Moodboard

I have created a few boards to show my colour palette and also some of the research I have gathered to give the person looking at my work an idea of where I am coming from and where i'd gathered all my information and all the influences for my pattern. I felt making these boards was very time consuming especially the fact that I kept wanting to change them and thinking the layout didn't look good in certain ways. Maybe thats just my OCD though!

Photoshop Work & Final Collection

Ive been spending some time on photoshop this week. I've been layering up my different prints by deleting backgrounds and only selecting the textures of some parts and the on other parts only selecting patterns. I'm really pleased with the results I think the colours and the patterns really stand out and look eye catching. After another tutorial I realised Maybe I should try using the same tones of colours and create samples that are less 'in your face' colour wise because I've been trying to wash out the colours with white. Over all though I am very pleased with this outcome as I've used a mixture of everything even my initial drawings of motifs from the beginning!

Developmental work & tutorial

Ive been excited to star new drawings using all the information i'd gathered through my parents and research I've collected. Id decided to do something a little different this time. I did loads of prints using a mono printing technique where I used a clean glass and placed paint on it which I'd rolled out flat and then placed a piece of paper on to it and drew the design on the back. It was difficult at first to get it completely right but when I finally got the right results I was really pleased with the outcome. I really enjoyed making these prints as I could never tell how each one would turn out. I loved the textures that the paper picked up off the glass this made me realise that I was going to continue mixing textures with traditional classic patterns. I was really pleased with the result. The colours had also mixed together forming a colour palette itself. I had another tutorial this week and we had spoken about scanning in these designs and playing around with them on photoshop and seeing what I'd come up with. I will try to layer different sections of the prints and exposing more paisley print but also keeping the lovely textures.

Research & tutorial

After having a tutorial this week we spoke about looking at historical and traditional patterns with in my culture. So I went home and spoke to my parents and asked them a few questions about tribal areas and traditional patterns in Pakistan. One of the main things I'd gathered information about were colours and pattern in mosques and henna. I looked up different mosques and found beautiful images of exquisite elegant patterns and beautiful bright reds and gold colours. I found beautiful tiles with every inch of space covered in the most stunning islamic patterns. My dad also brought out a beautiful burgundy coloured scarf called 'ajrak' that is a burgundy colour with stunning repetitive patterns. I feel excited about using all this inspiration in my next drawings!

Initial drawings

I've finally got stuck in and did some drawings using the inspiration I've gathered so far. I've mainly made motifs so that I can use them digitally and layer them upon top of one another. I don't think these are what my project will be based on as they at the moment seem a little boring to me. I will include them in some way though when I get on bit further into my project. I have used different inks and different fine liners to create paisley patterns. I have also included different patterns that I have seen during the weddings that I thought would look good as a pretty sequence. I also did a type of mono printing where i used a thin polystyrene and drew into it and then painted over it and printed onto paper.

Research, research, research.

These last two weeks I have been racking my brains thinking about how I can mix different elements of my life and my culture together to create a new modern concept. Ive been looking at different prints and designs to influence me one of my favourite is a collection by Givenchy (its fashion but at least its a start!) although these are fashion designs the idea of the paisley mixing with solid blocks of colours is something that has inspired me. I have decided mix paisley with something else. I haven't completely decided what though. Yet!

work so far & tutorial

We had a tutorial today and I was able to speak to alex about my work so far, these drawings are my favourite so far and I think the represent my research and all my influences that i have talked about before. I have used traditional paisley and henna motifs in my drawings and i have also used these colours as my foundation to begin working on my final outcomes. The feedback was mainly good Alex said to mix the drawings i had done at the beginning with these ones and also maybe make the colours a little more subtle. 

Trip To Pakistan

So, I went away to Pakistan for the next part of the wedding it was an amazing experience I really enjoyed myself. The wedding was so much fun all the traditions and customs and everything we did was interesting and inspirational I was extremely inspired by the henna artist and the way she used the traditional Paisley in her work on the brides hands I took lots of pictures and used them all as influence in future drawings.

Trip to Denmark!

I went away for the weekend to Denmark as i have family and thats where the 2nd part of the wedding is being hosted. so on one of the days it was the celebration which was so much fun with all the bright lovely colours and all the traditional clothing and dancing. It was so inspirational and very exciting as i know it would be a big influence in my work so i took a few pictures (pictures don't do it justice) to take back with me.

Here are also a few sight seeing pictures!

Summer Work

Over the summer I have been gathering research for my project when i get back to uni. I've been trying to inspire myself by using my own life and culture as experience as so many things have been going on this summer! Firstly its been Ramadhan so I've been fasting over the last month and then it was Eid which was a big celebration and so much fun! My cousin is also getting married over the next few months! the wedding is spread over a few months so I'll have plenty to inspire me hopefully!.

I used a disposable camera on one of the occasions just to see how the pictures would turn out and I loved the rest they looked really interesting and almost vintage it really excited me! The pictures have blurs and random red marks across them they are a great start for a new project!

Group Label

Revolt Culture

An exhibition of collaborative work celebrating the diversity of culture in Manchester as the Art School reaches its 175th anniversary. Bringing together photographs, prints, illustrations and objects which individually explore different geographical areas of the city, collectively it represents how the variety in culture makes Manchester the vibrant, exciting place it is.

As a group of students from various backgrounds, we individually studied our cultures and hometowns before reflecting this back on the city we all now live in. Each group member took an area of the city to explore and used this as inspiration to create their own artworks, with many group members experimenting with mediums outside of their specialisms.

Various areas brought up different themes: the bright colours and textures of the Longsight markets led to photographs inspired by Pakistani wedding traditions, decorated mugs and bunting were a reflection of the vintage and café culture in the Northern Quarter, and prints and illustrations were influenced by the traditional architecture of Deansgate, Oxford Road and the Art School itself. Students also looked at concepts of childhood family photographs envisaged through their friends, physical differences through ethnicity and imagery taken from walking around the city streets.

All this individual work was brought together as one collaborative display, with group members hanging works side by side, layering artworks over each other or even creating origami out of each others photographs, to create a bold, vibrant and visually exciting exhibition of clashing mediums, styles, colours and scale that truly celebrates the amazing diversity of this city we all now call home.

Mariam Nadeem
Howard Ho
Tina Chatrizeh
Niamh Maguire
Samira Hales
Lucy Smith
Jessica Lough
Charlotte Wrek

Final set up

Today was the final setup! It was a big task and we managed to get everything done within two hours! Me, Howard and Atif (my friend I brought to help out) started straight away by doing my pictures first It was alot harder than we thought as the wall was extremely uneven and was really difficult to get all the pictures perfectly aligned but we managed to get it right in the end. I think the end result was really successful and I think we should all be proud of our hard work. Our exhibition I feel, fits in with the space we chose and also shows our concept. Everything is put up in place and looks beautiful!