Why I Paint.

Group Crit. And Oil Paint Workshop: These helped me kind of understand why I paint!
 

Last week I had my group crit with a few other fellow students and it went ok. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it and to start off the day I stupidly sat at my desk in my space. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Well, it meant I had to go first, in hindsight it was good to get it out of the way, it meant I only had to listen to other people for the rest of the day and occasionally ask a question.

During my session, in between being asked questions I didn’t understand and trying to avoid answering them, I was given several ideas about where I could take my work and other ways to present it. There were suggestions from sculpture all the way to a large scale projection. There was even the mention of glitter from the tutor! Now, I will warn you, I am not to be held responsible if anything happens with this medium. I’ve been looking to buy some, I get so excited just thinking about using it, but I need to wait until my money situation is a bit better.

The tutor kept pushing the idea of screen printing and some sort of digitally created symbol based on my work. Sigh. As soon as she mentioned them, I knew that that’s not what I want to do with my work, I just couldn’t put my finger on the reason why...

Still being obsessed with the thoughts of glitter the next day came about and I found myself in an oil painting workshop. Admittedly, that would never have happened if Michael hadn’t have come and got me, because I had completely forgot about it. I found listening to Michael talk about the way he works really interesting. The way he talks about everything makes it sound better than it really is. He also has a habit of wandering off to random stories and you can't help but laugh.We ended up going through why he wears a hat, violet flowers in woods, bees and red trousers... I know, right? I can't really remember why to some of it, but it possibly made sense at the time. The stages he goes through and little tips he had were good, I just wish I could see some more of his work and what his studio is like. He's a very difficult man to find anything about on the internet! There are a couple of videos of him by students but that's about it... Hmmm, I may have to bug him to see some work somehow.

Anyway, watching Michaels process and listening to him talk about other painters, made me realise why I paint and I don't really attempt much else. It is because I like the hands on-ness about it. Adding splodges of paint, layers and layers, colours, shapes... The process from an idea to a finished piece, makes it all so enjoyable. That is why.

I hope all this makes sense, I haven't read throught it haha!

Started Life Drawing.

(15 minute drawing of a feature)

I've decided to take up Life Drawing.

Now honestly, I'm being very hopeful of myself. It's on a Monday from 5-7pm (this to me is late), but I'm determined to see it through and maybe my drawing will get better. There's also another Life Drawing workshop on a Wednesday, which apparently a little different, so I shall be attending them as well. Dedicated or what?!

I was nervous to begin with, it wasn't at the thought of there being a naked model (turns out there's two), that doesn't bother me at all, rather the fact that I was going to meet new people. It was fine after a while and getting into the swing of things. I felt like I was being picked on slightly and being told I should be doing this and that to my drawing, however, I guess that's just how I'll learn though. I definitely achieved slight improvements as we went on. The very last one I did is my favourite, I might have to stick with drawing feet.

(1 minute each figure)

(1 minute each figure)

(5 minute each figure)

(15 minute drawing)

(20 minute drawing)

(25 minute drawing)

Sculpture Workshop Take Two.

Sculpture Workshop No.2, with Simeon Nelson and once again I had a great day. I really do think that the people who did not attend really have missed out. You’ll notice that this sculpture is a different colour to the ones before. This is because we used a greater amount of plaster to sand, which made the structure much stronger and harder. To help fill space in the mould a post was placed inside, unfortunately it happened to be taller than me and made it difficult to handle once it was taken out of the sand. If I’m honest it looked like a giant match stick, so out came the wood saw and off came the excess post. Due to it being more solid, more effort was needed, so I borrowed a mallet and a chisel and then began to carve lines into the sculpture. The lines will be used in a similar way to my previous sculptures, so this work will be able to be related to my project. There was a lot of plaster left behind and I hope to use it to create some more work at some point, I’m hoping I don’t run out of time.

Carving Shape.

This is what I got up to today. I created these before hand, like a “here’s one I did earlier” type thing, you can read about it in my previous post. Thankfully the sand was still damp, I reckon I put too much water in and not enough plaster. Ah well, at least I know now. I was able to carve lines and shapes in to the sculptures thanks to Clives dentist tools and a spoon (I’m not joking, that’s what they were). What I have carved relate back to my paintings and when I get time, I hope to paint alone the lines with similar colours to them. Fingers crossed it will work and it won’t have been a waste of time because I have enjoyed doing them, they have been almost therapeutic (apart from the scary spider). And seeing as I never thought of myself as a sculptor, it looks like Simeons workshop was a success! We have another one tomorrow, so I’ll keep you updated of how that goes.

All By Myself.

I had a good day yesterday, I went up to the studios to collect materials I would need for the day and had a lovely surprise from my fellow artist, Clive. He had bought me a portfolio to put my work in, to protect it, as well as a large piece of paper that I could do a drawing on, to say sorry. The day before he had accidently got paint on one of my paintings so I had to cut a part off of it. It was cute moment, I offered but he didn’t want any money for it. He didn’t have to get me it, bless him, it still makes me smile when I think about it.

After this, still enthusiastic about the sculpture workshop, I went downstairs to the area we worked in on Tuesday and began. I dug my holes, mixed together the sand, plaster and water (which turned out to be messy work on my own) and poured it into my sand moulds. Then the waiting began again. It was actually quite lonely and I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I paced around, cleared things away, swept up, and ate food. I also noticed a vast number of zimmer frames, which was a bit creepy, what happened to the old people?!… I think I had added too much water, which I had to wait even longer than I probably should, but I got to the point where I could bear it no longer.

I had to dig my sculptures out with my hands, because I couldn’t lift up the boxes to release them on my own.It was all going well until I had nearly finished and a massive spider appeared from the sand. It scared me greatly! You may think I’m exaggerating and that it was probably ownly a diddy one, but I am not! Small ones don’t bother me. Anyway, with my fragile sculptures set free and trying me best not to break them (possibly from not having enough plaster in them, or too much water, or a combination of the two) I went to wash them down and get rid of the excess sand. This was my favourite part, I enjoyed seeing the water reveal what was underneath. You can see the results below. I have decided to leave them to dry slightly over the weekend before attempting to do anything to them. Hopefully I’ll be able to work on them the beginning of next week, we’ll see (like always).

Sculpture Workshop.

Sculpture Workshop with Simeon Nelson. Near the start of the week we had to attend a workshop to do with sculpture. Just the word sculpture filled me with dread and before we it even started, I had assured myself it was going to be pointless. In my mind, I have never been a sculptor, ever! It wasn’t something I thought I enjoyed. But by the end of the day, my opinion had completely changed. It was actually so much fun and although quite physical, very fulfilling. The people who didn’t attend definitely missed out. I might become a sculptor as yet. The process didn’t take long to create, it also helped if you worked together. We started by digging out a hole of any shape, in wet sand. We then mixed up sand with plaster, in a ratio of 2 thirds sand to 1 third plaster, and added water, this part could go easily wrong, if there is too little or too much in it. The mixture is then poured into the hole at a consistant pace but not to fast. Then the waiting begins. It was exciting to find out what it would look like and also shaping it ourselves with tools was good too. I hope to do more sometime, possibly smaller ones, because this one was very heavy! And apparently I have a talent for shovelling sand, so if all else fails, you know where to go if you need sand shovelled haha!

Little Owl.

Acrylic paint on acrylic paper, A3.

From one owl, to another owl, to another one. Ah, more development of the growing features and what could be included to show the qualities for my little owl (not the actual size of a real life one of course hehe). Isn't he cute? This has to be the cutest painting I have ever created. I have had many people say they like this one, although it could possibly be too 'cartoony'. I often get told my work has an Illustration aspect about it, even in previous projects I have worked on, which I understand and agree with. Maybe I am on the wrong course? Haha! I once got told when I was at college, in an assessment, that I should think about Illustration for uni, however the other tutor disagreed and said "No, she is a Fine Artist". I had never really though about that area of art and unfortunately, never got a chance to take part in the workshop for it as the spaces for it would go in a flash. It would have been nice to see what it was like, but alas, life goes on and here I am, over half way through the first year of a Fine Art course. I am still very unsure of what my style and preferred medium is, and this worries me. Fingers crossed one day I will know for certain... Sorry, I have just realised I went off on a tangent there. Oops!

Below are photos of stages to get to the final piece: