A Modern Artist
Enter the World of Libbys Art
Story of An Artist
Liberty Bradley
I am a junior artist based in Leeds. I strive to be able to tell stories through my art work and to express emotions. I work in a wide range of different media and am talented in lots of different areas. Art is my greatest passion and I put all my energy into my work. My greatest strengths are illustration, drawing and painting. I love creating new ideas and seeing the finished results of a project.
Childhood
2017
I chose this project to begin to explore themes around childhood. I explored themes of memory, playfulness, time and innocence. I also explored darker themes such as loneliness and isolation. Through most of my work i have a distinct style which is drippy ink and messy but with an element of control and neat angles. My characters bodies are not always in perspective due to the way that children draw; they draw in a manner that doesn't care much for following the lines or boundaries. I wanted to show this a little in my own work, almost like travelling back to a time of childhood.
Shane
A Study
This painting was made using quink and inks. I drew this from a photograph I had taken myself. I like the contrast and his eyes. I was experimenting with making the work messy in a controlled way.
Maria
A Series in the End of Year Exhibition
This is another portrait from a photograph I took myself. I used brown paper and little colour as I was experimenting with aging and how to make paintings appear old or as if time has passed. This is why I chose a melancholy photograph to draw from where Maria didn't look happy to start with. I hoped that the painting would emoke emotion within the viewers.
Myself at a year old
A Study
This piece was drawn from a photograph of myself when I was a year old. I used inks and brown paper for this painting. I wanted to create a feeling of nostalgia in this piece and I tried to do this through my use of colour, and also the drips, which represent time and the passing off it because as time goes on things get broken and worn down.
My exhibition
A Series in the End of Year Exhibition
These are some painting out of an overall collection of 12 that I showcased in the End of Year Exhibition. They are large scaled, approximately 1.5m by 1m. I did these paintings on such a large scale so that they would be life like and life sized.
Painting
2017
Exploring opposites - new and old
Doll and cake
A Collaged Painting
This collaged painting is from two photographs, one is of an old doll from WW1, the other is of my brothers birthday cake when he was 1 year old. These photos were chosen for the contrast of new (new life) and old (old toy). I began by splattering blue paint drops over the collage. I painted with a mixture of watered down acrylics and thick acrylics. The colours are diluted and dark to symbolise aging.
Manchester Street
A Collaged Painting
With this collaged painting I cut up a photograph of a recycling bin and a photograph of old stickers peeling from a lamppost in Manchester. I applied the paint in this picture really thick and messy. I scraped paint over parts of the picture, similar to the first collage I made. However with this painting I exaggerated it a lot as the collage is quite unrecognisable from the original photographs. I was trying to experiment with a more abstract style. I think this painted collage was quite successful at showing the theme of old and new as the messy and unrecognisable style makes it look aged.
Retro games and the Nightclub
A Study
With this painted collage I used a photo of the entrance to a nightclub and a photo of old games consoles. I chose these photographs to show the contrast of something that is new and shiny and something that is used and old. To show contrast I painted over the night club until it was almost unrecognisable, and highlighted the consoles. I did this to change things around, make the new look old and the old look new.
Sketches
A Study
These are some sketches of objects that I useed within some of my paintings.
Grandma and granddaughter
Large Scale Painting
The subject is my grandma and little sister. This is a fluorescent painting but it was too bright so I had to paint over it with washy paints. I chose my grandma and little sister to show the contrast of new and old.
Old Abandoned House
Large Scale Painting
For my final outcome I based it from a photograph of my boyfriend and friend stood by an abandoned house. The photo showed the theme of old and new because the house was old, broken and decaying; however the main subject is brightly coloured showing the aspect of new. I painted in the drippy style because I felt that it is the most successful style of painting to show my theme.
Lex at the Playground
A Large Scale Painting
For my second final outcome I used a photo of my friend Alex on a toy at a playground. As Alex is too big for it I thought it was a good and different way to show this brief, in a sense of Alex being too old to use the equipment.
Identity
2017
This brief was all about exploring identity. I took a lot of photos of those close to me and explored their identity, their hobbies, interests and characteristics.
Alex
A Study
This is a continuous line drawing that I drew on brown paper. I painted the outline of the subject first, and then drew the figure on top of this. I feel that continous line has so much expression and you can be very wild with it. It doesn't need to be detailed or neat. I feel that continous line was a good media to use to explore the theme of identity because of this.
Gemelle
A Study
I used the colours that I felt matched peoples personalities. The subjects were all people that I knew well so I decided what colours their personalities would be and incorporated that into the work. This is a continous line drawing of Gemelle and I made the background quite splattered and textured.
Will
A Study
I asked my subjects to do things in the pictures which they would think described them and what they liked. This is Will with his brown sauce. The word 'lively' was from when I asked Will how he would describe himself. For this piece I used paints, inks, pencil and thread.
Alex
A Study
I asked my subjects to do things in the pictures which they would think described them and what they liked. This is Alex hugging a teddy. I used bright pink for the background to show innocence and bubbliness. I experimented with paint this time instead of continuous line.
Alex
A Series
This is intaglio. Alex posed as being upset and I felt that this was good because it shows a more raw and vulnerable side of people, as identity isn't just what is shown to the rest of the world but also internal.
Will
A Series
This is intaglio. This is Will putting brown sauce on his food. I like the bold lines on this piece.
Gymnast and the circus
2017
Posture
A Series
My subject was Faye who has done gymnastics. These ink drawings were to study different angles and postures to try and have her in proportion.
Experiments
A Series
I experimented with different medias and backgrounds. I tried painting over a photograph and sewing through this, but I decided that the drawing and drippy design was more expressive and I felt I could make the drawings more like illustrations rather than edited photographs.
Experiment
A Series
For this experiment and the one opposite I added inks to tissue paper and then printed over them using a pen to draw the subjects. I couldn't see what I was drawing so the work is very messy and wild, quite similar to my continuous line drawings.
Experiment
A Series
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Final Outcome
A Study
I decided to draw my gymnast in front of a river. I made the river black and white using quink and bleach. I chose to have the gymnast highlighted against a grey background because then the attention is on the gymnast rather than the background, as she is supposed to be the star of the show. I painted the gymnast using coloured inks.
Nature and Nurture in Oil Paint
A Study
Again I drew the gymnast against a grey background to draw attention to the gymnast. I drew her bowing in this picture symbolising the end of the show. I experimented with text to try and tell a story. I used words from the story these pictures are based from - I used 'she bowed', 'like fire' and 'not safe'. These words were how she was described by a man in the audience watching her dangerous performance.
Architecture and homes
2016
Stage Set Design
An Installation
These photographs are from when I worked as a team to make an installation of a kitchen. We had to work as a team and everybody contributed different ideas of design.
Stage Set Design
An Installation
The installation was made using cardboard boxes, props, paper/cardboard and paint.
Coffee
A Study
This is an acrylic painting that I did based from the installation that we had made. I was trying to go for bold, dark lines and a thick way of applying paint for texture. I wanted the colours to be quite grey and subdued to show contrast from the bright yellows and reds seen in the kitchen installation.
Chinese Restaurant
Architecture Study
This is a study of architecture. I took photos and explored the idea of urban and run down areas and felt that this fit perfectly. I used quink and applied the ink with a stick rather than a paintbrush to get a different texture and to avoid shading as I wanted this piece to draw attention to the lines.
Cracked House
A Study
This piece was created using inks and fineliner pen. I took a photo of a cracked, run down house and made the drawing of it bright and colourful. This shows massive contrast to the reality.
Church Door
A Study
I painted this door in oil pastels. I was trying to get a lot of depth and tone within this piece. I was very pleased with this piece.
Shelter
A Study
A drawing using oil pastels, fineliner pen and coloured biros. The original photograph od this smoking shelter was ugly and grey. I drew it with bright colours and vibrancy to transform it.
World War 2
This brief was about exploring themes from the war. I had a look at the way of life in WW2, death and memory.
Poppies
A Study
Poppies painted with acrylic paint and on tea stained paper. Poppies are a symbol of remembrance.
Studies of Uniform/Gas Masks
A Study
I used a page from a book for the background of the gas masks, and partially painted over the background in watered down emulsion. I did this to make this look old and aged. I then used inks and fineliner for the gas masks.
With the uniform I used a sheet of music notes to show that they are away from home/missing home as the symbolism of music notes is very different from the idea of war.
Studies of Boot/Gas Mask
A Study
For the background I used inks, I used dark colours to make the piece quite melancholy. For the drawings I used fineliner and white paint.
Tank 184
A Study
The background was made with quink inks and bleach. I was trying to make a grey background to show bleak conditions. I drew the tank using biro pens. I liked using the biro pens because IÂ feel IÂ was able to get a lot of detail into the tank.
Bomb
A Study
This is based from a photograph I took at the War Museum.
Animal illustration
2016
This project was all about creating cartoon style animals for a childrens story of my choice.
Cat made using monoprint
A Study
This was an experiment to use lino print. I really enjoyed the lino print but I prefer drawing as IÂ can get more detail into my pieces of work. I like the texture of this.
Shark - acrylic paint
A Series
I experimented with bold colours. As the audience was young children I think this was successful.
Little bird in acrylics
A Series
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Axolotl
A Series
This was my first experience using illustrator software. I enjoyed using illustrator and have improved since 2016.
Fish
A Series
This was made using adobe illustrator and I was improving my skills.
Thank you for your interest. For more information about my collections, please get in touch.
