Mon 04.03.2013

Beginning of Part 3
While trying to clarify my ideas and my direction ready to discuss during my first tutorial tomorrow I decided that it would be useful to recap my assessment feedback and my learning from Part 2.

Feedback from Part 2 Assessment

• Have listened to advice well and improved focus / working process
• Work is well presented and shows development
• Prints are strong - sense of layering & 'pushing' the designs - good use of digital print design
• Effective design process with mixed media experimentation

What I have learnt 

• Observational drawing 
• Research
•  Time managment

Reflection on Part 2 - Working Practice
From completing my work during Part 2 of the course I have learnt a lot of things and a few I feel will be key as I progress into Part 3 and undertake my Final Project. During one of my later Part 2 tutorials, Claire told me that my project could do with more observational drawing - I took on board this advice and created two worksheets of drawing from trees and natural forms which I found in the Woodlane Gardens. This process made me realise how useful to my work observational drawing can be and how spending more time on a fairly accurate study is of equal / more value than the quick sketches and design ideas which I had previously been taking from what I saw around me. This attitude also struck me after the drawing workshop which I attended where we looked at different of depicting what we could see (this came from a somewhat Illustration based approach as Tilly was the tutor running the workshop) and how lots of very different drawings and designs could be drawn out of the same subject matter. I also found that on these two occasions I was really enjoying the process of drawing both for fairly long periods of time and on a larger scale (A2), two things which I have struggled with in the past. 
      Another lesson which I think I can take from my Part 2 project is the importance of research and that the process of researching artists / contextual matter and using this to inspire & critique your own work is something which is valuable all the way through a project, rather than just a bit at the beginning to get you started or some near the end to find relevant artist links. I found that the more artists I found the more ideas I had & it was a good way of trying to shift blocks of inspiration / ideas.
      The last key point for me would be time management. It struck me just how much work and how many ideas I was able to generate under pressure towards the Part 2 deadline and that had I been able to sustain this momentum all the way through this stage of the course I could have achieved a great deal. Because regardless of this I received very positive feedback during my assessment and because I am also aware that speed is not necessarily the key to good work - I don't plan to work at such a pace all the way through Part 3, but I would like to try to work more quickly at a steady rate.
     I plan to bring these ideas and approaches into my Part 3 work to build on what I have accomplished before in terms of working practice.

Hanna Werning - Fashion

Hanna Werning - Stationary

Today I also built upon the research which I did yesterday by looking into the designer Hana Werning, who is one of my favourite surface designers and someone who has influenced my work in the past. I was aware that my research so far had been very painting based and during my assessment Claire stressed that I should play to my strengths of surface design so I thought that I needed to reconsider this area more directly. Also, I am unsure about whether I would like my final outcome to be fabric based and Werning is interesting because her designs are applied for a variety of things such as fabrics, posters, stationary and they are sometimes used as more Fine Art pieces and installations in their own right. This concept gave me the idea of using painting and other inspirations in order to create a range of surface designs which could be used for a variety of things. In this case my final exhibition could include some sort of ‘installation booth’ which comprised of my designs on things such as posters, postcards, a strip of wallpaper and a simple garment or cushion. This display idea was also inspired by the degree exhibition which I saw at Bath Spa University for the BA Textile Design for Fashion and Interiors, where student exhibited their final work in a similar way.