Monday 18th January
By the end of this unit, I would like to have become more competent in creating blurs. While I'm pleased with my current technique, sometimes I feel like the blur isn't always uniform, or that some areas are more blurred than others. To mitigate this, I believe it would be helpful to be blurring wet-into-wet, as well as working with thinner layers of paint.
I'd also like to be able to paint clouds that are more realistic in shape. I hope to practice different techniques, using different types of paint and different methods, so that I can achieve this.
Tuesday 19th January
While the scribble drawings aren't planned, I follow some sub-conscious parameters. For example, ever other segment should be coloured in, with no two black segments touching, and no two white segments touching, unless diagonally. I don't know why or when I created this rule, but I find it exciting working within these parameters. Sometimes, the scribbles create segments which already align with these parameters when colouring in, but not always. When faced with like-coloured segments adjacent to each other, I have to draw more lines to create new segments to change this - and do so seamlessly, so that anyone looking wouldn't be able to tell. When I have to artificially construct these segments to align with my parameters, I feel like I'm trying to solve a puzzle, making the activity stimulating and challenging. If not for this rule, there wouldn't be much to see on the page aside from scribbles; would I colour every segment or none of them? The rules in this case help to create the work.
Wednesday 20th January
What does failure mean to me?
Failure is falling short of an expectation and then giving up. Failure is when you lose and stop trying. Failure is when things don't work out and you stay stuck in that moment. Failure is when things don't work and you don't move on. Failure means I don't like my work and now all I'm doing is dwelling on the fact that I don't like the way it looks, rather than taking steps to change it, or making an effort to do it again but better. I think failure is a state (of mind?) that one can find theirselves in, based on their thoughts and actions towards a situation which may (or may not) be out of their control.
Alaena described it as an unresolved outcome; the space between intention and result, which I thought was a lovely way of putting it.
Thursday 21st January
I'm starting to notice that I'm quite interested in intersections. I like looking at where two different objects meet, and the way the point of intersection is different from the other areas. I like how the intersection can be a disruption to how the individual pieces looked, a break in the flow, but also how harmonious the intersection can look. I like how different elements look when they come together.
Today, I transcribed some of Josef Albers' works, trying to make them my own. I was hoping that copying the works would give me greater insight into the processes that Albers engaged with, and that the exposure to these processes would inspire me to work in new ways. I chose foil to replicate "Homage to the Square" because I didn't want to use paint; Albers had shown me what it would look like if I painted it, so I didn't feel like I was going to do anything new to get inspiration from. I could've been wrong, and maybe I should've tried it anyway.
I liked the reflective quality of the square and the lack thereof of the central square, which I glued with the matte side facing up. Through trying to replicate the drawing (which I eventually didn't colour in), I realised that Albers had also coloured in every other segment, which I found to be an interesting coincidence.
Friday 22nd January
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