First day back

My first day back of the new term has been mixed already. It was a great feeling walking over to art college even though I had no ideas on what work I was going to be working on. I've been given a great space and instantly felt guilty that I was never going to be able to get back into the large scale work I was doing last year.  A quick chat with the tutor put me at ease again and I just set out to 'settle in' again for the next couple of weeks. There is no point forcing ideas if they're not there.

I started doing a few small scale images from a photo taken on my recent holiday in Italy.  Just playing really but it was good to be actually doing something.  The usual hassles with repro and matriculation etc etc interrupted the morning a little but in general it was great to be back and great to see fellow students after the long summer break.

Now I just need to get down to scanning the work in and developing it more.  Looking forward to a new printing class tonight.

Scanner

My beloved scanner has stopped working. I put on the pc, heard a loud bang and then the vague aroma of burning plastic wafted through the studio.  Nothing obvious, no sparks, no flames but definitely a dead scanner - I think the bulb blew and it's a sealed unit. Perhaps it was overused and has just given up on me but I think I need to buy a new scanner for the new term. I haven't scanned any framed work from from my last assessment but here is one from the previous abstract module.

Winding back a year or so

It's been nearly 18 months since I updated here properly. A whole year at college has passed and perhaps I should reflect on how it went.

It was generally not too bad art wise. I haven't had my official results but the provisional feedback suggests I have passed all the modules I studied. I'm hoping for a couple of B's at least. The class I enjoyed the most was the abstract art and I suppose the main high was moving up in scale to paint a large three panel piece. In total it was 4ft x 6ft. My tutor was great and always encouraging - even when it was obvious he didn't always like some of the things I was doing (but hey that's art!). I showed the piece at the exhibition the students have each year and was pleased with the feedback - even got an offer to buy it but I think I outpriced myself. Still it was flattering to think someone was interested enough to enquire about it. When I can find the photo of it in situ at the exhibition I will post it but meanwhile this is the piece cropped. You can't really see it terribly well in this as there is a lot of detail in the paint if you look closely. I'll post some details shots eventually.

It might be an idea for me to go back over the last year and put up some of the things I did - to remind myself more than anything and to be able to reflect on what I was thinking or how I was working when  I did each piece.

The new term starts after a trip to Italy. I'm hoping to get much research done there as well as relaxing and catching up with family. I've managed to sort classes out and will be doing printing for the first time. It will be a challenge as the module it's for is a level 3 and I'm starting at the basics. Will also be doing digital photography and a movie making weekend and more painting. Last year all I wanted to do was paint and that's still how I'm feeling but the way the classes work out means I have to do other things. The good news is that I have secured another work contract which will give me more time to work on art. :-)

A New Term

I was reminded recently that I had an art blog. It's been a while. A new term is approaching in a few weeks and I may start writing this blog again to ensure I keep track of what I'm doing art-wise So, to anyone who reads............watch this space :-)

Update

Again it's been a while since I've updated this blog. I discovered recently that I don't have to hand in any form of journal and it's made me lazy in keeping this up to date. However, there are still benefits of writing as I go through the year, so I really must try to write more comments from the conversations I have with my tutors.

I made this little card for my Mum for Mother's day.

Two classes in

This term has been different from the last - I am finding it more difficult to work out what I am working on. I have a feeling that the idea I have to hand in one module at the end of the term has already affected my work and made me worry about what I'm going to present as a body of work. The tutor in the first class didn't discuss my work at all in the first two classes which left me very demoralised after the last class. Rather than think he felt I was working away fine, I always interpret his lack of communication with the thought that he thinks it's crap and that I'm making the mistakes he always says I need to, to work through obstacles. I confessed I was feeling a little lost with what I was doing and I was told everyone goes through that. Talk about tough love.

The other class wasn't much better the first week but this week I did have a conversation with the tutor and got a more positive feedback which did help me to get started on something. I went back to my sketch book and tried to do some small scale sketches. These were taken from a manipulated image of the paint strips from around my paintings. One in particular worked quite well, so I enlarged it and printed it. The image here is a little sketch of what I would like to start working on for a painting.

Tonight is a workshop on keeping a journal. Hopefully it will help me direct this into a useable format for handing in my theory module at the end of August.

Different

I got a real buzz out of painting this image. It was done in a still life class and I hadn't done still life for a long time. In a fit of something, I painted the whole thing red and then started layering the paint. This gave me some really good angles which the tutor encouraged me to emphasise. It developed into a fairly angular image which I really liked and played on. I was so pleased when I completed it. It's a very different approach for me. Very bold. But I really like it. Perhaps having looked at it for a few months now the effect of producing something has lessened but I'm still pleased with the finished piece.