After reading the assessment criteria again I feel I should go through each section and discuss what I felt to have been my strengths and weaknesses throughout this first assignment.
Demonstration of technical and visual skill – Throughout this first assessment I have tried to stretch my comfort zone and use materials that I have never used before. I enjoyed exploring the new techniques and improving old ones. I believe I have made improvements with charcoal, however I feel that many if not all the mediums I used still need great practice and use to perfect and understand each of their strengths and weaknesses. I have learnt to look at objects differently in my daily life which will help improve my composition.
Whilst researching Redon, I noticed how he was able to seamlessly mix his medias without disrupting from the overall feel of his work. I attempted to capture this in my fragments and gain a fluidity between each medium to help the picture flow.
Quality of Outcome – feel I have struggled with this as I have not always been able to be direct with my communication, yet this first section gives great examples of questions that I should constantly ask myself throughout my work which will help improve, how and what I am trying to say.
Demonstration of creativity – During the exercises I feel I very much stuck to the brief and did what was asked of me. I did not experiment or use my sketchbook as often as I feel I should have. I will hope to use my sketchbook more regularly and be more experimental with ideas so that I can hopefully access more imagination and creativity.
The assignment I let myself have a bit of freedom – the 8 fragments were inspired by Picasso’s cubism movement of giving a new view point of reality. As I split my page I noticed that it gave a shattered glass effect which gives a more impressionist view – although the items represent me there is something slightly distorted as though you can’t quite grasp everything about the artist from the drawing and hopefully want to learn more. As I studied Redon throughout this course I learnt he used symbolism to represent his meanings. I wanted to try and incorporate this into my final piece. I had decided to leave the negative areas blank as I wanted the focus to be on the composition of my objects and as a result the background photo was removed – but the reason I chose 8 sections was to try and symbolize the 8 years that I have been married. To look at this you wouldn’t know but I enjoyed putting this hidden meaning into my creation.
Context Reflection – I have struggled with art terminology when it comes to reflect upon my work. I appreciated the opportunity to research other artists and many techniques. I do feel like my sketchbook this has been very minimal and I need to encourage myself to do more research. I have found the learning log enjoyable as its a good opportunity to reflect upon the work I have done, however I feel that in order to improve this i need to increase the time in which I do my research.
I have relished this first opportunity to ‘dip my toe’ and have gained a greater desire to continue and improve myself.
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