Learning Log
Following my feedback with my tutor I have been delving further in to my project proposal, looking at ways to visual my own feelings and hot flushes through art.
I am feeling much more confident about delving in to my own sense, feelings and trying to convey them through art, which is also making me freer to experiment.
Many of my ideas have been centred around my sleep and how interrupted it becomes and then how it effects me in the early hours of the morning. I have analysed and reflected on how I feel and what are the effects of the night sweat and which areas of the body. These are the physical images to portray but also the mental images are very important to me and I want to ensure I convey these within my work.
Whilst experimenting I am also refining ideas, for painting on to felt, previously I was using a mix of watercolour and acrylic which was difficult to blend as much as I wanted. So I decided to experiment and watercolour was much easier to create the effect I wanted.
By creating samples of the felt and embroidery it also adds to my level of confidence to approach a bigger piece.
In addition to this my critical review is linking well with my personal specialism, I am slightly ahead with the timing of my review compared to my personal specialism but this has allowed me to be able to reflect more. If I was anxious about the timeline I would not be able to be as creative which I have learnt and so I step back more and review to look at my way forward.
The felt painting was done over two different times a couple of weeks apart. When I came back to them it took very little time to understand what I needed to do to make them work better which helps me understand the value more and more of reflection.
Reflecting on my proposal I have also got ideas of how to develop my work further in to the effect of the menopause at work. In my mind I am imagining the worst days of the menopause how a woman can feel so tired due to lack of sleep and sweats, she needs to get out of bed and pretend everything is fine to those around her. At work she is unable to show any perceived weakness either in character, judgement or physically otherwise she is 'letting herself and her team down'.
In taking some time off making to reflect more, I also watched and listened to interviews and documentaries on artists. The 'What Do Artists Do All Day' series gives a real insight about ideas, feelings and actions from different artists. It really helped me engage with what I am doing and gave me understanding more of putting my work in context. It was good to understand who where their influences and what gave them motivation and when they had good and bad days.
Another great help with context particularly with textiles related artists is 'Stitchery Stories' a podcast run by Susan Weeks. I first discovered her interviews when I was having a huge mind fog and not understand how on earth I could fit anywhere in textiles. Susan's guests and interviews are so down to earth and inspiring plus they have given me invaluable inspiration from different guests through out the time I have been listening to the programmes. The pop art embroidery of Claire Mort and Sketchbook inspiration of Cas Holmes have been particular favourites.
I also am loving Grayson Perry's Art Club every Monday evening which is a real treat to have some art on at a prime time. The range of art and the ideas behind his finished projects are really inspiring and interesting to see.
I have also learnt not to worry about whether something is not good enough but jump in there and try. I recently joined in with the life drawing evening on BBC4 and my first drawings were hopless but in two hours I got one drawing I was feeling OK about and one which I really like. Which I now see as a success (ignoring the four drawings I didn't like) !
The more I am engaging myself in this type of media, atmosphere or contact the more I am getting new ideas for my work. However I don't mind flitting around with different ideas as I now seem to have a strong base project and ideas on which to hang them on. These are not now just random thoughts but they are built on a basis to take my work forward which I am very excited about. I even found that some of my trial pieces from my first year have inspired me to look again at what I enjoy and how to build.
I was unhappy with the layout of my proposal from Assignment 3 so I have re-formated in a more digitised version which I prefer, it looks clearer and reflects my work better. I will supply this in a seperate PDF format via email.
Reflecting back on where I am in the proposal, I realise that I haven't covered all the work I wanted to. My quilt is taking up a lot of time as I want to take time to have inspiration in my sketchbook and then work those on to my quilt where they work. I have therefore based my mini-folio on the work I am doing for the quilt and not the other work which I intend to work up more fully in the future. This will also be provided as a separate PDF format and a Zoom presentation which can be opened in other formats with my commentary.
This means more of this is on the sewing and applique work. I am happy that my proposal gives me scope to work up different and new ideas as the fundemental theme is strong and allows me to go in different areas. By working through the sketchbooks this helps to bring the narrative out in my samples and final pieces which really help with my methodology of what images to use and how to create them. I have taken my tutor's advice and sticking to the reduced colour palette has helped me be more creative with stitches and fabrics.
What is now starting to evolve in my recent work is the strength of the woman 'surviving' coming through the menopause to be stronger. This is started to appear really subconsciously in my sketchbooks by placing the image of the women in the centre of my work and the more 'symptomatic' woman surrounding. I quite like this idea and will consider these ideas for my future work.
I feel that I am now at a stage where I need tutor feedback before creating the quilt further and on my other ideas and future work. Plus whether I have moved too far away from my proposal.
I am feeling much more confident about delving in to my own sense, feelings and trying to convey them through art, which is also making me freer to experiment.
Many of my ideas have been centred around my sleep and how interrupted it becomes and then how it effects me in the early hours of the morning. I have analysed and reflected on how I feel and what are the effects of the night sweat and which areas of the body. These are the physical images to portray but also the mental images are very important to me and I want to ensure I convey these within my work.
 |
| Selecting areas of heat on my face |
 |
| Watercolour on felt |
By creating samples of the felt and embroidery it also adds to my level of confidence to approach a bigger piece.
 |
| More felt painting |
 |
| felt sampling |
Reflecting on my proposal I have also got ideas of how to develop my work further in to the effect of the menopause at work. In my mind I am imagining the worst days of the menopause how a woman can feel so tired due to lack of sleep and sweats, she needs to get out of bed and pretend everything is fine to those around her. At work she is unable to show any perceived weakness either in character, judgement or physically otherwise she is 'letting herself and her team down'.
 |
| embroidery and applique |
In taking some time off making to reflect more, I also watched and listened to interviews and documentaries on artists. The 'What Do Artists Do All Day' series gives a real insight about ideas, feelings and actions from different artists. It really helped me engage with what I am doing and gave me understanding more of putting my work in context. It was good to understand who where their influences and what gave them motivation and when they had good and bad days.
Another great help with context particularly with textiles related artists is 'Stitchery Stories' a podcast run by Susan Weeks. I first discovered her interviews when I was having a huge mind fog and not understand how on earth I could fit anywhere in textiles. Susan's guests and interviews are so down to earth and inspiring plus they have given me invaluable inspiration from different guests through out the time I have been listening to the programmes. The pop art embroidery of Claire Mort and Sketchbook inspiration of Cas Holmes have been particular favourites.
I also am loving Grayson Perry's Art Club every Monday evening which is a real treat to have some art on at a prime time. The range of art and the ideas behind his finished projects are really inspiring and interesting to see.
I have also learnt not to worry about whether something is not good enough but jump in there and try. I recently joined in with the life drawing evening on BBC4 and my first drawings were hopless but in two hours I got one drawing I was feeling OK about and one which I really like. Which I now see as a success (ignoring the four drawings I didn't like) !
The more I am engaging myself in this type of media, atmosphere or contact the more I am getting new ideas for my work. However I don't mind flitting around with different ideas as I now seem to have a strong base project and ideas on which to hang them on. These are not now just random thoughts but they are built on a basis to take my work forward which I am very excited about. I even found that some of my trial pieces from my first year have inspired me to look again at what I enjoy and how to build.
I was unhappy with the layout of my proposal from Assignment 3 so I have re-formated in a more digitised version which I prefer, it looks clearer and reflects my work better. I will supply this in a seperate PDF format via email.
Reflecting back on where I am in the proposal, I realise that I haven't covered all the work I wanted to. My quilt is taking up a lot of time as I want to take time to have inspiration in my sketchbook and then work those on to my quilt where they work. I have therefore based my mini-folio on the work I am doing for the quilt and not the other work which I intend to work up more fully in the future. This will also be provided as a separate PDF format and a Zoom presentation which can be opened in other formats with my commentary.
This means more of this is on the sewing and applique work. I am happy that my proposal gives me scope to work up different and new ideas as the fundemental theme is strong and allows me to go in different areas. By working through the sketchbooks this helps to bring the narrative out in my samples and final pieces which really help with my methodology of what images to use and how to create them. I have taken my tutor's advice and sticking to the reduced colour palette has helped me be more creative with stitches and fabrics.What is now starting to evolve in my recent work is the strength of the woman 'surviving' coming through the menopause to be stronger. This is started to appear really subconsciously in my sketchbooks by placing the image of the women in the centre of my work and the more 'symptomatic' woman surrounding. I quite like this idea and will consider these ideas for my future work.
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