Since looking at Rob Mulholland's work with highly polished steel I've been wondering if  incorporating something similar in my work might help with my "inner voice" unit at college. I've managed to source light weight mirrored board which is flexible. This would give me the ability to distort images. First I decided to experiment with tin foil. Good old bacofoil...not very reflective but cheap as chips. I glued it onto some mount board and began to play.

Acrylic on tinfoiled board

With a forest in mind I started to paint with acrylics laying down the colours fairly quickly to produce a loose image. I then scraped off some of the paint to reveal the foil underneath. As I did this images of painted pub mirrors came to mind.....not the message I was looking for.

Acrylic glaze on foil

The colours dried dull and flat so I painted another forest landscape this time using oil paints which I used straight from the tubes.

I dragged the colours down the board which gave the feeling of the dark canopy of the leaves and branches at the top getting lighter as the tree trunks reached the ground.. The zingy yellow/orange suggests a clearing ahead or a way forward. This image could have so many meanings. I scraped into the paints again hoping it would work this time. In retrospect I don't think the painting needed the sgraffito. It had lots to say without it. I love these colours.

I had cut out several pieces of board so I carried on painting using up the acrylic paints on my palette. I stayed with the theme of trees but this time they were symbols representing people who had an effect on my life.

The Good The Bad and The Ugly

Suffocation

Titles for these came easily...because it's about something I know inside out. It's about me, my life as it always has been and always will be. Aspects of my life I can't change. Circumstances that have moulded me into the person I am today

Oh dear !!!.....think I'll ditch the mirror idea.