During week 8 I was supposed to have my crit but due to technological difficulties on Blackboard Collaborate, I wasn’t able to attend the meeting for very long. This was a shame and so I made sure to talk to my tutor Tom so I knew if I was heading in the right direction. During my conversation with Tom, he said that he felt I was heading in the right direction and gave me some artists that he felt would be relevant to my work which I appreciated. He said that he liked my small board paintings and wanted to see me work outside of the typical A paper sizes as he felt this could be limiting for me.
I am going to take his points on board and make sure that I get it all updated in the correct manner.
My Statement draft:
For my project I am focusing on architecture in rural areas and exploring the ways that different uses of colour, detail and textures can affect imagery. I have taken different approaches to this project by working on a range of surfaces including paper, mdf board, card, and cardboard. I have also worked at a range of scales to see how this changes the outcome. I have enjoyed looking at a range of artists, both contemporary and traditional whose approaches to the way they work with materials has led me to make many informed decisions. Frank Auerbach’s work was helpful in allowing me to expand my uses of abstract colour and work that is based on uses of line. Amy Shackleton is a contemporary artist who focuses on the combinations of nature and architecture which has a lot of detail in areas yet is simple in other areas which I feel I have incorporated into my work in interesting ways. I particularly enjoyed the collage workshop as this allowed me to be abstract in a simplistic way which seemed more advanced than it was. I decided to make more collages going forward to generate ideas and approach collage using different techniques. I felt that my board paintings were becoming too limiting as I was being very precise working at such a small scale and so making larger paintings allowed me to make use of my studio space and have more freedom. I especially like the uses of mark makings and textures on the larger pieces and this is something I would like to continue in this project. I have worked in both an A4 sketchbook and an A3 sketchbook during this project to explore scale and how much detail is necessary in my work. A key aspect of my project is using colours other than blue for the sky which I feel is important as most people just associate blue with the sky even though there is a lot more to that if you take the time to look. I would like to combine some collages with painting to take it further and show how I have experimented to reach a conclusion. I feel like I need to get the right balance between detailed areas and simplicity and would like to continue my uses of subtleties such as washes of colour in areas that add contrast.