The world i live in.

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To start off my sketch book I did a mind map of what I had in mind for my sketch book of thing I want to include and different ideas. I used a old photo of me from my year 6 prom and instead of sticking them down I used two badges from things that I really like ( Avenged Sevenfold and Captain America). I then used old labels of thing that I also like to make a collage. my first Idea was to collage the background with these labels and do my mind map on tracing paper and put it over the op of the collage, however I really liked the way the collage looked so I chose against that option and went with what I've got.

 

I then decided to do family as my first topic as they are the world I live in. I started by doing a collage of m family and a drawing of m granddad with the caption 'the legend' because in our family he was a legend to us. I then decided to do both sides of my family crest to make one crest. the left side is the Quinn crest (my mums side) and the right side is the Houseman crest (my dads side). I used a black biro pen to do this as I wanted it to have an illustrated effect to it just like the badges that I copied from. I used corrugated card to cut out a knights helmet from to annotate on, as well as writing out the lyrics to the 'might Quinn' song.

 

 

the next part of my family I did was my dogs Lilo ad Stitch, I chose to do them as they are part of my family, for this page I used crayons to draw lilo as I think that crayons give a really great grainy effect which I think works really great for fur. I then used black paper to draw the actual cartoon version of Lilo and Stitch which I copied from the DVD case.

 

I then did a timed quick sketched of my house from the prospective of me sitting on my drive. for this I used a variety of pencils and I like the rushed sketched way it looks. I used black card to cut out the number 29 to annotate on as that is the number of my house. I then used acrylic paint to paint my mum and dad from a picture where they're stood next to the liberty torch. I used the paint really thickly to make it an impasto type of paining. I really like using the impasto method as it looks messy but really creative and unique. I think that it makes a normal picture look really abstract and I like that about it.

 next was my rooms as this is where I spend most of my time. I have two rooms one of which is my bedroom which is very marvel and comic themed with pale walls and new York wall paper but is decorated with comic canvases and colours. the second room is my 'Evil Lair' which is the spare room where I paint on the walls which at the moment is movie themed as I really love movies,. for these two I used water colours to sketch them, I didn't want to paint them fully so I decided to sketch them with the paint brush. I like the way that the sketched paint looks as you can still see the brush strokes in it, I also like that you don't have to do all the detail and that the little lines and dots surface for the detail.

 

 

I then did my friends for the next topic because they can a lot to me and we have great times together.

I used masking tape to do the background and used rolled up masking tape to stick them on so that the pictures are at different levels. I then used charcoal to draw on of the pictures of me and my friends. I like using charcoal because I am a huge fan of the horror genre and I like the eeriness it gives when you smudge it. I also used cinema tickets to stick my pictures down on as going to the cinema is one of our favourite hobbies. I used black paper and a white pencil to draw my two friends and I from when we went to a concert. I like the black and white effect. I like that you can use highlights really well and make them really intense.

 

I printed off a picture of me and dad twice, once in black and white and one in colour. I then cut them the same and reassembles the picture in different fragment, I then used the rest of the fragments around the original picture to give it more of a busy look and also to make it more unique.

I then decided that I wanted my brother more included in it, so I did a montage of him using is face from different photos that I have chosen, I did the faces over lapping using water colours as I like the way they look when there overlapping, as you can still see the pictures underneath but there emerged into one. I like that it doesn't matter where you look on the page there is always a feature of him on it. I found it quite hard to find the natural skin colour but I  am pleased with the end result.

 

The next piece I did was of me and my best friend but I decided to do it in 2 different coloured strings: green and pink. I used a glue pen and cotton to stick down the string, I found it quite difficult as it was really time consuming and fiddly. however I think that it looks really effective and abstract.

I decided to do prom as part of my world as prom is something you get to do once in your life properly and I really enjoyed mine. I started by doing a time based sketch of my and my friend before from, I find it a challenge to time restricted thing as I didn't give my self enough time to do the detail just the out line. I then used acrylic paint to do drips from the top of the page in the colours of my prom dress, I used a silver metallic pen to draw my self at prom I only did an out line as I didn't want to cover up much of the colour. I used fabric and old magazines clippings to create my prom title and I used my actual prom ticket. I also used the same silver pen to draw little illustrations around the photos to add a little humour to the page.

I did Shaws fish shop as a page as Its my first job. I used my craft knife to cut the logo out of the page being carful as the knife was sharp and I made sure to use a cutting mat to protect what was underneath. I then painted the background in water colours using a variation of blues green and yellow. I put a piece of paper underneath to stop the paint going through the fish I had cut out. I realised that it printed the fish and the other side and I liked it so I used it in my collage as well as an envelope from my wage slip, along with business card sand the plastic forks we use. 

 Halloween,  I decided to use Halloween as part of my sketch book as it is one of my favourite holidays, I find it really great as it is a time to express yourself and also I like to do special effect make up and Halloween gives me a chance to do so. Horror is also my favourite genre and Halloween is the king of horror!. I started by using soft pastels to draw my mum dressed up as the mad hatter however when I finished it I didn't really like it so I decided to work back into it with coloured pencils to make it mire brighter and give it more dimension.

 I then used black paint on a dry brush and rubbed it on the page to give it a scarce effect.  then painted my hand red and put 'bloody' hand prints on the page. I also did it on the other page except for this on I dragged them down to give it a Halloween scary effect. I then stuck the pictures down in the same way as my friends using rolled up masking tape to create different levels. on the other page I used coloured pencils to paint over the bloody hand. I decided to do my mum again but this time in zombie make p. I used a cross hatching technique as I like the rough uneven look it give which I think is perfect foe Halloween.

 

 

 NEW YORK! I decided to do new York as I went for my 16th birthday and loved it, I would defiantly go back again and would defiantly call it one of my favourite places. I started by cutting my page into a flag and then used acrylic paints to paint it in impasto style, I then decided that I wanted it to be more abstract so I added splatters of the paint and some silver sparkly paint. I then used my favourite photo (me and iron man) and put it on corrugated card. I used a piece of paper in the shape of a heart and put it where I wanted it. I then used iron man colours: red, yellow and silver to splatter it around the page so that when I removed the heart it was clear. I really like the splattered effect as I think that it looks really abstract and modern.

 

I painted the new York skyline from one of my pictures in water colours to create a background to stick my new York pictures on to. I then created a collage of black and white paper, a bag that I got from liberty island and a dollar note. I then wrote over it in fine liner, a quote from a key ring I bought from liberty island. I like the look that it has because its really busy and I think that it gives it a really unique and creative effect. I then used a 6B pencil to draw lady liberty from one of my photos , I deliberately did the outline darker than the actually shading as I wanted to stress that she's a object and not a actual human face.

 

 

I used a leaflet that I got from liberty island to stick in my book, I stuck it in so that when you open it, it opens to a big lady liberty that I painted in acrylic paint, copied from a magnet that I bought on liberty island. I like how you can see the writing through the acrylic as it looks more creative than it actually is as the writing make it look a lot busier.

 

  I then chose to do Mexico as it was one of my favourite holidays as a family and I had a really great time. I used black paper to draw my bother having a pig back. used white pencil but didn't add the faces as I wanted it to be a simple outline, I then used the white page in the book to mount it and use it was a boarder.

 I then drew me next to a pirate Skelton using coloured pencils. I used the pencil soft so that the colours weren't too dark as I wanted it to be soft and light.

I then did Crete another family holiday that I enjoyed, and I have to Crete a couple of times. for this I did a continuas line drawing, however I couldn't finish it and had to stop as my pen left the page. I could have continued but I wanted to stop as I felt if I carried on it wouldn't be a continuas line drawing s my pen left the page.

 I then did Stephen King as he is my favourite author as I really m a fan of horror and I fell like his book give and essence of horror that you cant get in films as his adds his own eeriness to it.

for this page I didn't want to rip out any off the book as I couldn't read them again if I did that d I didn't want to photocopy it as I wanted it to be the original paper, so I used the first few pages of the book that are about the author and other books he's wrote. that way its authentic and its about the subject I am doing. I stuck these pages down and wrote his name over them. I them copied the covers of, The Shining and 'Salems Lot, I used a fine liners and water to make it look rough and drippy to make it look dark and add a horror effect to it. I love using fine liner as I think it adds a really eerie effect and makes it look really simple but detailed at the same time. I especially like it when the ink bleeds and dries at different concentrations making the watered down ink different shades.

 As part of the world I live in I decided to do the news as well as it is world news. the main ones I chose to look at was gay marriage getting legalized in USA and Scotland wanting to leave. I chose these as I don't discriminate and I believe that everyone should be treated fairly so I was very pleased when gay marriage was legalized. I chose to do Scotland because this effects us as if Scotland left and became independent then we would lose the blue in our Union Jack. to represent this I used two pieces of tracing paper and a pencil to make a flag. I did the union jack on the top one with the blue watercolours dripping off it, to represent what would happen, and then underneath I did St Georges flag as this is what we would have had to use.

  I then decided to move on to artist research for this I visited the Cooper gallery, the made in Yorkshire exhibition, which is an exhibition featuring all the famous people that have links to Yorkshire. it was really interesting as a lot of the people I didn't even know was from Yorkshire or had connections to it.

Jennifer Robertson & Lynne Fletcher: these are the 2 photographers from the Yorkshire made me exhibition. Robertson is a well known photographer and has many famous photos including the IRA bombings and the arrest of doctor Harold Simpson, the serial killer. They were all in black and white except one which I really liked a it made the celebrities look elegant and really stand out on the cream boarders they were surrounded with.

Lisa Stubbs was also in the Cooper gallery but wasn't park of the Yorkshire mad me exhibition. I walked past them and they really caught my eye as the are colourful but also have a childish look to them like illustrations but they have really deep meaningful meanings behind them which is what I like about them, its almost like a child's seriousness. I used coloured pencils to create on of them. I chose coloured pencils as it is the closest media I had to do a illustrrated type of piece.

 

James Brunt: was also in the Cooper gallery, we once had a talk with James Brunt in collage when h came to talk to us he showed us some of his work, the same work that is in the cooper. I like James Brunt because he uses nature to do his pieces. he creates pictures using nature so that there not there for long as the element destroy it like wind and rain or even people. I like his way of thinking, the idea that someone can stumble apon it and then come back and it be gone, it intrigues me.

 I then did Matisse using photos from an  old exhibition that we went to at the Civic I really like how he uses odd shaped paper to make the human body. it fascinates me as it is almost surreal as the shapes used are clearly not what we look like yet you can still tell that they are people. I like the colours he uses as the black stand out on the bright backgrounds but all of the other colours stand out because of the black and the bright background I think that they all compliment each other really well.
Jerry N. Uelsman: is a photographer, I found his work when I first read 'Salem Lot by Stephen King when I saw this picture of the 'Marsden house' in the book, it rally grabbed my attention as it is abnormal as well as paranormal, it also look abstract as you wouldn't normally find roots growing out of the bottom of a house. this photo brings out my inner horror, thriller fan girl as i feel like it should be a real house an di makes me believe that it is real.

  For all my primary artist research I used different coloured paper and cut them into diamonds to make the background to make it a bit more interesting.

 

I then decided to do Orlando as it was a great holiday and one I will remember for a long time as Disney was so magical. I used old maps from the theme parks to make the back ground and for collages. I then used acrylic paint to copy the universal studies logo off on off the map. I like the effect it give because the map underneath is really ripped and crumbled adding a great effect when painted on. I used less paint for the back ground so that the paint would just hit the high point off the map making it look like bleeding effect.

 

 I then decided to use water colours for Cinderella's castle in Disney as it was defiantly a high point of the holiday as it is every kids dream to see the real princes castle. I copied it off a Disney parks themed bag. I used water colours to make it look illustrated, I chose to do it like this because Disney was originally books and a lot of people knew the book before the films so I wanted to make it look classic in a away. I used glitter and rind stones to create the fireworks so that it looked extra sparkly.

 

 I then made a collage using maps, pin wrappers, photos, tickets, recites, and composed them in the way that I wanted to make a collage based on the magical world of Orlando.

I then ended my sketch book by printing off a picture from Orlando and cutting in up in a pattern that I wanted and reassembling it but leaving gaps to add an illusion effect.

 

 

Colour making: we then did a workshop of how to make our own colours.

 we started by using 5og of binder and a little bit of pure colour. we had to wear aprons and gloves as if we got the pure colour on our selves it wouldn't come off our clothes and takes a while to come off in, we were then given a colour to make, mine was the colour in the picture (middle one). For mine I used the pure colours: Violet 2BTI, Blue B and Green B to get my colour. this was the second time I had done it as the first time I struggles to get the intended colour. however the second time I found it much easier and was able to do it quicker.

 

 

 

 we then had a fine art session. we had to empty the contents of our bags and draw it using a 2B/4B and 6B pencil using the cross hatching method. we had to use the different pencils to make different tones in the picture. I didn't really like doing this as it didn't look neat, which I would have liked it to.

 

I then started my artist research, the first artist I looked at was Mark Powell. I like Powell as he draws people using a black bic biro on different pieces of paper I think that it looks really effective as the biro adds the nessacary detail for the face but the paper also adds extra background detail and they both work really well together. My favourite one is the man on an old Scottish soldiers envelope, this is because it has history to it, as  it is from the army and during that time period it was the world that someone lived in. I chose to do Powell as he draws people which is identity and in this world identity makes you, you. For my critical studies I used water colours to get the desired background colour and then used a black biro to draw the people, I am pleased with the final outcome and i think that it looks really effective, I like using biro to draw as I think it adds a nice texture and a rough but detailed drawing.

 

The second artist I chose was Marion Bolognesi. I chose to do Bolognesi because she explores identity which just like Powell is something that we all have that is individual to us and with out it we could not be our own person. Bolognesi uses watercolours to achieve her images. I find that her work really interests me as she only paints the facial features which is what makes up your identity and I feel as though she is trying to say a lot through this: that you face is your identity and your only. I also  really like how she leaves either a facial feature off or the shape of the face, this really interests me as it is almost mysterious as it makes you wonder what the missing facial feature would look like or what the shape of her head is. I used watercolours for my critical studies and I am really pleased with the outcome. I think that colours she uses are great as she uses a lot of cold colours and only a few warm colours, however the warm colours have a darkness in them ass the cold colours turn them dark, I think this is really effective.

http://www.marion-b.com/index.php?/paintings/sneak-peek/

I then did Banksy, who started the stencil revolution. Banksy uses stencils and graffiti paint to paint propaganda all around the country voicing his opinions and making statements. Banksy choses to remain anonymous and I think that this is what makes Banksy, Banksy. The fact that no one knows who he is, is what keeps people interested and keeps people wanting more. It is a really effective way of making a point as he using big bold colours such as back and red so that they are not easily missed and stand out. I really like Banksy as his painting have a lot of meaning behind them but are also great pieces of art as well. I Chose to do Banksy as part of the world I live in because Banksy brining to life what is happening in the world through graffiti and I find that it is a very effective way of voicing his opinions. For my critical studies I used a variation of black fine liner and black and red acrylic paint as I want bold block colours. I used these medias as I feel that these are the ones that could be used to substitute for graffiti paint as I didn't have it and get the same effect. If I had to change one thing I would have changed the size of the lettering on the Apes sign as I think that they are too big.

 

 I Then decided to do another Banksy artist research but based on soldiers, as this is what I wanted my final piece to be based on. Banksy has done a lot of propaganda revolving around soldiers so I thought he was a good artist to do. he work really speaks volumes and makes valid points. I used acrylic paint for this one to achieve a block colour as well as using drawing ink and a fountain pen for the one in the middle, I think it makes a great effect and allows you to get the little details.

 

I then did Salvador Dali. I chose one of his water colour paintings 'The first day of spring' and one of his sketches. I chose Dali to represent the world I live in because he took multiple images from in front of him and the world around him to make one water coloured painting. I think it looks really effective as each part of the picture tells a different story. I used watercolours for my critical study, I found I quite difficult to find the exact colours but I am pleased with the end result. For the sketch I used watercolours to get the same shade background as the one that Dali had and used a 5B pencil to sketch and shade the drawing. I am also pleased with that outcome however I think that it could have been smaller.

The final artist research I decided to do was Chris Kuchta who is a Horror artist and illustrator. I chose to do Kuchta as part of the world I live in as Horror is a really big part of my likes as well as my personality. I really like his classical horror images, classic horror is the best horror and in Kuchta work you can really see the classic art come through in his work with the abstract colours. I used acrylic paint to achieve my critical studies and I am really pleased with how they turned out. I chose to do Frankenstein and Freddie as they are really well known as well as some of the greatest classical films ever. http://www.horrorartist.com/
I also looked at Kuchta's blog as it is really interesting and has a lot of helpful tips on how to do stuff in the art world, such as sketching and painting pointers. http://www.horrorartist.com/blog/

 Print making workshop: In this work shop we did lino print making. we started by drawing out different designs that we could possibly put onto our lino sticking with the theme of the world I live in. I chose to do a portrait of my self in my stitch hat a t Disney world, for the back ground pattern I chose to do a flowery design from the Henna tattoo that I had done on my arm. I then drew directly on to the lino and started scraping off the top layer with the tool, I used the number 1 and 2 tools. I struggles at first as I later learned that I was pressing to hard but once I got used to it its started working fine. we then used block/lino printing ink and a roller to roll out the ink on to a sheet of plastic. then we rolled the ink on to our lino and put it into the press making sure to put the paper and the blankets on top so it doesn't damage the press or your lino. I was pleased with the final outcomes as it was my first time and I was also pleased with the colours that  I had made as I used the inks to create different gradients and I think that they look really effective.

 

For my mood board I used a up to date newspaper and magazines that I am interested in, to create a collaged mood board. I used various different things including: hazardous crime scene toilet paper, comic toilet paper, cards, magazines, newspaper, receipts. one I had found all of my images I ripped them in stead of cutting them as I wanted it to look rough and represent me as it was a mood board about the world I live in, and I m not a tidy person. I then composed them in the places I wanted them to go. I was pleased with the final outcome as it mostly contained movies, Marvel and music which is the world I live in.

 

For my second mood board I took different images from the collage I did and drew it out in different shapes and sizes on my stretched paper, I mostly drew what I found most represented me so Movies, Marvel and my favourite bands. I used a vary of different medias such as: watercolours, acrylic paint, coloured pencils, oil pastels and pencils. I think that the final outcome could have been better and I think some of the images were too small and didn't fit in right with the larger parts of the mood board.

 

 I then decided to do another mood board based on the world we live in as a whole, so I chose 2 subjects that were important and represented us as British people. I chose to do that union Jack and soldiers. I chose to do these as the union Jack is our countries flag and is what represents Britain and I chose to do soldiers as there is wars happening all around the world and our troops are out fighting for us the British public. I thought these were 2 very interesting and hard hitting subjects which is why I chose to do them and also because I am British and I feel that being British is being proud and patriotic, supporting those who fought and still fight for us. . I started my getting secondary research off the internet based on the two subjects and then made a collage out of all of them, using different shapes and sizes as well as using quotes.

 

 

  Today we had the ceramics work shop, I found it really interesting and lots of fun to do. as we were sticking with the theme of our world we had to  make a 3D model of us, that represented us. we started by rolling our clay out using sticks and a rolling pin. we put the sticks at either side of the clay and rolled so that all the clay was an equal thickness, so that it doesn't have different drying times. we then used the rule of thumb on a person in the class to get measurements. we decided 6 and a half time of the measurement we got and we then drew it on to our clay. once we had done that we sat our model down and started to build around it what we wanted as well as building the figure up. I chose to do mine sat down with my legs cross holding jack skeletons head in my hand. I chose to do this because I am a Tim Burton fan but also a horror fan and the skull represents horror . I found doing ceramics really challenging but also really fun at the same time . I though it was a great experience and I would defiantly do it again.

 

From my soldier mood board, I made a soldier design sheet. I started my using watercolour paints to get the general colours. I started by drawing to soldier and poppies in biro pen, I used the pen to draw and shade the soldiers and poppies. I also used the same technique to do  the union Jack the background. I really liked the effect that the pen gave however I think that I did too much shading as I think it looks a little too busy. I used scribbles to do the camouflage print and I think it gives it a great effect as its is not that detailed pattern but it suffices for the pattern. I used the quote ' If you do not stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them'. I used this quote as it is really meaningful in an aggressive way but it helps to get the point across.

 

For my other design sheets I used a 2B and a 4B pencil to draw a lion to represent 3 lions which is England I also did 2 union jacks but shaded them really roughly to add effect and I did the red park darker than the blue part to add definition and make sure that people know they are 2 different colours. I then did a little bit of the silhouette from the help the heroes logo and wrote the word 'HEREOS' in the same font as the help the heroes logo. I did this because this is what they are and I wanted the word to stand out so for that I used a 6B pencil to make it darker. I then added poppies and Yorkshire roses because the poppies are for the heroes and the roses are for me as I live in Yorkshire. I really like using pencil and I hadn't done a sheet with just pencil in a long while so I was really glad to do one and I really enjoyed doing it, I think that it shows my point really well once again I used the quote 'if you do not stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them'.

 

For my final design sheet I used red and blue water colours to just splash and scribble on the paper to make a background, I did these colours to represent the union jack. I then used acrylic paints to paint a soldier morning his loss sat in a bed of poppies. I used acrylics to make it stand out but to also make it look abstract. instead of making the colours I blended them on the paper to make a easy transaction into the next colour making it a nice gradient. I then used acrylic paint to paint Lord Kitchener and his famous war propaganda poster ' we need you'. I did his in negative only using black white, and blending them to make grey. For the back ground I used watercolours to paint different segments of the union jack, I used water colours because I didn't want the background to be so bold that it took it away from the main pictures so I felt that the watercolours were a good choice.

 

Today I went to the Yorkshire sculpture park to see the 'Wave' which is park of the installation from the tower of London called ' blood swept lands and seas of red' used to the 100 year anniversary of the war. The poppies were ceramic and it was created by the artists Paul Cummings and Tom Piper. The Tower of London installation consisted of 888,246 ceramic poppies and people who volunteered for fallen soldiers planted them including living soldiers and family members. not al of the poppies just the wave that started the poppies at London was at the sculpture park. it is really terrific to see and I wish I had gone to London to se them as the wave alone was outstanding. It is really heart warming to think that 888,246 people volunteered to plant a ceramic rose for our fallen soldiers and I think that I was a great idea to represent 100 years. My auntie bought one of the poppies and the money goes to charity.  Close up the poppies aren't really anything spectacular but the idea of the poppies are a really powerful significant symbol that means so much and represent a really important cultural thing. and the these poppies put together are really powerful as one poppy is one fallen soldier so together it is a really heart wrenching powerful scene which is significant in so many ways. 

 

I then went to the top of Dodworth where I live to take some pictures of the cenotaph that I pass nearly every single day. It amazes me how something so simple can be so powerful, the cenotaph

 just for Dodworth is dedicated just for the brave men who lost their lives who were from Dodworth.

 and is really great as lots of people know people who are on the cenotaph including my nanan, and I think that they are great way for people to remember love ones but also show the rest of the public that they were a hero and it shows the impact that they made. People put ring of poppies on them to show resect and every year on the anniversary scouts and loved ones or even jus the public pay there respects by buying poppies and putting them on to remember them.  The words on the bottom of it are really powerful and for a lot of people it would hit close to home as they have loved one son it. 'TO THE GLORIOUS MEMORY OF ALL THOSE MEN OF DODWORTH WHO GAVE  THERE LIVES FOR US IN THE WAR OF 1939-45'.

 

 

For my design development I did 3 boxes 1 portrait and 2 landscape, all containing the same design just in different formats. the portrait on was the original design of a grieving soldier mourning a lost brother in arms sat on a bed off poppies. I felt it was nessacary to include the poppies as they are a symbol of remembrance for our troops. the second design was the same design but in landscape format but I feel like there was too much negative space and that the design wasn't big enough for the A2 board I want it to go on. so for the 2nd landscape design I did the same design repeated but the soldier gradually getting bigger, I think that it looks effective but I also think that it looks too busy. I used watercolour pencils for my design development sheet and I really like using them. I think that they are really effective and give a really lovely painted watery effect.

 

 

 For my samples I started by using 3 A5 stretched pieces of paper and using 3 different medias: Acrylic paint, Gouache paint and water colours. out of the stretched paper samples I liked the Gouache one the best as I feel it has better texture and blends together nicely as it doesn't have a smooth gradient due to the compact place it is being put in, due to this rough gradient I think it gives a better effect. I then used 3 A5 MDF boards to sample to same medias however when it came to do the water colours I had to emulation the board first as the water colours weren't drying and didn't settle on the board. I liked both the acrylic and the gouache paint on the MDF boards however I didn't like the water colours as it was too light and not enough detail. I think the gouache one is the best as it is rougher and brighter but I also like the acrylic one as it has a really nice smooth gradient in to all the colours which blend really well together.  I them stretched 3 A5 canvases from scratch using the same medias and the same design, what I noticed from using canvas was that you need a lot of paint to get and even coverage and I found it quite difficult using watercolours on the canvass as they didn't blend very well and they were quite opaque.

 In conclusion I decided that I would use the MDF board using gouache as I feel it has the better finish as the paint blends perfectly on it and it stands out brightly on the board.

 

I then started my final piece using Gouache on my A2 MDF boar. I was really pleased with the out comes and the effect it gave. I was particularly happy with the background because of all the different shades in stead of a block colour and I think that it gave a really great clouded effect. I am happy with the overall brightness of the final piece as I wanted it to be really bright and bod to grab peoples attention. if I was to do it again however I think I would have made the soldier a bit bigger to make him stand out more.

 

 

 For additional work I decided to do some cutting work as I had a union jack background unused. For this I used my craft knife , carful as It was sharp. I decided to do a lion on the background as one thing that represents Britain is 3 lions, so I thought I would do a lion. I was really pleased with the out come as it doesn't look too busy because of the background and it was a really great effect when you hold it up to the window and let the sun shine through it. I really enjoyed doing the cutting method, and I think it has great outcomes. so I think I will be doing more of this in the future.

Because I liked doing the lion so much I decided to do another one. I used red, white and blue gouache paints to create an abstract messy background, as these are the colours of the union jack. I then drew out the soldier I was  going to cut out. however when it actually came to cutting it, I found that it was easier to just free hand it, so I rubbed out the drawing and just continued to free hand it. I think that the final outcome was great and again looks effective it you hold it up to the sun. however this  is going to be mounted and when you mount it, the gaps where it was cut correspond too much with the background and you can t really tell that anything is even cut out of the paper. however if you turn the page over to the plain side you can see the soldier and I think that it look just as effective on the plain side as it does on the background.

 

 For our fine art workshop we did a gridding method which is where you grid up a picture that we had printed out and then did the same on our paper just on a bigger scale. I chose to do a picture from my time in universal studios . however if I was to do it again I would have chosen one with out people in it. we then had to draw out the picture using each grid and use any media we wanted, I chose watercolours. I was really disappointed with the outcome as I really don't like it, I feel as though I could have done a much better

 

  on remembrance Sunday I ent to my village (Dodworth) to celebrate the remembrance and to watch the service of the marching band and the releasing of the does, it was really sweet moment  and its really touching to see people from Dodworth bring their families weather old or young to celebrate the lives of the men that fought for us.

 

 

 

 

The World I live in.

Evaluation.

During the duration of this project I think that I have managed my time effectively, as over the summer I managed to complete my primary research sketch book to a standard that I was happy with. If I was to do it again however I think that I would allow myself more time to do my sketch book as I only gave myself a limited amount of time before it had to be due in. I also managed to use my time to the best possible way as I did target setting which I wrote out and put in my primary research sketch book.  Even though I am happy with the standard I feel as though it could have been better if I allowed myself more time.

For the world I live in I started with the theme of my family in my sketch book as well as the things I like and places to go, however when I finished my primary research and started to do why secondary research I realized that there is a bigger picture. I started to look at war and the soldiers, as well as the union Jack, after doing a secondary mood board based on this stuff I chose and selected to do soldiers of the modern day and the Union Jack. I chose to do this as it is our history and people fought in the wars to get us to where we are today, I also chose to do the union Jack as if the soldier hadn’t fought and we hadn’t won the war than we wouldn’t be British. I think that it is important to know our heritage and support those who helped us to get us here, as well as being proud to be British.

For my primary research I used all the things that I had collected to do with the topic I was doing. Things such as: bags, logos, wrappers, receipts, books, maps, pamphlets, as well as photos I have taken. I thing that using your own real life stuff, it helps to make you work look more effective and more authentic when collaging with them and using them to paint over, I think that it makes it look really creative. For my secondary research it mainly used the internet to gathering images and quotes that many people know as they are iconic. Things such as the world war propaganda poster of General Kitchener ‘Briton needs you’, ‘Who dares wins’-SAS as well as symbolic flowers such as the poppy and the Yorkshire rose. My research expanded throughout the whole of the project and developed as I used my own knowledge as well as the knowledge of my peers and then I used the internet and some books as research too.

For my designs I decided to stick with the soldiers and the union Jack from my mood board, as even though there were many other substantial things on it I feel as though these two have the biggest meaning. I also only choose 2 main elements as I didn’t want it to be too overcrowded and too complicated, I wanted a simple hard hitting design. I fell that the elements I chose were a good choice as due to everything that is happening in the world at the moment I feel that now it the time to be patriotic and now is the time to support our troops.

I like to think that the media had a lot of influence in my design as there is a lot of war and fighting happening at the moment and I think that we need to realize what our troops do to help us be proud of Britain. During my design planning I didn’t really find any constraints as I had the idea from my mood board straight away and I knew what I wanted to do. So I found very little limitations in my work.

For my experimentation I used the medias: Gouache, acrylic and watercolours, on 3 different surfaces: MDF, canvas and paper. During this experimentation process I found that the gouache on MDF worked best as the acrylic was to dark and the watercolour didn’t stick to the board, so to solve this I used emulsion to paint it first but still found the colour to be still too opaque. The canvases were great and all the media were bright on the canvases and had great effected, however I fell like you needed more paint to get the full effect on the canvas and it was harder to work the paints together on the canvas to get an even gradient than it was on the MDF. I think that that the outcomes on the paper also looked great but they didn’t have the same creative effect as the other surfaces. In conclusion I think that I made to right choice with the gouache on MDF board.

I used various artists in my artist research, artist such as: Marion Bolognesi, Mark Powell, Banksy and Chris Kuchta. As much as I liked their work and found it really great and inspiring to look at, I found it more interesting it know the meaning behind it. I think that is what inspired me from these artists… the meaning behind it all. Even though the work it’s self from these artists didn’t inspire me I think that I chose these artist as all their work has meaning, and that is what I wanted my piece to have. Banksy was the best one to represent this as he takes the world as it is and shows the public how it is and without sugar coating it like the media does.

Throughout the project I used various processes the main one being the process of stretching the canvases for my experimentation. I find this process to be very useful and enjoyable, it also learns you for the future. Another process I did during this year was lino print making, it was the first time I had ever done it and I found it really enjoyable and effective. I used my blog to the best that I could, I constantly updated it and made sure to contain everything I had done with both pictures and annotations.

I am happy with the standard of my work and the time I did it is, however if I was to do It again I would have made my soldier on my final piece a little bit bigger. But other than that I am really happy with the work I have produced and I think that I have done the best I could possibly do.