My assessment selection

I began Drawing 1 knowing that I was embarking on a significant amount of learning and skills development.  In my selection for assessment I have shown that my anticipation was well founded and there has been a steady improvement in my work as my skills, knowledge and confidence have increased.  I have chosen a wide a range of work to demonstrate the extent of my progress.

I have used my immediate environment and that is the thread running through my submission.

I have a natural inquisitiveness and it shows in my assessment pieces. An example is my Part 1 selections where I tried to develop a freer way of working.  Experimentation is most apparent in Part 5 where I pursue ideas from earlier in the course but push harder.

I have embraced  resources new to me and experimented with wax, charcoal and a variety of paper just to see what happens.  I have included work that demonstrates the variety of materials and techniques I have taken advantage of.

Part 5 shows me pushing the boundaries of inexperience, celebrating challenge and being surprising. My work constantly evolves throughout the development of the piece.  There is a clear indication in Part 5 that I am a Textiles student and I can see exciting ways to develop this work.

Part 5 Reflections

Part 5 has made new demands on me and I hope I have risen to them.  Each part of the course opened up not only new subject matter but challenging emotional experiences as well. I found the withdrawal of direction very difficult and waffled around for a long time trying to find my own way.

Whilst I was certain I wanted to take my garden as my focus it took a long time to realise that it is a rather large space and I could only deal with a small part of it.  Once that decision was finally arrived at (and with a bit of support from my tutor) I got on a bit better.

A tutor on another OCA course gave me some advice at a time when I was feeling unfocussed.  She sent me a link to a piece of work by Charlie Gilkey (1) and it made a lot of sense to me.  It's a bit of pop psychology and very American but it helped a lot.  I've drawn on it this time as well.  Basically it says that there is a creative process:

• preparation
• incubation
• illumination
• implementation

and I can identify wholeheartedly with that.

In the meantime I played around with various leaves and plants and made a resource that was ultimately useful and will continue to be so in the future.  I particularly liked the colours I obtained from plants and I need to do some testing around their stability.

I have borrowed printing skills from my Textiles course and made them work on paper.  I experimented with frottage and its application in a way I hope is inventive.  Ideas have been taken from a variety of artists not only in Part 5 Research but throughout the course.  The monochrome work of John Virtue has a particular appeal.

My work appeared in several guises before I finally got to where I wanted to be.  It was fairly repetitive but on each practice image I learned something new and was able to refine my ideas. I like to push and take risks and I'm beginning to be less anxious about whether of not my work is "right".

I was surprised to find that what I thought would be my final work felt so unresolved.  It's hard to pinpoint the feeling but it was unequivocal.  My original idea evolved and changed substantially but I'm happy to be fluid although it sometimes feels like rolling with the blows.

Demonstration of technical and visual skills

I am continuing to develop more ways representing my ideas and feeling less bothered by adopting the ideas of others. Plagiarism and recreating are a fine line apart. I am constantly trying new techniques and increasing my awareness of the possibilities. The frottage work of Max Ernst is a case in point.

I don't feel that I have become proficient in any particular technique or material but I have had lots of tasters and found what I want to do more of.

Quality of outcome

I find it hard to judge my own work.  I see so much that I revere that I'm constantly dis-satisfied with what I do.  However, I am learning all the time and constantly questioning my practice and that is a good place to be at my stage.

Demonstration of creativity

My life generally is pretty well ordered and tidy.  In my drawing I have found something hidden that I didn't know about.  I can be slapdash and untidy and rather like it.  It is part of the freeing up process but there's a long way to go.  I have become aware that things don't have to be perfect - out of apparent chaos lovely things can occur.

(I have no idea why the font here has changed - there must be something deeply Freudian going on considering content of the section!)

Context reflection

I enjoy looking at the art of the famous and influential but I have also found a wealth of talent closer to home.  I have included some local work in my blog because it has a real influence on me. It gives me hope.
  
I surprise myself at what I have grown to like now that I have more knowledge and experience. Initially I wasn't fond of John Virtue but the depth of his work I now find inspirational.

I am a very reflective person and tend to over analyse sometimes.  I could do with just letting things happen a little more but I'm working on it.

I treasure my three OCA blogs because they are a great way to record my work.  I find that I refer to them often.

Overview

When I began Drawing 1 it was with lots of trepidation; I was well out of my comfort zone.  I can't claim to be through that uncomfortable feeling but it's getting easier and I have a "can do" attitude to my drawing that is new.

There is no doubt I will continue to draw; I am totally hooked.  It will support my Textiles work but it will be a part of my life as an independent skill.  The people I have met this year are folk I don't want to leave behind just because I've finished Drawing 1.  

(1)  http://www.productiveflourishing.com/demystifying-the-creative-process/

Pushing a bit further

My tutor has encouraged me to continue working and see how much further I can take my work.

From a not very original idea of drawing a part of my garden I am now focusing on a very small part. I have taken the lower right corner of this image:

Geranium leaf print crop .....

.....turned through 90 degrees

I chose to turn it because it ceases to look so shrub like and takes a form of its own; it becomes more abstract.

On this course I haven't used technology for my images but I thought I might get some results with this if I did.  These are images I liked and that might offer some ideas.  I used Paint Net.

1. Effects - pencil sketch - pencil tip 4 - range default

2. Stylize - edge detect - angle 11.1 

3. Stylize - emboss - angle default

4. Stylize - outline - thickness 2 - intensity 73

I tried to print these images on various papers including tracing paper but it turned out blurred and I wasn't happy with it at all.  I spoke to a local printer who showed me a variety of papers that he could use with his graphic printer.  He printed my work and the outcome was quite remarkable.  The papers with texture gave an almost 3D effect and the shiny ones seemed to use the reflections in the same way.  The matt were least interesting.  Tinted paper introduced elements that seemed to alter the colour of the ink.  I found there was no "best" one, just a huge variety, each offering something different.  Sometimes it's hard to say exactly what the differences are; it's often revealed as a difference in atmosphere and feel.

This has thrown up one or two ideas.

First I'm going to try textures inspired by the manipulation of image 3.

This is what I did:

Texture with Kleenex tissue

I glued random splodges of Kleenex tissue on paper then coated the whole thing.  It looks quite soft and is very textured.

Drawing with ink

This is the veins and the spaces between them.  It's very arbitrary.

These next three are inspired by  manipulated image 1.

Wax as a resist ....

.... and with different colours

Mark making with hosta stems

Next I looked again at the geranium leaf crop and tried to recreate it another way.  I used two sorts of wire mesh to do rubbings on baking parchment.  I covered some copy paper with charcoal leaving just a couple of white spaces.  I stuck the parchment onto the paper.  It is clear where the white spaces are as they show through and it is also obvious where the leaf ends and the background begins.  It was an exercise but I'm not sure how useful it may be.

Charcoal on paper then glued baking parchment with
frottage of metal grid on it

I decided to use some wax as a resist for making the "veins" of the geranium leaf.  I used .5 fineliner pen, white and grey wax, half strength ink and full strength spray.

I drew the veins with my fineliner and waxed in.  I covered the watercolour paper with Quink ink and watched the colours of it separate.  I spoilt the effect by spraying with a stronger concentration of ink.

My next experiment was similar but without outlining the "veins" and using only white wax crayon and eighth strength ink.  The colours the ink split into were more marked than previously.

Unimpressed with not using colour I returned to the spraying I used earlier and tried some variation of strengths of my Procion dyes.

I selected some smooth A3 water colour paper, took my image and some of the ideas I had generated and made this:

Geranium leaf image (1)

I began by drawing the "veins" then waxing in the lines and shapes.  I sprayed up my paper and was alarmed at first that the dye seemed to penetrate the wax.  As it dried it became apparent that my fears were unfounded. At the top I used the baking parchment frottage with graphite lifted off with sellotape to give some extra texture and interest.  It didn't glue well and left texture of a sort I didn't like.

Although the two dyes had ten minutes between application they mixed rather a lot to create shades of green.  Not unpleasant but not what I had wanted.

I found the result rather bitty and insipid although I liked the composition.

I decided to have another try and darken my dyes.  Everything else remained pretty much the same:

Geranium leaf image (2)

This time the dyes seemed not to mix as much, Instead they create an optical effect where the colour appears to  move.  The photo doesn't show this at all.

It seems to work much better without the division of the edge of the leaf although I had a go and drew in an outline on a printed image.  I used ink but I think it's too harsh - graphite would be better.  I haven't put the division on my "real" piece.

Trying an outline

I plan to leave it here until my tutor has seen it.  I think it might benefit from cropping but I'll take advice.

Geranium leaf image (2) proposed crop

It's interesting to see that there is no right way up for this image now.

When I read my Artist's Statement now it seems a million miles from where I've ended up.   From my large garden I've taken the smallest sample and developed something a long way from what I had envisaged. However the title is still relevant.