First I did some research by doing observational drawings of a still life set up. For this I used different medias, and other techniques with a time limit on how long I had to draw the set up. I did four observational drawings altogether. The first one was on blank A3 paper and was a line drawing with a HB pencil, I had fifteen minutes to draw it. The second drawing was on A4 paper drawn with a biro pen and using my left hand, with a time limit of five minutes. The third drawing was on black A3 paper drawn with a white soft pastel I also had fifteen minutes to draw it in. The fourth drawing was on A4 paper but I made the paper textured by putting bits of masking tape on it and crumpling the page up. Then using a black felt tip pen I drew the still life set up, I had about twenty minutes to do this one in as I had to prep the paper. These went quite well as it shows my exploration of line and scale however I believe they would be better if given more time to finish them.
Other research I did involved doing two moodboards, a primary and a secondary one both looking at nature. The secondary moodboard was based on images that I found from a secondary source this been the computer and magazines and I did some critical studies of these images. The critical studies in my opinion helped me to explore pattern and texture. For my primary research I did two sheets filled with pictures I took myself when I visited the zoo this was good because I got to photo close ups and collage them together. In addition to these sheets I did a sheet of ideas for my ceramics workshop, a sheet on animal print samples and two sheets on two well-known textile artists.
Secondary research sheet
Visual sheet - one
Part of visual sheet - two
The main ideas that I took forward into my designs were the silhouettes of animals and insects because when I put a few together they made a nice pattern. I decided to use the animal pattern leaf idea because it is original and unique and I used some floral ideas that were influenced by the designers I chose to look at as they do lots of floral prints.
I encountered quite a few problems when doing my designs these mostly been that the designs would not fit together if I used the ideas I had. Or that the shapes I was going to use were too big and would not fit in with the other part of the design. When this did happen I had to either rethink the design or make the shape smaller to fit in with the rest of the design. It was quite difficult learning the new technique of how to do a repeat pattern but I soon got the hang of it by drawing quick designs and testing other peoples designs. I also had a problem with the amount of time I was given to do the sheets within class however I overcame that by putting the time in at home.
The textile designers I chose to look at when doing this project were Laura Ashley and Cath Kidston. I chose these designers as I thought they linked to to my work the most as they use floral patterns and animal patterns within there own designs. As I was also looking at animals and flowers I thought it would be great to look at these artists so I would be able to use them to influence the set up and ideas in my work. For example in some of Cath Kidstons recent work she uses giraffes and I also used this idea but made it my own by using silhouettes and incorperating the pattern of the giraffe onto leaves or flowers. The artists influenced my work alot through the designs as some of the textures and patterns were inspired from there work however I did not incorperate there exact designs anywhere in my work as I wanted to come up with my own patterns.
For my final design I made two repeat patterns. I chose to do two as I was curious as to how they would both turn out as they were both exciting patterns and I knew if I managed my time well I would be able to do an extra piece. To choose the designs I would do I chose my three fravourite designs and then asked the classmates on my table and my tutor to choose which one was the best in there opinion. It was at this point that I chose to do two final pieces as we could not decide between two of the designs. I thought it would be good to ask other peoples opinion of my work so that I would know that people like it and I was picking the right designs to produce.
Once I had made my final design it was quite easy to reproduce as the pattern matched up perfectly when I made other copies of the design. One of the designs was about a millimeter off but it still fit together and worked which I am very pleased about.
Throughout this project I learnt and used lots of new processes. In the ceramics workshop I learnt how to do extruding and glazing. In the textile workshop I learnt how to do batik, paper making, mark making, screen printing and puff binding. Then on my lesson on a Tuesday I did more batik and learnt how to do heat transfer with one of my visual sheets. I found these new processes very enjoyable to do and it was great to learn all these new processes through doing this project.
What I feel went well in this project would be my final designs and final pieces as they turned out exeptionally well. My research and the workshops also went well because I got to explore line, scale, texture and pattern throughout experimenting and researching. What went wrong in this project would be some of my ceramics work as I was not as experienced in this area of art. It sometimes looked unfinished and messy. If I could change anything in this project it would be the amount of research sheets and visual sheets I have done as I would have liked to develop my ideas further. I would also change some of my ceramics work and design my ideas before going into the workshop.
Overall I think I managed my time well, I tried to get the work I was set done during class time but if I failed to complete it in that time I did it for independent study. I have also done extra work meaning I have put more time into this project when I have had time during the week and on the weekends. I felt I needed to put this time in to better my work and develop all of the research I have done.
Duing this project I have also been doing a blog that I have continuously been updating on the workshops and the project. I think I have used it effectively as I have been able to write about the processes I have learnt in full detail and show how I have developed my work throughout the project. I will also be able to look back on the processes when I use them again to remember how to do them.
Altogether I think the project was very successful, all the research I undertook went well and I managed to make two final pieces that were well developed and repeat perfectly. My strengths through this project were coming up with new designs and patterns from simple pictures and experimenting with ideas to see if they work or fail. To improve the project I could have done more research and more experimentation to show I have looked and tried out new ideas. Also I need to make sure there are no negative spaces on my sheets and to annotate/explain my sheets in more detail. This is something I will take through to the next project I do.
