Evaluation

In this unit I found it quite difficult to find an area in my initial drawings and visual research that I wanted to develop further. However, throughout this difficult process I have learnt a lot about myself and the way I work. From previous units it has been clear that I am very comfortable using a monochrome colour palette but this unit I wanted to challenge myself by introducing colour and being able to produce a refined colour palette.

I feel like this challenge was a success and that I incorporated my chosen colours well into my drawings and samples. I would have liked to have challenged myself further by creating samples on a much larger scale, however with little time left at the end of this unit I felt these may have been too time consuming to complete.

Given more time this unit, I would also have loved to have made more use of the Ethos computerised machine program. My induction for this was timetabled quite late on in the term and so only had a couple of weeks to try out different designs for myself. With the machine in high demand, it was quite a challenge booking a slot. However, given the opportunity, I would have liked to experiment with different designs of my own, with different materials that hold dye better than others, and also seeing what effect this has on the final outcome when the design is applied on top. I will keep this in mind for future work.

Despite the difficulties I experienced at the start, and the things I was hoping to do towards the end, I still feel that this unit has been a successful one for me. I have particularly loved combining different 'hand processes' with machine stitch as well as using each separately. Photographed below are a couple of boards displaying some of my final successful samples.

Finalising samples

This week has been about finalising and choosing my 6-8 final samples. After my last tutorial this week I was confident that I knew how to proceed, ass well as knowing the strengths and weaknesses in my sampling i.e. what needed to be developed.

Last week I focused very strongly on producing mainly black and white samples. I now needed to introduce my colour palette. Through looking back in my sketchbook for inspiration I noticed a particular drawing I did using crayons that created a similar effect to the embellisher when using thin yarns. I could also see similarities between these two and the work of Cy Twombly. In this unit my work has shown quite a few similarities to his. I have been very inspired buy the way he works, and the marks he creates. As a new sample idea I combined the type of mark he makes with the similar marks I have made in my drawings. I was very pleased with the outcome of this. After creating these marks I then combined another of my drawing with this; couching geometric window shapes over the top.

thin yarn embellished onto dyed cotton, thick black

 wool couched on top (design from drawings)

'Returning from Tonnicoda'

Regardless of the differing colours, I really like the drawing quality of his work. It was this aspect that was the inspiration to produce the sample above.

Initial Samples

This week I started producing some small samples that incorporate various aspects of my drawings. Again I began by working in black and white. I find that by working in this way I can see more easily what is working well and what isn't.

Looking at the drawings in my sketchbook, I have incorporated tracing paper quite a bit, to replicate the faded quality that I've shown all the way through this unit. When choosing my materials I made sure i did not loose these qualities. The netting and mesh that I chose show the links to my drawings well. I also like that there is a contrast between the translucency of the mesh with the rigidity of it too. The strength in these materials is a quality I really like and will follow through in the rest of my sampling. It shows good connections to my drawings where structure is prominent. The combination of these elements has made my initial samples a success.

Photographed below are a few of my initial black and white samples.

hand stitch

machine stitch

Concept and colour palette refinement

Throughout this unit I have struggled to find an area that I have been confident in developing. Despite making good progress with my work on graffiti and man-made marks, I wanted to incorporate different elements of my earlier work and find a colour palette that works well with this.

This week, I feel like I have finally found the area I want to focus on. Again I looked back through my initial drawings sketchbook where I was immediately drawn back to my work on buildings. I took the advice of my tutor and started working in a larger sketchbook. The large scale drawings were definitely more successful than the smaller ones I had initially done. I started working in black and white again, being careful not to over complicate my colour palette early on. At this point I was still very interested in the colours I had looked at when working looking at graffiti and wanted to possibly bring these into my next drawings.

Starting with black and white copies of my earlier drawings, scanned in and enlarged, as the basis of these drawings made it easier to refine my colour palette. 

black and white building 

colour palette added to the above drawing

scaffolding

Photographed above are two my first drawings, on a larger scale. Drawing in this way brought me out of my comfort zone and got me to think more closely about what I'm drawing, and placement.

As can be seen from the second image above, I have now worked out a distinct colour palette of reds, pinks, orange, and yellow. This came as a slight accident when I was printing some of my own photos off using my personal printer. As the cyan ink cartridge had almost run out, the image printed in mainly these reds and pinks. This reminded me of some of the photos of graffiti I had that I looked at in my earlier work.

The series of drawings to follow, incorporated buildings and other building structures as well as my new, well refined colour palette. The more drawings I was doing, the more I had a sense of how I wanted to develop them into sample later on. I was predominantly focusing on the shapes in the buildings; looking at a more geometric aspect rather than looking at them as a whole. The later drawings in my sketchbook include the reintroduction of the graffiti work I had done earlier. I felt that although some parts of them worked well, they didn't link well enough to the rest of my drawings to make sense developing this idea further.