For my secondary research I looked for images on sites like pinterest and google. For my primary research I took photos of flowers,trees etc. that looked like the things Morris and Klimt based their work on.
I didn't get a chance to go to visit any exhibitions to support my project, but I did do a little research for the exhibition on William Morris in London as I was meant to go there.
In my designs I took a lot of inspiration from Morris. I took the shapes of his flowers and leaves, the colour schemes he used in some of his designs and the layout of his designs. These were the aspects of his work that stood out to me the most and I decided that I needed to incorporate some of these into my designs.
My contemporary artist that I decided to look at took me a while to choose, but I eventually decided to look at Gustav Klimt. The artist was recommended by my tutor because I was indecisive on the other artists I looked at. After she recommended him I looked at his work and was fascinated with his gold period work. I couldn't wait to start experimenting with ideas and I knew I wouldn't run out of things to look at so this made my decision to choose him as my contemporary artist.
During this project I did a lot of experimentation with a range of techniques. I explored many ways of weaving, I looked at batik, heat transfer, screen printing with permaset inks, pigment inks and puff binder and embroidery. I also experimented with brush-o inks to create different backgrounds along with mark making.
The health and safety covered in the workshop was quite easy to follow. I had to make sure the first thing I did when getting into the workshop was tying my hair up if it was down and putting on a apron and gloves so I didn't get any dyes on me. Then when using the batik pot, heat press and heat gun I had to make sure not to get my hands or clothes in the way so they wouldn't get burnt. I also had to be aware of my surroundings and other people.
Through doing peer assessment I got to improve some of my sheet and sketchbook work. I found that it was great to get someone elses perspective on my work so I could tweak parts of it. The overall feedback I got was that I needed to finish a lot of my work because some pieces were half done, I felt that this wasn't a big concern of mine as I like to work at a slow pace to add as much detail as possible.
The customer critiques during this project were quite limited because I have only seen my client approximately three times. The final time I met my client he gave me some good feedback on what he wanted me to experiment with to add more depth and detail to my pieces as both my artists used bold styles and colour. I took this feedback into consideration and then on some of my samples added sequins and stitched into bits to see if it improved the overall look.
My strengths throughout this project were the amount of good quality research and samples I managed to get done. I got to develop all my ideas and build up a impressive sketchbook that showed how well I used the design cycle to get my work to a great standard. Time management was a big strength along with organization.
The way I decided on my final piece was by having design meeting with my peers. It was a good way to find out what other people thought as they were a part of the target audience I was aiming to appeal too. In the end they could not choose between two of my samples so decided to have me do two final pieces as wallpaper.
If I was to do this project again I would change the time I spent on my samples because I did so many and it made it difficult to choose a final piece. I would have then spent more time on my final piece to work back into parts as I didn't have enough to make sure it was to the best standard I could produce.
From this project I will take away the new weaving processes that I have had a chance to learn as they can be adapted to any project. I will also take away my improved observational drawing techniques and new screen printing process using permaset inks.
I think what went well was how I managed to progress through the project with my research and do lots of development. What went wrong was when using the permaset inks I couldn't see through my screen to line my prints up so some of them are not printed where there supposed to be.
I am very happy with how my final pieces turned out. I enjoyed making them however I wish I would have had more time to work into them. I was a little disappointed that some of the prints were not lined up perfectly and I had to touch some sections up with a paint brush but there wasn't many that needed it.
Final Piece One
Final Piece Two
I think I managed my time quite well even though I would have liked to spend more of my time on my final pieces.
I feel that I have done my best to meet the brief. I have met all of the constraints set, I have used two processes on most of my samples, most of my samples are A3 size but I have experimented with size and amount of processes to show I have thought about it. I looked at a contemporary artist from the 20th century as stated in the brief, I have done a repeat pattern as stated by my peers in the design meeting and I documented in my sketchbook the process I have gone through.
I feel I have used my blog very effectively although in my next project I know I need to do more posts. I have explained the processes used or learnt within my blog and also the health and safety, so I know that I can refer back to them. And they are in more detail and this made it more effective.
Altogether I have really enjoyed this project and feel that it was quite successful. I now cannot wait to start my next one.
