Chosen Works
This early piece still remains one of my favourites. I loved experimenting in this work and learnt so much about my style and approach to this brief through creating this piece. I also learnt the valuable lesson of how to avoid overworking from Becks and Amber while creating this one.
This series was another favourite and major learning point for me too. I realised that I worked much more confidently with an under painting and that layers were my best friend (especially when working with a new surface). My only regret is keeping the size so small (A6 postcard) when I could have used a photocopier to blow the image up to A4. This is because I lost much of the detail. Despite this, I still see it as a major success in my colour blocking experiments and an important step for my following works.
This monoprint and its ghost print were very special to me because I challenged myself very thoroughly. I knew I didn’t have the ideal materials or space for this work but still persevered to make prints. Printmaking is my passion and lino cutting is what lead me into art school, so I was disappointed these didn’t turn out perfectly at the time. Looking back at them now, and with feedback from tutors, I see that these images are really quite beautiful. They certainly aren’t the quality I could achieve in the print lab but I’m really proud of them given the circumstances.
This piece is also a favourite as it brings together some of my well loved methods from this brief. The colour blocking, charcoal and the washy drippy acrylic all work together to almost encapsulate all of my experimenting during this brief. I do think this work is a little on the busy side, slightly betraying the simple figurative look I’d been trying for in earlier works. Despite this I still think it is a very interesting work and I’m very proud of it.
Final Summary
Reflecting on my work, I’m really proud of how I’ve engaged with the brief. I found my generation of work slower than when in studio as I find the studio environment very inspiring, but with the challenge of lockdown and limited materials/space, I believe I’ve generated a fair amount of work.
My process has been very experimental. I’ve tried interacting with a range of materials in a range of ways to establish a broad mark making vocabulary. I believe most work has been intuitive, especially from week 3 onward when I started to let go of the idea of a ‘final result’ and focused more on the process of creating.
I’ve learnt a lot about how I like to paint and the ways that work best for me. I’ve enjoyed how playful and experimental this brief has been and exploring the range of possibilities from a select few references. I’m looking forward to taking these skills and new artist models with me in my art practice.