Carmen McNally's Art

Reframing Photography I came across this research of reframing photos. This is what I want to experiment with cutting around my photos. https://www.reframingphotography.com/content/collage

I wanted to select photos of my children doing active things. I thought this way, they will look more interesting once I cut around the outline.

The city in the horizon. When I was a little girl there only used to be 4 big building. Canary Whalf, the HSBC building and a couple more.   The start of the triangle. It is always full of traffic. The tower in the background. This is a sneaky shot over my old back garden gate. I truly loved this Whisteria tree. I used to train the branches. I was so happy to see they have kept it after all these years.  A view to Gipsy hill Gipsy hill, I used to walk up and down this dreded hill everyday to go to and from the train station. At the top this was the view of the city in the horizon. I really like this photo because of its composition. I really like how the road disappears into the trees and the lamps on the left are  

Thornton Heath Clock Tower- South London St Albans Church- Thornton Heath Sphinx in Crystal Palace Park with the Crystal Palace tower in the backgound I was able to go and take a picture of the Whisteria from the back garden of my old house- Crystal Palace  

I have taken some photos of the routes I used to travel, both to school when I was a child and to work. Every photo that I have taken was a part of my journey. It's interesting to see how the places I have photographed have changed significantly over time, while others remain unchanged, as though I have gone back in time.  Looking down Oxford Street Sculpture around the back of Liverpool Street Station, London The elephant Sculptures wasn't there back when I used to go to the Mac cosmetics counter in Spitalfields market to train the staff- Spitalfield Market, London East Central I took the bus over this bridge almost everyday. Looking down Tower Bridge, London My Primary school, Broadmead. There used to be a brick wall that went around the whole entrance, with big red metal gates- Croydon, South London My Secondary school, Brit Performing Arts school- Selhurst, South London I used to sit down on the wall with my school friends in front of this huge oak tree. The Brit school mur...

National History Museum During the Easter break, I visited the Natural History Museum with my children and came across a beautiful artwork that has stayed with me. It featured layers of glass encasing pressed seaweed, which I found really striking. The red, green, and brown species of seaweed, sourced from coastal areas such as Pembrokeshire and Devon, were presented with great delicacy. The arrangement gives the sensation of being underwater, with the overhead lighting mimicking the way sunlight filters through the sea's surface, creating a calm, immersive atmosphere. What appealed to me most was the simplicity of the composition, just two large sheets of glass, subtly illuminated by spotlights from above. The minimal use of layers prevented the piece from feeling cluttered, allowing each specimen to stand out in its own right. This is something that I want to move forward with when creating my next layered pieces. The 'Walk With Me' light box that I made had 38 layers. Wh...

Photography Gallery visit I went to the Photography Gallery around the back of Oxford Street in central London. I thought I would see many works that would inspire me but that didn't happen. However there were a couple that I really enjoyed, that made me instantly think of my own ideas. Cristina De Middel-  Benita, Juarez Puebla, Mexico (2019) This artwork created by Cristina De Middel is a powerful mix of portrait and landscape. It shows a faded, old-style painting of a man in a suit, but his face has been replaced with a clear photo of a mountain and sky. The sharpness of the landscape stands out against the blurry figure, making the viewer focus on what is inside rather than the outside appearance. To me, the missing face suggests identity, memory, and inner life. It could be saying that a person’s true self is not always visible, and that we all carry a world of thoughts and emotions within us. The mountain might symbolise strength, history or even mystery. The work feels both ...

Screen Printing I wondered up to the print room do discover different resources I can use. I really like the look of using these Cyan, Magenta and yellow tones in screen printing. overlapping colours. This nun is on the wall of our technician, Tony. The two colours are magenta and teal that have been overlapped. I like this dark shade of navy that has been produced from the two colours overlapping one another. It has a comic feel to it and the  style is like  punk  visual art. Punk art tends to have a lot of black and grey tones and letters cut out from newspapers and magazines ,  a style very much like Dada. I like the idea of screen printing my photos onto clear perspex and overlapping these as my layers.  I also like the idea of collaging photos together like a photo montage.

  Artist research I looked through book that belonged to my tutor that was full of different Photography artist's. I came across some that had some really interesting ways of layering an image which has opened my mind giving me lots of ideas. That I could layer an image in a collage form like a Dada style or even combine multiple photo together rather than have many layers stacked. I can just got for 4-6 larger layers. get the name of the book Meredyth Sparks- Roxy 2008 Matt Lipps- look in the book to see what its called Matt Lipps- Untitled (Garage Floor) 2008 Matt Lipps- Untitled (Stove) 2008 John Stezaker- Shadow IV 2006 John Stezaker- Shadow VI 2006 John Stezaker- Fold X 2009 John Stezaker- Mask CII 2011 John Stezaker- Mask C 2008 David Benjamin Sherry- Lemurian Morning Wood- 2011 David Benjamin Sherry- Soaring Yellow Morning Breath 2011 David Benjamin Sherry- All Matterings Of Mind Equal One Violet 2011 David Benjamin Sherry- Hyperborealis 2011 I really like the colour tints o...