Drawing Task : Deconstruct Reconstruct

Large scale drawing has never been something I am entirely comfortable with as I feel there is a lot more to think about and I have a lot less control. Having learnt new skills from the drawing classes, I wanted to combine them together drawing from real life objects rather than from photographs as I felt this would help me with scale. I set up a teapot, china cup and saucer and some cup cakes to work from. My drawing consisted of  blind continuous line drawing, positive and negative space and also drawing smaller circular view finder sections. I overlapped linear drawings and also blind drawings with positive and negative space studies which produced some interesting effects.

 However the task of creating large scale drawing was challenging for me and I think my brain automatically directed me to producing a piece that consisted more of 3 smaller drawings rather than each one working together to produce one big piece of work. For this reason the deconstruct reconstruct lesson really helped me because I knew that what I wanted to do was muddle my drawing together to make it more abstract and hide the differentiation between each section. I literally cut up my drawing inyo vertical strips and mixed their order to overcome this. by keeping some of the circles whole, I layered them on top of certain areas to allow the drawing to still have some sort of connection without feeling like it being one big drawing had been lost.

Drawing Class

The technique of blind drawing and continuous line really helped me loosen up in this project. I was worrying too much about what my drawing should or shouldnt look like and this exercise helped me break away from this way of thinking. This was my first ever attempt at blind continuous line drawing and I actually really liked what I produced. The marks are much more interesting than if I were to suit and draw something as I would normally making it look much more lively.

I took this idea and related it to my project in some independant large scale drawings. Some of the imagery I produced went on to inspire some of my sketchbook development. I also experimented with changing and combining media and also using more than one drawing tool at a time. 

Summer Dog Project

When I was younger I used to believe my teddies were real with their own minds and personalities. My aim for this project was to create a comforting, quite realistic looking dog with its own story and personality. I based him on one of my biggest ambitions; to go travelling around the world. This determined all of his features from the back pack on his back to the fact that his legs sticking straight out because he's tired from his travels (although he accidently looks likes he's impersonating a plane). The animal patches are a representation of all the countries he's been to and the different animal groups he experienced. I chose to work with a fabric that looks worn and slightly dirty and decided to hand stitch him together allowing imperfections giving a loved, appreciated quality.

Critical Review

My chosen place for this project was The Cloud 23 Bar in the Hilton as I thought its unique attraction of high tea and cocktails would be a really interesting element to investigate. Before being allowed to visit the bar to take photographs and ask questions, I began to look at china and ceramic teapots and teacups to give me an initial body of research related to my theme.  At first my drawings were very black and white and linear as I was particularly focusing on shape and I had not looked at colour in a lot of detail. I chose to do Print as my first workshop as this is something I would really like to develop throughout my study, and although I feel that I produced successful prints, I would say that the link between my colour pallet and my project could have been much stronger. This is something I focused on within my more recent drawings and for my weave workshop.

My sketchbook starts off very literal, looking at objects and putting them down on paper exactly as I see them whereas later it becomes more experimental and personal to my way of working. I like to combine different media and techniques which is something that I feel gives my work individuality. I began to think about what materials I could work with in relation to the high tea theme so I experimented with doilies and tea stained paper. This was picked up on during the sketchbook exhibition as one of my drawings had been created by painting through a doily which acted as a stencil. I felt that it hadn’t worked as successfully as I had hoped but someone suggested the idea of creating a similar study on a larger scale which would allow the marks to be smaller in comparison with the size of the drawing and perhaps allow it to have a stronger suggestion of what it was.

“Methods are very original. I like the idea of experimenting with paper, painting over it and   celebrating the pattern.”

There have been times that I have been stuck for ideas and contextual research, which people suggested in their feedback, would have been a way to overcome this hurdle and perhaps one of the next steps for my project. I feel that the drawing classes have already given me skills that are going to benefit my way of working. I found the blind drawing task really helped me worry less about what I was putting down on paper and focus much more on what I was looking at. The outcome was surprising and something I really liked so I have begun to incorporate this into my independent drawing for my project which has given my work another direction.

I found being able to look at other peoples work and their artistic approach really inspiring and I feel that it has given me ideas on how to make it a much stronger body of work.