Overall I am very pleased with all of my work and the direction it headed into. I was able to play with textures and colours and combining the two cities together. Through the group project and workshops I feel like I grew as an artist and in a way was able to settle into Cardiff better and really appreciate home.
My Subject work is explained in my sketchbooks and my supporting works are around them. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the work I produced this year!
These pieces are arabic calligraphy of words that say Love, Family, Freedom, Changes and Wisdom. All words I associate with home and here in Cardiff and the main words that come to mind when I think about the move. The colours are vibrant and striking like the painting workshop piece and the textures are like the lines I’ve recreated on the photographs of shop shutters and the telephone wires and Cardiff skyscraper skylines. The bubble wrap effect imitating the stone windows also in my photography. These pieces tie in Cardiff and Amman together perfectly I feel.
Photo in a taxi in Amman. This photo really captures the humble Jordanian warm culture. I edited the colours and made them warmer in order to emphasise this.
I edited this piece in a comic like way to create a cold feeling with the colours and textures but yet it still looks old and tattered, tying in Amman and Cardiff again. I particularly love the way the old man has become the focal point.
This is one of my favourite photos I took, the reason for it is its simplicity, and that you cant actually tell where or what it is, but the colours tie in both Cardiff and Amman.
These are just some of the pieces I edited, playing with the filters and colours and tones, and even textures all inspired by my artist research and by the colour schemes; Amman is warm and rustic, Cardiff is very modern and is associated in my mind with silver and cold metal. I was inverting and putting pictures into their negatives to play with this.
Top Left: This piece is my alternative final field piece. It was inspired by the warmth and the colour tones in Amman. I Didn’t add details into all the building because I i wanted the middle to be the focus and to emphasise a dirtier and old looking feeling. The chaotic feel portrays what Downtown Amman is like and the blue writing is the Cardiff influence from sign posts that I placed in the Amman scene.
Top Right: This is a piece I made on a canvas and used filler and paint to create a thick background for the drawing. I did this inspired by the photo I edited of an old landscape of Downtown Amman. I have started to reverse the photos into their negatives inspired by Ahmed Al Khalidi, and I will continue with this method.
Bottom Left: This is the piece I made in a painting workshop. I enjoyed the cut out wood and board concept and used it further for my smaller arabic calligraphy pieces. I am really happy with the outcome of this piece and the colours and shape work well. The writing in arabic says “no smoking inside” which i chose to write because that is something I found very striking, in Amman it is still acceptable to smoke inside everywhere and it is such a large part of the culture, whereas it is quite frowned upon in Cardiff and is not acceptable to smoke indoors anywhere. The elements in the piece all represent different parts of Cardiff and Amman tied into one piece.
Bottom Right: This is my final piece and my favourite one. I used a picture of Cardiff bay which is an iconic and known part of the city and tied in two objects that were in the old house in Amman in Downtown however are not very recognisable as arabic oddities to most. The large bead is known as a lucky charm which is something that I wanted to incorporate when I moved here, and keep arabic traditions (they are very superstitious) into this culture.
These are some more of my photos of downtown.
These are some of my favourite photos taken in the oldest Villa in Downtown Amman, which is now a tourist spot. I fell in love with the decorations and the weathered feel to the place. I decided to incorporate some of these objects in my work and tie them into pieces linked to Cardiff to show the comparisons of the two cities. The warm colours and tones with the pale blues and vibrant oranges are what I love most and I am going to focus on this throughout my work.
These are some of the photos I took in downtown Amman which is the oldest part of the city and has beautiful architecture and personality. Its known for the strong sense of culture and the warm environment and hospitality. Very traditional. I edited the photos with a warm filter and tones to create an old and almost time honoured feel.
Z.A.P Art 