post box these items are all very standard there nothing here that suggests hatred or anger so with this first line i would said she is portraying the love she has for these objects.

The second row orange, contains subject matter such as fruit, flowers and chocolate again the colour orange connotes happiness and i get this from the choice of objects as they all are quite cheerful material to work with.

Next we have yellow which is know to connotate a mellow, cheerful, tangy feeling and the subject matter used in this is sun cream and footballs and butter.In this row there are actually two items relating to football and i think this is used to convey the excited feeling you get when watching football in a crowd or actually playing football. And so forth all of the colours seem to relate to the subject matter and moods it conveys.

To make this Lin Osborn could have taken all these pictures digitally and then using photo shop and some photo filters within it laid all the images out on a grid in colour order.

 I think the fact that the colours are of those of a rainbow relate to audiences more they can begin to understand the composition better because of the familiarity of the overall subject matter, it also brings a cheerful mood to the piece because bright  colours were used there were no blacks or greys.This piece has inspired my compositional layout when presenting a final piece.

United Colours of Benetton analysis

In this image it shows a baby of a white origin being breastfed by a woman of a black origin, its a advertisement poster, This image is made to shock and draw audience members in but the company has caused a lot of controversy with some members of the public over the years because of their shocking imagery used. The first time i looked at this image i saw it for what it was but after i looked at it for a while longer i started to think about what this image is trying to convey by being this shocking. I think this image is quite quirky in the sense that its a clothes advertisement and infact this woman is not clothed which is probably what makes people have a second look at it. the word 'united' used in this print refers to the coming together of all nations and this image reflects that in the imagery of a black woman holding a white baby.

The word Objective refers to what i and others can actually see in a piece of media,Subjective then goes on to mean our own personal opinions and interpretations of that piece of text or looking at that piece of text in great detail.

This advert caused a lot of controversy with Christians and was later banned. The controversy was that it resembled a painting done by Leonardo Da Vinci called 'The last supper' which traditional was the last meal jesus had with his disciples.This advert was seen as a parody of the painting as was removed by a inquest in court.The woman in the centre of this picture does look from a subjective view as if she is trying to be jesus because of the way her hands are placed openly which is the same pose jesus did in the leonardo painting below. In my opinion although the resemblance is there i think that christians were more oposed to the fact this was a advertising campaign that resembled the last supper as it is frowned upon to iuse jesus to gain profit from, I don't believe however that this is trying to mock the painting because there isn't really any comical sides to it.

AS/A2 Project Brief

This is the new exam brief from AS to A2, throughout this project we are expected to do a lot of things one of which is a  artist research and blog and book work.


What goals can you set yourself for this project?
For this project i can set myself a goal of dedication and time keeping.To achieve this i need to make time for my bookwork and blog and also time for taking digital pictures.

What are you going to do to meet the requirements of the project?
To meet the requirements for this project i will spend a sufficient amount of time on my blog and equal this out with time spent on my book,i Will  also research and evaluate as i progress.