Category: Studio Practice 3301

Studio Practice 3301 – Week 4 – board paintings

Post author By Gemma Sly
Post date 31 October 2021
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I went to the wood workshop to get a range of sizes of board to work on ready for my crit which is happening during week 7. I decided to get board as I enjoy working on smooth surfaces and I don’t have to worry about added texture that you get on a canvas although I may progress to working on canvas in the future if it will benefit my work.

I started working on several board paintings at once so that while one dried, I could continue making progress on others as often I overwork pieces and so this allows me to avoid doing that.

Board paintings:

This is the first painting I started to work on where I focused on using a neutral colour palette which was very realistic to the goat I initially did a quick drawing of at Tropical Birdland. I need to continue layering the different tones to build up details and areas of contrast but I am liking where this painting is going.

For this sheep painting, I firstly sketched the image onto the board before using a pyrography machine to burn the outlines of each element. I then applied paint over the top which created an interesting effect and this is something I would like to explore further in this project, maybe even experimenting with adding more details and mark making to see how that could affect my outcomes.

I have started this horse painting by applying watercolours down as a base to allow me to work out which tones of colour work best with the horse. I find the effect of using the watercolours quite interesting as the paints look rather subtle due to them being watered down. I would like to explore combining areas of watercolour and acrylic on board to see if this would create an effect that I continue in my project further down the line.

This goat painting involved an experimentation with the tones of green I was using in the background as in the previous paintings I focused on using a viridian green and a sap green so this allowed me to break out of old habits and start to be really experimental with colour used and how it affects the look of the animal and the enclosure itself.

Tags 3301, Painting, Studio Practice, Year 3

Home Studio Practice 3301 Year 3

Studio Practice 3301 – Week 3 – finished A1 pieces

Post author By Gemma Sly
Post date 22 October 2021
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This week, I continued to work on my A one sized paintings and added a fence around the deer inspired by my time at the farm which I feel added an interesting element to the painting which I liked.

Deer painting:

I decided to add some quick bright white highlights which I feel added an interesting aspect to this piece and made it a lot more realistic. I am very happy with this piece overall and the ways that it introduces my theme of animals in enclosures. I look forward to seeing how I develop this idea further in my next paintings.

Owl painting:
I also finished the owl painting with acrylic paints and oil pastels, using layering to create an eye catching expressive piece which I feel works well. I am considering adding an enclosure of some sort to relate it to the other work I am doing but I don’t want to ruin it. I feel that the expressive background really adds to the image overall to create an interesting painting for this project.

I also decided to go back to the farm to capture more imagery and even went to Tropical Bird-land in Desford to get some drawings done of birds within enclosures too. There was a section with a range of birds out of their enclosures where people could touch them which I thought could be interesting to study within my work, exploring how being out of their enclosures could affect the animals (positive effects).

I added some colour to some of my drawings, both from this week and last week to explore colour palettes and get a sense of what works well before I start to work onto board.

Tags Painting, Studio Practice, Year 3

Studio Practice 3301 Year 3

Studio Practice 3301 – Week 2 – tutorial and farm drawings

Post author By Gemma Sly
Post date 14 October 2021
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During the second week, I had a tutorial in which I discussed my ideas with my tutor and she gave me ideas of how I could make further progress.

From my drawings, my tutor felt that they were all done with the same amount of pressure on the pencil and I could have benefitted from capturing a range of line thicknesses and tones to add more detail and realism. I need to keep the looseness of the drawings but refine areas to make it more effective.

Also, although the museum for drawing animals was a good initial start, she felt that I could go to actual farms and zoos and capture the animals within their enclosures to add more context and create a link to last years project which included areas of linear fences which my tutor was drawn to when looking at my work from last year. I was encouraged to get a range of wooden boards as I enjoy working on board and work to a range of sizes, both small and large to explore colour palettes.

My tutorial really helped me understand how to progress with this project and I feel I have a lot to keep me busy in the upcoming weeks.

Deer painting using drawing from museum, palette knife background

Start of owl painting using drawing from museum onto painted background

Using one of my deer drawings and one of my owl sketches, I started to do A one sized paintings exploring mark making and my subjects, experimenting with what could work for me. Being able to use palette knives reminded me of the start of second year which I thoroughly enjoyed and I enjoyed being expressive with my mark makings.

Colour studies of animals at Gorse Hill Farm

Quick study of enclosure at Gorse Hill Farm

I decided to go to Gorse Hill farm in order to capture animals within their enclosures as my tutor thought that would add some context to my work and allow me to capture the lifelikeness of the animals. This also related to areas of my work from the end of last year having fences around them and are areas I can create a lot of contrast in my work.

I did some studies in watercolours and coloured pencils to add a sense of colour experimentation in my work.

I need to go to the wood workshop to get some board to paint on at a range of sizes in order for me to zoom into certain sections and explore colour palettes.

Tags 3301, Studio Practice, Year 3

Studio Practice 3301

Studio Practice 3301 – Week 1 – Opening Project

Post author By Gemma Sly
Post date 13 October 2021
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To start off third year, we are going to be doing an ‘opening project’ to allow us to get into the process of creating work again and to create a body of work with a high focus on presentation skills. This project involves a critical review a few weeks into the project which does feel like a lot of pressure but we have been told to just enjoy the process, making sure to experiment, take risks and mostly have fun.

I have decided that I want to move away from architectural subjects for now and do an animal based project as I feel that I have grown bored of architectural based art (in first year I did a project on the Leicester train station, in second year I focused on Cornwall architecture in the first term and Leicester architecture in the second term.

Although I do enjoy architecture, COVID during most of second year really made me feel demotivated and I feel like I didn’t produce work to my usual standard and so I feel that doing something different could push me more and get me more into the process of creating. I may go back to architectural based subjects after this project.

Feedback from last year and how I am planning to move forward this year:
Good points – “There is a stillness and quality of light captured within the work on paper ‘Wilberforce Road’ which imbues it with a real atmosphere and sense of what might be about to take place. This can, in part, be directly attributed to a more nuanced use of colour than is on display everywhere else across the practice. Taking some time to analyse this work, and keeping it in mind when developing your practice further will serve you well in the future. Elsewhere evidence of an effective grasp of relevant material, principles, key concepts and practices is on display with the statement providing some evidence of critical analysis and insight.”

Suggestions for improvement – “A more developed understanding of colour would hugely benefit the work as a whole as the cartoonish hues do nothing to enhance the mysterious qualities within the work – typified by their awkward viewpoints and deserted locations. Whilst some degree of creativity, conceptual ability and critical analysis is clearly present, an ability to synthesise material and contextual research is lacking. Looking to filmmakers shows creative initiative, but being more selective in terms of other contextual research, and analysing the qualities within their work you’d like for your own, will hugely enhance your practice going forward.”

What I hope to achieve/do differently using feedback from last year (write about areas of improvement/weaknesses, what I hope to carry forward this year/strengths)

I visited New Walk museum which has an animal section filled with a range of taxidermy animals which allowed me to capture a range of angles and views of the animals. The taxidermy process means that some of the animals look quite distorted (particularly in facial features) but I still felt going there to do sketches was a good idea, I may even go back in the next couple of weeks to get more.

Some Photos from New Walk Museum:

I did the drawings on sheets of A3 paper pulled out of a sketchbook but divided and cut the pages into sheets of A4. I didn’t want to work in a sketchbook as I can find that rather limiting and then I can often struggle to break out of the sketchbook.

Tags 3301, Studio Practice, Year 3