Skip to main content

Student Life Resumes

Back in school and the getting out of bed is killing me... its not helped by the fact that the traffic has been terrible and also I was involved in a small incident when another car didn't see my (normal sized bright red) car and drove into the side of me!!! No one was hurt and the damage was made good within the week.  That was on day one - then day 2  another accident slowed traffic.  This week a huge oil spill on the only link roundabout into town caused complete standstill and I was sat twiddling my thumbs for nearly 3 hours while it was cleared...

But once in college it feels good to be back - I've claimed my wee space to work in and started to put stuff up. I've collated my work from the summer and it adds up to a fair bit. This module is all about collecting and composing drawings, mixed media paintings, any imagery really, and getting it ready to be developed in the next module which is the major part of this years work.

Most of my current work is line work and lacks colour so over the next few weeks I intend to do some colouring in and explore different mediums to try and extend my options for making some mixed media motifs.  I have been busy this last 10 days scanning and cleaning the imagery on line and also honing and finishing the paperwork that accompanies every module.  I think there is a lot more emphasis on getting the detail right in this last year and that is what will make the difference about what kind of degree I get.

I'm sticking with my juxtaposition concept.  I have spent all day today looking at my photographs from the last year, Indeed I even looked at some as far back at ten years ago finding some of the interesting snaps I have managed to get even before I ever thought I would need them in such a concept - 10 years ago I never even imagined I would be in Art school!!

Its a real mish mash of primary research - I could probably pare it back a bit but its nice to have so much to refer to and I'm not sure you can ever have too much research.....

Settling in has been good, catching up with fellow students has been fun, we did a guided drawing workshop yesterday afternoon and it really helped get the juices flowing again - 50 drawings in a couple of hours and while some of them are very sketchy there is some really interesting mark making to be developed.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Autumnal Garden Days

I love these (rare) warm sunny late summer days and there is all sorts of lovely things  going on in my garden... I counted 12 red admiral butterflies whizzing around the over grown ivy which I had been about to hack down but then left until the flutterbies have finished with it... The late blooms add a dash of colour and the daisy strewn lawn is littered with autumnal leaves, debris from my brief half an hour of slash and burn and the stone wall is covered in glorious soft moss all shiny and tactile with a few late nasturtiums loitering. I've hacked out the brambles for this year, sadly I missed the fruit as we were away, ditto the strawberries, we never seem to get the fruit before the birds so I've made space and moved the plants that were getting swamped and so not performing to their potential - hopefully next year they will literally blossom now they have light and room to flourish.

Total Eclipse Spain 2026

Eclipse day!!!!  Most of the photos on here were taken by friends...my phone died...  I dont use names on here but you know who you are thank you....  This will be Dr Freds 8th eclipse and my 6th... I have 100% clear viewing and its continued that way. Our friends have this amazing house tucked away on the side of a hill - fortuitously right on the centre line of the 2026 eclipse.  And... to make it even better they have a roof terrace which gave us an almost perfect elevation to see the total eclipse in all its glory.   Dr Fred wasnt sure at first - he worried that as totality was so close to sunset we might not be high enough before the sun disappeared under the ridge.  So, the evenings leading up to the night of the actual event, required a lot of balancing on the roof with spirit levels at various degrees and exact timings for exact positioning of the sun and considerable maths.... yes it was complicated but it p...

Alesund

Our final destination stop was Alesund. This is a very pretty town in southern Norway built on a peninsula. All the houses are painted pretty colours and a lot of the architecture is all very Art Nouveau based. This is because the town itself was completely burnt to the ground In 1904 by a fire for which they never found the original cause. The whole town had to be rebuilt and this became a huge National Effort and a lot of prominent and up and coming architects flocked to the town to stick there 20 pence in. Consequently the town is very heavily Art Nouveau which was very fashionable at the time. There is this wonderful Museum just off the harbour which is a very beautiful Art Nouveau house. It has amazing panelling, doors, wallpaper, and it's all furnished with beautiful art Nouveau Furniture. It also house a collection of of enameled Art Nouveau Trinkets,boxes, spoons, jewellery, very very beautiful.   There is an interesting collection of old books and paintings a...