Waldeinsamkeit

Initial Moodboard:

Once I had decided on focusing on the word Waldeinsamkeit I made another mood-board of inspiring imagery I felt appropriate focusing primarily on Illustration and Photography: 

Artist Research: 

Alisa Yang, Kilian Schonberger, Brian Froud, Arthur Rackham, Alan Lee and Sarah Gibb. 

Unable to find many artists who have made work using the word 'Waldeinsamkeit' I looked at those who produced work that I felt represented the forest and/or trees. I tried looking at different styles of making work such as photographer Kilian Schonberger, whose photos are very atmospheric and diverse in my opinion as well as different styles of illustration. I did stumble upon one illustrator who used images found in colouring books to create a collage depicting her representation of Waldeinsamkeit whose other illustrative work I really liked too. Three fantasy illustrators I am familiar with, having grown up with appreciating their work, who have a very unique way of creating anamorphic and fantastical trees are that of Brian Froud, Alan Lee and Arthur Rackham. I also stumbled upon some of children's illustrator Sarah Gibb's work on Pinterest, who I've researched further being interested in illustrating children's books and I particularly like her almost collage like and watercolour illustrative styles. 

 

Having talked to my tutor about focusing upon the idea of making a body of work around the one word Waldeinsamkeit, it was decided that the next course of action would be to spend the day in a forest making work. I decided between the Woods at Formby (red squirrels!) where I had been before or Delamere Forest which had been recommended by a friend. Having been to Formby before and being told the station was directly in the Forest at Delamere, I decided to go somewhere new and spent the day in Delamere Forest in Cheshire. 

Delamere Forest:

Contact Sheets: 

Selection of shots: 

The weather wasn't particularly inspirational with an average grey cloud cover for most of the day until the last hour of the day where the combination of the Golden Hour and beautiful sunset finished the day off. 

These summarise up the day and the untranslatable feeling of Waldeinsamkeit to me personally: 

Onsite Observational Drawings: 

  

Crossover Tutorial Feedback: 

After talking to David Alker for the Crossover Tutorials week, I've come away with a more solid concept of where I should be heading. Following on from his advice, I've tried to give my drawings more of a purpose by finishing them off more definitively, for example, considering the placement of the lines I'm making; specifically when marking the lines of the trees, so that they fall right to the edge of the paper rather than vaguely finishing near the edge. 

Suggested Artist Research: 

Acting on the suggestion of looking into artists who work with wood, linking to the idea of getting the full feeling of being emerged in the forest across I have looked at the following: