I just couldn't resist...

...one more picture! Taken with my new camera this is a preview of the current direction of the work for degree show

I'm really pleased :) 

The colours make me happy :) 

The textures sing and the forms speak :) 

It's all starting to come together - yay!

Not Long Now...

....it really isn't!? With Easter break only a week away, time is a ticking.... 

I'm excited about these next few months though, and feel very honoured to be working alongside such talented people. It has been so great watching the skill level shoot sky high in recent months and there is such a buzz of activity in the studio, it's great going in everyday :) In terms of my own work, I don't want to disclose too much on here before the finish now, as there is still a level of mystique required before seeing the end product(s)! There has been a lot of talk this week regards degree show set up and about how we might be wanting to display our work. Having the showcase just recently has been great for that, looking at how and what people have been putting on show. 

My work for the show was this: 

There was a breakage in the right hand vessel before putting it up, and in a way, I actually quite like it! Learning to embrace the 'happy accidents' is half the fun of the creative journey... 

On that topic, the work of late has taken a bit of a turn...frustrated by the nature of the objects becoming 'just vessels' (due to the nature of their slip-cast process), I cut the bases off and started re-addressing their purpose, or non-purpose as it were: 

Altering them in this way began offering up new opportunities:

and with the successes of some recent glaze testing:

and considerations over where the process stops and the product/object begins:

there has been plenty of scope for a range of new objects:

Thinking about it, I might just leave that one there - as a final image before the completed collection...! There's lots to be getting on with in the meantime; business cards and a website to design, the more finalized pieces of the collection to make, glazing to do, pictures to take (with my new DSLR - well I had to treat myself to something after 8000 words didn't I!?) more drawing to do, paperwork to get in order... etc etc etc etc etc etc....

Here's to the next few months - what will be going up in my space....?

Pretty Dandy Flea

I helped out at the Pretty Dandy Flea today. It stayed busy from the off with lots of quality vintage, design and food stalls, great music too and a really good atmosphere for shopping and browsing.

In between voluntary duties I had some time to do some drawings. I was going to try and get the whole space in but as I was looking I realised that it was the people moving around the space that made it what it was so I drew them instead. With my new range of coloured pens, I had quite and energetic response and feel that these could work well in an animated format:

Day Six: Pattern Repeat & Colourful Cutar

It's the penultimate day :( Having spent the week visiting lots of locations 'off site' we spent the day in the village. This was great actually as it was the perfect time to have a day of reflection. Not only on the trip to Spain, but a reflection on the whole summer and time to consider what might be taken on into the new term and year ahead.

Having spent time in Cutar on two occassions now I had a real urge to draw the whole landscape of the village. On the first night we took a paseo and I was totally struck by the view from the top by the bus stop.

This was to be my chosen location for the day. 

So, after an early rise to catch the sun:

it was a day spent connecting with the village through line....

To start off however, we all had a repeat pattern workshop on the terrace

Collecting florals from the surroundings 

Then cutting them up to help start the repeat:

Positioning the flats on reverse of one another 

then filling in the gaps with more drawing:

Slicing the image again to create the full repeat

Then drop this into photoshop and tile up - It's quite tropical!

I then took myself to the top of the village

And began with some continuous line drawings:

It is interesting how the second drawing has become much tighter than the first 

- I must have been observing better!

I then went on to draw the same landscape again, but this time used colour! 

I'm quite pleased with the outcome here. It just goes to show that perseverence and practice is key to a better drawing!

Tutorial that evening brought a really nice close to the week's work. Both comparing our drawings from day 1 to those of day 6 we could all map our journey and progression of thought through the week. The key take away was that drawing (in terms of design) is a process not a product...so drawing from drawings is a must for developing ideas! I think that's been rattling around up there but having some time and ability to gain perspective on things this has really stuck. I'm going to take this into my work this coming year and really work from my work. It's all there, you just have to tweak it out, through looking, analyzing and recreating to transform again...I'm really excited!!!!

Day Five: Sugar Factory/Rum Distillery - a window to its soul

The old sugar factory/rum distillery...this informed some of my work last year and it is a very special place to be and draw. The life that this location use to have, lost to time and ruin. By sitting and looking, thinking and watching, scribing this place to a page, it's a very magical experience. 

I spent a while walking around the grounds before finding my spot to sit and draw. I chose this specific view as it seemed to hold everything I had been exploring on this trip so far: colour, surface, texture, windows, layers, framing and moment. By taking what was into what is I have given energy back to this static standing mass of brick and bone. I like that this image looks magestic, cathedral like in its stance. The colour too is so vidid and alive.

Exploring further patterns that can be found in the makeup of the building I kept coming back to all of its many windows... Could this be something to explore in my work this coming year...?

The setting of the factory is quite fantastic, how its architectural mass sits against the undulating hills, the composition was just crying to be interpreted in my sketchbook...

During the tutorial we talked about the reinterpretation of drawings through collage and other media. 

Drawing is an act of transformation, so transform it again through additional drawing!  

Day Four: Malaga

Today we went Malaga. There were some great exhibitions on and it was a good day for photographs and drawing.

The Alcazabar was my favourite location of the day last time and it didn't disappoint on a second visit! It is a most beautiful place - I love all that moorish styling and with a new found mode of 'useful drawing' I had a great day!

Here are my 'surface patterns' from the day:

And a more painterly psychedelic study:

There was an exhibition by Subodh Gupta: The Imaginary Order of things at the Contemporary Art Gallery which was excellent. My favourite pieces from the show ticked the texture box that I have been collecting:

The window holes invited you into another world: 

There were other sculptures playing with mirrors/concealment:

The 'combine' sculptures were my most favourite:

Along with the simplistic vessel forms:

The composition

And the layering

I mean look at it - wow!

That's some more details to add to my list then...hanging, fixing, rope and thread

We discussed relief painting in ceramics during the tutorial and ideas behind installation. I think this is the area I want to explore with my work. Although I would like to try lots of other materials, I can save some of that for later. Having enjoyed working with ceramics over the past few years I would like to challenge my current uses of it and perhaps incorporate more drawing... a good day though, on lots of levels, it's off to the sugar factory tomorrow - yippee!