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.

Work

One of the images I was working on last term. I've posted it before but I think this is finished now although not many changes since I last posted it. There are things about it which I don't like. There are some bits I do like too and generally it will probably make it to the final assessment for one of my modules.

Happy New Year

Well, it's been a while! A combination of losing my password and losing general incentive to blog has made entries to this site few and far between. Term 1 is over and Term 2 already begun. I've had lots of intersting conversations with my tutors and my mentor - all of which I should have been writing about so I can remember what was said but alass my memory being what it is, many of the very helpful discussions have escaped my memory for good. Last year, I said I would dutifully write up all the conversations I had. So much for good intentions :-)