Assessment Post

After the last assessment for this module I came away having a more concrete idea of what i wanted to work with. I was working towards creating paintings that incorporated both the abstract action painting style for the backgrounds and then had the more illustration like drawings that were based on nature e.g. wildlife and plants, specifically flowers. Though through creating mixed media paintings based on this I found myself changing my idea of how I wanted my paintings to look. This has changed through me wanting to work more with larger scale paintings where I can concentrate more on the processes and the actual making of the piece rather than the final outcome and what I want the focal points of the piece to be. I have been thinking about the reasoning behind my work a lot more and have come to see that my work is a form of escapism to me based on the fact that my drawings and paintings don't really have any harshness to them like the reality and mundane of everyday life such as violence, crimes and with how brutal and savage nature truly is, whereas my works have a softness, childlike and safe theme to them as though I am escaping to a 'happy place' through them.

I have found that during this module and having to produce a sketchbook to record both practical and theoretical work I have succeeded in producing more drawings and paintings than I have just by using canvases and sole pieces of paper/card. I think this is because of the handiness and easiness to take a journal around with you to draw in as and when you feel the need and want to, as well as being to work en plein air where some of my inspiration comes from.

Artists I have been looking at in detail are Cy Twombly, Julie Mehretu, Beatrix Potter, Hannah Dale, Joan Mitchell and Tracy Emin, as well as researching into artists who have created collaborative art such as Andy Warhol and Jean-Michael Basquiat, and Raymond Pettibon and Marcel Dzama.

For the next, Stage/semester in my course I am going to be carrying on using a sketchbook to record drawings, notes and paintings that can then be used for larger scale pieces in the studio, as well as intending to create more craft styled artwork using sewing and collage.