I had a review of my work with my tutor Sally, and the rest of the group. This time, there was no remit to talk up the work. So I was in a position to say exactly what I thought of my work so far. I quite stunned the youngsters when I said how disappointed I was with my work, and that I thought it was naff and pedestrian. I showed all the things I had tried with the pomegranates (enlargements, colour, monochrome, repeats etc) on various different fabrics. I showed I had tried to learn from each trial, in that I know which fabrics stitch well by hand or machine (no hand stitch on digiprint basic cotton) and what colour reproduction problems I had (red, yellow, orange heighten in intensity, and reds bleed excessively when washed). But basically the design was naff, and I had moved onto other subjects.
I felt a lot better when I was giving honest analysis of my work, stating most of it was naff and pedestrian. The youngsters found it quite breath-taking that I could be so direct about my work, but I found it uplifting not to be lying about my work, by talking it up and saying it was good, when clearly, it was not.
I said I preferred my work drawing domestic objects, and I was getting on much better with monochrome pen and charcoal. I feel I have a clear signature to my drawing style. It is naive and slightly wonky - very much my own style. This amused Sally, who said it should be the slogan on my business cards!
Then in the interests of experimenting with more fabrics, I printed three charcoal images I drew when in Australia. One of the legs of the life model (tonally light), one of her bottom when sitting on a stool (tonally textured), and one of my hands holding a mug of milk (tonally dark). This was printed on a hemp/ramie blend. I think they are all great (note the improved confidence in my work!) and I can particularly see the legs print used on a design for a bag. I steamed the prints, then washed them. I think there is a bit of a problem with the milk mug design, as there appears to be some colour run across the middle. This is why I do lots of samples - I will take advice from Lisa, the tech, as to what I have done wrong here. The tonal variation of the prints is interesting - the legs print would cost £0.36p per linear metre for ink costs; the life model would be £1.16 plm, and milk mug was £2.52 plm. I think the hemp fabric is £15 plm and is 150cm wide.
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Saturday, 23 February 2013
Thoughts from the bike ride
Yesterday Jim and I went out on the bikes, commencing a get-fit campaign before our Lands End-John O'Groats ride in June. We did 20 miles, on a bitter cold day, and I came home feeling very virtuous, having had some profound thoughts about my creative work. I think that with the increasing light levels in February, my mood is lifting and I am able to think more positively about my work.
I had decided to draw a lot from now on. Any domestic object will do, rather than sticking to a specific theme. I am going to stop agonising over whether my artwork is "good enough", or whether I am varying my style enough (as advised in art classes in Perth), but just "get on and draw in my own style". Then once I have a whole sketchbook-ful (or more), look back and select the ones I like. At that stage, I can start to consider whether to use them singly or in repeated pattern (ie only one stage of angst at a time!). After that, I decided how to use them - as furnishing fabric, lining, as a base unit for further manipulation eg needle felting, patchwork etc. Allow the fabric to tell me how to use it. I thought about how a fabric designer (Tom Stevens?) at last year's New Designers had used some beautiful printed silk, that I would never have thought of embellishing, needle-felted with silk noil, and produced a wonderful boucle effect. But I need to start with stage one.
I have also been looking at the book Textile Designers at the Cutting Edge, and been inspired by how contributors have used different patterns, changed the colourways to completely alter the design, then used the fabric in interesting ways. Specifically one designer had used a quirky hand drawn image of people as a lining print for a jacket, and the head showed when the jacket was on the hanger. Applying this principle to furnishing fabric - what would happen if you used a printed lining for plain curtains? For example, for me to use my marmalade making designs, I could do bright orange plain curtains, with hand drawn marmalade making imagery on the lining. Or if a throw, lined with printed fabric, just showed a tiny edge of the brightly coloured backing. I like pattern and often I want to put too much pattern in a room. But it would make sense to select which areas need a plain fabric, and be able to still use prints in less obvious areas.
I think these ideas appeal to me, because I am still railing against being seen as a middle class, middle aged woman. I am much happier to feel like, and be seen as mildly eccentric in what I do and what I make, rather than to be pedestrian, which has so bothered me recently.
I had decided to draw a lot from now on. Any domestic object will do, rather than sticking to a specific theme. I am going to stop agonising over whether my artwork is "good enough", or whether I am varying my style enough (as advised in art classes in Perth), but just "get on and draw in my own style". Then once I have a whole sketchbook-ful (or more), look back and select the ones I like. At that stage, I can start to consider whether to use them singly or in repeated pattern (ie only one stage of angst at a time!). After that, I decided how to use them - as furnishing fabric, lining, as a base unit for further manipulation eg needle felting, patchwork etc. Allow the fabric to tell me how to use it. I thought about how a fabric designer (Tom Stevens?) at last year's New Designers had used some beautiful printed silk, that I would never have thought of embellishing, needle-felted with silk noil, and produced a wonderful boucle effect. But I need to start with stage one.
I have also been looking at the book Textile Designers at the Cutting Edge, and been inspired by how contributors have used different patterns, changed the colourways to completely alter the design, then used the fabric in interesting ways. Specifically one designer had used a quirky hand drawn image of people as a lining print for a jacket, and the head showed when the jacket was on the hanger. Applying this principle to furnishing fabric - what would happen if you used a printed lining for plain curtains? For example, for me to use my marmalade making designs, I could do bright orange plain curtains, with hand drawn marmalade making imagery on the lining. Or if a throw, lined with printed fabric, just showed a tiny edge of the brightly coloured backing. I like pattern and often I want to put too much pattern in a room. But it would make sense to select which areas need a plain fabric, and be able to still use prints in less obvious areas.
I think these ideas appeal to me, because I am still railing against being seen as a middle class, middle aged woman. I am much happier to feel like, and be seen as mildly eccentric in what I do and what I make, rather than to be pedestrian, which has so bothered me recently.
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Feedback from Verifiers
On Monday we were given the Verifiers feedback from our tutors about our coursework. None of it was a surprise to me, but in my opinion, a lot of it was a consequence of the way we are taught (or not, as the case may be).
- Work displayed was very safe.
- We need to push the functionality of what we make, if functionality is the purpose.
- Work needs to be displayed better (privileging)
- We need to be more selective, and identify our best work
- Work needs to be stored on digital media and kept on an ipad so we can carry our digital portfolio with us at all times
- Photograph work in progress.
- Create a web presence.
Our tutors added to this that the final year students had their ideas in place, and now needed to work extensively and make a considerable body of work. We need to make mistakes and use them as learning opportunities.
The work displayed was very safe - this is because we do not have the learning environment where adventurous work is encouraged, supported and critiqued together. We don't get feedback that encourages the imaginative try, and analyses how unsuccessful work has elements that might work in another context.
Functional objects are badly made because we don't get taught how to make things properly. Neither are we shown how to identify the key points of making something well, in order to go out and find the techniques ourselves.
We are not taught how to display work well, and neither are we given any guidance to look at museum/shop/exhibition displays to analyse how things have been displayed to give prominence to pre-defined elements. When I was in Australia last year, "privileging" was a key skill in displaying our work. I still find it incredibly difficult, although I am better than I was previously. But here, it is not given any focus at all. And when I asked for a desk with some wall space, I was allocated someone else's desk(!) in the window, with an 45cm high wall section under the window, and 45cm high partition at the back of the desk, when I had two 1m printed panels to display. And when the person whose desk turned up, I had to push her work onto a small desk where her work fitted, as I need the bigger space and my work did not fit the smaller space.
Students struggle to identify their best work, because the tutors don't give feedback on which work works best and why. We are left to work it out for ourselves, but without the skills of analysis in order to do so. We don't get group critique sessions, and although we could do it ourselves, if you don't have the skills to start with, and specifically in my case, you are a newcomer to the group, it is pretty difficult to "do it yourself".
We were told to build a body of work with a clear voice/signature. I agree with this, but feel I don't have the skills to identify my best work, and build on it. I don't feel I am at this stage yet. I find it particularly difficult when, at my last progress review, the instructions were to talk positively about our work, and to talk it up, as if it were a pitch for business or funding. As a mature student, I have worked in plenty of environments where making a pitch and talking positively about a subject to an audience is a requirement. So, at my progress review, this is what I did. But really, it was an utter waste of time. I think my presentation went quite well but it was just a load of bull. I suspect that I met the requirements of the exercise but this just proves our course standards measure irrelevant baloney rather than whether we can deliver a meaningful product. No wonder our work is pedestrian.
What I needed was to stand up and talk about what I was struggling with, and why, and seek comment and feedback from the group to assist me to move it forward and make my hand drawing more imaginative and appealing. I think our students need to become much better at giving and receiving feedback on our work. And if we need these communication levels, then we need to be selecting people who can meet the course requirements, rather than accepting everyone who applies. I read last year's verifiers report which commented on the wide range of attainment (fail-very high firsts), to which our tutors had responded that then 2009 intake had accepted people with 200+ points (whatever they are) rather than >275. As a mature student, I was accepted via different selection criteria to the normal post-A level route.
All in all, I totally agree with the Verifiers' feedback, although I am very disheartened by it, and still feel inadequate regarding what I can do to improve my work.
- Work displayed was very safe.
- We need to push the functionality of what we make, if functionality is the purpose.
- Work needs to be displayed better (privileging)
- We need to be more selective, and identify our best work
- Work needs to be stored on digital media and kept on an ipad so we can carry our digital portfolio with us at all times
- Photograph work in progress.
- Create a web presence.
Our tutors added to this that the final year students had their ideas in place, and now needed to work extensively and make a considerable body of work. We need to make mistakes and use them as learning opportunities.
The work displayed was very safe - this is because we do not have the learning environment where adventurous work is encouraged, supported and critiqued together. We don't get feedback that encourages the imaginative try, and analyses how unsuccessful work has elements that might work in another context.
Functional objects are badly made because we don't get taught how to make things properly. Neither are we shown how to identify the key points of making something well, in order to go out and find the techniques ourselves.
We are not taught how to display work well, and neither are we given any guidance to look at museum/shop/exhibition displays to analyse how things have been displayed to give prominence to pre-defined elements. When I was in Australia last year, "privileging" was a key skill in displaying our work. I still find it incredibly difficult, although I am better than I was previously. But here, it is not given any focus at all. And when I asked for a desk with some wall space, I was allocated someone else's desk(!) in the window, with an 45cm high wall section under the window, and 45cm high partition at the back of the desk, when I had two 1m printed panels to display. And when the person whose desk turned up, I had to push her work onto a small desk where her work fitted, as I need the bigger space and my work did not fit the smaller space.
Students struggle to identify their best work, because the tutors don't give feedback on which work works best and why. We are left to work it out for ourselves, but without the skills of analysis in order to do so. We don't get group critique sessions, and although we could do it ourselves, if you don't have the skills to start with, and specifically in my case, you are a newcomer to the group, it is pretty difficult to "do it yourself".
We were told to build a body of work with a clear voice/signature. I agree with this, but feel I don't have the skills to identify my best work, and build on it. I don't feel I am at this stage yet. I find it particularly difficult when, at my last progress review, the instructions were to talk positively about our work, and to talk it up, as if it were a pitch for business or funding. As a mature student, I have worked in plenty of environments where making a pitch and talking positively about a subject to an audience is a requirement. So, at my progress review, this is what I did. But really, it was an utter waste of time. I think my presentation went quite well but it was just a load of bull. I suspect that I met the requirements of the exercise but this just proves our course standards measure irrelevant baloney rather than whether we can deliver a meaningful product. No wonder our work is pedestrian.
What I needed was to stand up and talk about what I was struggling with, and why, and seek comment and feedback from the group to assist me to move it forward and make my hand drawing more imaginative and appealing. I think our students need to become much better at giving and receiving feedback on our work. And if we need these communication levels, then we need to be selecting people who can meet the course requirements, rather than accepting everyone who applies. I read last year's verifiers report which commented on the wide range of attainment (fail-very high firsts), to which our tutors had responded that then 2009 intake had accepted people with 200+ points (whatever they are) rather than >275. As a mature student, I was accepted via different selection criteria to the normal post-A level route.
All in all, I totally agree with the Verifiers' feedback, although I am very disheartened by it, and still feel inadequate regarding what I can do to improve my work.
Saturday, 16 February 2013
Enterprise and Employability lecture was thought provoking
We had 2 good speakers at the E&E lecture on Wednesday. Katie and Roxanne graduated 2 years ago from UH and both are practicing artists. Roxanne does mostly small framed art pieces, including paper cuts of butterflies and Katie does mostly machine embroidered panels of domestic items, along with teaching machine embroidery.
They both said they worked in a manner that delivered what the small gift shop could sell - ie smaller items to suit the domestic interior. Katie said that when she was doing her degree, Antje had criticised her work for being too twee - she depicts items like cupcakes and sets of wellingtons in applique and machine embroidery. However, she also observed, "in the commercial world, twee sells". While I can see the appeal of this type of work, it makes me cringe, and fortunately I don't have to sell my work to support myself. Katie, in particular, said she could identify which customers would buy her hand made craft items - "women between 30-65, well dressed, with big rings, and designer handbag". So, in other words, middle aged, middle class women. This exactly describes what I don't want my work to be, because I don't want to appeal to this type of person. I have an absolute horror of my work appealing to high maintenance women who have more money than sense, and occupy their leisure time shopping for pretty (and unnecessary) things.
It reminds me of when I started the Contemporary Applied Art course and we had some "get to know you" exercises. One of the group questions was "what are your main hobbies?" I was absolutely shocked that, on an applied art course, most of the girls' main hobby was ..... shopping! Not art, drawing, painting, sculpture, or anything creative. Shopping. So does this indicate most of the people on my course are going to become the purchasers of the few graduates who actually practice art? So we are just educating people so they can become shoppers? Probably! How cringe-making!
So this brings me back to musing over what I want to make. Definitely printed fabric. But not little panels for the wall. Dear God, please NO. Definitely something about the hand drawn. Definitely something about the repeat, but not sure how yet. Something in the field of the quirky, interesting, domestic routine. Probably something in the line of furnishing fabric, with patterns that may fit specific rooms like the kitchen, but to be used in a practical way. I might use patterned fabric tryouts embellished with stitch, for panels, but this is a practical use of sample fabric, not the intended end product. I would want metres of my fabric being used to cover furniture etc, not tiny samples being produced for a pointless panel. And the subject matter needs to have the emotional appeal to me, making it fun, quirky, and unusual. At the moment I am working on imagery from marmalade making, because it is a strongly manual process which gives me the mental satisfaction and flow by all the hand work, and it is done simply because my husband enjoys the end product.
However, Katie was very free with pragmatic advice on how to make art/craft financially successful:
Unique Selling Point - who are you competing with? You can't fight big business so:
Make it unique
Be yourself
Interact with customers - you are part of what they are buying
Small customers can lead to bigger commissions
Don't copy others
Know where your product fits - Katie's is vintage, domestic, mundane and twee
Twee sells
Varied product ranges - cupcakes, wellingtons, pet portraits
Different products at different times of year - Christmas/valentines
Gift market important - hearts papercuts sell at Valentines
Sales and discounts in off season
Track own sales
Track spending income/outgoings
Lots of things tax deductable therefore this is important.
Display items sensitively - singer sewing machine, colour co-ord
Price according to market - hairclips for 5-11s cheap and cheerful;
Start cheap and work your way up.
Pay yourself enough
Ensure you use good suppliers
Support other small traders - mutual promotion of Singer repairs/embroidery classes
Go to business courses
Website presence - needs pictures and people like work in progress
Running own business is hard work. Needs multi-functionalism and self motivation.
They both said they worked in a manner that delivered what the small gift shop could sell - ie smaller items to suit the domestic interior. Katie said that when she was doing her degree, Antje had criticised her work for being too twee - she depicts items like cupcakes and sets of wellingtons in applique and machine embroidery. However, she also observed, "in the commercial world, twee sells". While I can see the appeal of this type of work, it makes me cringe, and fortunately I don't have to sell my work to support myself. Katie, in particular, said she could identify which customers would buy her hand made craft items - "women between 30-65, well dressed, with big rings, and designer handbag". So, in other words, middle aged, middle class women. This exactly describes what I don't want my work to be, because I don't want to appeal to this type of person. I have an absolute horror of my work appealing to high maintenance women who have more money than sense, and occupy their leisure time shopping for pretty (and unnecessary) things.
It reminds me of when I started the Contemporary Applied Art course and we had some "get to know you" exercises. One of the group questions was "what are your main hobbies?" I was absolutely shocked that, on an applied art course, most of the girls' main hobby was ..... shopping! Not art, drawing, painting, sculpture, or anything creative. Shopping. So does this indicate most of the people on my course are going to become the purchasers of the few graduates who actually practice art? So we are just educating people so they can become shoppers? Probably! How cringe-making!
So this brings me back to musing over what I want to make. Definitely printed fabric. But not little panels for the wall. Dear God, please NO. Definitely something about the hand drawn. Definitely something about the repeat, but not sure how yet. Something in the field of the quirky, interesting, domestic routine. Probably something in the line of furnishing fabric, with patterns that may fit specific rooms like the kitchen, but to be used in a practical way. I might use patterned fabric tryouts embellished with stitch, for panels, but this is a practical use of sample fabric, not the intended end product. I would want metres of my fabric being used to cover furniture etc, not tiny samples being produced for a pointless panel. And the subject matter needs to have the emotional appeal to me, making it fun, quirky, and unusual. At the moment I am working on imagery from marmalade making, because it is a strongly manual process which gives me the mental satisfaction and flow by all the hand work, and it is done simply because my husband enjoys the end product.
However, Katie was very free with pragmatic advice on how to make art/craft financially successful:
Unique Selling Point - who are you competing with? You can't fight big business so:
Make it unique
Be yourself
Interact with customers - you are part of what they are buying
Small customers can lead to bigger commissions
Don't copy others
Know where your product fits - Katie's is vintage, domestic, mundane and twee
Twee sells
Varied product ranges - cupcakes, wellingtons, pet portraits
Different products at different times of year - Christmas/valentines
Gift market important - hearts papercuts sell at Valentines
Sales and discounts in off season
Track own sales
Track spending income/outgoings
Lots of things tax deductable therefore this is important.
Display items sensitively - singer sewing machine, colour co-ord
Price according to market - hairclips for 5-11s cheap and cheerful;
Start cheap and work your way up.
Pay yourself enough
Ensure you use good suppliers
Support other small traders - mutual promotion of Singer repairs/embroidery classes
Go to business courses
Website presence - needs pictures and people like work in progress
Running own business is hard work. Needs multi-functionalism and self motivation.
Sunday, 10 February 2013
Art Class with Vanda
A few days ago, when I was really upset and frustrated by my lack of progress, Vanda, the tutor for the first year Contemporary Applied Art class, suggested I attend one of the classes she runs from home.
On Thursday I went along. I met up with 4 other women, most of whom I had met at other craft classes over the last few years. I had a truly refreshing, and inspirational day. We started with paper collage from wallpapers. We had to make a narrative from paper shapes torn from 5 different wallpapers. My first one became quite 3D with pleating, cutaways and stand-up areas. My second was, in my opinion, a thing of joy. I had three papers with different completely different leaf styles within them, which I cut or tore out , I then cut out a banksia leaf (Australian plant) from another leafy paper, and tore another leaf (Aussie eucalyptus) from a textured paper. I layered them in an appealing way, and joined them very simply with running and cross stitches. A simple and delightful exercise.
Then we did another simple exercise, which set all the bells and whistles ringing in my head. We had to draw an object using different qualities of line. I started on my lemon squeezer. Vanda got me using different media to do a continuous line drawing. She enabled me to use differing levels of detail, and inclusion within the drawing, and unsurprisingly it became much more interesting.
Then we did the same exercise, looking at how to vary the tonal value in a drawing, using different media, and being selective about which parts of the drawing we chose to include. I started by sticking some textured wallpaper on the page, then drew into it with charcoal, pencil and water soluble pencil. Artistically they are not masterpieces, but they very much inspired me to continue with this theme, and try them out in digital print on fabric.
To conclude, Vanda recommended one of her books "Drawing Projects" by Maslen and Southern, and lent it to me until I can order one of my own.
Sometimes I just need an inspirational tutor to reinvigorate and re-enthuse me. My cup runneth over. (I wonder what that would look like as a drawing!)
On Thursday I went along. I met up with 4 other women, most of whom I had met at other craft classes over the last few years. I had a truly refreshing, and inspirational day. We started with paper collage from wallpapers. We had to make a narrative from paper shapes torn from 5 different wallpapers. My first one became quite 3D with pleating, cutaways and stand-up areas. My second was, in my opinion, a thing of joy. I had three papers with different completely different leaf styles within them, which I cut or tore out , I then cut out a banksia leaf (Australian plant) from another leafy paper, and tore another leaf (Aussie eucalyptus) from a textured paper. I layered them in an appealing way, and joined them very simply with running and cross stitches. A simple and delightful exercise.
Then we did another simple exercise, which set all the bells and whistles ringing in my head. We had to draw an object using different qualities of line. I started on my lemon squeezer. Vanda got me using different media to do a continuous line drawing. She enabled me to use differing levels of detail, and inclusion within the drawing, and unsurprisingly it became much more interesting.
Then we did the same exercise, looking at how to vary the tonal value in a drawing, using different media, and being selective about which parts of the drawing we chose to include. I started by sticking some textured wallpaper on the page, then drew into it with charcoal, pencil and water soluble pencil. Artistically they are not masterpieces, but they very much inspired me to continue with this theme, and try them out in digital print on fabric.
To conclude, Vanda recommended one of her books "Drawing Projects" by Maslen and Southern, and lent it to me until I can order one of my own.
Sometimes I just need an inspirational tutor to reinvigorate and re-enthuse me. My cup runneth over. (I wonder what that would look like as a drawing!)
Saturday, 9 February 2013
Employment & Enterprise module
I had my first contribution to the above module this week. We each had to give a 5 minute presentation on our work and what motivates it, and to make it a pitch to interest our audience.
I spoke about how my work on pomegranates originated from my year in Australia, fits with my liking for the domestic and mundane (homely objects and fruit and veg) and how I like the hand drawn. My work is contemporary because I use digital print and am experimenting to identify what it does really well (detailed colour reproduction, detailed monochrome tonal detail, and variation in scale) and what it does, that cannot be achieved in screen printing. To me the computer is a tool, and no more. I am a textile artist, not a computer operator. I need more art skills, rather than computer art skills I caught a glance of appreciation from my tutor, Sara, when I said that my hand drawn illustrative style is reacting against the digital world, because I want my work to look hand drawn, not photo-realistic. I am a textile artist, not a computer operator. The computer is my tool which I use selectively, and I dictate its role in my work. It does not dictate to me.
I showed some original artwork, c4" (10cm) square, which I had enlarged to 1m square. I noted that where I had used inktense pencils, and flooded the pencil with water, you could see on the x100 enlargement where I had not quite made the colour meet up, and there were tiny white areas within the print. But this is why I did the enlargements - in order to push the technique and see at what stage it breaks down.
After this session I went to the V&A for the Home Sweet Home course. This time the lecturer was describing the evolution of Dining Rooms and Drawing Rooms. In medieval times, the great hall was used for all activities; then in Victorian times rooms developed distinct functions, and now in modern times we are returning to multi-functional, open plan rooms. All the discussions centred on life for "the middling sort" ie the middle classes, rather than the peasants or gentry. I also like the discussions on different representations of pictorial art, where we learn about how to read the image. An open window beside the main subject means the person depicted had an open mind; the scene through the window indicated their interests or source of their wealth, eg shipping, mining etc. All in all, a lovely lecture.
I spoke about how my work on pomegranates originated from my year in Australia, fits with my liking for the domestic and mundane (homely objects and fruit and veg) and how I like the hand drawn. My work is contemporary because I use digital print and am experimenting to identify what it does really well (detailed colour reproduction, detailed monochrome tonal detail, and variation in scale) and what it does, that cannot be achieved in screen printing. To me the computer is a tool, and no more. I am a textile artist, not a computer operator. I need more art skills, rather than computer art skills I caught a glance of appreciation from my tutor, Sara, when I said that my hand drawn illustrative style is reacting against the digital world, because I want my work to look hand drawn, not photo-realistic. I am a textile artist, not a computer operator. The computer is my tool which I use selectively, and I dictate its role in my work. It does not dictate to me.
I showed some original artwork, c4" (10cm) square, which I had enlarged to 1m square. I noted that where I had used inktense pencils, and flooded the pencil with water, you could see on the x100 enlargement where I had not quite made the colour meet up, and there were tiny white areas within the print. But this is why I did the enlargements - in order to push the technique and see at what stage it breaks down.
After this session I went to the V&A for the Home Sweet Home course. This time the lecturer was describing the evolution of Dining Rooms and Drawing Rooms. In medieval times, the great hall was used for all activities; then in Victorian times rooms developed distinct functions, and now in modern times we are returning to multi-functional, open plan rooms. All the discussions centred on life for "the middling sort" ie the middle classes, rather than the peasants or gentry. I also like the discussions on different representations of pictorial art, where we learn about how to read the image. An open window beside the main subject means the person depicted had an open mind; the scene through the window indicated their interests or source of their wealth, eg shipping, mining etc. All in all, a lovely lecture.
Sunday, 3 February 2013
Creative flow has returned
I have spent the last couple of days working on my new theme of "marmalade". It took me a long time to realise that my work may be about the domestic and mundane, but it is also about the expression of emotion. It took ages for me to realise that my emotion coming home, of contentment, joy and peace, is expressed by the domestic routines that "I" carry out. (I don't do washing up, cleaning, ironing etc!). I do baking, preserving, and sewing, usually to the benefit of my husband. And how I feel about my husband (much affection) comes out in my work. So if I want to express joy, peace and contentment, then what I depict, needs to be about him. And I make pounds and pounds of preserves for him.
Whereas previously I was working on the theme of pomegranates, which I quite like as a fruit, and a domestic object, there was no emotional link with my husband, or anything else that made me feel joy, peace and contentment. This is why I have so, so struggled to make anything likeable.
So today, I made another batch of marmalade. In the process, I have done line drawings of the utensils and ingredients, wrote out a recipe, and photographed all stages of the process. And yet again, I have realised that the process is all about the hand. It is a manual, repetitive, process. Cutting, squeezing, chopping and slicing, boiling, stirring, ladling and labelling. Time intensive hand processes to produce a superior product to what can be shop bought.
I have happily dabbled with paint, pens and stencils. I have produced a few colour designs, but am most happy with the black and white sketches of oranges and sugar bags. I was particularly amused with a caption on the sugar bag, where the manufacturers are playing on the "local" production of sugar beet (rather than sugar cane from Jamaica) with the slogan "beet that!".
The fabric designs could be used for tea towels, aprons, table furnishings etc. All light, bright and fun. Just my thing. So I feel a lot happier about my progress review tomorrow.
Whereas previously I was working on the theme of pomegranates, which I quite like as a fruit, and a domestic object, there was no emotional link with my husband, or anything else that made me feel joy, peace and contentment. This is why I have so, so struggled to make anything likeable.
So today, I made another batch of marmalade. In the process, I have done line drawings of the utensils and ingredients, wrote out a recipe, and photographed all stages of the process. And yet again, I have realised that the process is all about the hand. It is a manual, repetitive, process. Cutting, squeezing, chopping and slicing, boiling, stirring, ladling and labelling. Time intensive hand processes to produce a superior product to what can be shop bought.
I have happily dabbled with paint, pens and stencils. I have produced a few colour designs, but am most happy with the black and white sketches of oranges and sugar bags. I was particularly amused with a caption on the sugar bag, where the manufacturers are playing on the "local" production of sugar beet (rather than sugar cane from Jamaica) with the slogan "beet that!".
The fabric designs could be used for tea towels, aprons, table furnishings etc. All light, bright and fun. Just my thing. So I feel a lot happier about my progress review tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)