Ch 4 - poly ivy!

For challenge 4 I decided to focus on the ivy in my back yard. I've used a few techniques here. For the base (the brick wall) I printed off a photo of the wall and using gel medium I transferred the image to one of the polystyrene pizza bases that I had. With the 2nd tray, I cut out one ivy shape using a black & white print of a leaf which I then glued to the poly 'leaf'. The remaining ivy 'leaves' were cut out around real leaves that I took from my yard. After trial and error, I decided that one of the best ways to colour them was using brush, or artist, pens, although I also painted each 'leaf' with acrylic paints. Using a craft knife I worked veins and whiter patches onto the 'leaves' to more resemble the originals. Before assembling, I stenciled 3 or 4 leaf shapes from the cut out shapes onto the 'wall' with acrylic paints.

This is the first time that I've ever used polystyrene in art, and my first attempt at a 3D collage. Great fun, even though I cheated slightly and used 2 pizza trays ;> An interesting challenge that has whetted my appetite to try similar techniques. Also, focusing on the ivy itself has made me realise what wonderful shapes and textures these leaves have. I think that I'll be using ivy in future challenges, as I want to explore this plant further.