I am going on holiday in a day or two so it's an opportune time to reach the end of this part of the course. Next I will be making marks with stitches and I'm really looking forward to it.
Not only have I never thought about drawing in this way before; I've never thought about drawing at all because I knew I couldn't. The idea of drawing being a series of marks that are attached to emotions and textures has been a revelation. I scribbled a few lines in my sketchbook to represent leaves and knew that Turner had done something similar.
When I started making marks I felt very self conscious and rather worried that I might not get it right. As time has gone on I have found myself getting bolder and less bothered about right and wrong. I still have to remind myself to make marks and not to copy slavishly.
I don't think I'm doing enough drawing and what I am doing is very representational. It has certainly increased my confidence to get something recognisable on the page but it bears little relationship to the mark making I've been practising. I'll have to work at it.
When I warmed through I found myself able to explore more widely with mark making. I have done rubbings, printing, lifting with a rubber and lots more. I have used many different media, soft pastels, pencils, crayons and paper of all sorts. I've found a brand new use for bleach, investigated water colour and gouache and got messy with charcoal and oil pastels. I've even used some emulsion paint to do some printing and general messing about.
It is a new thing for me to just play without any well defined end result required. It's quite novel that there can be no right or wrong way to work. That realisation gives me confidence and I hope I can learn to use it to access untapped creativity. I also love the idea that a fragment of the whole can be selected then re-interpreted time and time again.
It's hard to select one medium that I preferred more than the others. I enjoyed the pencils because they are so versatile and I loved rubbing away the pencil marks with a rubber. I enjoyed using my paintbrushes and just experimenting with what marks the brushes could make. Soft pastels appeal to the romantic in me.
I feel as though I've had a rapid journey through a lot of material and I want to continue with the play idea. I would like to try some finger painting and some printing ideas that I remember from way back. The doodling onto my eraser work last night was quite spontaneous and I think the that the freedom to play has enabled me to feel that experimentation is OK - it doesn't have to work. If it doesn't something else will.
I find that when I visit an exhibition I'm looking at things in a different, more focused way. I am enjoying thinking less literally and more creatively and I hope this will inform my textile work in the future.
My decision to create blog to record my work was a huge move for me because I'm a very private person. The reasons I changed my mind were twofold. The first was to give good access to my tutor and the second was because I have gained so much by looking at the work other students had shared. It felt as though I was withholding my contribution to the collective resource. The area I live in provides a dire internet connection and things are frustratingly slow and often drop out altogether but I plan to stick with it.
My decision to create blog to record my work was a huge move for me because I'm a very private person. The reasons I changed my mind were twofold. The first was to give good access to my tutor and the second was because I have gained so much by looking at the work other students had shared. It felt as though I was withholding my contribution to the collective resource. The area I live in provides a dire internet connection and things are frustratingly slow and often drop out altogether but I plan to stick with it.
I'll finish this now I've got to pack my holiday gear for stitching marks whilst I'm away. It'll make a lovely change from reading by the pool!
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