"You must bring in all your drawing materials and a cardboard box". What was going to be done with the cardboard box, i had no idea, so i just bought in a very small shoebox. After doing series of drawings for the morning on Friday, we were then told to make a 3d sculpture out of our drawings. This exercise wasn't to showcase who was perfect at taking information and forming an exact replica of what was before us, but instead an exercise to see the way our thoughts developed around some drawings and how we would change a structure to fit with our own ideas. I ended up with a very obscure looking table that wouldn't stand up on itself; i added in a couple of objects myself and teamed it with a drawing in the background for effect. It didn't look brilliant, but you get the general jist of what i'm doing i think:

It's alright, but it's not great. I think my work with 3d here is done. All that was left to do for the day was to mission on up to Victoria with my Suitcase to then bus it home to see le boyf for the weekend, which was lovely lovely lovely. I would be returning the following Sunday evening.

Hello Freshers Week; Hello insanely painful Head. Despite hitting High Holborn on Sunday night for some serious alcohol intake and mingling, i made it into college for Monday morning to get on with my own ideas for Fine Art. I began by thinking i would illustrate some birds and put them infront of really busy areas, to contrast the freedom of the birds with the areas they would be featured in. Before i got onto doing this, i create some abstract watercolours on little sheets of paper which were originally going to be backgrounds, but before getting to a further stage of development, i thought i would try putting my bird illustrations on top of these abstract backgrounds; to my surprise, the outcome was actually really successful, and so i continued with this idea. I began to add oil paint on top of the acetate i was drawing on to, to create a lovely three-layered effect and to really bring something out of each of the images i was creating. By the end of Monday, i ended up with a series of five: 

I don't know about what anyone else thinks, but i'm actually really happy with how these have turned out, and i think they go together very well. From here, i'm not sure exactly which way to go; shall i carry on making small series of these images? Or do i go onto other materials to paint onto, or other scales? 

Tuesday soon comes around, and with other things to sort out, i can't quite make it into the studio to get on with work. However, i have plenty to work with at home, and i begin by creating more watercolour backgrounds. However, slightly boring as this is, i feel i need to venture out, and so today i've grabbed a couple of square canvases to put acetates on top of. Instead of focusing on just general illustration of birds, i decided i would look at bird anatomy to add a twist to my series. Photos up when canvases are finished. As for tonight, it's a drunken night down Rough Trade followed by my first shift of part-time work while up here in London... blaaah. Wish me luck.

safe .x

Finally, after the beginning rush of joining Chelsea College of Art, the rotation i was most interested in had rolled round; Fine Art. Alike most of the people on my course, Fine Art appeals as being the field we'll most likely go into as it's what we're used to, but then again, the whole reason for doing foundation is to branch out and check out other areas in the art field. I say this, but i really think Fine Art is an important area to me. Our first day was just spent quick drawing walking round four different set ups in the studio; it may sound boring to some people, but just constantly drawing and painting is what i enjoy doing (with a little liquid lunch at the pub half way through, ofcourse). The Fine Art tutors seem absolutely safe in their attitude to working and i really enjoy hearing their ideas and opinions on my work because it gives me an insight to the contemporary viewpoint of drawing; most of the tutors at Chelsea like to see quick, continual drawing moreso than detaildetaildetail and photographic drawing which i can, at times, struggle to do. 

Tuesday was independent study day, and instead of going back to halls to do my own thing, we were given a day project to take on; Carnival of the Streets. We were asked to go out somewhere and draw the life that passed us by; sets of quick, lively drawings to illustrate all we could see around us. We then had to take a detour to a quieter, more natural place, or a gallery. I chose to start off in Piccadilly Circus; an area full of locals, traffic, tourists, and plenty of pigeons. I managed to get many drawings from this; moreso than when i followed by visiting the Leicester Square garden; a very nice calm area, but with hardly any movement; everyone was far too busy taking too long eating their lunch on their lap squished up on each bench. During this outing, i took several subject photographs we needed to obtain, and i tried to capture as many shots containing basic movement around about as possible.

I had another day off on Wednesday due to no seminars or lectures to attend, and so i spent the day, partly hungover from a night out before, visiting the Tate Britain, and then getting the boat across to visit Tate Modern. At the Britain, the 'Edweard Muybridge' Exhibition; some beautiful photography and some really interesting photographs. Really enjoyed my visit there, and aspects such as the maze were interesting and made the visit more interactive, which i enjoyed. The Tate Modern exhibition however appealed to me more; i'm a massive fan of photography, and this exhibition focussed on several photographers, particularly standing out to me was Walker Evans, Morris Engel, and, a photographer i have previously studied, Helmut Newton. The exhibition touched some serious issues and some of the photographs were just beautiful. The stories that were behind some photographs also inspired me, as many of the most amazing photographs i came across were just so natural. 

That leaves me with today, Thursday. We rolled up into College as of norm and began the day drawing on acetate sheets, looking into the process of animation. We spent the morning drawing the set ups from different angles, and then, after a lunch break, we got taken to the media hub to explore how the animations can work. It inspired a few ideas into my mind, but i'm still fairly unsure as to what i'm going to do as part of my final project; i say this, but i think we're expecting another brief tomorrow. By the end of today, i ended up with some stand-alone acetate/photograph combinations which really worked; i also liked the fact that all of my photographs had a blue hue to them, forming them into a series even though they still looked great standing alone. 

Here are a few examples of the photographs i ended up with:

 

 

I like how the images turned out; some of them are admittedly better than others but with a bit more work and thought, and a powerful idea for my actual final piece, i could come up with something pretty good. 

Until next week, peaaaaaace .x

Friday 17th September; the end of the two-week fashion & textiles rotation had arrived. It had been a very busy period, what with settling in to London life and getting to know all about the university and the people surrounding me, as well as becoming acquainted with 'freshers flu', which, to describe bluntly, is fucking terrible. Despite feeling as shabby as ever, i manned up and made it in to college, starting the day by putting our best pieces of work on the walls and on display for the rest of the group to browse. We got into groups, and then began presenting to each other; i felt this was a good task for getting to see how other people work, as well as comparing people's strengths and weaknesses to my own. After this, we each put our thoughts into who's work stood out in certain areas, what we liked about the pieces and what we have learnt overall. A basic exercise, but a very effective one; my end products - large continual and layered drawings, spread over different heights and widths of plain pages, with a sudden outlandish object in a different media appearing in a negative space area - really did showcase my journey from 2d to 3d, and back to 2d again. The drawings pulled out my strengths and illustrated the fact i had learnt that less is more. 
I started fairly pessimistic towards the Fashion and Textiles rotation from the fact i thought it was all fabrics and frocks, but i was incredibly wrong. From this rotation, i have learnt a new art to drawing and 'playing', and i really can see myself using similar, if not the same, skills in future rotations. Most importantly, i have enjoyed the past couple of weeks, and i'm more than sure there's more fun to be had over the weeks to come.


.x

On Sunday 5th September, i packed the majority of my life up and moved on up to the big city. I was all unpacked and ready to start my London adventure by 6pm. The boyf stayed over for the night to help me settle, and then by 9am the next day, it was all 'go'. Arriving at Chelsea extra early like an eager beaver was an opportunity to make friends, before soon being bought inside to begin the day ahead, being pushed headfirst into an expressive exercise of making instalments, etc. This basic activity was used as a start off point for us to learn about drawing and design technique in the pathway of 'Fashion & Textiles' - one i would not really associate as being my forte. As the week continued, we tried more drawing technique and i've really taken a liking to continuous drawing; the loose movements can create a really lovely image on the page. I've also practised my use of negative and positive space, and as the week progressed, we moved onto introducing 3d to our drawings and designs. 


Here are some of the 3D Bits and Bobs i tried out; some worked a lot better than others, mainly for the reason that i overcomplicated things for myself and made it a lot more difficult for the material to naturally take form.

The whole focus of the project was 'Compress/Expand', and with it now being Tuesday 14th September, our two week rotation is almost finished, so ofcourse we're now trying to bring in our individual ideas surrounding those key words. My main ideas do not look to certain objects, but moreso the ideas of compression and expansion in action; my main focus for a set of photographs we had to produce was the idea of me moving away and branching out into this new student lifestyle away from home and those i'm familiar with. For the rest of the week, i'm just going to experiment as much as possible, but i may find myself reverting back to 2d as i feel a lot more comfortable with it. 


Conclusion to come Friday.

safe. x