Reflection on Assignment 1

I have  reviewed how I think I have done against the assessment criteria for the course as requested in the course notes. This is quite difficult having no experience of being assessed in this activity.

Demonstration of technical and visual skills: Materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills.

Over part one of the course I would say that my technical and visual skills are already improving. At entry level my skills were limited but I think my progress leads me up to an almost adequate/satisfactory level. This obviously leaves massive room for improvement which I am sure will happen if I commit to the course and keep drawing very frequently. 

Observation is not a problem but translating my observations accurately onto the page is not coming easily. The exercises with drawing negative shapes did help with this some extent.

My biggest area of weakness is in compositional skills. I still feel I have little idea how to make a composition work.

Quality of Outcome: Content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas.

I would say that at the end of part one I have reached a satisfactory stage with realisation of ideas and the presentation of my work is satisfactory. However although I can communicate my ideas in the written form I show limited ability to communicate visual ideas (see my comments on check and log for assignment 1)

Demonstration of Creativity: Imagination, experimentation, invention, development of a personal voice.

I don't really have a personal voice nor know how to develop one yet, but I think that's appropriate for someone at this early stage in education. I'd put myself in class D:satisfactory for this section. I have shown some evidence of creativity - especially in the Textures project which I really enjoyed. However, I have taken few risks especially when it came to the assignment. I think this is probably a common occurrence with students submitting their first assignment . I've ended up doing final drawings which are 'safe' and therefore not particularly exciting. I want to get more experimental in the next section.

I have demonstrated creativity to a certain extent in my blog by writing out my ideas for themes for the drawings in the assignment. The problem is that my technical limitations don't allow me to translate what I plan or visualise in my mind onto the page.

Context: Reflection, research, critical thinking.

I think I'm probably average/good in this respect. I have shown evidence of self reflection in my commentary throughout the learning log. I am naturally quite analytical and have studied at HE level before so I think I have a satisfactory ability to analyse and synthesise information. Although the subject matter is very different from my original studies, critical analysis should be a transferable skill. I think my research points are of an acceptable standard. I have more confidence in my ability to write factual accounts than in my ability to be creative.

Looking at the above I'm not sure whether to put in for assessment. My original intention was to study for a degree but that may be overly ambitious. It will be interesting to see how my Tutor's assessment compares with my own. Do I have to decide at this stage whether to be assessed or can I wait until I've got a least one more assignment completed?