Reflection

Now that my work is ready and set out, I feel like it’s easier to reflect on my creative practice within the boundaries of this work.

At the start of this academic year I went into the course adamant that painting, and in particularly people, was what I was going to do throughout the year, only painting.; however I was quite mistaken! I ended up still doing painting throughout all my projects, however I was introduced to different mediums such as collage. I found that I really enjoyed doing collage and involving it in my project work, so much so that I included collage in my final pieces! I think that using this mixed media approach was successful as it adds more dimensions than just painting; for example the final piece with the deer and the rubbish, making the rubbish out of collage makes it more interesting than just a standard painting. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed collage, I will definitely go more down the collage route in my second year.

I was really pleased with my final pieces, I think my insect final piece for my time project is my most successful, it links in well to the ideas I had at the beginning of my time project; I like that they look as if they are real bugs, the collage gives realism to them. I think displaying the insects how I did was successful also, presenting them like they are on a taxidermy trophy board. I think that the insects work well because they represent something that would definitely happen in the future.

I think that my final outcomes for the city project both were successful end results for my project. I think this because they both have a clear link to my ideas during the project; I have a good amount of development and idea work which clearly shows the development and progression to my final pieces. I think that my favorite and more successful piece is the deer with the rubbish, this piece was inspired by my group field project as we looked into human consumption on a daily basis, I incorporated it into looking into this effect on animals. You can see a clear link with this final piece and my group field project work, representing our wastefulness and consumption and how it effects the environment and the animals living in it. I really like this piece as it sends a strong message, the rubbish is making the deer look un-regal and it isnt natural. You feel sorry for the deer, it is only an innocent animal and we are destroying its beauty because it is having to migrate into cities as we expend into its environment. Making the rubbish out of real pictures of the rubbish connotes that this is REAL this is a REAL this that is happening in the world today. I think that I could have made my other final piece (the buildings and deer) more successful by layering more buildings, making the city look more congested, in a sense sort of over exaggerating the scene, emphasizing the large scale of the city. However, I think that this piece was successful because in this case less is more in the sense of the detailing of the buildings, the simplicity works, and you feel sorry for the little deer at the bottom of the painting.

I really enjoyed doing the collaborative group work, I was fun to work with people from different courses. The group field opened my eyes to a whole new way of working, looking at the piece we’d created as an image to be used rather than a final piece in itself. As well as thinking about sculpture as a medium to display an idea, an advertisement. I enjoyed learning new things from everyone in my group, I think it was very beneficial to me to get an insight to other mediums of working. For example I was working with a sculpture student and to make our models I had to cut and weld wire which I had never done before! It was a great experience working with new materials. 

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