Art as a Message.

 

 

The artist of this painting has used realist colours to portray the focal point of this piece which I feel really grabs the viewers attention. I also like the use of bright colours used in the background of this as I feel it makes it look more like street art and graffiti instead of a piece portraying a message.

I like how the artist has used contrast between the street art and the internet pop up as I feel its feel thought of and clever and really makes the viewer think about the piece.

The shapes of the painting are typical street art/graffiti shapes, in which you would expect a piece of graffiti to look like.

I think this piece represents that the internet and the part it plays in society is becoming so large that it is starting to block out how people view the world, or in fact actually viewing it at all. I think that it is trying to show that people are so absorbed into their own phones/laptops/tablets or other forms of digital devices that we are missing out on viewing the world. Therefore the internet pop up is blocking us from seeing the full piece of art because we do not view the world fully.

I like this piece as I think it is clever how it is designed and that it is displayed on a public wall so people can view it and interpret it in their own way.

 

 

 

I feel this painting is a rebellious dig at the stereotypical view in society of homeless individuals. I feel when people see a homeless person asking for spare change they give a negative attitude towards them   

Feminist Art Critism.

Judy Chicago - July 20, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois

Judy Chicago is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces which examine the role of women in history and culture. Born Judith Cohen, she changed her name after the death of her father and her first husband, choosing to disconnect from the idea of male dominated naming conventions. By the 1970s, Chicago had coined the term "feminist art" and had founded the first feminist art program in the United States. Chicago's work incorporates stereotypical women's artistic skills, such as needlework, counterbalanced with stereotypical male skills such as welding and pyrotechnics. Chicago's masterpiece is The Dinner Party, which is in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum.

Chicago's aim is to portray the power of women through her art and prove that in the art community, women can produce pieces of work of an extremely high quality. Chicago teaches women the skills needed to express the female perspective in their work and help develop feminist art.

Her iconic piece The Dinner Party, is an installation artwork. Widely regarded as the first epic feminist artwork, it functions as a symbolic history of women in Western civilization. There are 39 elaborate place settings arranged along a triangular table for 39 mythical and historical famous women such as Virginia Woolf, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Theodora of Byzantium.

Sol

8/12/15

Today I started target audience research. I started by looking at different styles of homes people in the age brief (25+) would live in and then considering the type of life style they live. I have also taken into consideration the price range our target audience would consider. As the target audience is fairly young, I believe the majority of them would prefer modern styles. Therefore I have researched modern architecture and architects that build modern style homes. 

Sketch book work

8/12/15

In today's lesson I continued to create different mood boards. For this mood board I incorporated different elements of the door including handles, Windows, colours and the look of contemporary doors. I used black paper for the back ground and colleged different photos on the top. 

As the theme of the doors is 'Let the Outside in' I created another mood board based on this brief. I found images of doors based in outside areas and that incorporate trees and nature. I also found images of Windows like this and that have large windows that let lots of natural light inside. Like the previous mood board I researched colours and door handles. For colours I used nature based colours such as green and blues, relating to grass and the sky. For handles I found images of nature based handles including animals, stones and leaves. My favourite is the tree branch handle. 

On the next page I started to design doors and keyholes. I drew these out and using a craft knife, cut them so they cut open and you could see through the keyholes. Behind these I will write annotations and insert images of gardens. 

Distinction Doors

3/12/15

Today we started our new brief 'Distincion Doors'. I started by making a mind map to plan everything out in which I needed to do to complete this unit to achieve a pass. 

After I made this plan I started to design a series of mood boards relating to different colours of doors. I printed the distinction doors colour swatches from there website and used these to find images of different doors. I based the colours on black and whites, greens, blues, pinks and purples, reds and oranges and yellows. I split each page into two and allowed each board half a page. 

Final studio practice.

Looking at architectural elements from Renaissance paintings, I have looked more closely at different styles of pillars. The pillar I have chosen to draw was a personal favourite as I liked how even though it was a plain and simple design, it was still effective. To make my design sheet more interesting I have chosen to photocopy the original drawing and colour them in bright colours, attempting to shade. I then placed them in a diagonal setting to fill out the page. 


 

For my Frank Stella artist research page, I wanted to attempt to recreate one of his pieces, or one that would be similar. To do this I cut out similar shapes from one of his pieces and painted them in similar colours. To create the marbled effect he has on se shapes, I used a wooden ball that was dipped in paint and rolled it around the page because I cut the shapes out. I tried to make a pop up piece by cutting a spiral out of the sheet, however if it was stuck to the opposite side and opened the spiral drooped so I left it as it was. For the background I mixed paint to make a lighter blue and yellow, painting the paper blue and scraping the yellow across the page using a piece of card. Originally, I was going to use a sponge to dap the paint across the page but I didn't like the effect it created. I then stuck each shape onto the page overlapping/interlocking some and high wrong others using fixtures on the page. As I wanted this as a pop up page, even though it didn't work out as well as I hoped, for the cover, I wanted it to be a simple title page showing his name and some other examples of his work. To do this I drew two different painting and painted them in similar colours to his work. I then used a font I found on 'da font.com' for his name. 


 

My final artist research page is Peter Dahman. For the background of these pages I used black brusho ink as when he photographs his work he always uses a black background. Because his art is paper sculptures I wanted to create my own. This became more difficult then it appeared to be. It took many trial and errors to figure out how to create a template for this design. My first attempt consisted of a paper made fan that would open when the page was turned but this meant it would be in a straight line, I wanted it to go from corner to corner of the double spread page. Looking more closely at Peter Dahmans work, I experimented with cutting into the paper instead of just folding it. Using the fan template I used before I cut out strips but left a rulers width at the top and half way down the sheet. This templates works how I wanted it to go. Therefore I replicated it two extra times. I then faced the problem it would not stick to the page. I tried to glue it but it kept lifting and pulling away from the page so I used double sided tape instead. This worked. I am extremely proud of this sculpture I have created and I feel it really pushed me into challenging myself in using different medians of materials. 

For the book of images of Peter Dahmans work, I simply printed off images of different sculptures he has created and stuck them onto black paper, again for the same reason as he uses black backgrounds. I then tied them together using string and stuck the bottom image to the page. 

Woodwork workshop.

1/12/15

In today's workshop I began to sculpt the back base, frame and final arch for my sculpture. I started by getting all the measurements for each piece of wood I needed. My instructor, Brad, then cut out a piece of wood for the back base and arch as my measurements were two big for the band saw. 

For the arch I used the clay arches I had made in the ceramics workshop as a stencil so that I knew the pieces would match up because they would be the same size. I then cut out the arch using the band saw and the bobbin sander to sand it down. Doing this I accidentally cut over the markings using the saw and then when sanding to make it even again, I in fact made it worse. To solve this I simply drew a more even arch and used that mark to sand it evenly. 

For the frame I used two long pieces of wood and a router to make a rebate at the edge of them for the back base to sit onto. Using this machine I had to higher the drill bit every time I made a groove until the right height for it was achieved, this was so the machine was not over stressed by taking large chunks of wood out at a time. As the wood became to splinter because it caught onto the fence. Brad coated the fence in three layers of masking tape to stop the wood from catching, on the last run through on the machine the masking tape was removed so the drill could remove the small amount of wood remaining because of the distance between the tape and fence. 

Measuring the pieces of wood to the back base I marked out the length of wood I needed and used a mitre saw to cut out a 45 degree angle into the wood. To ensure that both side of the frame were the same size, I set up a piece of wood to rest the frame piece against to ensure it wouldn't move. I did this for all four piece. I then used a frame clamp to clamp all the pieces together and slotted the back base in to ensure the frame was the right size. As it was slightly big I used the mitre saw again to cut down each frame piece until the base slotted in perfectly. After that I glued each piece together wiping away all excess glue and placing the back base back in again while it was still clamped to prevent the frame warping and becoming a rhombus shape instead of a rectangle. 

Printmaking Workshop.

24/11/15

For today's workshop we started with printmaking with Jess. For this we etched a pattern onto Perspex and using oil paints, printed the design onto wood, cotton and paper. 

During the studio practise I had already design a few patterns to which i could use for the printmaking workshop. The design I chose to use was a Julie Mahetru inspired design. I began to etch this onto an A5 sized sheet of Perspex using different lines and ways to etch such as crossetching. Then using different coloured oil paints,I coated the Perspex in paint using a small piece of card to push the paint into the etched lines and a separate piece of paper to buff off excess paint. I then placed a damp sheet of paper on the Perspex and put it through a roller to press the design onto the paper.  I also tried to print the pattern onto wood but this failed

Transcribing Caro evaluation.

Collecting primary research whilst on the trip to the Yorkshire sculpture park and the Hepworth was useful and valuable to an extent. I found that I only used these photographs within my sketchbook and to a limited number of pages, they did not influence my design process towards creating my final sculpture. However, using primary photos instead of secondary photos found from the Internet and books was considerably more helpful and get a stronger feel for the scale and materials that Caro works with within his sculptures.

Taking primary research from the gallery and sculpture park again was good to an extent. The images I have taken have been the best out of the research conducted, they are clear and show a wide variety of work that clearly display the different medians and scales that Caro experiments with. However, the drawings I have taken from the trip do the complete opposite. As they are a series of quick sketches they do not do the sculptures justice and in my opinion are very messy, even though they are meant to be to some extent. I did not take away any information about the sculptures from either places visited. 

In my sketchbook, I feel my artist research has been my best work, in which I am very proud of. I feel that the research conducted has shown a very good understanding of the work each artist I have studied has produced. My favourites being Frank Stella and Peter Dahman. 

For the artist research pages of Caro, I feel the work I have produced has shown a good understanding of the different styles of sculpture Caro builds, these being proved through the paper sculpture page, contrasting with the page based on his larger metal sculptures. I think the first collaged page also shows good understanding of the different ways Caro likes to express his work. I feel this goes for the Alexander Calder research pages too, showing his different sculptures through wire and a basic drawing of his larger scructal sculptures. 

For Frank Stella I think my attempted replica of his work shows a good understanding of how his work is produced. Designing and painting the different shapes within this piece I feel shows that a basic understanding how his work is produced was gained. However, i do not think that the work went as well as I had planned and hoped it would and I think it has a childlike look towards it. This again goes for the Peter Dahman double spread, that I feel a very good understanding of how his work is designed and produced was gained. Attempting to duplicate his work and definitely given me an understanding of how hard the work is even though it seems very simple. I am most proud of these pages in my sketchbook and I am proud that I have accomplished my own paper sculpture. 

At the beginning of this project I was very unorganised about which designs I wanted to choose to do. Originally I wanted to build a large scale sculpture that was mounted onto a table top. I found designing these by drawing very difficult therefore I cut out random arches to see if I could design a sculpture that way. Doing this I designed my first two designs. However after designing a few sculptures and attempting at making different maquettes for them, I changed my mind to a wall mounted, two dimensional relief. I did this because I felt my design was better once a small maquette was made, I also felt this would be easier and quicker to make within the workshops and initially fixing together at the end of the project. 

 

In making my final design I feel I used very little skills within the printing and ceramics workshops as all I did was cut into different materials, I did not mould or sculpt anything within them. However I feel a lot of skills were used within the wood workshop as I have never used the equipment in there before and had not worked with wood in a long time. The machinery that I used within this workshop was not shown within the induction as they are the more dangerous machines to uses and require an instructor to be present while you use it. I did not make a Calder kinetic sculpture or use the workshops to design my maquette. 

As my sculpture is quite a basic design there has been very little that has needed to be changed. In ceramics I had planned to mould one full arch for my sculpture, but as the clay can become very fragile once in the kiln, and my arch would have a weak point, my instructor, Deborah advised me to make two half arches and glue them together when fixing all the pieces of my sculpture together. 

The wood workshop seamed the most difficult, as I wanted to make a lot of pieces from wood different things became difficult. For one, when making the arch i accidentally cut over the line and then sanded down too far creating a oddly shaped arch. This was very difficult to fix as I simply redrew a better shapes arch into the already cut wood and sanded down to that line instead. Another thing that was difficult was when making the grooves for my frame, the wood began catching on the fence and started splintering the wood. To fix this week placed a few layers of masking tape along the fence to stop it catching, then removing it at the end to sand down the small amounts that was left because of the tape. 

I feel overall I have managed time quite well throughout this project. At the beginning I did leave things to do later which led me to rush during the first couple of weeks to catch up, but I did complete the work I had put off and to a good standard I feel. Compared to the previous project 'Hands On', I have not been rushing around at the end of the project and stressing to get everything completed before the deadline. Every major piece of work has been completed and it has only been a couple of things such as sticking a few annotions into my sketchbook and completing the end of this evaluation at the end of that has led me to run over the 1:00pm deadline. 

Part B

When constructing my final piece I had a major problem of my ceramic arches not fitting into the frame because they had shrunk in the kiln. To solve this I was initially going to remove the ceramic arches from my final sculpture and replace it with a wooden arch, however after numerous people saying it looked intentional; I decided to cut the wooden arch so it mirrored the ceramics. So instead of two large arches at each end of the frame, I now have four, one in each corner. 

After this problem was overcome, assembling my final piece was easy. Using a glue stick I stuck tissue paper and the cardboard building onto the backboard which was then stuck to the frame using pva glue. The wooden arches were also stuck to the back board using pva glue. The ceramic arches were stuck using a special glue which caused difficultly as I was not strong enough to pump the glue out of the tube. Therefore Adam, the 3D workshop instructor dos it for me. 

Overall I am very happy with my final outcome as it turned out as I hoped it would even after the dilemma with the arches not fitting. If I had to change anything, I would change the material I used for the cardboard building as I feel it does look slightly boring, or I would have painted the cardboard before sticking it onto the back board. 

Ceramics Workshop

In the ceramics workshop I began to sculpt the arches for my final design. My instructor Deborah told me to create a paper template for the arch so each clay model would be the exact same. As the arches in my design are quite large, she told me to cut the arches in half and glue them together once fixing the whole sculpture together, as the top of the arch may become weak and shatter or change shape once in the kiln. She also told me to make double the amount of piece I needed in case any were to break in the kiln. Once I had prepared and cut out all eight half arches, I left them to dry over dinner. After dinner, I then used a cup of water and paint brush to smooth out all the edges to once they had be baked they're we're not sharp edges that would spoil the finished sculpture.

 

 

Design 3.

For a third design, I experimented with a Frank Stella inspired 2D relief. I also experimented with more medias and materials. For the base of the design I thought of a basic wood based but painted black, and using the etching design made in print making, print that in top in White. To add more detail to the background, I thought of designing a modern type building made from paper but cutting into it to design the windows. A yellow Perspex would be placed under to create the effect of the light glowing through. As this design is also inspired from Renaissance buildings, I took the arch element again and framed the design with mirrored arches.

After designing this I quickly made a paper maquette using scrap pieces of paper and paint. I sprinkled white brusho inks over the top of the black paint when it was wet to create the effect of a starry night, but the ink bushed off so instead it flicked white paint on using a paint brush. 

After creating this maquette, I felt that it looked incomplete so I designed a boreder on the design sheet. As if had already stuck the paper maquette unto my sketchbook, I didn't not design a miniature sculpture of the frame. 

Design 2.

Like my first design this draft is based around arches. I have taken the abstract arch I designed in the first design as I feel this would be a practical shape to work with using different materials as well as looking effective. I have used different sizes of this arch and simply placed them in a line along a wooden plinth. However, even though this design is very basic, if you look at it from different angles, it becomes different elements. For example if you face the plinth on its side and look down the arches, smallest to biggest, it becomes a stair case, another element taken from a renaissance painting. If you look at it from the biggest arch to the littlest it was attempted to look like a church. As if you wee stood at the bottom looking down, each arch getting smaller the further away it was.

To make this design linked to 'transcribing Caro', I would paint each arch in a bright colour, like Caro does in some piece do his work.

Design 1

After drawing different elements of renaissance architecture, I started designing different sculptures which may be used as a final design.

For my first design, I looked at different Caro pieces and tried the 3D, large scale designs. I took the traditional arch styles and mixed it with an abstract version, to link the sculpture more to Caro's work. I then randomly placed and drew the different arches around the base in different positions and sizes. After I did this, I debated which arches would look better as wood and which would look better as clay, as well as being more practical and sturdy in each material. 

I didn't not like this design once it was draw, therefore this will not be used as my final design.

Strike Day.

In this lesson I concentrated on elements of renaissance architecture again. However, in stead of the building itself, I focused mainly on the different patterns used within the art. I found images on Google that influences these designs, such as the initial pattern and the colours within them.

I also looked at different patterns such as architectural patterns used by artists such as Julie Mahetru. I incorporated these as well into this page. For the gold and silver, I used gel pens and paint.

Renaissance elements 1.

M3/11/15

I'm today's lesson I started transcribing different elements of Renaissance work to develop them into abstract images to incorporate into my final design. 

 The first element I chose was different forms of arches. Particular arches that intrigued me were the ogee arch and the common Gothic arch. Therefore I split the page in half and drew both of these arches, using tone to capture the different shapes and shadowing of the architecture. 
Both of these images were found on google images. The second sketch of arches was significantly easier to draw than the first as I find it easier to portray circular movement easier that straight, square shapes. Also as the first image is particularly shadowed it was harder to pick out where the lighted areas were.  I feel somewhat proud of this page as I feel I have illustrated the tones in arches well even though I have not shaded sketches for 4/5 years. 

I also started to draw an old Renaissance building but I do not like this so I won't add it as a page in my sketchbook. 

Photography workshop

24/10/15

In today's photography workshop we started started by looking through different images of paper sculptures made by professional artists. Then using a craft knife, a cutting mat and a sheet of paper we started making our own paper sculptures to use to take photographs of. I tried making a sculpture made up of cylinder tunes taped together but I didn't feel it looked good so I restarted. I then tried to make a swan instead. But this was not finished in time so I used my paper sculpture I made last Thursday in my sketchbook to take photos of. 

We than placed each sculpture onto a product table with a reflector dish placed behind to give off light. A beauty dish was placed in front of the product table to give light from that direction too. This light was moved around to give off different shadowing effects. While taking photos of the sculptures we changed the ISO settings to change the colours and effects of the photographs taken.

Half term work.

Over half term I started artist research pages. I did four on Anthony Caro and two on Alexander Calder. 

The first research page I did was the string copy of Caro's metal sculpture displayed in the Hepworth gallery. As I was searching through images for inspiration for the research pages I knew that I wanted to try to recreate this sculpture but instead of using staple materials, I wanted to use household items.  Doing this deemed more difficult that I expected. In some one case I overestimated each size of string so they all had to be cut down so they would all fit onto the page. Then each piece of string was very difficult to stick down onto the page and the frayed edges I feel made the finished piece look messy. Another problem I discovered was that I stuck each separate piece of string on top of another as I went along, then realising that some of the beams of the sculptures went behind, in front and overlapped different beams. Therefore I had to peel up some parts of the string so I could slide others under to give a more thoughtful finishing piece. 

              

For a second page of artist research, I wanted to keep the page simple with only drawings. I used two images, one of my own taken from the Hepworth gallery and a second found on the internet from a leaflet promoting Caro's work at the gallery. To make the page slightly more interesting, I layered parcel paper onto the page and drew part of one sculpture on that. 

                                

For a third artist research page, I wanted to show as much of Caro's work as I possibly could. The best way to do this I thought was to create a college of the different work he produces such as paper sculptures and staple material sculptures. I printed off 25 '4x6' photos, or as close to '4x6' as the image would allow, and placed them evenly around the page. I left a large enough space around the page so I could draw in the Caro's name. 

                               

For a final artist research page on Caro I wanted to show in detail what other sculptures he creates instead of the ones he makes using staple materials. Therefore this page is about his paper sculptures. I scraped pastel coloured paints across the page using a small piece of card to create the background. I then stuck both primary and secondary photos of his paper sculptures onto the page. Using the paper I made in the textiles workshop I attempted at making my own mini paper sculpture, I then added this to the page. To finish the page I used a calligraphy pen to add in the title and the annotations. 

For Calder I wanted to demonstrate the two styles of sculptures he builds: wire and metal. 

The first page is wire. For the background I mixed red paint with PVA glue to try and create a marbled effect but it did not work. I then manipulated wire to try and recreate a sculpture he had made. However I had to remove parts of the hair as it would not all fit onto the page. I then stuck it onto the page using double sided tape. 

                                   

For the background on the second Calder sesch page I used blue and red brusho inks. I dampened the page using water and a sponge, sprinkling the inks over the top. Some of the ink did not blend very well so I used a water spray to wet the dry ink. However, the water was projected onto the page instead of sprayed creating large puddles of ink. I then drew one of caldera sculptures on a separate page. I painted it grey so it looked more like metal and used a darker grey to portray the joints in the material. I then cut this out and glued it onto the page. 

                                       

Sketchbook work.

22/10/15

In today's lesson we started our sketchbooks. However instead of doing it on the project brief, we started on how to produce quality sketchbook pages that are exciting to look at. 

For my first page I layered it with newspaper and then using a stencil I made by cutting out 1cm squares, I layered the paint with different colours of paint. 

For my seconds page in my sketchbook, I wanted to use a theme, don't chose 'Alice in Wonderland'. I folded the pages so it looked like a sort of leaflet and drew the rabbits pocket watch on, surrounded by flowers. On the inside I drew Alice her self with coloured pencils to make her a focus point on the page. I then layered the page with parcel paper and drew different characters from the original book and stuck then onto the page. On the second page I took a quote from the Cheshire Cat. I then painted the page black leaving the quote and the cats eyes and grin in white. 

Also while doing this, I made homemade paper in the textiles workshop. The pulp for the paper had already been prepared. As the paper pulp was set in a container of water, I used a sift to pull out the pulp. I then placed it onto a cloth, removed excess water using a sponge and peeled away the sift so the paper was stuck to the cloth. I then moulded the paper around a balloon so that when it dried it created a dome that could be used in my final design. 

3D workshop induction

21/10/15

Today I had the 3D workshop induction to learn about all the safety procedures and how to use the equipment. 

We were instructed on the pillar drill, band and fret saw and the disk and bobbin sander. For each of these pieces of machinery you must remove your lanyard, tie long hair back, wear strong shoes in case anything hard is dropped and wear goggles. For certain pieces of equipment such as the saw, ear privation must be wore. 

On each machine we were also taught how to stop/start it and how to stop it immediately incase of an emergency, as well as how to set each piece up by fixing in drill bits and saw pieces of needed. 

To start the workshop off, we made various lines on a small piece of wood to which would be our guideline when using the equipment. We made a straight line down the edge of the wood, a circle in the middle with a centre point marked out. A random shape was the made around that. 

The pillar drill was used to drill a hole through the centre point of the circle.  I then used the band saw to cut through the line at the edge of the wood and then the outline of the circle. The disk sander them sanded down the edge of the circle. We used the bobbin sander to smooth out part of a curved piece of wood. Finally we used the fret saw to cut out the random shape on the middle as it is best used for smaller detailed cuts. 

YSP and Hepworth Gallery.

21/10/15

After visiting the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Hepworth Gallery yesterday, I have many mixed thoughts about Sir Anthony Caro's work. Initially, I liked his work. I liked how it was mainly built on a large scale and I liked the materials he worked with were industrial instead of plaster or ceramic materials that were mainly showcased in the Hepworth gallery. I especially liked how he experimented with different materials such as glass switching to plastic when glass deemed too difficult. As most sculptures are built from the floor or to be placed upon a table, I was also fond that he built sculptures hanging from the ceiling or draping over the edge of a table. However, I also did not enjoy his work. I feel that his work lacks creativity and is too simplistic for my liking. I feel like the majority of his work could be done by myself as it just looks like pieces of painted metal welded together. I appreciate his work and understand that in reality I would not be able to do what he does to his level, but I still think his work doesn't look like it has come from a man deemed the greatest sculpture of our generation.
Looking at the difference between the exhibitions, the work shown in the Yorkshire Sculpture park was definitely more modern and bright compared to the exhibition shown in the Hepworth Gallery. The work that was showcased in the Hepworth was mainly shown in the materials natural form instead of painted bright, bold colours like in the Yorkshire.

Week 5

During his week I have finished all 20 of the glossary pages. Including proportion, Harmony and Space.

I also used terms from the print making working such as chine colle and la poupee. To do these I used two examples of work I had created in the workshop.
For chine colle i cut away the zebra and elephant from tissue paper and stuck this to parcel paper. Then suing my lino print from the printmaking workshop, I used white ink to press onto the page.

For la poupee i used three different colours on the lino block:brown, purple and red.

For proportion, I used a picture I had found on Pinterest. I used the initial design and then incorporated my own background, keeping it remotely the same, using similar colours .

For space I did not want to do a black and white picture that appeared to be a commonly used idea. Therefore, i took the literal word of space and placed a hand in space. I cut out a hand and placed it on the page, painting around it in black. I then mixed colours to get a light shade of blue and purple and a 'hot pink' Using a sponge I then dabbed the paint across the page to create a nebula effect. To finish the piece i then flicked white paint across the page to create stars using my thumb and index finger.

Harmony was the one i found the most difficult. I decided to use a harmonious pattern using harmonious colours. I cut small hands from two shades of pink and a purple card and placed them in a spiral pattern.

I also started and finished Value and Emphasis.
For Value I used water colours to create the gradient effect of the background, starting from the bottom and working to the top so the colour washes out towards the top of the page. I then painted the hand black again using water colours.

For emphasis i traced the image of the bird and women onto newspaper, filling it in with ink. I then let the ink run from the bottom.

I also finally finished the pattern piece. However, I did not have access to the right colour of cream pencil so I had to leave the background white

‘Hands On’ Evaluation.

A wide range of visual language has been used throughout my work of glossary pages and workshop outcomes. I have interpreted different visual languages throughout the course to ensure that I have attempted to experiment with different Medias of art. This can be expressed in such pages like, pattern for the Print Making workshop. Even though I did not use my print making outcome as a glossary page, I incorporated pattern within the piece to tie the theme together and make the background more intricate. Along with applying visual language to the workshops and glossary pages, I also applied different media to explore the characteristics of a range of visual language. This use of different terms learnt within the workshops to add to the glossary pages can support this, along with techniques studied to portray visual language, for example, I used Puff Binder to show Texture.

The whole experience of making my own glossary I have found very challenging in a number of different ways. The main challenge I have been subjected to is time management. Throughout school or my previous year at college, I have never been assigned to a large project were you are set free to study and complete work until a deadline. Doing this, I have had to set personal targets of how much work is needed to be completed for everything to be finished on time. Another large challenge for me is regaining artistic techniques I have long forgotten about. As I have not been an art student for a total of four years, I have found it different to remember different styles of painting and shading in order for my work to be at an acceptable standard. Along with learning how to use different medias again, I have also had to learn how to use different tools and techniques within the workshop such as a tjanting and lino cutter.

To an extent learning about the different terminology within art has broadened my English skills. This is because I am now aware of the different meanings of one word for example within the English dictionary ‘Value’ can mean the importance or worth of something, however in art, it means how light or dark tones or colours are. However, focusing on spelling or grammar, this project has not improved my English skills as the definitions have only been copied and therefore not learnt or memorised.

Within this project a different range of research has been conducted. For Primary research I mainly used photos taken by myself within the photography workshop alongside photos taken by myself in my personal time. These photos include family and friends as well as myself. In my sketchbook I have also taken observational drawings and paintings of different artists work such as Egon Schiele and Kathe Kollowitz. For secondary research I produced a Pinterest board containing 43 pins of hands portrayed using different media, for example, photography, drawings and paintings. I also conducted information on different artists to study how they draw or paint and which art movements they belong to if they belong to any. I printed off additional photos of hands which I could use to influence my glossary pages. In supporting my practical studies I would say my research has been very effective. My secondary research has been very helpful in influencing my work when I have been stuck on ideas of what to do for certain glossary pages. I have also been able to use my primary research for glossary pages such as movement. To improve my research I could have done more primary research in my own time instead of using a majority of photos from the photography workshop. I could have also printed more research out to use instead of just a small image on my phone.

Throughout this project I have acquired a large range of skills in different processes and techniques within art. For example, I am now able to use tools such as scalpels in the correct manor to achieve clean cuts with materials I am working with. In workshops such as print making, I can now use tools like lino cutters to achieve intricate designs and machinery such as a printing press to print my designs onto paper. In ceramics, I have learnt the processes of not just how to create a sculpture using clay but how to prepare the clay using cheese cutters to slice through and make sure there are no air bubbles so the sculpture will not explode once heated in the kiln.

I feel that my workshop outcomes have been some of my best work throughout this project. I am most proud of my Print Making/Lino Cutting outcomes as I feel the amount of time spent on cutting the lino to achieve an accurate, clean design paid off. I believe I had a high technical skill throughout this workshop, using different size lino cutters to allow me to easily access and cut away smaller details within the design. This also applies for the 3D workshop, using the scalpel to achieve clean lines for my design.  I found it difficult to cut away small parts using a scalpel and sharp turns within the design but I felt I would create a more accurate design using a scalpel instead of scissors. However, I do not think I used a high level of technical skill within the textiles workshop, leading to poorly designed work. I feel this is because it was the beginning of the course and everything was new and I was unsure of what to do and how to do it. I also feel that at the beginning of the course I had little confidence in myself which also lead to a poor quality of work.

I think my overall ‘Hands On’ portfolio is quite effective. I feel that the majority of the work produced is at a high standard, using a large range of different medias within art. However, I do believe there could be pieces that could be heavily improved as some pieces of work were rushed to meet the deadline. If I could redo them, I would simply take more time and effort to produce the specific pages.

Being creative is about taking risks and challenges and doing something just for the sake of doing something. I believe it’s about being more confident in yourself and your designs and ignoring any doubts you have.  It can be about changing your perspective and allowing yourself to thinking differently and work with different mediums of art. It’s about finding many different ways to reach the same conclusion and finding inspiration in even mundane places.

I have learnt that being creative is not just about using bright colours and intricate ideas for designs, even the most simplest of creations can be flooded with creativity.

To work independently I found it easy. This is because I feel I work best when I am alone, to think about what I am going to do and how I am going to achieve it. Working independently there is no one else to influence your ideas or argue against you if they do not like it. There is also no one else to distract you. To work collaboratively with peers I found difficult. This is because I am a rather shy person who finds it hard to talk amongst a group of people I am unfamiliar with. Therefore I prefer to work independently.

There could have been a lot of improvement on time management. I feel on certain days I managed my time effectively, getting up to four pieces of work started or completed. However, at the start of the project I did not realise how fast the project would come to an end, leaving me to have to rush some pieces of work. But towards the end of the project, I believe I managed the majority of my time effectively, coming into college on days off or staying late after the class had ended so I could use the equipment and large space provided.

Within the time frame that we had I feel like I have produced the best possible work to my standard in most cases. However, if I had managed my time more effectively at the beginning of the project I feel all pieces of work could be at the same level instead of a few that were rushed due to poor judgment of time.

Overall, I have really enjoyed this project. I liked how the project brief was set and then we were allowed to go away and work independently creating the glossary pages as we pleased instead of being tutored through every section. Doing this has allowed me to think more creatively.

Print Making.

13/10/15

KeyWords
Print Making - The process of making artwork by printing, normally on paper.
Lino Printing- A print making technique were a sheet of lino is used as the relief.
Relief Printing- Lino/Wood Printing.
Brayer - Roller used to spread ink.
Texture - The feel, appearance or consistency of a surface or substance.
La Poupee - Using multiple ink on one block.
China Colle - Collageing paper onto a block. Tissue Paper commonly used.
Henna - A dye used to decorate the hair or body.
ZenTangle - A method used to create images from repetitive patterns.


Today, in the Printing Making workshop we did Lino Printing. To start the lesson, Jess, our printing instructor went through key words and terms we would be learning about throughout the day and the health and safety of using the presses and the workshop. She then showed us different zentangles to inspire us to create our own. Up until break we were left to sketch out different patterns and zentangles and to choose our favourites to use for our final design later in the day. I did not use my favourite.
After break we were introduced to lino and the tools used to cut it. Jess then told us to incorporate our zentangles into hands on the lino. I chose to use a previous vine pattern I had drawn and incorporate it within a safari theme. I drew around my hands in different positions and used them to create different animals: I used a Zebra and an Elephant. I then used the cutting technique shown to cut away the excess lino. This took a lot of patience as i made the design complicated to cut out. However once the pattern was finally completed, I used ink to roll onto the template using a brayer and then put through the printing press. I'm glad i had the patience and determination to complete the design how I wanted it to be and not finish it in a quicker way as I am proud of the outcome of my work. I used black, white and brown paper to print onto.

This has been my favourite workshop. I found it therapeutic and loved the final outcome of the designs once they were printed.

week 4.

At home I started to illustrate shape. I drew around my hand in various positions around the page and then began to doodle across the page. Once i had finished scribbling the pattern, I simply coloured it in. This caused many problems. For this design, I did not want two colours to touch, but in many places they did. Therefore, to solve this i had to re-draw certain areas so they remained separate. However, I am not completely satisfied with this piece. If i was to restart , I would choose different colours as I think using separate colours for each section makes the piece look childish.

As the shape piece was mainly completed at home, it did not take long for me to finish this within sole. So I started texture. I painted my background using black paint, and using the techniques we learnt in textiles, I used puff binder to create the skeleton hands. I then drew on the definition using white pencil.

For my next art piece, I took the word 'abstract' from the 3D workshop. I again painted the background black like I had for the texture piece. I then drew out a hand and cut it into sections, painting them different colours. I then pieced the hand back together but moved them away from each other so it no longer resembled a solid hand. Once they were stuck down, I wrote a different part of 

the definition onto one of the pieces of hand.

I also continued my Pattern piece by colouring the hand, henna and background. I need a cream pencil to full complete this.

I used tracing paper for 'Balance'. I had previously found an image on Pinterest that i liked for me to draw. I equally divided the page into four quarters and copied one section onto the tracing paper so i knew how much space i could use to draw onto. I then split this quarter into two and wrote on the definition onto the bottom, smaller part, drawing the hand on the larger part. Using the paper, I mirrored the sketch into all the other quarters.

The final piece I did this week was another word taken from a workshop; 'Screen Printing'. To do this I used the same method I had learnt from the textiles workshop. I used multiple colours through the screen to create this effect. However, doing this has caused some of the procion dye to smudge in certain places. I also printed the same design onto paper to use in my sketch book.