Initially we looked at the basics of digital camera's and DSLR's. We did a study on depth of field by changing aperture from F5.6 - F22 and in doing so changing the focus from one object (either in the foreground or far away) to having the whole photo in focus.
We had several photoshoots and looked at Photoshop basics.
Photoshoots:
The beach
Local harbour
Artificial Lighting
Weathered
At the end of these we had to chose 8 final images for our assessment. Our theme for our final assessment was "Weathered". (Frayed ropes, rusted items, natural erosion, decaying wood etc).
I will post a selection of photos from each photoshoot, as well as the final 8 images.
Friday, 8 November 2013
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Painting week 2
We worked with a large scale, display of marine plastic debris (flotsam) set up over several tables, walls ... covering the entire back of our group art studio.
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Another thin, long section of a still life, focusing on tone and colour
Our easels were set up in a wide arc surrounding the flotsam display of several tables.
We worked with acrylics (Consistency of paint from runny/watery to thick) - mixing our own colours to achieve various tones, Indian ink and a piece of stiff cardboard to draw with etc
It was a great learning experience and we each focused on our own selection (using a hand held framing method) to compose our pieces of work. Various thumbnails were quickly sketched to help with deciding on composition (Position/ direction of viewing still life's)
I was amazed at the A1 piece of work I produced, not think that I would have been capable of producing this : D
We watched a video about the artist, Frank Auerbach - he paints 364 days a year and has several long standing models who he uses on various days of the week (some for 20 years) to produce artwork. He had a traumatic childhood and lost his parents, due to WWII, at an early age. His artworks do not seem to represent his subject but are more expressions of emotions, exploring the texture and colour of paint. He also talks about wanting balance and perspective in his paintings.
Our final piece of learning was producing an abstract piece. We had to chose what we were going to draw and draw it from 3 different positions within the studio (swapping easels). Each time we drew in charcoal and then rubbed it off before starting from the new position. The fain lines were still visible.
After the third sketch had been rubbed off we had a wide selection of lines and unrelated shapes to work with. Our colour palette was taken from the objects on display and we could include the actual objects or work with the negative spaces. I saw 2 faces (Head and shoulders) that mysteriously showed up within my lines and shapes. I chose to highlight these as well as other negative space shapes that were created using this technique. I did keep one buoy (flotsam) from the display. The Buoy had been the centre piece of each of my 3 sketches. As I worked I discovered a couple of other faces hidden in the artwork.
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This was again a timed piece so we did not get to finish it but it was a start and an interesting exercise - which produced varied results, from all the students.
At the end of the week we had a big clean up of the studio to get it ready for the October break. One of the students played some background music form their own selection and it added a jaunty, pleasant holiday feeling to the end of term.
During the final clean up, a couple of us used our left over paint to make a "hand print" - this is mine... and another creation using the rest of the paint...
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The music that was playing during the cleanup......
We had our personal discussions with our tutors about our personal sketchbook projects and the topic. I was not sure about the topic and wanted it to be something really good so chose to think about it over the October break.
My options were at this time: The natural environment (which we had already explored in some detail), the stables environment (where we spend a fair part of our time). One topic I was interested in was "design aspects" found in everyday life - the things that we sell differ in design and appearance but add to our lives They are everyday but may overlook. i.e. light switches, hinges, handles, vents - all have distinctive shape, style, texture and appearance but we are so used to them that we don't seem to notice them. Having studies design last year - these were items I notice on a daily basis. My tutor did not seem keen on this idea.
I want to chose a topic that will mean something, have a possible use, provide an insight and be inspired by something. I hope something comes to me...
The topics of marine finds, the shoreline etc are very do-able but have been done to an extent and I would like to find something else appropriate and do able.
Apparently some other students are doing - items found in their homes. I could do this but feel that these items and objects are personal. We have a wide selection of art and ornaments that we have collected over the years but don't feel like I want to share them at this stage. It is a topic that would be useful though at some stage.
The idea of having multiple sketch books does enter my mind:
or there must be something else that has not revealed itself yet... :D I hope a good idea comes to me over the October break.....
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My Final Piece
Working with runny/solid acrylic, matching & mixing our own colours
(I was quite pleasantly surprise that I managed to do this - never done still life's before.)
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Final Piece - work in progress
Looking a this half way - its difficult to believe it would work out in a good way LOL
This is what we were working with (Isolated pieces) of which there were several tables full. We had to use a hand held, self made frame (2 x L shapes) to select our pieces to work on.
Some of our other exercises are below:
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A thin, long section of a still life, focusing on tone and colour
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We worked with acrylics (Consistency of paint from runny/watery to thick) - mixing our own colours to achieve various tones, Indian ink and a piece of stiff cardboard to draw with etc
It was a great learning experience and we each focused on our own selection (using a hand held framing method) to compose our pieces of work. Various thumbnails were quickly sketched to help with deciding on composition (Position/ direction of viewing still life's)
I was amazed at the A1 piece of work I produced, not think that I would have been capable of producing this : D
This is a piece (Below) we did using a piece of cardboard and Indian ink to represent tone
(It was actually quite fun and I enjoyed it - after the initial shock).
The cardboard and Indian ink in tray that we used....
A wider view
My easel from a distance
All the student work on the wall for the first Indian ink exercise (Tone)
Isolated parts of my Indian Ink & cardboard sketch (Timed exercise)
We watched a video about the artist, Frank Auerbach - he paints 364 days a year and has several long standing models who he uses on various days of the week (some for 20 years) to produce artwork. He had a traumatic childhood and lost his parents, due to WWII, at an early age. His artworks do not seem to represent his subject but are more expressions of emotions, exploring the texture and colour of paint. He also talks about wanting balance and perspective in his paintings.
Our final piece of learning was producing an abstract piece. We had to chose what we were going to draw and draw it from 3 different positions within the studio (swapping easels). Each time we drew in charcoal and then rubbed it off before starting from the new position. The fain lines were still visible.
After the third sketch had been rubbed off we had a wide selection of lines and unrelated shapes to work with. Our colour palette was taken from the objects on display and we could include the actual objects or work with the negative spaces. I saw 2 faces (Head and shoulders) that mysteriously showed up within my lines and shapes. I chose to highlight these as well as other negative space shapes that were created using this technique. I did keep one buoy (flotsam) from the display. The Buoy had been the centre piece of each of my 3 sketches. As I worked I discovered a couple of other faces hidden in the artwork.
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This was again a timed piece so we did not get to finish it but it was a start and an interesting exercise - which produced varied results, from all the students.
At the end of the week we had a big clean up of the studio to get it ready for the October break. One of the students played some background music form their own selection and it added a jaunty, pleasant holiday feeling to the end of term.
During the final clean up, a couple of us used our left over paint to make a "hand print" - this is mine... and another creation using the rest of the paint...
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Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela
We had our personal discussions with our tutors about our personal sketchbook projects and the topic. I was not sure about the topic and wanted it to be something really good so chose to think about it over the October break.
My options were at this time: The natural environment (which we had already explored in some detail), the stables environment (where we spend a fair part of our time). One topic I was interested in was "design aspects" found in everyday life - the things that we sell differ in design and appearance but add to our lives They are everyday but may overlook. i.e. light switches, hinges, handles, vents - all have distinctive shape, style, texture and appearance but we are so used to them that we don't seem to notice them. Having studies design last year - these were items I notice on a daily basis. My tutor did not seem keen on this idea.
I want to chose a topic that will mean something, have a possible use, provide an insight and be inspired by something. I hope something comes to me...
The topics of marine finds, the shoreline etc are very do-able but have been done to an extent and I would like to find something else appropriate and do able.
Apparently some other students are doing - items found in their homes. I could do this but feel that these items and objects are personal. We have a wide selection of art and ornaments that we have collected over the years but don't feel like I want to share them at this stage. It is a topic that would be useful though at some stage.
The idea of having multiple sketch books does enter my mind:
- Stables
- Design Items
- The shoreline (including marine finds and flotsam)
- The natural environment
or there must be something else that has not revealed itself yet... :D I hope a good idea comes to me over the October break.....
Individual Sketchbook Project - Start October Break
We needed to chose a theme for our individual sketchbook projects incorporating what we have learned so far.
- Drawing with various instruments (Various marks, broken line, shading - cross hatching)
- Variety of drawing materials (Ink.Stick/ pastel / charcoal (eraser and white chalk) / runny & thick acrylic / waterpaint washes, pencil, wax resist)
- Showing tonal/shading for still life's - collage (using scraps of paper, fabric, tissue paper, cut-outs)
- Drawing without looking
- Mixing our own colours
- Consistency of paint / direction of strokes
*Things to remember:
- Reasons for working with an easel holding instrument (Stick, pen, paintbrush) at end - to allow for more flexibility
- non-continuous line
- variety of marks
TOPIC
I chose to use a topic that relates to island life: The growing of vegetable and fruit produce using seaweed and manure to fertilise the soil.
This links in with the island veg. box project. A project where locals can purchase a weekly box of individually chosen, fresh, locally grown fruit and veg - from a limited group of distribution points.
I decided to use various cross sections of fruit and veg (Patterns found in nature)as well as still life's - and variety of seaweeds to promote this self sufficiency project. It also highlights green issues.
I also chose to work with natural pigments such as herbal teas, coffee, herbs such as turmeric, potato juice water etc for a natural look - combined with other materials also studied such as charcoal, ink, pencil, watercolour, wax resist etc.
This topic includes marine plastic debris and how some of these can be used to assist in growing vegetables (trays, containers, rope, washed up discarded nets etc.)
Constructions such as polytunnels are included, as well as equipment such as plant pots, watering cans.
Sketching includes drawing, painting, texture rubbing's, prints etc. and I have decided to include these.
Our sketchbooks include paint swatches, notes, additional learning techniques, thumbnails, still life's, tonal studies, charcoal (Rubbing back techniques).
- Drawing with various instruments (Various marks, broken line, shading - cross hatching)
- Variety of drawing materials (Ink.Stick/ pastel / charcoal (eraser and white chalk) / runny & thick acrylic / waterpaint washes, pencil, wax resist)
- Showing tonal/shading for still life's - collage (using scraps of paper, fabric, tissue paper, cut-outs)
- Drawing without looking
- Mixing our own colours
- Consistency of paint / direction of strokes
*Things to remember:
- Reasons for working with an easel holding instrument (Stick, pen, paintbrush) at end - to allow for more flexibility
- non-continuous line
- variety of marks
TOPIC
I chose to use a topic that relates to island life: The growing of vegetable and fruit produce using seaweed and manure to fertilise the soil.
This links in with the island veg. box project. A project where locals can purchase a weekly box of individually chosen, fresh, locally grown fruit and veg - from a limited group of distribution points.
I decided to use various cross sections of fruit and veg (Patterns found in nature)as well as still life's - and variety of seaweeds to promote this self sufficiency project. It also highlights green issues.
I also chose to work with natural pigments such as herbal teas, coffee, herbs such as turmeric, potato juice water etc for a natural look - combined with other materials also studied such as charcoal, ink, pencil, watercolour, wax resist etc.
This topic includes marine plastic debris and how some of these can be used to assist in growing vegetables (trays, containers, rope, washed up discarded nets etc.)
Constructions such as polytunnels are included, as well as equipment such as plant pots, watering cans.
Sketching includes drawing, painting, texture rubbing's, prints etc. and I have decided to include these.
Our sketchbooks include paint swatches, notes, additional learning techniques, thumbnails, still life's, tonal studies, charcoal (Rubbing back techniques).
Tomato
(Natural Pigments - Tumeric, various teas and watercolours + chalk pastels)
Sweet Yellow Pepper
(Natural Pigments - Tumeric, various teas and watercolours + chalk pastels)
(Natural Pigments - Tumeric, various teas and watercolours + chalk pastels)
Mushroom
(Natural Pigments - Tumeric, various teas and watercolours + chalk pastels)
Tomato and Sweet Yellow Pepper
(Natural Pigments - Tumeric, various teas and watercolours + chalk pastels)
Onion
(Natural Pigments - Tumeric, various teas and watercolours + chalk pastels)
Part of the still life arrangement
(Natural Pigments)
Vegetable prints
(Natural Pigments)
Saturday, 5 October 2013
Painting Week 1
New sketchbooks in A3 :)
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We also went back to charcoal to do tonal sketches of cylindrical shapes - I could see a big improvement here :)
As if I might finally be getting the plot :)
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We dived straight into acrylic paint and did a colour wheel mixing our own paint.
We did various studies, mixing our own colours and it was a really fun week.
The range of colours we had to work with in our sketchbook was quite an eye opener when we worked with a primary coour and a secondary colour to prduce a wide range of colours inbetween.
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Our subject matter was man-made flotsam that we had found on the beach, plastic items, rope, netting, shoes, old bottles, shards of plastic items all sorts. I did not get a chance to find these on the beach as we had had a long weekend away to Glasgow to fech my daughter new horse. A few days of many miles with a quick bit of shopping thrown in on a very limited budget and then returning back home miles and miles away. We were on the road for over 11 hours on the return trip with stops for rest and watering horse. Careful driving but a long long trip. Eventually on Sunday night we got finished with settling in the horse after 11pm and exhausted with no time to check the beach for plastic marine litter.
Still a couple of others had not had a chance to collect their own so we looked at what some had brought in and there was ample already in the class to chose from.
We did a tonal painting of a chosen piece of flotsam and I did one of a broken piece of a buoy. I did not get the correct one of the paint but we had a short time limit so I did the best I could considering and although the shape was not great, we could not predraw the outline nor did we have time to correct our efforts so I was quite pleased with the results. The piece of buoy is moved slightly for my photo so thats not exactly what it looked like for the painting, which is which it looks like its not a good copy. Still all things considered - the time limit, mixing our own paint etc it was a great learnign experience.
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We also did a brief copy of a section of a famous painting. I had never heard of several of the famous painters so I added some info on them into my sketch book. Its really nice working with an A3 sketchbook :)
We also went back to charcoal to do tonal sketches of cylindrical shapes - I could see a big improvement here :)
As if I might finally be getting the plot :)
We had a different tutor on the Wednesday and we did more tonal work mixing up shades of purple and then grey.
We had to a paint without outline mostly and had our chosen objects on a plinth and worked on an easel. I was not sure I would manage an easel but tried anyone. There was another student who did paint sitting down but I somehow managed.
We were working with very runny watered down acrylics and the way they separate out into different colours is quite amazing.
The final 3 paintings we did one white thick paper and put on a water wash with a thick brush before using the water acrylic. I left my paintings very light as I liked the result. The surprising separation of the grey paint (watered down) to provide orange was useful for the one object I had chosen.
I really like the way the watered down acrylic responded to the pre-washed (water) paper. It spread out in all directions and separated into its component colours. Very interesting and I loved the effect.
I mostly worked with a cone for shading and a small buoy.
I was quite surprised that I was getting a basic ability to reflect tone but I do find it challenging. My efforts were better though and I really enjoyed this week.
Again we were painting as arms length and holding the tip of the paintbrush.
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