Workshop no.1

In the morning we went through our statements of intent which was rather stressful, however it turns out mine was better than I thought it was, however I am still slightly stuck for a title, hmm...

In the afternoon thought we started drawing to try and generate some ideas.

 

 

When I was looking through one of my reference books- 'The Natural World Close Up'- I came across this image of a butterfly wing, which I thought was really beautiful and has a great repeat pattern to it. Especially as the books provides images of it magified at different scales, which made the drawings easier as the drawings were progressing in terms of media and methdod. My favourite drawings are the drawing of the butterfly done in fine liner, and the magified image done in fine liner. I find when drawing, that uses fine liners are one of my favourite methods.

Tate Workshop

Today Esther and I went for a workshop at the Tate Liverpool with Jennifer Collier.

We started off the morning by looking through her portfolio, most of which I had seen before as I have researched her for previous projects, which made the whole experience very exciting for me; meeting an artist who's work I like so much.

We then did a couple of techniques that she uses in her work, most of which I had used before, like trapping things in teabags and using wax.

All of the little samples we made went towards making a little "sketchbook", made in the style of her work.

We then went to have a look at the Glam exhibition as that is what our afternoons work would be based on, however we didn't have much time to look around, so I couldn't find much inspiration for my FMP, but we were given an open ticket to the exhibition so I will definitely be going again to have a good look around and hopefully I shall find something relevant or inspirational.

Although I don't think any of the techniques will be relevant in my project it was still a wonderful opportunity and a great experience; working with a current and contemporary artists.

The First Photos...

To start getting some primary research I went to the beach to try and get some photograhps, however the clouds were hanging a little too low above the horizon so I only had a limited time to get photos of the sunset, but I will go back to get more.

I also wanted to have a go at doing some star trail photographs, however I couldn't effectvely change the exposure time on my  camera, so these will have to be done with a different camera. But I did attempt to do some normal light trail photographs down lord street, but because I had to move the camera to produce lines I couldn't depict what kind of pattern I would get.

 

 

These were a couple of my favourites. I used the lights from the trees down Lord Street to create the blue and the green, I was trying to create a pattern that could be interpretted as the northern lights, however it wasn't successful, but the overall effect is good.

Books...

Argh!

 I'm so annoyed, I have looked through three different libraries trying to find books relevant to Natural Phenomenons, and there is nothing, you'd think there would be a book that is actually entitled 'Natural Phenomenons', but no! I even bought a book from TK Maxx called 'The Natural World Close Up' and it's a fantastic book, but not everything in it would be classed as a "Phenomenon", although the images will provide some great inspiration for textile design once I get to that point, as the images of these things quite up are very beautiful.

For better research I've ordered this book off of amazon!

It included; images, diagrams and explanations!

And I'm hoping it will be delivered soon!
 



I Have Chosen...

For my final major project I have chosen to look at Natural Phenomenons!

I always find myself drawn to natural forms, I just think there is such a magical aspect to it that such beautiful things can just happen, as if it's just by accident.

I was slightly worried about going down the natural route, as it feels like something that will have been done to death, so it may be difficult to put my own twist on it, but I think Phenomenons, such as the northern lights, or bioluminescences is something that may not have been looked at much before.

To start gathering ideas and for research I have created a Pinterest board, so that any articles and images I find are all in one place and will take me (or should take me) directly back to the site they are originally from. I really Pinterest, I can spend hours "pinning". Hopefully this will also gives me ideas of primary research I can do, for example what photographs I could take.

 

Lets Get Started...

Yesterday we had the conference to discuss FMP (final major project), it was meant to be in the theatre but apparently there is no internet in there so the presentation wouldn't work, so we had it in the conference room.

I think by the end of the presentation we were all petrified, we all knew that our Final Major Project was big, but I don't think we could have imagined how big it is. 

Personally, I'm finding it really rather scary, but I think it's because I haven't got a definite idea of what I want to do yet and the presentation was kind of an information overload! As soon as I get going with it all I know I will get into the stride of it and just enjoy and what I'm doing!

Now just to get an idea...