goodbye chelsea.

hello whatever's next.


http://alyssa-phelan.tumblr.com/

eval.

             A feeling of uncertainty was present throughout the majority of my project, despite the research I had carried out; my project was to document my time in London, take photographs, and play around with cinematic imagery to make my work bolder; I had observed, drawn from and thought about a variety of films, and had used up at least seven rolls of 36-exposure film before I knew my main focus. My methods for what works would turn out successfully were “trial and error”.

I began by documenting where I had travelled, and social situations I would find myself in. I kept a log to keep a note of where I had been and my thoughts at the time. After a talk with tutors, I realized my work was far too broad and it needed a focus to have continuity between each painting. From there, I have focused on the reason I moved to London: the vibrancy of the city. I create loud, messy paintings, and I wanted to link this in with the experience I have had. I began to take photographs embarking on specific journeys around busy areas, most being by foot.

The methods I used for creating the paintings were not far out of my comfort zone, the main variant between each one being the material I was painting onto: either canvas, cardboard or wood. I prefer my paintings’ waxy texture when working on wood, however quite a few of the canvas paintings had been successful. Each painting would consist of composing the photograph(s), surrounding and layering these with oil bar, and then drawing and painting onto acetate to top them off. The resulting painting would be a glimpse of the urban fabric; the gestural abstract paintwork, the use of colours and shapes interact with each other and the sharpness of the photograph, showing human interaction and movement I had come across.

            Influences from other artists have helped shape my work; I feel I have drawn a lot from Merlin James, Dawn Mellor, and Willem De Kooning stylistically.  

            I didn’t refer to my action plan much throughout the project, because I knew in my mind what I would need to do after each step, as well as there being different obstacles that could change specific dates, for instance, if I could only afford so much film to be developed in one week.

            Overall, I have learnt that it’s better to try to focus on a stable idea from a week of thorough research, allowing more time for that idea to develop further, rather than working on broad ideas for a lengthy time. I will improve upon this in later work for the fact that I have grown in confidence and I have a better idea about which of my works turn out more successful. All in all, I’m very proud of my FMP work, it being my strongest collection of work yet, and I cannot wait to grow from this point. 

some new work;

It's been over a month since i last posted, which is pretty awful, but a lot has come up. We've ofcourse had this FMP business unloaded to us which has got everyone working on overtime. As well as this, i've had a few visits from friends, a visit from the boyf and then a trip back to Oxford to spend time with him. My mac broke which was a massive bugger and got me to points of boredom i haven't reached in a long long time. Interviews here and there, and a couple of rejections later, here i am. Basically two more weeks of college left. Two weeks of Foundation. Mental.


My FMP started out as a plan to just gather things i've taken and experienced from my time in London and whop it on a canvas; it's very important to me as living in London was my dream and i've finally done it. These canvases are thought out ofcourse; i struggle to explain why i make certain marks, but i know which marks i should make and i have a good idea on what i think looks good in my head. Putting that across to the tutors, however, is another matter. On Monday i was told i need to stop talking bollocks and change my subject matter from being all over the place to one specific subject/focus. In this case, i've decided to document the journeys i take daily. Always carrying a camera, i shoot things that catch my eye and try to record what and who i see. I don't know how i can explain this in an exciting thrilling way but surely my work should be doing the talking anyway, rather than myself. 
I understand an artist needs to have a sense of what their doing and get used to talking about works, but these artists are usually interviewed and asked specific questions; when i get stood in a corridor with my work lined up for everyone to see and just get stared at by my tutors and expected to talk, i stutter, panic and literally no words or nothing exciting can come out. Knowing this, i have my Chelsea interview in about a month from now and i'm literally bricking myself and holding no real hope that i'll get in just due to my sheer lack of confidence when talking about what's infront of me. I can't tell you why i find a certain composition interesting, or why certain colours happen to stand out and appeal to me. 
If i don't get in to chelsea, my only real option i'd want to take is a gap year to work full time and do art in any spare time i have. BA is so appealing because you're just left to your own devices to experiment, a lot like foundation, but it's a continuation of this, and that's really what i need to develop and take my work further. The fact i may not get in because i can't talk is incredibly unfair and it's really bummed and stressed me out.
That last paragraph turned into a bit of a rant, really.
Anyway, the FMP is now on journeys and i'm hoping i have a good collection of work by the 31st. 


PowBYE .x

hello. i just realised i hadn't posted any of the few pictures i took whilst at the ICA gallery the other week.

so here are some;

a film containing birds. 9 minutes with an outdoor abandoned feast. guess what happens.

i liked this sculpture piece.

this work resembles the work of Peter James Carrington. I adore Carrington and similarly adore this.

Cute little random postcards. i diiiig. i can't collage.

so that sums that up. 

I also haven't noted what i've done socially as of late. I went to see Metronomy at Heaven the other week, that was pretty nang. I ate shitloads of takeout; i feel pretty fat now. I also bombed my FMP and ended up feeling coldy and fluey and wanting the fuck out of London so i could see maaa mandem.

Went down last thursday and spent the whole past weekend back in Oxford. I basically lived at my boyfriends house the whole time, we watched films and listened to music, went out for a meal with his fam and had the most beautiful valentines day together ever imaginable. I cannot stress in enough words how happy and content i am with everything and how much i truly love him.

Back up to London for assessment; has been a rushed day, and after taking all my work from the past few weeks without it even being looked at, i left with my head up after receiving a very healthy pass with probability of it being a Merit by the end of the year. Tomorrow i have to really think about my FMP ideas and go out and take photographs, look out for little things people do not normally see. I also have to further artist research and probably watch a few films.

...Which reminds me! Watched 'Let the Right One In' the other night, a swedish film following the story of a young bullied boy who falls in love with a Vampire. Sounds like your corny 'twighlight-esque' sort of story, but this was actually very good and very moving with some beautiful cinematography.

Roiiiight. think i've updated this enough. 

buying the new Radiohead LP this coming saturday so i'm going to be immersed in that record for a good while which will put on a large delay to blogging. .x

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Forgot to add to the second last blog; a trip to the Saatchi Gallery with my darling pal Ellie took place! We were going to hit the East End but after doing some intense portfolio prep and the fact i had to rush home before work meant that we just stayed at Saatchi, which was interesting enough; there were many artists that shared links to my work; i plan to read and research these artists through at a later date.

 Tis a spacious beautiful gallery.

Artists who inspired: Dan Perfect, Nicholas Hatful, Ansel Krut, Robert Fry, Gabriel Hartley, Nicholas Byrne (for using Plexiglass), Carla Busthil, Richard Wilson.

more good news.

kingston have decided to give me an interview after i sent them a portfolio full of a level because i had so little faith in the first batch of my foundation work.
this must be karma being kind. x

Some photographs for portfolio;

safe .x

Hello world, it's been a good while since i've last written. I'm really awful at keeping up to date with this thing, but that's mainly because i have my own art journal which i basically put all this sorta stuff, and more, into anyway. Though that's also failing to inspire me at the moment. I'm just so bugged down with portfolio stuff. 
So, quick update since my last entry; Thankfully that last week i wrote into my blog went nice and quickly, finishing off our projects and basically i had a fair bit planned in order to help pass the time til my next trip down to Oxford. The rent bastards are still having a good old nag at me, so the fact that when i couldn't pay second terms rent, an escape to Oxford felt more than satisfactory. I ended up hitching it on down on the 25th, had to come back up for one measley shift at work on the 28th, and then retreat to spend the weekend down there up til Monday 31st. Was the first time seeing Leo in three weeks, which sounds like nothing but truly took forever to pass. Had such a lovely time as per usual, coming back to London was rather heartbreaking once again. However! Has been a busy week this week too, which always keeps me going! Monday 31st i had my shift back at work, plus college in which people began looking at their portfolios and we got our FMP briefing, which, admittedly, scared me shitless. I'm just so blank as to where to take my work further. I kinda do work randomly rather than working through development, which sounds as though it makes no sense, but it seems to be the way i work. I'm random, what can i say. 
Tuesday i made my way in to college to shoot all my work and get some sort of action plan drawn up for the rest of the week. Sadly, this action plan has not worked out as well as hoped, due to the slowness of delivery and the fact Davey isn't in college today. I do however have all my photographs ready for portfolio, so it's just a matter of mounting it all now and then whizzing my Goldsmiths application off asap. Going to do it Monday night i reckon, get it out the way and that. Tuesday night i also had a gig booked at Heaven to see Metronomy, in which i got pretty wasted and danced myself silly. Good thing that i can remember the night though, was pretty mint. Wednesday was spent feeling knackered and sorry for myself after a busy past weekend/start to the week, and a day in which i could begin cracking on with my Valentines pressie for Leo. Thursday was spent waiting on these prints from photobox; shame they never came, cause they're usually spot on at delivering quick. Today i managed to finish off Leo's pressie so i can finally focus on what this FMP is going to be, and get everything written up and ready for the week after next. I want to finish my current sketchbook this weekend with lots and lots of drawing, possibly some photography, as well as finish up my journal book so i can make a complete commitment to this FMP; i want my work to turn out as best as it possibly can. We'll see how it all works out. 
This weekend i also plan on just going out and seeing London, shooting as many photos as physically possible in as little time as possible. I'm also going to relax, unwind, and bleach my head. 
I also have to seriously get rid of my serious recent addiction to Doritos. I don't even like crisps, for fuck sake! 

I believe cinema to be an art form, reasonably modern and an incredibly popular atmosphere to watch moving image, or ‘film’. It has developed into a very mainstream business, with films constantly being churned out to the masses, however there are opportunities to watch some of the old greats that have been released; ‘Une Femme Est Une Femme’ is one of them.

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and filmed in Paris, France, it is a highly successful Comedy/Drama, and, despite there being no songs throughout the film, it is also regarded as a Musical. Coming in at just under 90 minutes long, starlet of the film ‘Angela’ seduces and engages us; ‘Angela’ is a Parisian stripper who wants a baby immediately, however her boyfriend ‘Émile’ isn’t quite so keen on the idea. Throughout all the bickering, Angela decides if she’s not going to get this baby from Émile, then she’ll have to try his best friend Alfred Lubitsch instead.

The characters put before us become very loveable one by one; Angela being our favourite purely for her beauty and the way she dances before us. She charms the entire audience, looking deeply into the lens, winking and letting out a cheeky smile upon every opportunity. Émile and Alfred are both admired more-so for their convincing friendship, providing us with incredibly humorous jokes and looks to the camera. This being said, as Humans we are all exceptionally open to voyeurism; watching people go about their daily lives and their interactions with other people comes as immensely interesting to us, so just overlooking the characters relationships keeps us absolutely engrossed.

Godard has also done an exceptional job at directing these characters. The positioning, the setting, the costumes, and the exact moments chosen in which the characters interact with the camera have all been thought-out and all blend together to form a perfect, and for it’s time, modern piece of film. The actual filming itself also contains some cinematic techniques, such as wide camera pans from side to side, varieties of shot/musical edit, and ofcourse that voyeuristic touch to make the film that little bit more of a personal insight into the characters lives. ‘Une Femme Est Une Femme’ is Godards first colour film, and contains that inspirational quality to make you want to go out and begin making films too.

I, as a young artist, look to this movie for inspiration and ideas; I now want to especially focus on my orientation of images, and how I could position some of my drawings or paintings in an eye-catching format. It’s also made me realize how much I love the 60s Parisian culture; it’s incredibly free-spirited and 'ideal'.

           

‘Une Femme Est Une Femme’ is a beautiful piece of cinema, and leaves you with a feelings of exploration, intrepidness and happiness; it lifts all negativity, despite longing to live a life like that of Angela, which sadly I don’t think is as possible or atleast as easy these days. 

It's been a long time since last posting; in my last week of being at college, i wasn't so much at college but instead working on the christmas project from my flat, and doing all sorts of pre-christmassy things, such as meeting up with friends and celebrating. I also had Leo up for a short while which was really really lovely, we went christmas shopping together and just overall had a lovely time snuggled in the warmth :o)
Christmas holidays were mint, despite the absolute mass of hours i had to spend in my first week at Waitrose. Was nice to serve the old customers i used to see many times, but nonetheless were the days far too draggy. Plus i got a filthy flu off some fucker which hit me on the 27th.
Christmas day was spent with the family, basically everyday thereafter was spent with my darling, including New Years, in which he decided to lowe all plans and stay in and look after me. :o)


Back in London from the 5th. It took about a week to actually sort my life out and get back into some sort of routine. Being back at work is no fun but it'll be nice to get some money in again. Also being back at college has been lovely, as much as i didn't really touch any form of work over christmas, it's nice to get creating again and getting back into the habit of just drawing and making. I ended up choosing the figurative project, and worked on images of my friends i had previously taken;

New project now, entitled 'Noise'. The brief suggests we look into different cultural magazines and such to do painting/drawing studies from. I have chosen 'Heat', merely for it's take on celebrating celebrity culture. I feel this will probably lead me into some sort of project focusing on socialites and different pieces of media which may interest me and inspire me to create more. As much as i haven't done so much to begin with, i'm sure the rest of the project will motivate me into getting plenty of work done and i could create some really interesting pieces.


The past couple of Wednesdays have also been cinema days in which CCW meet to watch some artsy fartsy films. This week was 'The Long Goodbye' and the previous week was 'Slacker'; out of the two, my favourite being 'Slacker' due to some of the topics and issues raised in conversation; it was interesting to listen to but not something i'd necessarily choose to re-watch. This next week, we also have a gallery visit after to attend which could be interesting. I'll post more about each film and my thoughts after then, as well as an update as to how this project is going. It's sunday and i'm too sleepy to really even think...


my sleeping pattern needs to sort it's fucking life out.