Week 5: First part of Fine Art

At the start of this rotation I had some reservations. After exploring 3D/spatial then fashion/textiles for a month I had got into a more design mindset- I was enjoying exploring the connections between form and function and generating quick ideas that come into play in everyday life eg. what we wear, use, store things in or sit on. In sixth from I did do fine art, but it was balanced with elements of structural design. We started with a day of painting and drawing around big multimedia sculptures in different parts of the studio. In the morning I felt slightly frustrated because it felt a bit limiting not being able to use a range of different mediums. However in the afternoon I felt like I was getting to grips with the tasks being set.
I started to use, ink, wax, pen and charcoal in my studies. (Also I'm pretty sure the water pot I used to mix my brushes in had oil or petrol in it- all my inks were changing colours and i was scared it would burn through the paper.

The next day was our study day where we were asked to do loads of different things. First we were told to go out and observe the 'carnival of the streets'. This isn't an actual carnival, we were just meant to sketch and take pictures at a busy junction in our area and record the procession of people and things that passed by us. I went up to Muswell Hill and sat on a bench outside the Odean (I chose muswell hill instead of Crouch End, which is closer to me, because I thought I would get less people giving me shifty looks and asking what I was doing.) I found it really hard to sketch things that passed by, especially cars and buses, but I was quite pleased with the end results which involved alot of tracing paper and photocopies (I'll try to put a pic up at some point).

We then had to go to a more natural place so I walked along to Alexandra Palace and did some drawings and took photos.

There's this guy in my area who paints on bits of chewing gum that have been squashed on the pavement.
I think if you pay him he personalizes your own piece of old gum. Its quite funny to walk around and spot all these bright mini paintings.