Our first exercise was to construct a “crazy creature”.
What manifested was my new best friend (and inevitable replacement for the Cabbage Patch Kids), Mycologicalangelo’s David (Micky D for Short).
This creature is a spore druid, a sort of sentient fungus that presents as a hybrid of the inky cap and stink horn fungi.
Below is a full image and series of closeups.
Inspired by 2 cinema stills of Toni Collette in Hereditary, the below is an abstracted portrait.
The centre portrait is flanked by the character’s horrified expression. Cracks appear wherever the canvas base is visible, and also over the entirety of the centre portrait.
“Who is it, Mr Spider?”
“A Guest for Mr Spider” is a concertina book that is an adaptation of the 81st episode of the horror podcast The Magnus Archives.
In this book, the eponymous Mr Spider invites a number of flies to dinner.
To adopt a more “story book” approach, the fold of each page is stitched closed rather than allowing it to fold out.
This was also so that each page had an abundance of anchor points when using thread to create the webbing throughout the book.
Each page (with the exception of the last) has two opening panels that give the effect of a pop-up book.
The illustrations are at steel plate etchings, and the text is produced through screen printing.
The printing techniques were combined to create a collage. This accommodated the pop-up nature as well as a problem solving tactic as I had to apply numerous images to each plate.
The accompanying wooden “book box” has a lino cut print of the same door that is on each page throughout the story book.
Prior to weaving the web found in the box, I investigated the process most spiders weaver their web. While I can’t accurately replicate a web given the limitations of thread (doesn’t stick to itself), I was able to utilise the corner anchors that is present in most webs.
All through the book and box there are the remains of various insects. These were collected humanely, long since desiccated and collected from abandoned cobwebs. The orb weaver in the book box was found crushed, away from it’s web.
The first 3 weeks of Semester 1 of VIS1010 were made up of Foundational Drawing.
Each week was a series of exercises, and a resolved work based on the preceding exercises. The resolved works will be presented in a separate entry, and the exercises for week 1 were as follows;
The following is a class exercise in which we lay a grid over the image of a face, create our own grid and replicate the portrait.
I have selected the climactic scene from the 2019 folk-horror film ‘Midsommar‘ for my portrait.
The theme of the scene is the main character releasing grief from their old life while witnessing their partner’s ritualistic sacrificial burning. Having recently divorced, undergoing a (non-violent) ritual burning of my own, creating this piece of sombre beauty was a cathartic exercise.
I admit that I struggle with floral and botanical subjects. The exercise this piece was for allowed for either a botanical or portrait resolved work, but I decided to challenge myself by incorporating both (as I have a history in portraits, allowing me to complement a weaker skill with a stronger one). The process of gridding the space was an effective way of addressing this challenge, as it turned the botanicals into smaller shapes that relate to each other.
The below is the source image, initial draft in pencil, topographical line study in pen, and resolved work in watercolour and pen.
Max Cook-Long is a Toowoomba based artists who works primarily with painting, drawing and mixed media.
Their development has been self directed up until 2022 when they began a Bachelor of Creative Arts and Community Wellbeing, majoring in Visual Arts with the University of Southern Queensland.
Max’s practice is inspired by the science-fiction, fantasy and horror media from their youth, and as a queer artist their works tend to focus on a mixture of the esoteric and feminine forms. They have an appreciation for the strange and unusual, and how the weird can be wonderful.
