Artist Name: Rebecca Lori (Plastic Violet)

Lecture Title: What is the Self?

The title of my artwork: "Broken Connection"

Part 1 - Foetus

Photo 1 – These are my chosen art materials. I chose watercolours because I love the way the paint
blends and gives a slightly unpredictable end result depending on how much water you use. This
little Daler Rowney travel tin has every colour I need and is wonderful to use. The postcard sized
watercolour card forms a perfect base for the paint and I like working on a small scale. I used a
selection of Da Vinci and Vincenzo brushes and a variety of black fine liners for very small detailed
work. These will help my work come together and add the important finishing touches.

Photo 2 – I drew a fine outline with pencil of a cocoon shape.

Photo 3 - I used a flat paintbrush and water to coat the card in preparation for the watercolour
paint. This makes it easier to blend the colours.

Photo 4 – I started to paint the outside of the cocoon black. For me this represents a kind of
nothingness. The world outside the womb has no meaning at this point and I wanted to illustrate
this with the dark tones.

Photo 5 – I mixed red and orange together to create a warm shade that I began to paint inside the
cocoon. This warm red glow represents the inside of the womb and the safety that I felt enclosed
within.

Photo 6 – I applied a deeper red to add texture and more warmth to the painting. I added this colour
to symbolise the function of the body. The deeper red symbolises blood flow, the inside of the
womb and my mother’s heart. It symbolises life.

Photo 7 – I used my finest black ink pen (0.1) to create a black border around the cocoon. I then
began fine detailed work creating organic connecting dots that swirl through the womb. These
represent the feeling of being held from the outside of the womb. They represent the connection
between mother and daughter.

Photo 8 – I added a little yellow as for me this colour represents awareness. These colours are the
awareness of a child in the womb.

Photo 9 – Using my fine black pens I added more dots and wanted these to organically move
towards the yellow. This for me represents the connection between mother and daughter and the
awareness that I felt from inside the womb.

Photo 10 – I felt the black was too harsh and didn’t at all represent how I imagine I felt in the womb.
I still wanted the outside colour to depict a type of nothingness but I decided to add a dark blue
colour wash as the colour of the ocean felt more apt.

Final Photo – It was quite difficult creating this piece as I obviously don’t have a clear memory of
being in the womb yet I do have a sense of what I felt at that time. I fought between feeling safe and
enclosed to feeling claustrophobic during the painting of this piece, which I expect is an emotion or
feeling I picked up later in life. This is the reason I changed the black to blue, black felt too
oppressive and dark. I feel I captured a sense of being held in a safe place where there is a very deep
connection between mother and daughter.

Part Two - Aged 7 – The Self

Photo 1 – The materials I chose were different for this second piece of art. I decided to use Winsor &
Newton Ink alongside fine liners and a selection of Da Vinci and Vincenzo paint brushes. I used the
same postcard sized watercolour card as before. I chose to use ink because of its completely
unpredictable nature. Ink and water merges together to create an often chaotic symphony of
colours and patterns – and this felt very relevant to my art as I was creating a piece representing
myself at aged 7-8, which was very chaotic and difficult time in my childhood.

Photo 2 – I washed my palette (as old acrylic paint and ink does not mix well – lesson learned!) and
added vermillion, sunshine yellow, peat brown, deep red and black Indian ink using a pipette.

Photo 3 – I gave my card a good coating of water here using a medium-sized flat paint brush.

Photo 4 - I added the yellow ink using a medium-sized brush to the centre. This colour represents
childhood innocence and is central to the work.

Photo 5 – I added the red, brown and black ink around the yellow and allowed it to go wherever it
chose to go. This process represented the lack of control I had at that particular time in my life; I
wanted the art to reflect this in a chaotic way.

Photo 6 – I added a wash of grey to cover the remaining white bits on the card. My life at the time
was a grey area of uncertainty and difficult emotions due to my grandmother’s death and mother’s
mental illness. I used my flat paintbrush to dab grey onto the art and also used my finger on the
brush to flick grey ink across the entire piece. Again reflecting how these difficult feelings seeped
into every part of my life at the time.

Photo 7 – Using my 0.1 fine liner, I added spikes to the ink to represent the mental illness in my
family and also my anger, hurt and confusion.

Photo 8 – I then began to add more detail to the work with my 0.1 and 0.3 black ink pens. I wanted
to create the same swirling dots that I previously used in my foetus painting. These represent the
connection I had with my mother but in this painting the dots are often connected to the spikes so
the connection has been tainted by my mother’s mental health at the time.

Photo 9 – I added a black border with black ink around the artwork. This was to represent the
containment of my feelings and how unhealthy it was to contain such feelings at the time.

Final Photo – This was very difficult for me as I had to revisit old feelings that weren’t particularly
pleasant. However, this was the first time I have visually recorded my feelings from my childhood
and it actually felt very cathartic.

My experience of creating the artwork:

Whilst creating this artwork was very difficult for me it was also very cathartic. It was interesting to
see how I interpreted my childhood feelings into several paintings and I feel I visually captured the
emotions I felt at the time.
Thank you Libby for letting me create work for your lecture!

About The Artist:

Hello - my artist name is Plastic Violet and I love to create art using anything and everything but
you’ll find me mostly using watercolours and black fine liner pens. I like to work on a very small scale
creating fine detailed pieces that are abstract and open to individual interpretation. My style is
eclectic and I am constantly learning new techniques to use in my work. During the week I volunteer
at an arts centre working with people with learning disabilities and mental health issues. I feel art
transcends any barriers and is a powerful tool in communication and positive mental health.

Where you can see more of my work: https://www.instagram.com/plastic.violet/

Etsy shop coming soon: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PlasticVioletStudio

Website also coming soon: http://www.plastic-violet.com/