Patterns and places of inspiration

On my walk back to the train station yesterday I came across a number of little shops that I could not resist popping into. I can get lots of inspiration from looking at patterns, designs, colours, forms, surfaces, fabrics and objects, and I also learn lots from shops in terms of ideas for ways to display things.

Here are a few photos of things and names of places that caught my eye

lifestory

https://www.lifestoryshop.com/

Concrete Wardrobe

Curiouser and Curiouser

https://curiouserandcuriouser.com/

Surfaces

Silicone onto triangular surfaces

I've been reflecting on my work with silicone, and am uncertain about the direction I am going in with the cones. I know that I need to increase the scale I am working on, moving them from maquettes to more refined forms. Looking back at the experiments that first got me excited about using silicone, I evaluated what made them work, and want to try experimenting with things such as transparency, opacity, mark making and composition. I'm going to use some of the triangular surfaces that made up the forms in the Out of Kansas exhibition at the Lit and Phil. This gives me the opportunity to work on a larger scale, and transform surfaces into three dimensional forms easily.

Transparent silicone onto matt paint.

Transparent silicone onto silver metallic vinyl.

Opaque silicone onto matt paint, with sprinkles of hundreds and thousands.

Transparent silicone, opaque silicone onto metallic silver vinyl and matt paint.

Raising these from the floor for the drying process has made me think of the installation possibilities. The surfaces could be raised at different heights, allowing them to overlap each other. They could be on wheels to allow different positioning and create various compositions.