National Gallery Trip

Today I went to the National Gallery and searched through the many rooms to find the painting that I was most inspired to recreate. I found it was quite challenging as most of the paintings are quite traditional and posed which is not a route I wanted to go down. I eventually found a pastel piece called Ophelia Among The Flowers by Odilon Redon which is very etherial and abstract.

Information next to painting: 'This pastel is one of several compositions by Redon of this subject from Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' which date from this period. The flowers seem to be of no identifiable species, resembling lilac and strawberries, and with blue leaves interspersed with the green. The garlanded head of Ophelia is turned towards the flowers as though in contemplation of their beauty.'

I am very familiar with Hamlet by Shakespere as I studied it at A Level at school so know the text and characters well. This piece inspired me the most as it immediately made me think of all of the different textile techniques I could include in it. I think I am going to interpret the mass of flowers next to Ophelia as a design on a dark blue cloak or cape she will be wearing. This means I will be able to do lots of experimentation with fabrics and sewing techniques and be very innovative and resourceful as the brief stated we should be. This would work on the skills that I already have and enable me to enhance and experiment with these skills to create new ones appropriate to this project. I am very happy with my choice of painting and looking forward to starting the experimentation with fabrics and textile techniques.