The workshop:
Dominic Shepherd:
"MERZ WINDOW
The painted canvas is frequently described as a window. In this workshop we shall start with a real window and consider how we can manipulate and change that view. Using collage, paint or the drawn line the window shall become the canvas, a surface that is the thin divide between the external and internal worlds. The choices here become manifold, manipulating the view beyond, the quality of light, creating narratives, perspectives, shifting planes, materiality, inside/outside.
You will need a window to work on. You will also need to gather an array of materials beforehand, be prepared to improvise.
Suggestions; Sellotape, masking and/or packaging tape; paper and card (think of translucency); blu tac; tracing paper; scissors; cutting knife and cutting board; emulsion paint; cellophane; scrappers; felt-tips; string; textile materials. Wilko’s is good for most of the above. Make sure anything that goes on is removable!
‘I can see no reason why used tram tickets, bits of driftwood, buttons and old junk from attics and rubbish heaps should not serve well as materials for paintings; they suited the purpose just as well as factory made paints. It is possible to cry out using bits of old rubbish..’
Kurt Schwitters"
The only window in my flat that isn't a skylight and has a view. I chose natural colours, colours of the earth and nature. Greens, yellows and browns. I wanted to delete the roof out of the image and create as abstract frame for the trees. However when I took the image with part of the roof still in, it seemed to work better; it looked like part of the roof. I kept this up for a few weeks, and part of it is still on the windows, the right side as my flatmates said they would like to keep it as the weather has been so bad and it cheered the up.
Inside, Outside is something that keeps coming up within my practice. The window acts as a frame for the outside and within this I can manipulate that plane to tell whatever narrative I want to. It doesn't even have to be a narrative, it can be as simple as to make the outside look more aesthetically pleasing. In my case with the triangles, it helped my housemates to feel better.
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