Feedback on Assignment 3

Overall Comments
This work is viewed as a blog and as yet I have not seen your work in the flesh so to speak, it is imperative that you send the work at ASS4.

I re-iterate: This feedback is therefore based on reviewing your blog that is well -constructed and clear to view. As I previously noted, by the nature of jpgs there can be a variance between values such as colour shifts and so on, so this must be taken into account within this feedback.
I strongly advise you to work in more depth both on your drawing practice and on your contextual research. Re-working is part of artistic practice and you shouldn’t feel discouraged, you have a lot to offer but need to make this push forwards. Have confidence and explore the subject matter to it’s fullest. The handbook is only the starting point. 

Feedback on assignment Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity 

Triptych of Trees.
Firstly, I was pleased to see that you are constructing imaginary landscapes, although based on reality. This is an interesting subject area and one that employs many aspects of arts practice; composition, scale, proximity, tone and so forth, as balancing these things across the visual area can be difficult and sometimes hard to achieve. You have tackled these thoughts well, perhaps as much by intuitive instincts as deliberate acts, and this is a good thing, not a criticism. 

The tendency with the fine line pen is still very prevalent and this has to do with confidence in your mark making ability, I think your comments about the ‘first tree’ are revealing as you are experiencing the effects of not testing your mediums and subject enough before tackling the larger pieces. This may be an inaccurate comment, as I have not seen your sketchbooks in reality, rather I have seen selected pages uploaded. However, it is apparent that this is happening because in the second piece you are waiting for medium to arrive before completing the work. It is important in artistic practice to test elements within our works, usually in our sketchbooks in order to overcome problems before we begin. 

In terms of the drawing, it is evident that you have a good ability to draw but at present you are relying on making a picture rather than examining the subject matter at hand. This is evidenced from the work available to view on the blog, where there is evidence of the start of a good exploration it is in an exercise “Larger study of an individual tree”. If you had taken this exploratory method into the making process of the three assignment works, you would have overcome the issues that you are not content with, such as the tree, the detail and so on.

The colouration of no 2 is extreme and uncomfortable, the soft pastel is not rendered with confidence and so appears mushy and without vigor, examine the pastel drawings of Paula Rego in detail and see how she handles areas of shadow, edges and negative spaces. I get a sense that you are forming an image and colouring in, this is not a good habit to get into, so resist the temptation.

A Triptych is a set of three works that are appreciated together as one viewing experience. I am not sure that this is your intention with the works, in your blog you make no mention of researching what a triptych might be, or what it could bring to your work; gaining a clear understanding is crucial to each project and exercise. It would have been good to see some clear evidence of research into imaginary landscapes made by other artists and the formal qualities of a triptych. For assessment, I would advise you to re-consider the triptych in light of your new research, see if you can work through the problems and re-work a finished piece. I will be happy to review the  re-worked pieces at ASS4.

Reworking of Assignment 3
Again I decided to rework this assignment completely and produce a new piece.  I participated in a couple of day workshops in landscape watercolour painting which gave me the confidence to try something new.  I also needed to work away from outlining my work and making it too graphic for this assignment.  I looked closely at the work of Alywin Crawshaw and various other landscape artists.

    

Feedback on Selected Exercises
The sketchbook of townscape drawings exercise feels more authentic, certain drawings begin to reveal a more nuanced view of the world which is encouraging, by that I mean that you are beginning to examine certain areas, scenes, fractions of buildings that interest you but handling it in a more sensitive and visually constructive way, without embellishment or picture making. Well done, keep this up and bring this way of working into the next section of the course.

Be careful that when you take the on-site drawing back into the studio that you don’t again try to make a picture, but rather you carry on the exploration of the subject matter at hand. You have good visual insights and good underlying drawing skills that are being lost at present. Engage with contemporary art, the research will help you to explore subjects further.

The limited palette study could have been a lot better if you had looked at the subject via other artists works, you are at best colouring in at present and if you want to really advance you have to engage more seriously with the subject of drawing. Again there is good underlying drawing, the black line is most prominent and where you have withheld colour you have made some interesting decisions, but you could have pushed yourself a lot further and achieved a true limited colour study.

Drawing statues
This is the start of an exploration, it feels as if you have just begun and that there would be more work, your explanation reveals dissatisfaction, so you are feeling that you are not going far enough. I would expect to see many views, looser rough sketches, changes in scale and so on. This page represents the start of something not the whole exercise. Why not re-visit a site more than once? Each time we visit there are different conditions that come into play within our work. Think about Cezanne’s Mont Sainte-Victoire for instance. 

A sketchbook walk
Again this feels more authentic, you are beginning to look around you to gauge a sense of place, you are experiencing the relationships between you and things that you are encountering, drawing allows us to feel this because of the time spent looking and acutely observing, it is privilege that we, as artists, can enjoy. Look at different pencils and remember the mark making at the start of the course, think about how tone can produce form. Well done.

Sketchbooks Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Demonstration of Creativity 

Learning Logs or Blogs/Critical essays Context
Your learning log is clearly written in terms of your reflective writing, although it is rather perfunctory, by now I would expect that you have researched further into contemporary artists that have some resonance with your own work and that you had begun to articulate the correlations that you are finding.

In your first assignment I wrote: In order to reflect on your own work, it is necessary to reflect on the work of other artists contemporary and historical. You would really benefit from viewing the works of other artists Write about what you are seeing and interpreting, When you can see that an artists’ work represents what you are experiencing in your making, write about why that is happening, what has the artist done and how have they done it, how can it inform your own study?

Get into greater depths using a critical language. 

If you can obtain this book, try to read it. Berger, J (1972) Ways of Seeing, Penguin Berger, it unpacks what it is to look and perceive. I re-iterate try looking on-line in places such as the Tate archive to see more drawing or for contemporary work: http://www.drawingroom.org.uk/ and also http://www.axisweb.org

www.balticmill.com/links for contemporary works. 

The OCA website has good information on the learning log and its benefits.

Here is a guide to help you to think and write about works of art. You can use it to examine the works of other artists and also use it to reflect upon what you are doing.

There are four main component parts to thinking about and discussing a work of art. We need to think about content, form, process and energy.

Content:
What is happening within the work? 

What is the subject matter? Does the subject matter suggest a deeper meaning? Is it direct observation, remembered, invented or imagined?

Is it realistic, deliberately exaggerated, distorted or abstracted?

Describe the content in detail. 

Describe the Size/Form/Placement (part of a series, particular installation arrangements etc)  When was it made?

Form: Is it 2d or 3d? How have the basic elements been used in the work, such as line, tone or materials? Is there a colour palette? If so can you work out why and how it is operating? Is it subtle, vivacious? What appears to be the artists’ intentions? Think about, series, lines, rhythm, texture, is it shiny or matt? 

Process: What is the work made out of? 

What media and processes has the artist used? Why might the artist have used these materials? Have you discovered any supporting studies/preparatory work? If so, how does it inform the work? What other skills may the artist have needed to create the work? 

Energy: What is happening outside of the work? How does the work affect the surrounding space? Is there an atmosphere created? Does it remind you or evoke of a feeling/time of something else/another art form? 

Why do you think this work may have been produced? Is there a political/social context apparent in the work?

Was the work commissioned?

What is your reflective opinion of the work (given the above investigation) how does it relate to your own work?

Suggested reading/viewing Context 

I re-iterate from my last feedback.
Look at some of the young Chinese and Japanese artists such as Liang Yuanwei for ideas around mark making and flora. Her peceptions are a flurry of strokes across a page and a simplified visual vocabulary that I think you may find exciting.
Also Maki NA Kamura. The Saatchi had a show some while back that you may find on the website.

Look at:
http://www.a-n.co.uk
http://www.artforum.com
http://www.artinamericamagazine.com
http://www.artmonthly.co.uk
http://www.artreview.com 

See as much work by other artists as you can, visit exhibitions if possible. Take your sketchbook around with you and use it to record what you see. Like learning music, drawing needs practice.

Look at the historic sketches of Jean August Dominique Ingres (mark making and also figure) John Ruskin (landscapes) and for contemporary work see Ellen Gallagher Watery Ecstatic Series. Look at The Drawing Room website to see what drawing might be.

Also look at Paula Rego and Michael Landy.

http://www.axisweb.org
http://www.balticmill.com/links
http://www.channel.tate.org.uk
http://www.flashartonline.com
http://www.frieze.com
www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign
http://www.newexhibitions.com
http://www.bridgemaneducation.com

Pointers for the next assignment
I re-terate,take into the next assignment your explorations with colour, and most particularly the more spontaneous, descriptive mark making. Explore more, develop ways forwards in your sketchbook, this is critical to your advancement. Pay attention to the tonal values within your work, you can afford to be more rigorous with the tonal scale.

Assignment 3

Assignment three

For this assignment I wanted to do something a little different and decided to try a triptych of the same view.  This is actually a combination of several views put together.  I was recently in the south of France and loved the countryside and especially the rows of poplar trees.  For this triptych I used the mediums of pen and watercolour, soft pastels and colour pencil.  I also wanted to portray different times of day and therefore vary the cast shadows and feeling of the piece.

The final view point for this piece is actually two different views from windows in a friends house put together.  I wanted to use the perspective of the poplar trees disappearing into the distance and the low mountains in the background.  The farm house was also in the distance but I wanted to put a small, simple shed into the foreground along with the tree.

The first drawing represents a bright sunny, middle of the day scene.  I drew the scene and outlined everything in permanent pen and then started painting with watercolour.  I am disappointed with the main tree as it lacks depth and the shape could be more realistic.

The second piece needs a little more work but I am waiting for some pastel pencils to add detail.  I like the feeling in this piece and the shadows although the execution and techniques need a lot of improvement.  I find pastels quite difficult to work with especially when trying to work the details of a piece.

The third piece in colour pencils needs to be a little darker to give the effect of being later in the day.  I worked the colours for a long time but still haven’t managed to create the effect I was looking for.

In general I am happy with the idea of this assignment piece and the different mediums used.  I realise that I need more experience with these mediums, especially soft pastels.

The following paintings were created with watercolour and I was experimenting painting different types of trees.  I enjoyed this experiment although I probably digressed too much and went of point.

    

These are my preliminary sketches.  They are very rough and I didn’t spend enough time on the planning stage.  I tend to have an idea and like to work directly on this.

I enjoyed working on this final assignment piece and wanted to be creative and slightly different.