How Do You Depict Control?

After a talk with my mentor about the "Newspeak" brief, I have decided on a final idea of creating a piece that tackles the problem of forced marriages across the world and want to convey the helplessness of the situation of these young girls and women. I believe this connects to the concept of "Newspeak" due to the controlling nature of it as it brainwashes you into being happy. I especially want to mention the age of some of the girls who are being forced into marriage, many being underage, such as the advertisements you see on tv of young african/indian girls.

I see my strengths as being a painter so naturally I wanted to create either one large painting or a series of painting depicting the control of these women and the pressure from outside sources into unwanted marriages.

I wanted to paint onto different surfaces for the textures, add things to the paint to create depth, connect all of these women together through one commonality other than their situations, something that will aesthetically connect the paintings also. By adding fabric, like clothing they would all wear, painting on wood like desks and tables, metal like handles and cars, objects that everyone would come into contact with on an almost daily basis.  I want to try a range of colours either through colour theory with slight discolouring of the skin within the pictures or by creating an entirely new skin tone from the colours - possibly monochromatic.

I am toying with the idea of focusing on the eyes, reflecting the emotions these women would feel, what I would feel if it were me. Fear, anger, sadness... all can be reflected in the eyes. By compressing the area of which I look at it would reflect the idea of control. I had also thought of the idea of convey how trapped they are, showing a full portrait or at least of head and shoulders and making it seem like they are behind glass, pressed against it, still with the same emotions reflected on their faces. I plan to try out many different compositions for these pieces and hopefully one of them will be good enough for final display.

I am worried about the fact I will not have access to the college over the Christmas period and it would be easier to gain supplies from their where I know of the quality and can ask for help at any point. So I think I will need to stock up on woods, metals, and any other supplies I can think of so as I have enough for experimentation and final designs. It might end up I can't experiment on the surfaces that I would like to so many ideas will need to be tested straight into the sketchbook first.

I do like this idea and I hope it goes well... It has been a hard few weeks, very stressful... So I hope I can still get a good grade from this idea.

What is my Essay Even about?

My main idea for my contextual studies essay was to write about what I had for the last 2 years but in deeper detail. So for my first essay I had wrote about Disney's little mermaid in comparison with the original Hans Christian Andersen version and how the story had adapted from original to Disney and how the "art of story telling" had evolved from finely illustrated books to cutesy movies. 

My second year essay was on Ghibli movies and how they sought characters from old folk lore and myths. I mentioned how the use of these characters indicated Ghibli's worries about the environment and other factors like consumerism. 

For this year I had planned on a combination of both of these essays comparing Disney to Ghibli and how different cultures influence the same story making it be told differently. I had planned to compare Disney's Little Mermaid to Ghibli's Ponyo as they are both adaptations of Hans Christian Andersens Little Mermaid. I wanted to show how East and West had created different stories off of the same plot and folk tale. By comparing the underlying similarities and the major differences I had hoped to show the influence of the cultures from where the movies originate. 

However this year I have been advised to look into a different aspect of Disney to show how it is a powerhouse, running the world. I have looked into the capitalist ventures of the company to emphasise how they have changed from this all-American idyllic company to a greedy corporation.I wanted to mention Banksy's creation of "Dismaland" and compare his use of Disney's iconography to the new meanings he gives them, using them as a way of criticising capitalism and all things wrong with society. I have made reference to a town completely created by Disney called "Celebration Town" which shares some of the same artificial qualities as their theme-parks do. 

For This New Brief...

I am looking into different aspects in which women are pressured by society, forced into situations that might not be in their best interests. So I researched areas that I felt were areas that I myself have been pressured by society's views so that I would have a good frame of reference.

SKINNY/PRETTY
There is a pressure on women to skinny with toned stomachs and perfect skin so I thought of ways that I could create a piece based on this.

Ways women try to conceal themselves to look how they are told they must.
Photoshop
Make up
Plastic surgery
eating disorders/unhealthy fad diets
How are these things advertised to make us feel pressured?

This all leads to self confidence issues/self-loathing and depression.

Importance of make up to me - NEED it daily.
- go without make up for a month - take notes of comments received - "are you ill?"
- emphasise the excess it is used to nowadays - and evolution of beauty?

Photoshop
examples of famous people photoshopped - recreate untouched versions of these with average women
overexaggerate the photoshop - MASSIVE lips, TINY waist. ect.

How my body confidence brought on depression - what I struggled with personally

• attempted eating disorders - not eating, anorexia, throwing up after eating, bulemia - create a piece emphasising all the food I never ate - installation, painting? 
• Convey how low my self esteem is - how? - use my thoughts of myself - typography
• my reactions to images of women in media - video diary?
• How I've contemplated plastic surgery - what would I want out of that? - my thoughts on surgery - documentary/photos reactions - my conveyor belt of women waiting for surgery.         

WIFE

How young women feel pressure to get married - From parents, grandparents, relatives, random older folk.
eg. Boyfriend's mum asked 2 months into relationship when he would be proposing - she suggested Christmas - from last year
Auntie always asks me if he's the one
Mum wanting reassurances that I really love him before she accepts him
Asked by other boyfriend's friends if I see it going anywhere.

I'M 21!! - too young?
How do I show these questions?
 Squished by all of the speech bubbles - emphasising pressure

What influences me to feel like I should be getting engaged soon is stories like my mum's

engaged by 21, married 22, had me at 23.

My opinions on marriage - what I think happends in a marriage

• kids
• homeowning
• pets

depict what I think my own married life will be like. - create future family photos
Idealistic family vs worst case scenarios - use magazine photos/generic wedding photos - stick on mine and my boyfriends faces - generate what our babies would look like - crazy stalker-esque

reasons why I would get married - love, pregnancy - will I even get married?

CONSUMERISM

What we as women are told we need in our lives to be happy/fulfilled
- make up, beauty supplies, clothing, hair supplies, expensive spa treatments, nails done, hair done, shoes... etc.

Leads to debt, overdraft - "least my make up is on fleek"

• Create a log of all the money I spend on these things - are they even useful/used?
• Value all of the stuff I own - recreate my room with all the tags on things
• Real value vs My value - my value things more expensive less i use it - emphasise that it is a waste. 

Focus on advertisements and wording to show how they pressure you - why do I need it?
How does it make me feel? - why does it make me feel bad?

Make my versions of these adverts - how these items are really used - not happy skinny beautiful models real life situations real women - video work/ posters/ billboards - A0 or bigger?

I have decided against the consumerism concept as I believe it is not as open as I would like it to be so I am choosing between the pressures of trying to be skinny and pretty and about becoming a wife/getting married. 

Newspeak Is The One To Do.

I finished reading 1984 and discovered its main themes of government control and basically brain washing. I decided to focus on that kind of topic but still haven't a clue how to narrow down the concept... Mind map after mind map and I still can't choose!

           

At least I know I want to focus on how the media controls us through consumerism or how they cover up certain important issues through misdirection. I really need to decide....

New Briefs - Multiple Choice

On Monday we received 3 new briefs to choose between and I was able to narrow it down to 2 but I just can't make any decisions!

Our 3 briefs were -

1. Punctuation Mark - You need to create a new punctuation mark so you must interpret what a punctuation mark is and its purpose. It should express a thought or ideology that is unique to the modern world, which needs to be clearly expressed in: written/ visual/ sound/ sculpture/ performance/ animation/ textiles/ mixed media form. 

Initial thoughts... Nope-ity nope nope! How do you create a new punctuation mark?! Every time I tried I ended up thinking of ones that already existed. There was a few ideas tossed about the class about recreating an existing one, using it to create a new meaning for the existing one. 

     2.  The Internal Ephemeral - "The final body of work should showcase your thoughts, feelings, emotions, humour, and opinions in a consistent way that documents a period of no less that 14 days - 1 per day." - I thought originally to create leaflets that showed my thoughts every day for a few weeks at a set time. I could have placed a basket (bin) next to it to emphasise how it is just meant to be thrown away. 

    3. Newspeak - "Language is an important tool for expanding use of expression and thought. You are asked to create a body of work in response to this concept. Consider innovative design based applications as well as the literary context of the concept being put forth for consideration."

To do this I had to read 1984 and I believe if I could think of something to make that would do it justice it could be a powerful piece but its the decisions that are too difficult for me. 

Newspeak or Internal Ephemeral?!

Hopefully after a full read of 1984 I will decide whether it is my best choice and work out what I can make. 

I don't even know what kind of piece to make as in a drawing, a painting, a sculpture, something designy or at least on the computer, maybe typography... :S I DON'T KNOW!! Because I can't pick a brief I can't pick a concept and if I can't pick a concept I can't decide what method would be most effective! 

Tune in next week for what in god's name will she pick! 

Non-Place Final Hand In/ WEEK FROM HELL

This week has been the most stressful and horrific weeks for me personally. While dealing with the stress of a degree level hand in, I also failed a driving test. And while this felt like the end of my own world it turned out my family was having an even worse time.

So to start with I guess I should explain how my hand in went. I managed to begin the week feeling confident about my pieces, they were complete, most of the display was set up it was just final layout to consider and some sketch book decorating to finalise. After dealing with the book stand fiasco were first it seemed too straight then it was too wide and had to be melted back again but it ended up that the books sat fine, one on a stand as the middle piece and the others standing on their own. BUT! they wouldn't stay open and would billow in the slightest of breeze, flicking the pages... They needed to be kept down with something so I got some bull dog clips that works a treat.

After all that it still didn't look complete so I created a kind of table cloth/doily thing to make the lines less harsh and have some added colour to connect it to the splashy colourful pieces. I used paper doilies as stencils and then splashed and cut around them to create a frilly shape and also put the doilies onto the wall as placements for tea cups and to add to the dimensions.

Finally, I decided to frame my artists' statement to complete the "homely" look.

I liked it any way.... 

And all of this became so much less important after my family drama this week... With my parents stuck in Egypt after the Russian plane bombing and the fact my Auntie and her 3 wee sons were in a car accident leading to them being upside down in the car in the Clyde... yeah, you could say I stopped caring about non-places and just prayed for my families safe returns. 

But in the end everyone was fine, my auntie and the boys only really had bruises and little cuts, my mum and dad were the first scottish flight home meaning they were only a day delayed really thankfully.

It has been a horrific week but now it is time to move on, be thankful to have everyone alive and well and know that everything from now on can only go upwards from this week. 

My parents' interview (newspaper version) - <http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scots-couple-tell-fears-flight-6791437>

Auntie's accident story - <http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/hero-ferry-worker-who-saved-6754933>

NIGHTMARE TIMES!

So! I've had a bit of a hard week trying to work out my final pieces after a talk with a lecturer left me in a panic attack thinking I would fail if I only used the one piece... A BODY OF WORK MEANS SKETCHBOOK EXPERIMENTATION NOT A SERIES FOR A FINAL PIECE! Different things...

I ended up needing to leave class early on the Tuesday so as I could go and hunt down some more books to create a series and make my idea more valid by using different stories and it turns out charity shops aren't as good for this as originally seeming. That Alice book was a godsend, once in a life time perfect for what I needed... as soon as I needed more like it I couldn't find anything. I wanted hardback kind of childhood tales and I found one hardback, Pinocchio and one paperback as the lion, the witch and the wardrobe and just continued to panic. But after all my panic I went to Glasgow town on Wednesday and found a hardback copy of the Secret Garden and I believe that that and pinocchio will be added to my already existing final piece.

THANK GOD FOR THAT!

I cannot wait for this brief to end. So now I have my two books and I have a shelf and just waiting on confirmation on the book stands I can panic a little less and it just means a bit more sketchbook work to explain the addition of the other stories and to actually illustrate and paint the books themselves.

ANYWAY, after all that panic I feel a little better and like everything I have left to do is doable within the week I have left.

Wish me luck folks!

LAST 2 WEEKS!

In the final countdown to the hand in all I can think to do is panic. However everything this week went quite smoothly in working out the final display layout and actually creating the final piece.

My final idea came down to a duo drawing/ illustration with the Alice in Wonderland book. It displays me as the reader, so me in a comfy chair, reading away and on the other side is me as Alice, having tea with the mad hatter and march hare.

This week came down to finding the right book to paint it into which was found in a charity shop for £2, SCORE! Although this took days to work out as I researched online places like The Works and Amazon to find prices I was happy with along with a good quality hard back as I believe a hard back will sit open easier than a paperback would without much assistance.

I had planned to place this on a book stand on a shelf with the little "eat me" & "drink me" bottles and I looked into trying to purchase Loveheart sweets which only said eat me, but the only ones I could find to personalise were personalising the wrapper and not the actual sweet.

I am lucky enough to have the assistance of friends who are willing to help me as I am using Joanna's shelf to place my work on and Rebecca was looking into getting me a book stand so that my piece doesn't need to just lie flat.

Finally the End is in Sight!

This week off has given me lots of free time to think more in depth about the decisions I have to make for the final piece.

I narrowed down my ideas to 6, and after some conversations with my parents, class mates and friends I went down to one.

•  Me - representing the reader of the story - being Alice. Creating a series of paintings/drawings of me as Alice 
• Which connects to the idea of doing 2 paintings - one showing the reader and their real state - the other showing me in the place of Alice.
• A large piece depicting Alice in Wonderland surrounded by the portraits showing the expressions/emotions you feel when reading. 
• A series of pieces where Alice is removed and a mirror is in her place representing how the viewer can take the place of Alice by reading it. 
• Recreating Alice in Wonderland as if it where a real place - changing from the non-place - could still be a self portrait.
• Instead of different emotions - different races, cultures, ethnicities to show we all have the same reactions to the story. 

So I attempted the mirror idea, having a cut out shape of Alice and having the mirror show through. Too small for anyone to fit themselves in that shape would have to be super large or far away.

Drawing onto the mirror seems a better idea but it would still need to be super large so I have decided to scrap that idea... 

So my final idea is... The reader/self portrait as Alice double painting. 

So I have experimented with canvas, small versions, a pack of 6 worth £2 from the works. And I also thought about maybe changing from the iconic blue dress to my own clothes as if in full immersion.

I wanted to know whether to to use just one reader piece and one alice piece or many alice pieces. Or even just have 2 pieces but the alice piece depicting many scenes.

I found an artist last year that involved book pages within her paintings/works called Florian Nicolle/ Neo. 

It lead me to try it out for myself.

 

Its now down to the final details of presentation and how many there will be. Maybe also which scenes there are.

Final Questions and Hard Decisions.

Report

Writing a report about what I might do with my future is too hard. My indecisive nature makes it so difficult to choose between the many options there are out there. Looking into all of the outcomes is just adding more and more options... but I can't make it narrow down. I looked into employment, education, starting my own business and travelling and realising all of the options I could have is making the decisions harder and harder. But hey, I at least made it to the word count and narrowed down the fields. Although referencing a whole folder worth of print outs through Harvard referencing might just be the death of me.

Non-Place

Images to make as experimentation.

• me as Alice in different wonderland scenes
• paintings of facial expressions
• mirrors where characters should be
• paint on a mirror - "looking glass"?
• real life version painting
• story/quotes in image - connect to neo/ florian nicolle - artist. 

Does using me as representation come across? I want the piece(s) to be universal seeming so would using a self portrait as a representation of all readers come across well?

Cosplay photo-shoot idea.

queen of hearts - Black vest top, red cardigan with embroidered gold Q, black fascinator, red heart lipstick

white rabbit - Red jacket, yellow/ white shirt, photoshopped large ears, pocket watch, possibly a blond?

march hare - brown coat, large photoshopped ears, starbucks cup

mad hatter - Green hat, preferably top hat, thermos mug and cup

Alice - Iconic outfit, doll like makeup

make up artist - A friend of mine who is sitting a make up course, Allanah
photographer - possibly Rebecca or Rachel who is sitting a photography course, depending on who has the spare time.

places to take the photos/ different non-places. Buses, trains, stations, corridors, staircases?

Its going to be so difficult narrowing down my ideas. I think I need to discuss them with someone so as to bounce them off of someone with an unbiased opinion. 

I CAN'T MAKE A DECISION!

Even more ideas for Fiction just keep coming and coming... And I feel like I can't narrow them down...

More ideas

• Creating self portraits of me as the characters from various illustrated classics or a series from one story. 
• Me in the fictitious world made to look real - a collage of photographs of what the illustrations are in real life. 
• Create a comparison between old tales and Disney, just like my old essay. 
• Me in Disney versions of old tales. 
• A comparison of real life and fictional life. 
• Create illustrations for the yellow wallpaper - a story I read in higher English.
• Cut out character from illustrations and replace with mirror so viewer can see them as the character. 
• Could I even write my own  story to illustrate? I'm not particularly good at English. 

After a few discussions with friends and a couple of family members I have decided on using Alice in Wonderland as my story. The fact that the reader is taken to a non-place within a non-place makes it seem like the perfect choice.

So the thought is which one do I use for the final and the decision was to try them all. Seeing what ones make the most sense for the brief.

Firstly it is me representing Alice at the mad hatter's tea party - Disney version as it is the most iconic looking Alice.

Second, it is me trying to show the mirror idea by replacing it with tinfoil as experimentation. This is also when I started looking at facial expressions that could be used for Alice, shock and confusion are the best ones I feel for describing the nonsense that appears in Wonderland and sadness for certain scenes should be enough of a mix if I was to create a larger series. 

I have to start making final decisions soon or else I'm not leaving myself with enough time to create the final piece. 

My Concepts For Non-Place

Non-place has been a tricky brief to even comprehend and I have so many ideas of what a non-place even is... But I believe I've narrowed it down to a good few ideas that meet the criteria of what it seems to be.

Its about the journey - The emotions you feel when in these non-places, as you pass through. The facial expressions that show those emotions and what situations that cause them, situations that happen in non-places.
On it's own not so fascinating an idea but can be combined with another possibly to give it more depth.

Fictional world - How a fictional world is a non-place. You immerse when you read, become part of that world, travel without even moving. Best idea - select a book - well known/relatable
This is my favourite idea and I believe most socially accepted/known.

Installation work to change the mood of a non-place - If the mood of a non-place ranges from complacent to angry try to lighten the mood. eg. Bus station, bus is late, angry person sees image or light display to cheer them up. Create images of faces showing opposite emotion in same situation, an advertisement? "Have this item and you'll be happier."
Not my field, I wouldn't even know how to tackle it. Was just trying to branch out with my ideas. 

Unused spaces are non-places - Places that were not designed to be used such as under furniture, stairs, behind things. I could give them a function? Illustrate ideas for these places to be used.
Not very exciting... Would get bored working on this over time. 

Non-places within a set area - Photographic series of non-places within Glasgow. Non-places from a certain view point such as, homeless, child, someone travelling through/tourist.
The different view points is a bit far-fetched. Photography isn't my thing but I would have given it a shot. 

We create our own Non-places - We create non-places when we dream, as children when we play. They tend to be places that feel familiar, like you know where you are but they look completely different.
Apparently imagination is not really a non-place. Don't know how I would picture things like this anyway. 

Non-places dictated by use of time - eg. bus journey is 20 mins. Sometimes only proof you've been there is because time has passed. We don't pay attention as we walk by so what are we missing when we dont focus. Stop to smell the roses.
Have no idea how I would create this... 

History creates a place - places where I have history, that mean something to me because me and my friends used to go there. eg teenage hangouts, loitering spots - thinking spot, usual spot, court of miracles. show the real functions vs our functions for them.
Would be too personalised as no-one else would know what these places are or how they are relevant.

Always moving in a non-place - car, bus, train, walking through. What are our views from these non-places, blurred images or scenery mostly.
A bit boring... Not deep enough. 

I believe that fiction is going to be the best idea especially if I pick a classic book that everyone would recognise and would have the same kinds of reactions to.

Expanding on Fiction.

• Do I follow a few different books to show it happens with all of them or just one story all the way through?
• Include tv shows? 
• A lecturer gave me an idea of what if pages were missing, what would happen? Would the reader be trapped in this non-place? 
• Show different emotions for different scenes of the book, how the reader reacts? 
• Look into classical children's literature because they are going to be the best known? Could connect to my essay and maybe Disney's adaptations of these or one of the stories? 
• An evolution of books through the years or like 1800 to present or from childhood to adult hood, our generation?

Non-Place.... Whit?

Ok so our new brief is... "Non-Places"

"...the word 'non-place' designates two complementary but distinct realities: spaces formed in relation to certain ends (transport, transit, commerce, leisure), and the relations that individuals have with these spaces." - (Auge 1994:94)

So first and foremost I needed a mind map to work out my initial reactions to the brief...

...This then led to a full scale panic attack and migraine due to the sheer magnitude of the philosophy behind this project! I mean non places are dependent on the viewer, everywhere and nowhere is a non place because it depends on where you are going. Some are always non places, such as roads and such but Auge mentions airports and I mean yes they are not the final destination, they are the gateways, but I mean they are still a place, and you do so have an identity in them, you are forever asked to prove that identity throughout the process of the airport! So, yeah, my brain is having a melt down comprehending the immensity that is non places. 

My first thought was emotions felt in non-places. If people are always travelling through these places, what do they feel? I thought about expressing the many emotions felt by these many travellers by showing their expressions through paintings and drawings. By showing some of the most common emotions felt in non-places i could even relate them to certain situations so, if some couple are saying goodbye then there would be sadness/ love, if there was an argument there would be anger, if someone got a cute text while walking down the street they would be happy, etc. 

I started to look into colours that could connect of change peoples moods and even found computer based art that changes to match the viewers mood! So, if you are happy, the picture would be bright and cheerful, but if you are sad it would be darker and the brush strokes would change. AMAZING!

A few other ideas I had were - (too name a few) 

• Fiction - we immerse ourselves in fiction, feel like we are there, become part of a world that doesn't exist, this non-place.
• Mood changing installation - a sculpture/light show/animation/projection that can make someone feel more cheerful when seeing it. 
• Perspectives in Non-Places - from the views of a homeless man, a child, a tourist. So a homeless man sees the non place streets as his home, a child sees corners and unused spaces as adventures, imaginary creatures live there, etc. And a tourist sees it as a maze... (I don't like this one) 
• History creates the place -  So places that mean things to me because I have got a strong connection to them. Like, old hang outs such as fields and patches of grass and stairways. Mean nothing to anyone else but are important PLACES to me. 
• Always moving in a Non-Place - cars, buses, trains, all non-places, whizzing past places and other non-places so would be shown with blurred scenery photos. 
• Non-Places dictated by time - eg. bus journey is 20 mins. The only real evidence you have of being in certain non places is the fact time has past. What do you miss when you are not focusing in non places. 

And that is all the ideas I had all through the week and my final decision has been FICTION!

I plan to choose a classic book that everyone would recognize almost instantly and create a series of paintings or drawings depicting this story. 

NEED A FINAL IDEA! NEED TO CHOOSE A BOOK! AAAAHHHH! 

Developments and final piece(s)!

Ok, so I ended up with a selection of pieces ranging from the age of 4 to the present presented in evolutionary formats as to how our work changes over the years and so does how it is displayed. The first one features on a fridge door,surrounded by magnets featuring the alphabet. I tried to create words children would learn early on like cat and dog and such and the ones used to attach the piece spelt out "self". I found the first piece in an old autograph book from when I went to Disney World, Florida with my Grandma, cousin and great aunt. Apparently I doodled more than collecting autographs...

For the next piece I found a drawing from a folder of my primary 2 work, so when I was 6, depicting a scene of me and my sister and she apparently wants my toys or something... I wanted this evolution to be like it was displayed in my bedroom, as I feel that is the next step after the fridge in showing off your work. To do that I placed it onto a corkboard and stuck on some tickets that lead to my grandma's, some other (faked) drawings from around that time, and photos of my family from around this time or younger. 

Thirdly, I went for a QR code which led to a specific photo on my facebook art page of a self portrait that I created when in higher art (the first time around), so 5th year - 16. I feel like when you are a teenager your whole life comes into the public view with the use of the internet. You upload every thought, every achievement to your certain websites. For me at 16 it was facebook, so it became the obvious choice. (My dad tested the QR code and it worked so hopefully it works for others!)

And last but not least, I felt like when you reach your early twenties, you are a grown up, you are mature, you have real framed, final, exhibition pieces that are neat and tidy and so I created a recent self portrait to show the final evolution of my drawing skills and their presentations in a nice simplistic black frame with a pencil shaded drawing. 

And so I arranged them in timeline order from floor to roof, from fridge to frame and here is its final presentation! 

P.S. this is the view from the floor looking up as it was the only way to get all of the pieces into the same photo!

First week of Final Year!

After hearing of the splitting of our classes and losing our dearest Catherine, the new additions seem to be nice and have loads of different backgrounds.

Our first brief is that of "pencils"... 2 WEEKS TO COMPLETE A BRIEF TO EXHIBITION STANDARD!!!

"Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving behind a trail of solid core material that adheres to a sheet of paper or other surface."

my ideas

"trail of solid" - Create a raised surface, make a structure of out of it?
                        - Make a line "drawing" 3D?
                        - Animation/ 3D structure/ 3D pen

"physical abrasion" - Tattoos - ink not pencils
                                - words written leave a physical mark
                                - labeling again like last years piece - like scars this time
                                - evidenced in Harry Potter - Umbridge detention

"sheet of paper or other surface" - walls, wood, on-top of paint, skin (abrasion)

What can the pencil create - buildings - architecture
                                           - masterpieces, drawings, paintings
                                           - joy - fun for all the ages

Pencils leave all kinds of marks
Kinds of marks they can leave : writing - words
                                                    dots
                                                    dashes
                                                    shapes                         everything is made of these - image made OF
                                                    colours                        pencils
                                                    lines
                                                    dark/lights

Final Piece Ideas

Make a monochrome image of the marks it can leave

video of me making a piece with pencil - focus on initial marks and how they create something more.
                                                                - imperfections erased easily
                                                                - speak or labels/ split screens?

Image made of pencils - scenery/ portrait?

pictures of the different marks a "pencil" can leave - dots, shapes, lines

growth of an artist through pencil sketches - series of about 3/4
                                                                     - colourful frames for emotions/background

colour full page of pencil then use rubber to create image - rubber is the abrasion

3D interpretation of a pencil drawing - with wire

pencil drawing on different surfaces - wood, metal, paint, etc.

MAIN PLAN 

Use the evolution of an artist and their work, showing works from over the years, toddler to child to teenager to now. Display on a fridge door like when your parents display your work proudly on the fridge door. If I can't get a fridge I can use a metal sheet and paint it to look like a fridge. Alphabet fridge magnets to attach them and possibly making my own magnets. 

Places to find fridges near me is recycling centres in cumbernauld and/or westfield. But it would be too difficult to transport that to college/stirling on a bus. 

Other things looked into...

adult colouring books

making magnets

kids drawing styles 

IDEA CHANGES!

Instead of all pieces being on the fridge try to evolve how they are presented as well as the skill involved. 

toddler image (aged 4) - presented on the fridge

child (aged 6/7) - put onto corkboard representing the bedroom wall

teenager (aged 17) - QR code leading to facebook art page - because teens put everything online

now (aged 21) - work presented cleanly and neatly in a frame, exhibition standard.

The final days (where what where)

I'm freaking out about the fact I'm not freaking out. I'm apparently all sorted, very organised, final pieces complete and only sketch books to go but I just feel like I've missed something important because I'm not freaking out.

This is the order of my final pieces, I hope to photograph it going along the way instead of one under the other so that it flows better and takes your eye from left to right.

It is for my Integrated project, Where, What, Where.
So the first piece is where do I come from? It starts out with my family at the beginning of my timeline as obviously I wouldn't be alive without them. Then we follow the timeline seeing me at different stages of my life, aged 3, 6, 16, and 20 ( now).

The middle piece answers the question what am I? I decided that made me think of the labels I could place on myself as in the way I am seen and the way others see me. I stuck to only a few which were, ginger, student, artist, curious and weird. I wanted it to be a "selfie" as it was my views on myself, so it was to emphasize how it was my opinion on me.

And finally the last piece is where am I going? I had thought to focus on a wider future, what career I might have, what dreams I want to accomplish, but I was having trouble deciding what I could draw to depict these. So I decided on drawing people who I want to stay in my life into the future and the faceless people were to give a sense of mystery as there are people who I don't know, who I haven't met yet who will be a big influence in my life, and that was to represent them.

#4WEEKSTOGO!!

So after having a small panic attack over how little time is left I have been working on "to do lists" trying to work out what is left for each project/class.

PDP

The folder has to have the dividers clearly labelled/numbered for each section and block.
I want to label the polly pockets to say what is in each one.
I need to go through moodle to check if I have all the printouts necessary from both blocks.
Cut the corners of the polly pockets for easier access.


Integrated - Where, What, Where

I need to find 2/3 frames for my final pieces.
I need to find a printing place that goes up to A2 - Photobox is seeming like the best place
Then there is general sketchbook work and research still to be undertaken - photos to take, image transfer
Take photos of it on a wall in the final layout as it cannot be presented.
Statement for assessment 

Protest

Photo to copy for final piece.
Artist research into typography and protest art.
Buy the card to complete the final piece - picket sign
Get wood hopefully for free from the college - Spare wood from the work room.
Find a place to present it.
Statement for assessment

Contextual Studies

Re-draft essay for final draft by finding secondary sources to back up my claims.
Finalise pecha kucha for Friday for assessment - Bad stage fright.... Might die.

So yeah not too much but enough to make me panic due to the fact there is 4 weeks till most hand ins... Some on the same day as others...

Pray for me.

Panicking!

There is only 6 weeks left of this year, of these projects, of my second year and I am PANICKING! I'm so worried about the fact I haven't got my ideas nailed down yet for either of my projects and only one of them has the final piece even started and that's cause there is 3 of them...

Protest

I am still to decide between which design to choose and whether to actually make it a picket sign or even just a poster or design and mention that if it was for a real protest, a real campaign, that I could use it on multiple things like tshirts and banners, etc. And do I use photoshop with it or do I go for a more rugged look by using my own handwriting and drawings? Well, I had wanted it to be more personal so drawing a self portrait and using the ginger insults in some way would be best but do I add those insults in photoshop? Do I use spray paint at all? I also feel like I need more research but I cannot think of anymore. I'm stressing that I don't have enough work in my sketchbook, and then go blank when trying to think of things to fill it with. 

Where, What, Where

And its nearly the exact same for this one! Except there are 3 final pieces to panic over. The 2 where pieces are easier so far, but now I am stuck on what to draw on top of my runes such as  do I draw my family and friends, do I draw me at varying ages, do I involve objects that depict events and if so what? TOO MANY IDEAS AND QUESTIONS!! And then we have the what piece were it is meant to be a photo of me with labels that describe myself on it, that is the decided outcome. But I cant get real labels so what do I use? Do I use photoshop? Do I just get the photo printed and then hand-write over it? What photo do I choose? Should it be a selfie to emphasise these are my views of what I am? About the only thing I have decided for that piece is that it will be printed in Asda. Thats about it. Oh, and the other pieces, are to be framed... But they where hand cut, they are not a specific size so how do I find a frame to fit my unique sized pieces??? 

At least slowly but surely I am doing little things to pad out sketchbooks relevantly and getting closer to a decision hopefully so we shall see how well I fair over the next 6 weeks... 

SO LITTLE TIME! 

Where What Where

After buying the card for 2 of the 3 pieces for Where What Where I recently started filling out the background with the rune "diary" entries. Really I wrote out what I was thinking about my past and my future and explaining things that have happened to me and my hopes for what is to come.

Past

 

Future

My next step is to draw the people and the objects that represent events in my life. I am faltering between whether to have drawings of others in the past piece as they have been important in my life but also what if I drew myself at different intervals in my life... Only 5 weeks left... Less actually... And I'm still not completely decided on the final piece. And "What" is just the same having still not decided between photoshop, real labels, or just writing on the photograph. I think its going to  turn into writing on the photograph just for the sheer fact I will end up leaving it so long due to indecisiveness. Although I have researched getting personalised labels made but all were rather expensive and to get different personalisations they had to be bought in bulk which was an unnecessary expense. I tried using different sorts of tapes and things but they either didn't stick or didn't write on well... This project better pull together soon or I will have a melt down. 

I was wondering whether to bother with writing up either a decoder or a a word for word blurb of what is written in the rune at the side of the pieces but I like the idea of the mystery. It ties into the future piece better as the future is a mystery. 

My thoughts about this project are all a jumble but I am slowly sifting through the garbage to find the gems. 

Please turn out well.... 

Prezi Protest

PDP lately has been getting us to work on different ways to express your Statement for Assessment and after having completed the poster and the kiosk we have moved onto the use of Prezi. Now prezi being an online site made it so much easier for me because at home, I don't have the use of things like microsoft word or powerpoint so doing the poster and the kiosk could only be done in college. But prezi I was able to work on at home, at my leisure. Now after setting up the kind of template I wanted there was only a few confuddling moments on how to get it to move to certain circles and having to download the images I wanted so that they could be uploaded but otherwise they were pretty good. It is definitely more flexible than a ordinary powerpoint and it swooshes around so its more interesting in general to watch too. 

Anyway, mine is still focusing on the multiples project of last term so here is a link to check that out since you couldn't see my kiosk or poster. 

https://prezi.com/h9zsudagavem/multiples-amy-downs/

Now for this week I just did some work on researching my projects and got farther with Protest than Where What Where. I looked into different signs protesters have made and tried to find what sort of style or designs they used or even the font. It has given me ideas like spray painting some of the words  onto the sign, probably just the bottom bit because I doubt it would work well all over, I'm not brave enough to try that. Some people have some funny signs and sayings that are also somewhat topical, and the ones with designs seem more illustrative or grafiti-esque than fine art so that might be a style to try. 

I also researched the "Ginger Pride" march that happened in Edinburgh a couple of years ago and found more events like it all over the world. There was also a shopping centre in Aberdeen that gave a discount to gingers or people who dyed their hair ginger or indeed just wore a wig. This one was more of a publicity stunt I believe but the march was just people trying to get equal respect. Now, I dont even attempt to compare it to more important equality issues but I do still see it as an issue, especially in Britain where we have the largest population of gingers. I have found two incidents in particular that are quite atrocious to hear about in these times over something so trivial as a hair colour. Apparently, a girl was denied the ability to go to classes about the time of her exams due to her hair colour, teachers literally stopped her coming to class for being ginger! And another was a family forced to move home twice due to being bullied for being ginger, having things thrown at them and their house vandalised.  In this day and age, in the first world and over something as small as a hair colour these people were tormented and it isn't right. So that is why I have raised the issue for my Protest project. 

KIOSKS and update on Where What Where

During PDP we have been looking into other ways to convey our Statement for Assessment through posters kiosks and prezis. So far I have done the poster and the kiosk and even though the kiosk is just a fancy power-point it was kind of difficult working out what to say or what images to use to convey parts of the SFA. Since it was based on the multiples brief which was our old project I tried to depict certain parts of the research and different developmental ideas in particular. I mentioned travelling to Edinburgh, the research of the plague and its symptoms and different experiments on which methods to use for the final piece such as all the 3D work we did in the studios. It was easier than a real SFA because there was less detail to go into about the work and you feel better about using images which I guess gave me confidence to maybe use images of my work, sketchbook and final piece into the SFA for the new projects of Where What Where and protest. Although a downfall of the kiosk is the feeling of being informal and too little information to convey the hard work you put in.

On the other hand, where what where is progressing nicely, I have found a thick card for which to do the two where pieces where the background will be covered in rune writings of either real diary entries from my past or current thought on my life and future.

                                 

 

I wanted to depict different times of my life through certain events and try to draw images to convey these events. Right now I am thinking it might end up focusing on self portraits of different points of my life and maybe portraits of friends and family who have been important in my life. It helps that I feel I have a strength in drawing people more than still life. To show more of a connection I might put this into the second Where piece, focusing on people who I want to stay a major influence in my life. This is helpful since I cannot know for certain what will happen in my future so how can I draw what I don't know. So that piece will mostly be about my hopes for the future not anything definite. 

Both will show a timeline of around 20 years to make it even, the first one depicting all the things I have done in my 20 years of life so far, the other to show things I wish to accomplish in the next 20 years. Scary thought to look that far into my own future to try to work out what I will do but in the interests of art, I guess it was necessary. 

Survey Results Are In!!

So after a few weeks, I made it to 58 submissions for my survey and people seemed to agree with my point of view and gave some really good comments.

One of my questions was that "What are the common preconceptions you think society has about gingers?" and the most common answer was that stupid "myth" that gingers have no souls. I don't know where it originated from, but South Park have expanded it to ridiculous measures where you can rarely go a day without someone claiming you don't have a soul. Many people also mentioned their short tempers and pale skin. However what I was most interested in was the insults people had heard being said to gingers and some of them  where rather disturbing. To say such things to people just because of a hair colour. So my objective is to show these insults in my piece to emphasise how the issue isn't as small as others seem to think it is.

My own probably biased opinion is that gingerism is overlooked, not seen as as big an issue as it maybe should. After hearing everything the people who took my survey had to say on the issue I looked into how to portray how gingers get treated and I decided on using typography within the piece using the phrases and insults used against gingers. At first I believed using it to make up the face of a sad ginger person, or as a background where the page is white and the words are orange to reflect the ginger hair and pale skin. However after a discussion and brainstorming with my classmates I've decided to create the typography in the hair and that it will basically be a self portrait and the quote "It's not all in my head". It will still be a picket sign but it could also double as a poster if I was to double the idea as more of a real campaign than just a protest.