Truly Inspirational

Today we had a presentation from Sarah Key and it was truly inspirational and refreshing to actually get information from a practising artist "in the real world". I think this has been the best presentation by far and I have learnt alot from this.I have decided to send Sarah an e-mail as I thought is was so good.

Wednesday 24th February 2011.

Early morning start, so I thought I would just sign on and post a new blog. We have these self directed led seminars today and which to me are tedious and long winded, it may be good to get feed back from other student's, but quite honestly I think when there are so many tutorials to be had, they just get in the way of things. Lecture theatre, this afternoon for  John Lavell, viviting artist. I am really pleased I am not at Stafford College this week as it has given me a break and I really needed it.

Tuesday 23rd February 2011.

A more productive day, spent in the studio on a series of paintings. Working from one to another enables you to stop getting too precious about the work. Worked on the larger painting, I feel I have to take out large chunks of this painting, it is slowly coming together, but the horizon line is far too solid and I need to break it up .

Monday 22nd February 2011.

Worked from home today as the computer side of things needs updating. Researched for professional practice module and put a few things in place ready for printing.
On the whole it has been a productive day in the studio, cutting wood and glueing canva's togather. I may have to invest in some proper wood cutting materials, to enable me to get the angles correct on the corners and to give it a more professional look.
Started another painting, which I left outside for a while to dry and get rid of the fumes. Sometimes it is much more productive working on lots of things as I seem to get a much better result from the work.

tough week!!!!

I have found this week very tough, I feel so much work has been took on with the computer side of things and it seems to be taking over. I was so relieved on friday when Sarah took over the meeting and made it clear that the module was not quite as bad as we are making it out to be. The meeting on wednesday for our graduate catalogue did not go according to plan and we seem to have seperated into two groups at the moment. I am happy for Sarah and Lynne to proceed with things as they will get the catalogue sorted, that's for sure.
Short term, I think a blog could work as a website, but I'm not sure you will get the relevant people viewing the blog. I have decided to update the blog weekly instead of daily, just to take the pressure off me and to concentrate on other thing's.

Mundane computer work.

Right now I feel there is far too much time spent typing on the computer,to the different networking sites and all, it is very frustrating and difficult to keep everything up to date. It is taking up a great deal of time that realistically should be spent on the painting side and the art work ready for the degree show. Ido not feel happy about this at all, so keeping this brief as I have work to do.

Professional Practice

This is a very intense day but a very useful day with lots of information to digest . Chloe Brown gave the first talk which was very interesting. Sam Lovell used to work at Stafford College, so I remembered her from here, she was a very inspirational speaker and gave you lots to think about not just the art side, but the financial side of things too. The afternoon was taken by Anna Francis and we divided into groups of four to discuss our CV'S with one another and point out where we could improve on our techniques. It was very useful and I need to update and improve on a few section's before submitting to Sarah Key next week.
This seems to be taking over much of the time we have.

Pressure starts.

I have spoken to Chris Wright today concerning my work as all the tutorial lists have been taken up by other student's as soon as they have been posted, I have mansged to get one with Steve Boyd in March. The pressure has started to build up this semester, I do not mind the painting and printing side, but all the computer side of things is really starting to give me a headache and take me away from what I really love to do and I feel that there is little time to actually paint at all. I have postes a blog tonight and the thought of now doing a C.V is not thrilling at all at 9.oopm in the evening, when I am already feeling so tired.Still it has to be done so I will crack on.

Tuesday 8th February.

I decided not to go in to university today as I have alot of work to catch upon and experimental work to do. I got cracking at about 8.00am this morning which was a good start and given the fact I would be catching a train and travelling to university I have actually saved alot of time. I have stretched 2 pices of watercolour paper ready to be painted on. Using watercolour paint and acrylic inks , I have put these onto the paper, letting them bleed together. Working on a much larger scale has given me much more freedom and the results are very random with little control.

Monday 7th January 2011.

A body of work has been created from the visit on saturday out in the elements.In my view I have a major leap with this what I consider to be a starting point. I feel the charcoal drawings have not been altogether successful because they still have the horizon line seperating both land and sky and I am really struggling with this and find it difficult to move out of this. By turning the drawings round and cropping these works, they straight away become a different landscape, with a feel to being in the landscape rather than just another landscape drawing or painting. The next step is to recreate the same work but on a much larger scale and this again will bring me further out of my comfort zone . I am looking forward to seeing the results from this body of work and then taking it forward into the printing process.

Kinder Scout Saturday 5th February 2011.

The weather is not particularly very good, rain has been forecast for much of the day and very heavy at times. Arrived to a very wet Edale in the Peak District, started off with a cup of tea in Penny Pot Cafe and strated the walk just after 11am. I t feels good to be out on the hills and I don't mind the rain as it's not that cold and I am wrapped up in several layer's of clothing. The river up the valley is in full spate and smaller rivers are feeding into it. After reaching the stepping stones which have totally disappeared under the water we make a descision to walk further up the hill and shelter in some rocks because the river is too dangerous to cross. Started working with the peat and water on watercolour paper and different cloths, but it is now teaming it down and nothing will stay on the paper. Did a few drawings in charcoal, but the rain is just washing everything away and by now I am starting to get very cold. Took several photographs of the area and packed away and headed back down the valley.

Thursday 3rd February.

This is the first chance I have had to publish a post in a while, as I seem to be too busy at the moment to do anything. Studio practise work is coming on fine and I just wish I could spend alot more time on it, at the moment other issues within the module seem to take over leaving little time to actually work on the paintings.
I am working on some MDF board just trying to come out of my comfort zone, which is painful but I am sure that's how it should be.Trying to get the piece on moutains finished ready for the buyer to collect. Just logged into my portal to find the catalogue essay results posted and I didn't want to look. I know I didn't do very well but even if I only pass that will still be a result for me, . I enjoyed the research on other artist's, but found it incredibly difficult to put it together, however I kept telling myself that if I gave Alan Boulton paper and paint and to go and paint Kinder Scout in Derbyshire, what would the result be. When I finally looked at the result,Ihave to admit I would have been pleased with a 7, but I actually got a 9, so I am very happy with this result.