Blog. Pt 3.



The final piece.

 It's Thursday. I'm running late with this blog business.
So, it's the last day of my fine art rotation tomorrow and I am very annoyed with myself as I don't feel like I have produced anything remotely exciting or incredible during the past two weeks.
One of the fashion/textiles tutors did tell us that some people focus extra hard on their favourite subject and therefore over-think things, resulting in crap work. This is exactly what I have done.
My ideas and general research I am happy with, for example, I began by photographing 'things that mean something to me', such as an over sized pair of sunglasses from a festival in Spain, a wooden camel given to me as a prize for doing well in maths a few years back (!?), the contents of my bag etc.
After painting and drawing from these objects/photographs, I was encouraged by my tutor to focus on the image of my exposed possessions within the handbag. So that day I continued to paint from that one image, creating large scale, energetic pieces of work.
I used my self study day to think about where I could go from there. So as well as photographing the contents of friends and families bags, I moved on to photograph the contents of bins. Although these are two completely different ideas, they link visually and with the idea that they are spaces that should not be examined, but instead ignored or left.
After printing a series of these photographs out I drew from them, experimenting with a variety of media and style. I then brought the images into class today with the hope that I would have a productive time...
I wanted to create busy abstract style pieces, however was instead directed by my tutor to paint 'proper paintings' instead (something that I have no confidence in what so ever.)
So after slapping cheap acrylics down, onto cheap paper with a cheap brush, I ended up with a gross piece of work that took me all day. Not realistic in the slightest OR in any way convincing!
Fine art is what I want to do.... yet..... I don't seem to have quite grasped it?!
ANYWAY, David came over and calmed me down. He has told me to buy decent paints, paper and brushes and have a bit of confidence. So i shall do just that.
The past two weeks haven't been a waste of time, they have made me realise that I need to believe in myself to make this work.
I have loved the atmosphere within the fine art studio and know already that this is where I want to be. All I need to do now is to convince the teachers to give me a second chance!!

Besides this super sized rant, I should really not down here how I feel about John Berger's 'ways of seeing.'
A book, which in my opinion is far more famous than it should be.
Yes he opens your mind and makes you look at paintings differently, and yes some of the things he says are true and understandable. But does nobody else agree that the book itself is a little on the overrated side?
I find that he imposes his opinions far too much onto the reader and that after seeing things how he sees things we automatically change our views. In my eyes this is totally wrong.
He does, however make a few interesting and read worthy points- chapter 2- the female form- "when women look at one another they make a judgement." Many women wouldn't admit it, but this statement is spot on.
So perhaps I am being a bit too judgemental and perhaps my bad mood is shining through a bit... who knows.
We have crits all day tomorrow. Hopefully I will come back feeling a little more cheery next time!

Blog Pt.2.

It is week three, which means my group have moved onto our Fine Art rotation.
Fine art is something that I really enjoy and can (hopefully) see myself continuing in the future.
As it is Wednesday, we have only had one studio day so far this week and during that time I have come up with yet again many more ugly drawings.
There was four installations set up around the studio and we were asked to draw all day from these. This resulted in my book looking like it belongs to a 5 year old, but never the less I have done what I was told!
So far I have received both positive and negative feedback. Enjoying the positive far more (if any of the teachers are reading this......)
Looking forward to tomorrow... making acetate flip books? Sounds like my cuppa tea.

Fashion/Textiles- Rotation 1.

It is Wednesday 15th of September 15:15. How odd.
I have been at Chelsea for a week and a half now and already feel very comfortable in my new surroundings.
We are coming to the end of our fashion/textiles rotation and I have to say, It is far from what I expected. No clothes making or shoe design was existent and much to my surprise I have enjoyed it quite a bit!
We began the rotation by filling our books with ghastly looking drawings (not looking, continuous line etc.) To my relief everyone elses sketchbook looked as ugly as mine allowing me to realise that this course isn't about creating fancy paintings or precise drawings- it is instead, all about experimentation.
Once I had grasped this concept, the work I was producing began to feel much more natural and I started to feel more confident, allowing my ideas to grow and own experimentation take place.
Our next task was to use the photos we had taken of an object expanding or compressing (the title of the project) and cut into them to create 3D objects from 2D images. We were told that 'less is more' and I completely agree!
Today I visited the Edweard Muybridge exhibition at the Tate Britain. His photographs were extremely delicate and I found it interesting how he often told stories of movement through his artwork.
I was able to relate the idea of 'compress and expand' to Muybridge's photographs. For example, a series of four pictures depicting the building process of the United States Appraisers Building. These images were taken over a series of years and show the idea of expansion, as the building grows in size and aesthetic value.
There was also a series of photographs which captured an American Eagle flying. This again, explores the idea of compress and expand as the wings of the bird open and close.

I think that is all for now.