Saturday 28 January 2012

Repeat Symposium




Wednesday was not only Burn's Night, but the first Textiles Symposium that NUCA has held. It was really interesting and a good opportunity to hear talks and ask questions about the artists work. Drucilla Cole, Keith Albarn, Liz West and Claire Hart all came and spoke to us, and we also got to hear more about our tutors work being shown in the gallery.
In keeping with the spirit of the theme, 'Repeat', my notes for the talks are accompanied with 'repeated' drawings of some of the audience ... drawn continuously without looking at the page ...

Friday 27 January 2012

Fly Away With Me?






It has been a very productive day today but boy are my eyes tired now! Dissertation was printed and bound this morning, and have spent the whole rest of day making and finishing off my Indigo designs ...of which I am quite pleased with :)

Monday 23 January 2012

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Sea









Another 'Photo Shoot Sunday' yesterday, this time I was dresser for my friends shoot. It's what I love to do and what I would love to do in the future. My ideal job would be to be a dresser for theatre/tv/film ...even photo shoots! this was my first time dressing for someone else's shoot and I really enjoyed it! Being on hand to get the models in and out of their outfits, pins at the ready, fixing head pieces and having a nice warm jacket ready for the models when they were patiently waiting their turn - such a fun day!
Here are a few photos I took of the day but check out Nina's blog for her photos - they are fantastic!
http://ninafalk.blogspot.com/

Thursday 19 January 2012

Indigo Angels




Yesterday I spent the day on photoshop - crazy I know! I sort of understand the attraction a bit more now especially when it comes to producing designs - it's so much quicker!
These are my life drawings with wings turned into a design and what I am going to hand in for Indigo, Premiere Vision in Paris -- they still need a bit of work, but hopefully they will get there :)
The combination of the cream background and white figures is my favourite out of them, as I feel the white makes the figures stand out more and the cream compliments the blue of the wings.

Thursday 12 January 2012

Bl-ink






I love the qualities and marks that the ink and bleach have.
I've shown the drawing before and after the bleach was used as I find the marks of the ink alone quite delicate, and the bleach adds another dimension to it which is interesting.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Wings of Desire


'Wings of Desire', directed by Wim Wenders, is a beautiful film. It was recommended to me by my tutor, it is about angels and how they see the world. How humans feel and see the world.

The poem which is recited throughout the movie is wonderful, it really made me think about how I think about things, and (despite how my friends relate to me as the child like one of the group) I have forgotten how to think like a child. They think of things in such simple beautiful ways and I wish that sometimes I could know what I know, carry on learning about everything, but with the thought process of a child.

Life is wonderful, we just sometimes get caught up in worry and fear, that we forget.


'Song of Childhood'
By Peter Handke

When the child was a child
It walked with its arms swinging,
wanted the brook to be a river,
the river to be a torrent,
and this puddle to be the sea.

When the child was a child,
it didn’t know that it was a child,
everything was soulful,
and all souls were one.

When the child was a child,
it had no opinion about anything,
had no habits,
it often sat cross-legged,
took off running,
had a cowlick in its hair,
and made no faces when photographed.

When the child was a child,
It was the time for these questions:
Why am I me, and why not you?
Why am I here, and why not there?
When did time begin, and where does space end?
Is life under the sun not just a dream?
Is what I see and hear and smell
not just an illusion of a world before the world?
Given the facts of evil and people.
does evil really exist?
How can it be that I, who I am,
didn’t exist before I came to be,
and that, someday, I, who I am,
will no longer be who I am?

When the child was a child,
It choked on spinach, on peas, on rice pudding,
and on steamed cauliflower,
and eats all of those now, and not just because it has to.

When the child was a child,
it awoke once in a strange bed,
and now does so again and again.
Many people, then, seemed beautiful,
and now only a few do, by sheer luck.

It had visualized a clear image of Paradise,
and now can at most guess,
could not conceive of nothingness,
and shudders today at the thought.

When the child was a child,
It played with enthusiasm,
and, now, has just as much excitement as then,
but only when it concerns its work.

When the child was a child,
It was enough for it to eat an apple, … bread,
And so it is even now.

When the child was a child,
Berries filled its hand as only berries do,
and do even now,
Fresh walnuts made its tongue raw,
and do even now,
it had, on every mountaintop,
the longing for a higher mountain yet,
and in every city,
the longing for an even greater city,
and that is still so,
It reached for cherries in topmost branches of trees
with an elation it still has today,
has a shyness in front of strangers,
and has that even now.
It awaited the first snow,
And waits that way even now.

When the child was a child,
It threw a stick like a lance against a tree,
And it quivers there still today

Monday 9 January 2012

Week 2 of 21 ...



Essay to finish, drawings to do, more designing, and samples this week ... just a bit to do but still loving it all.

Looking forward to seeing our tutors work at the 'REPEAT' private view tonight.

Saturday 7 January 2012

Good Friends ...

So feeling a little lost not having life drawing class over the Christmas break, some of my wonderful friends kindly modelled for me.



The drawings from the first "class" did not work out as well as I would have hoped, but I tried out different markings and was happy with the shape of this one. Calum is obviously very athletic, which was really good to draw as he has more of a ballet stature than some of the models I have drawn before.





I was really pleased with how the drawings of Ruairdh turned out, as I was drawing in a sketchbook (not used a book for life drawing before) and I also used a proper pen and pencil to draw him, which again I had not used for this before.

Wednesday 4 January 2012

Happy New Year!









So again, over the holiday period I have been useless with updating my blog! But it is a New Year and a fresh start :) , so I will begin my blog in 2012 with some photos from the shoot I did in December.
Having handed in last term and feeling a little lost until results came back, I organised a photo shoot in the woods. Making 6 sets of wings from various materials and using different techniques, my wonderful friends braved the cold at 8am on a Sunday morning. I am so happy with how these photos turned out and enjoyed experimenting with how to portray wings in different ways.
I took most of the photos myself but one my models is a photography student and took some for his portfolio too. The black and white photo from this selection was taken by Mabon Llyr - check out his website http://www.mabonllyr.com/