Dance to your daddy...

An interesting and productive couple of days at college.. Having been a bit worried I was losing the plot... well more concerned I didn't really have a plot or a plan but this project has been a classic example of how a creative process can work sometimes.  I was at a bit of a loss as where to take the brief about designing NE / Newcastle inspired Dr Martens and almost felt I had taken an easy option picking something I have always loved, ie. the sea, boats, harbours and marinas etc.. Is this finally the reason why I've been collecting random pictures of boats for the last 40 years?  From rebuilt burnt out wrecks , narrow boats, rowing boats on the Ganges, long distance shots of tumble down harbours on the south Gare at Redcar, Gulets in Turkey - and many many more - spoilt for choice and lucky to have such an extensive boat history to drawn on - except - this is a new chapter and the new pictures are about the boats and fishing industry here, in my neck of the woods, and what they mean to me, the community and to some extent even to a wider audience.

So a couple of afternoons messing about on the river, the seaside - so to speak - my sketch book responses are taking shape. As I work on them new ideas are emerging, some better then others but the opportunity to play and try different things is opening up my designs and leading me in certain directions... I posted early starts on a page last week and I've been working them up - adding more photographs and quite a bit of drawing - using Promarkers to add colour and then other papers - tracing paper - acetates and some collage work to add texture.  I've also been cutting away pages to reveal and give a layered effect.  I liking whats coming out but still not entirely clear what the end product will be but this doesn't worry me as I'm sure it will arrive... next we will have shoelaces featuring the fishy on a dishy classic words... they may or may not be astounding but its an idea to work on.

We did a group crit at class and its really inspiring to see the diversity and varied ideas and responses across the group, theres a slight tinge of envy - why didn't I think of that - but really its just an overall feeling of being part of a collective group of talented people. I really enjoy seeing what other people are doing and how they are presenting their work and I do come away thinking I might try that neat tidy clean clear uncluttered look and hey ho its takes about 15 minutes for me to revert to my cram it in get as much colour in what can I put in that white space mentality - that's just me!!!!