Reflection on Assignment 4

Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills

My technical and visual skills are continuing to improve. In particular during this section my ability to draw figures which are in proportion and to tackle subjects which I have previously found very difficult such as hands, drapery and portraiture have improved dramatically. In fact I did succeed in producing likenesses of myself and of my husband. (when I posted my final piece on social media the comments received suggest that Luigi was immediately recognisable). Obviously there is still a vast amount to learn but I can see evidence of progress over part four and over the course as a whole. Probably the area I need to be most careful of in this section is to maintain fluency as I still have a tendency to get hesitant and indecisive in my line work when nervous. I have tried to overcome this by making more use of continuous line drawing and blind drawing which I particularly enjoy. The other are that needs more work is design and composition, but again, I can see that this is improving with more practice.


Quality of Outcome

Again - this is improving and may be adequate for this stage on a level one course but there is a long, long way to go. I have tried to bring the learning from the exercises together in the assignment pieces. My blog gives a commentary of the ideas and though processes I went through when working towards the assignment. I hope that my ideas are communicated effectively although I haven't tried to express anything too complex at a conceptual level. The drawings are what they are.


Demonstration of Creativity

I have tried some more creative ways of working in my sketchbook. I tried using a needle and syringe filled with ink and could create a variety of marks depending on the pressure at which the ink was expelled. I could also use the needle as a drawing implement. I have drawn with string and with wire. I have used my fingers to spread oil pastel about. I used cross- contour drawing as an alternative way to represent form using line. I have also drawn by feeling my face and by taking a rubbing from it!
I found the decision not to designate my final assignment piece until I had a few large scale pieces to choose from was liberating. I did't feel so inhibited and was able to experiment more - I intend to continue down this route. I am really looking forward to part 5 in which we are further encouraged to experiment.

The other thing that has happened over the course of part 4 is that I have had many ideas which could be developed further - I have noted them and will try to move this to the next level when I have time.

Context

I think that my critical refection in my blog continues to be of a relatively high standard. I have  looked at many artists, both during the research points and independently of this and this context has informed and fed in to some of my work.  I do like to link information together and make a map of it to help my own understanding. I also have to assimilate and summarise information in order to make it useful to me so I think that I am probably meeting the criteria specified at this stage.