I've not updated this blog for a while as I've been focussing on my tumblr blog and website - here's a link to my recently updated website:

www.nicola-spencer.co.uk

I've just uploaded images of my degree show installation, and some of my most recent work.

Tumblr Updates

I've been sing my tumblr blog account more recently, and have been posting a few more updates:

www.nicolaspencer.tumblr.com

x

1/3/2012

This is my latest doll that I've made so far - I've tried it on a bigger scale (around toddler size) and based the dress on the porcelain doll (pictured) that I found in charity shop. I added a black lace veil (trimmed with red) and paint to the hand and face of the figure - and have been trying out various compositions with smaller dolls that I've made. The next step is to make an adult sized doll figure!

This is the most recent small figure that I've made:

I like the contrast between the mirror and the lace but am not sure if it looks a bit too cliched?

I'll have a go at making some more small figures and see how things develop.

Ballerina study

Yesterday I painted a study of a ballerina by the photographer Sirkka-Liisa Konttinnen - I wanted to loosen up my painting style again, and also wanted to have a go at drawing something that wasn't a doll! I took photo's at various stages - and can't decided whether the study looks better when it's half finished or fully complete.

I wanted to try out a repeated pattern background for some of the doll figures that I made - kind of recreating a wallpaper pattern. Although the floral motifs aren't identical, I feel like the colours work, especially the sugar paper's texture, and helps to reference kitsch style.

This series of photographs was taken in order to investigate other ways I could use the dolls that I made - instead of just being physical objects. The blurring camera effect makes the images almost look like paintings, I could try printing these on a large scale and placing them together with the dolls in an installation set up to see what effect this has.

28th February - Studio Work

I've been on overdrive in the studio lately, due to the ever nearing deadline of the degree show. Although we're all feeling the pressure to make and develop work, I think it's a positive kind of pressure as it is making us work hard and push our ideas further and quicker than previous years. Hopefully we won't all be reduced to nervous wrecks as the weeks progress.

These are the small dolls that I've made so far but I hope to make around 20 to try out various different fabrics and dress styles. I've tried out making some dolls with bridal dress in response to my dissertation research on women and mental health and feel they are quite successful. I'm in the process of trying to integrate my dissertation research in my studio works more, and feel this is a step in the right direction.

Updated Website!

I've just had a spring clean of my website, updated some of the pages and added dates and titles to the works, which I completely forgot about doing before.

I hope to add images of my most recent work soon....

www.nicola-spencer.co.uk

I've been thinking about different ways I could hang the dolls that I've been making, either within an installation or displayed in a similar way to paintings. In the images below the dolls are hooked onto nails, and because of the lightness of the materials that I've used, they hold well and don't require any further support. I quite like them arranged in a series, but perhaps I need to be more experimental in terms of the way the figures look?

Dainty Dolls

In order to further my exploration into puppets, instead of continuing making hand-puppets I decided to try making dolls. Ideally I would have used cotton wool or sand to fill the dolls and make them more solid but seeing as though I was just tested an idea, I used shredded newspaper in order to fill the bodies instead. I've tried to keep the elements of clothing that worked with the hand-puppet outfits - but add more details, such as lace.

I've kept the face white for now, but might add details at a later stage. I'm unsure about whether to add hair to the dolls...it wouldn't work if I used a material such as wool, so the other alternative could be hair used for wigs or human hair? This would add a slightly grotesque element to the dolls, and help develop their individual characters.

All work up for assessment - 30/1/2012

Here are some images of the work I put up for assessment yesterday, I don't think my studio space has ever been this tidy! Shelves were definitely a good investment, i've not really seen my work against a blank wall - a good practice for displaying work in the future!

The row of clay plaits below were a last minute addition but think they are my favourite piece of all the work that I've hung in my space. I think they could definitely do with being titled though...

New clay work

I had a a big clay head making sesh in the studio this afternoon before our assessments in the studio next week. The pressure seems to be quite good in making me produce loads of work and I got about 6 heads done and a few hair braids! It's annoying that they take a long time to dry but they should be ready in 2-3 days.

Hand Puppets

After making the clay heads and researching puppets and their history, I decided to try out making cloths to display alongside the head sculptures I had previously made. Although the head and cloth bodies aren't joined, I aim to try and progress onto this within the next few weeks. The good thing about the clothing for the heads is that they are relatively quick to make, any ideas can be quickly put into practice and then discarded if they don't work out.

14/1/2012

These are a series of studies from a book about German puppets, i think the works on black paper work better than the one on the brown card, because they feel like they have more depth.