Clay, Clay, Clay

Week 9

PDP

We had our mid module tutorial this week, to get us used to evaluating our work later in the year, so we were split into groups to talk to our lecturer. We had to have a self evaluation sheet filled in for the talk which we were then to discuss how we felt about the course so far and how we feel we are getting on.
So far I am quite happy in the course at the moment, I am understanding the things in class and know what is expected of me. Doing this blog makes it easier to record my work and therefore makes it easier to evaluate my work. During this course I have learnt to be more honest with myself and instead of putting off everything and ignoring any problems that I have, I have learnt to address these problems and be more realistic with myself. I am also more focused in my work and am now able to prioritise my work and other elements in my life. The things I need to improve on is my confidence and self esteem, although since starting college, I have already seen an improvement. I am more comfortable in participating in class and talking about my work. Usually I put my work and myself down and am quite closed about certain things. If I was asked to do a blog earlier I wouldn't have been comfortable with posting my work online where everyone could see.

Drawing

We had our second life drawing lecture. We did some warm up drawings and then some drawings in white charcoal. I didn't really like using the white charcoal on black paper because I like the quickness of black charcoal and how easy it is to smudge. I also find that I can capture more movement with the black charcoal and am better with tone using this. Our next drawings were to draw the model while she was moving. I didn't really know what to do at first and started drawing lines of arms, legs etc so that the lines built up over the ten minutes. To improve this type of drawing, if I were to ever do it again would be to continue in this fashion and then focus on a certain posture and visualise it as the model moved. We then had 30 minutes to draw the model in a reclined position, I liked this one as I used both black and white charcoal and I was able to add tone and depth to the drawing.

Specialist Skills

To start with we learnt how to properly use clay and what to do to put it in the kiln. We then moved on to our plaster casts from last week.
I was able to take them out without damaging the plastic. Both casts were fully intact with the exception of some undercuts that were in the one that I made with plants. I then rasped the edges of the cast to make them smoother and painted them with black acrylic paint to seal them. After this had dried I lightly brushed it with white acrylic to highlight any raised areas. I then made a new plaster cast using a clay wall. I made it into a circle and added in spheres to mimic spores.
At the end of the week we had our first mid module tutorial and I was able to talk to my lecturer about my progress so far. I'm quite happy with where I am now in the unit, although I need to research more artists.

Creative Concepts

So this was our hand in date for our fruit brief (phew!) and so I had finished my fruit which I made with clay and then painted with poster paint. I liked how it turned out, as you could see the inside of the fruit, as well as the outside.

In class we also discussed some modern contemporary artists and our homework was to research some.

Contextual Studies

We talked more about symbols and discussed objective and subjective images. We also touched on how we all react differently to different images. e.g. one person may think of fluffy and cute whereas someone else may think of bark and bite.