Tag-Archive for » personal project «

02
Feb

Yes folks, I’m on my final block at college.  Just 10 more weeks left and I’ll be finished my NC (National Certificate).  I can’t believe it’s come round so fast!  Boy, I sure have learned and achieved a lot in 20 weeks, and there’s still a bit more to come.  It’s starting to get really exciting, not that it hasn’t been so far! I look at my work now and I can’t believe how far I’ve come since I started.  It’s incredible really, and there’s more exciting stuff ahead.

In a little over 3 weeks time I will have my FIRST exhibition!!! It runs from 1st-5th March and I’m in the process of choosing which pieces will go in. I’m still working on some pieces i.e. my canvasses from my personal project, and there will be new creations to add also.  We are to have business cards printed up for it, and I have to write a bio of about 500 words.  What on earth will I say about myself??? I’ve no idea.  Teacher said it can be as pretentious as we like! Haha.  Not sure that’s really me, but what do you say about yourself? Answers Help on a postcard please, as I’ve never done this before. I also have my portfolio surgery at art school in 2 weeks time…more nerves…eeks.

Going back to the final block, I have a couple of new subjects.  The first is 3D Art & Design and Developmental Drawing.  I have to choose a theme from the following:

  • Space Invasion
  • Sumptuous Structures
  • Brilliant Balance
  • Fabulous Facades
  • Luminosity

I can interpret these how I wish.  I must compile a mood board of research visuals then write a brief stating the theme, usage, target market and overall potential materials.

From that I will produce initial developmental concept drawings for my theme.  Whatever I choose should be something relating to the words container or store.

After that I will produce 4 prototypes of my design in:

  • Wire
  • Paper i.e. papier maché
  • Card
  • Recycled materials

Then after that I will produce 4 further developmental drawing ideas using media of my choice, before finally producing a highly finished 3D art form.

I have lots of ideas in my head like a Fabergé egg that opens up in segments to produce a ballerina dancing to music, but I’m still thinking at this stage.

My next subject is Creative Textile Development. The brief for this unit is based on the following themes:

  • Resplendent
  • Revolution
  • Rot
  • Robust
  • Rendezvous

I have to produce another mood board based on one of the themes above then I will produce textile experiments accompanied by technical notes with evaluative annotation.  I must develop a plan outlining my approach to the project, which will accompany my research.  This will include identifying the main requirements of the brief and identifying suitable textile media, materials and techniques.

After that I will develop my own concepts using a minimum of 3 techniques for 6 textile samples. These will be presented on A2 boards.  The main aim of this project is to review and critically evaluate the creative process, asking questions about what I’ve done, how something looks and where the next development will take me.

Although the subject is Creative Textiles, it will apply to the areas I’m interested in i.e. Fine Art, and not fashion textiles.  I can see lots of uses for textiles in my work and I have lots of ideas buzzing around in my head.

And finally, Digital Media.  This is basically use of digital media in art & design.  I don’t have the brief for this yet, but I do know that we will be working on photographs we have taken over the past few days of the artwork that will be displayed in the exhibition.  We will be making flyers,  posters, banners, etc. to promote ourselves.  This should be pretty easy for me as we will be using Photoshop. Thankfully, I’m a dab hand with the old program so hopefully it won’t be too much of a stretch for me! That’s about it…and it’s enough really! I’m going to be mad hectic over the coming weeks, so my apologies if I don’t respond as much to everyone’s blogs and comments quite as quickly as I normally do, but I’ll be reading all your posts when I get a moment or two to myself.

Oh, and a final note, wait until you see my gold canvasses.  I’ve done something rather different with them – for the better I think – but you’ll have to hold your breath for the moment. They’ll be coming soon.

31
Jan

I finished my paintings for my personal project.  I say finished, but really they’re not.  I’m feeling a little frustrated with them.  I like the design and composition and I like certain colours but I’m really struggling with the colour of the main objects in all of them.  The paintings are too dark.  The colour feels flat as well.  Regarding the darkness, I wanted something lighter like a light yellow/gold but I can’t seem to mix it.  I tried different combinations but fell flat on all occasions.  If anyone can add any suggestions on mixing and/or colour suggestions. Oh, they are all the same colour but the light is playing tricks.  They are closer to the top and bottom image.  You can click on each one to enlarge.

Abstract mixed media painting

Abstract mixed media painting

Abstract mixed media painting

Abstract mixed media painting

30
Jan

This past week has been ridiculously busy! I have managed to get all but one piece done for Creative Composition, and I’m now working on my personal project for the past few days.  Understandably, I have had no time to visit anyone’s blog and I think I have about 90 articles to read! I will get through them all, I promise!

Some of you may remember a painting I created a couple of months ago for my personal project:

Jumped Into The River - A Prelude (Abstract Mixed Media Painting)

This was the final outcome for the first block of my project, and for this block the final outcome is a variation on this piece. The idea was to take this image further and I had taken sections of it and was going to recreate it perhaps in different textures or colours.  Well, I found this incredibly difficult.  I played about with different textures and colours, and none of the pieces I came up with did this painting any justice.

A couple of days ago I was trying out new textural ideas but although I loved the texture, I still couldn’t recreate this image.  This is the texture I came up with:

Wrinkled paper painted on canvas

I achieved this by priming my canvas with white emulsion and whilst it was wet I applied wet paper and emulsioned over it, creating this lovely wrinkled texture.

I then went through my book on Cubism and thought about collaging on top of this but that didn’t work out well either. So I came at the painting from a completely different angle. I thought of Kazimir Malevich, the originator of (Russian) Suprematism, which is the abstract art based on geometric forms.  This piece, also called Suprematism, is what inspired me:

Suprematism by Kazimir Malevich

I sketched out new imagery based on my painting but also inspired by Malevich.  You can see the motifs from my previous painting running through all of the images below. For instance, you will see that there are curved and straight lines.  These represent guitar strings and each image has six lines, except the second image which has twelve lines, because the section I am recreating has twelve guitar strings in it. The circles represent the area around the sound hole in an acoustic guitar.  You can see an inverted treble clef and an abstracted one. The rectangular shapes represent the bridge and pickups on an electric guitar.  The little tiny circles like dots scattered around the image represent the screws on the bridge. There are also six of these on each image. Now these are just rough images to get the composition down, but I really love where these are going:

Abstract sketch

Abstract sketch

Abstract sketch

Abstract sketch

I intend on putting these images onto textured canvasses and using rich colours such as gold, russet, blue, etc.  I have laid the foundations for the four canvasses, and have painted the first layer of watered down acrylic and have left it to dry. I will apply further layers of watered down colour and hopefully build up a rich background.  Here is the first layer:

Textured canvas with first layer of paint

I will have these paintings completed by tomorrow evening, as I want to hand them in on Monday, so I shall post the results when finished.  Sheesh that was a long post!

29
Nov

Today I worked more on my personal project, developing the encaustic idea further.  I loved the texture that the wax produced on my last piece, so I wanted to see how it would look on the other images. I squeezed blobs of paint onto the surface then poured wax on top of it and smeared it with a palette knife.  I don’t want to use my guitar strings as I’m saving them for the final paintings, so I used string and painted them silver.  I also used tin foil on these images.  Oh, and I also used exhaust paste, which sets like rubber, but really smells of acetic acid (or vinegar to you and I).  I love vinegar, but only on my chips (fries for those not in the UK).  Tomorrow, I hope to have some photos of my Picasso/Dali project.

24
Nov

I mentioned way back at the start of last term that certain classes would run all year long.  Well my personal project (My Space) is one of those classes.  To rehash old territory, I’m reworking my final piece from last term. Basically, I’m taking 4 sections from it and putting them onto 4 separate canvasses, which will be exhibited and sold at the end of the year.  So, I tried out a different colour scheme today with different materials.  I’m not certain whether I will go with these, but I’m going to try a number of different ideas.  I ordered sets of guitars strings last night to add to the canvasses, rather than use string as I did on the last piece.

The first was done with acrylics and tissue paper with coloured wire. On the second I was trying my hand at encaustic artwork. First of all I squeezed out large drops of acrylic paint onto the paper. I didn’t have an encaustic iron, but there was a batik wax heater in the class, so I just scooped up the wax from there and poured it over the paint then I spread it with a palette knife. Can I call it encaustic artwork then? Not sure, but it’s the nearest definition I have. Anyway, the textures came out really fantastically! As I said, I’m just experimenting at this stage but it was really good fun, and I think I would love to add this to my final pieces.

Tomorrow, I’ll be working on my Creative Composition coursework, which means I’ll be using the sculptures I made for Analytical Drawing.

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