Part 2 Assignment 2 - Reflection

My first thought when I read the brief for this project was slight alarm as I couldn’t see how I could make something interesting from itself, but I really enjoyed working with the feathers and felt that they had a positive influence on my drawings. My instinct is to draw carefully and accurately but the feathers had just enough lack of control to make drawings that were accurate but not too accurate. Working from memory or imagination is challenging for me and I have always found birds to be difficult subjects as they move so much. The combination of necessarily loose impression and a subject that looks unnatural if it is too detailed and static meant that even the drawings I wasn’t pleased with had an element of their subject which I haven’t achieved before.

The tree drawings were less successful as finished drawings but I learnt from the act of making them. The composition was weak. I should have made more thumbnails but I was aware that my opportunity to draw directly from life was limited in this instance and I have drawn this tree many times from all the angles that don’t involve trespassing into my neighbours garden. I wanted a big close up drawing to get the detail of the tree but lost some of the planned composition because I was too close and got more interested in the texture of the tree and less interested in the overall shape. Again the drawing tools lacked precision which was perfect for the rough and random shapes made by the bark and the branches. Some of the accidental marks conveyed the textures far better than I could have managed with more conventional media. I think I could have made a better more considered drawing if I had stuck to a single colour but experimentation seemed to be the point of the exercise. I find monochrome much easier so I wouldn’t have learnt as much.

I have a lot to learn about considered use of colour. In the later drawings I tried to be less representational. I have always shied away from bright colours but I have just read the Will Gompertz book about modern art and I enjoyed many of the brightly coloured works. I am starting to appreciate that it is possible to make sophisticated works using saturated colour. This might not be the way forward for my work but I need to explore it to understand how far to push my own colour usage.

My first assignment was criticized for not occupying the full space of the page so I have worked hard, though not always successfully, to include backgrounds. This really changes the balance of a drawing and I need to work harder to balance the subject I am most interested in with the background which has a tendency to demand equal attention. I need to think much more carefully what I want my audience to take away from their viewing of my work.

Assessment criteria points
1) Demonstration of technical and visual skills – materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills.
Technical skills is difficult to judge as this project required use of novel tools to create an image. Historical observation was employed for the birds from my imagination and I think I need to look more closely. The trees didn't sit on the page as I had planned so I need to work on translating my observations more accurately. Composition, as ever, needs to improve.
2) Quality of outcome – content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas.

There's quite a lot of content. Am I applying my knowledge? I am trying to relate my work more to that of other artists and I think it is presented as coherently as my random train of thought will allow. I'm not sure how discerning I am, that is probably for others to judge. My thoughts and ideas aren't very sophisticated so I hope that I have communicated them effectively. I need to work on being more original and unconventional.
3) Demonstration of creativity – imagination, experimentation, invention, development of a personal voice.

I have tried to be more experimental and less hung up on a successful outcome whatever that may be. This project has more scope and has been much more interesting  than I had expected. There is a lot more potential here chichis why it has taken me so long to submit my work to my tutor. With regard to personal voice I have been following the thread in the Coffee Shop and can only say that my voice is still very much in it's infancy.

Tutor feedback

It was suggested that I redo the seabird on a coloured ground varying the colours to explore the way that this affects the mood. 

I've not managed to get the bird quite right this time yet and the pictures are still quite monochrome but I really like this technique .