Experimenting with colour and marks.

Recently, I have been experimenting with colour and marks and how they can imply different moods, emotions and concepts as I want my aspects in my end product to all link together and make sense as to why I chose those colours and marks. At the moment, I am just getting used to the different types of marks I can create and the meanings that they express. The following is my initial experiments with colour and marks.

1 - To create these marks, I used a dry brush to make the rough texture and then I used a the edge of a piece of cardboard to create harsher marks that appear to have fairly crisp and sharp edges. however, I wish that I would have added more layers to the experiment to enhance the depth within the piece which is something that I am going to try in my next experiments.
2 - This was created with a very dry brush and a lot of layers as to build form, I had to deepen the colour when compared to the outer edges of the experiment. These marks almost represent a fur texture which would be useful when attempting to paint an animal or a response to an animal in the future.

3 - In order to create these marks I splatted the page with different shades of red and then left them to dry for a little while and then used a dry brush to spread the left over wet paint. The rough texture of this piece would work well when comparing it to a piece maybe about anger or if I was linking it to a piece with an animal I would choose one that is commonly known as fierce e.g. a lion.
4 - The more curvaceous marks of this experiment leads to a more delicate atmosphere when compared to some of my other experiments. I used a slightly wet brush to create these marks as they appear more fluid and smooth when compared to the experiments with a dry brush.
5 - These marks are created by using a lot of paint on a slightly wet brush due to the more block areas of colour and I really like them as they stand out on the page more than some of the others do. However, they would probably only be good to use in a piece that are more linear and patterned, and as I am not doing this, I don't think I will use them in the future.
6 - When creating these more fluid marks I used a long soft textured brush to create the more curvaceous marks. I like the blends of the different tones of red.

7 - To create these drips of watered down acrylic, I combined water and acrylic together to create a more viscous medium that would be able to run down the page freely. Although I had controlled the areas where the drips had started out, I like how the direction of the drips has slightly changed as it made its way down the page. These marks would work better in a piece that was maybe depicting something that is fragile and/or delicate.
8 - I am fascinated by the types of marks that this specific brush had created as the stripy effect is quite fierce and sinister even. I was able to layer the brushstrokes to show contrast in tone of the colour red and build depth in the experiment.
9 - These are marks that have been created by a sponge piece that is covered in paint that has been smudged slightly onto the page. I don't really like these marks as they aren't very exciting.
10 - I prefer these marks when compared to experiment no. 9 as they give a more interesting texture and may work well as a background for my photos. I especially like how the black has started to mix with the red to create a variety of tones of the same colour.
11 - These marks were more fun to create than some of the others and I like how the black and red have infused to almost create a smoky effect. In order to create these marks I splatted heavy amounts of the acrylic paint onto the page and used a straw to help disperse the medium. From the moment that the black and red acrylic meets each other, they blend together and this is what causes the smoky effect. The marks created are quite smooth and would work quite well with a piece that illustrated something fragile and delicate. However if I were going to do this then I would use a softer colour such as blue.

12 - This multimedia piece was created through the use of acrylic paint, oil pastel and red sharpie. I layered these marks to build depth however I think that I need more layers for this to become apparent. The bottom layer was created by splatting marks onto the page and then drying them so that I could then spread the leftover wet ink with a dry brush. By doing this I was left with a harder outer shell of acrylic that adds texture to the piece. I then used a slightly wetter brush with red and white acrylic paint to blend colours and make the experiment more subtle. however, I don't think that it was subtle enough for the work that I want to create. The red sharpie was used as I like Vince Lows use of expressive line.
13 - I much prefer this piece to the one on the page before as the marks are much more expressive and the increased level of white in the piece adds more subtlety. If I was going to improve the piece I would have used more dry mark making with acrylic and a dry paint brush. I like that I have used a lot of layers in the experiment as Agnus Cecile does this in her work too and this is something I was most influenced by. To increase subtlety I could have used different tints of red such as pinks to add a more gradual change in colour.