My Developmental Piece – In Progress

I have been so busy recently; the sun has been out, and I have a critical deadline on Friday for all of my art work!

I thought I would give you all an update to my progress on my Final Pieces for both Art and Textiles. However, I will be starting with Textiles in this post.

In order to feel comfortable in finalising my Textiles Exam “Combinations and Alliances”, I have started to work on a developmental piece which will be crucial to develop my techniques and ideas further.

I have decided that I would take a concertina book, use my lino prints to add a starting point and then use my appliqué and machine stitch skills (which I used for my First Significant Piece and my Second Significant Piece).

Here are some photographs of how I have got on:

The above photograph shows the first part of the concertina book – I have printed my lino yellow and then I have added my own materials and stitching to enhance it.

The plain parts of the book (without a lino print) have proven to be difficult already, however, I have made the most of it to show off my machine stitching and carry that on throughout the book.

What I am a little disappointed about with this piece so far, is that the prints aren’t all straight on the page (as shown above – some of them are diagonal to the page). But that is a very small part of the piece, so I am looking forward to finishing it and making sure my stitches are straighter!

Second Significant Piece

My second significant piece is finally finished. After hard work printing, and constantly on the sewing machine, I think it has all paid off.

The start - edge stitching, arranging and planning.

After my first significant piece, I think this is definitely a step up; my skills have improved and you can definitely see them throughout the piece.

The First Stages - Looking at the print.

I am so pleased with how my printing has gone, I was so keen to really get going and work on something larger than my first.

I have used the whole of the orange fabric print and made this into a wall hanging. It contains my appliqué skills (also from my first significant piece) and general machine stitching.

Along the way, there were a few issues with the sewing machine (on a few occasions I really did think I had properly broken it!!!). But the only that was holding me back was that the wodding which I had put behind it was too thick to properly go through the machine. This was – admittedly – quite a stupid mistake but as my first significant piece was so successful I thought it would be okay.

Here is my finished piece!!

My Finished Piece!!

I am very pleased with this piece because I have taken all of my skills and produced something different and more exciting than before.

Detail - Bottom Part

Detail - Top

Detail - Middle Appliqué

And finally, my last photograph for you …

Detail - Middle Left

Yes, some of my machine stitching is a little wonky in places, but I think this is nevertheless and successful piece, and I am very proud of myself for overcoming my difficulties and pursuing it until the end.

University Update

Before the Easter Holidays, I made the most important decision in my life; university choices.

As you know, I have had offers from Manchester Metropolitan (280 points), Birmingham City (280 points) and De Montfort (260 points). In case you don’t know, an A* is 140, A: 120, B: 100, C: 80, D: 60.

In the worst case scenario, if I got an A* in Textiles, B in Art and a D in Spanish that would still give me a total of 300 points.

On this basis, I have chosen Machester Metropolitan as my Firm Choice (1st) and De Montfort as my Insurance choice (2nd). It looks like every interview I went to has paid off considerably (considering in two out of the three I would receive an offer the next day).

I am very happy with my choices, and I am very glad I have made them. I would be equally happy at either universities, however I think Manchester has the better course and is more suited for what I would like to study; Interior Design but more geared towards architecture.

First Significant Piece

During the Easter break, so far (yes, I know… It’s coming to an end already … But I still have more to do!) I have produced one significant piece for my exam Unit in Textiles. As you know the title is “Combinations and Alliances”, and I have been looking at the links between traditional and modern architecture.

From my second set of photographs (which I shared some of them yesterday), I have now produced this:

I have used the material which I printed on before the holidays, and put some wadding/wodding behind it and stitched through the whole piece (both horizontally and vertically) – I have also added a three blocks of other materials onto the piece to show my appliqué skills.

The following photographs are close ups of the piece:

Motivation

For me, I find motivation one of the hardest things to capture, and preserve – especially when it comes to working on Fine Art or Textiles. There is always a distraction of some sort… A television show I “must” catch up with, blogging -even, or simply talking to someone who means everything.

When I have the inspiration and motivation to work, I tend to be slow and it becomes tedious yet I know that I should be working for as long as possible. Of course, this doesn’t always hold up for long before I encounter at least one of my many distractions.

However, when I don’t have the motivation – just like today – I tend to “flake”. Everything immediately becomes a “big deal” for no reason and I begin to forget my pathways for each subject…

I have been searching for an answer for all of this since September, and I have fallen short. I have a number of Tumblr accounts with inspiration blogs – they pick up, they flop – and they now seem to mean nothing.

Let’s just hope next week is a better one.

Finally, I’m getting somewhere …

Today, I have managed to finish my Fine Art Dissertation for the Unit 03 coursework project this year (title: “Microscopic Worlds”).

So now, I move back in time to finish my coursework sketchbooks so I can finish those and focus on the exam project more thoroughly. Once these are finished, I know that I will have some more time to blog about the work which I have already produced for the Exam project “Combinations and Alliances” – for both subjects.

So the sooner this all gets finished, the sooner I will be back blogging every day!! … *touch wood* …

At Least I’m Doing Something Right …

Yesterday evening, I recieved an email from UCAS notifying me of a change in my application… I logged on etc, and there it is. Something I have been hoping for for about 3 months.

An offer from Manchester Metropolitan University (Manchester School of Art).

It’s 280 UCAS tariff points (300 points is BBB, so this is basically BBC) and I really think this is achievable!

I cannot express how proud of myself I am at this moment in my life. I have never felt like there are people out there who admire my work as much as the women did on Wednesday. I feel proud.

I think Manchester is the place where I need to go to progress further.

My Interview …

So today I have been to Manchester and back, and I think the interview went pretty well!! So a very good day indeed.

There was only two of us being interviewed this afternoon – which shocked me! – but apparently they only have between 35 and 40 students per year as students in total… And considering the amount of people who apply (something stupid like 400) I am feeling rather proud and confident that I was given the opportunity to attend an interview there.

The women who interviewed us gave us a quick talk/presentation on the course as a whole; what sort of work they do each year, competitions and various study trips. Something that was made very clear was that the course was definitely driven more to the architectural side rather than interior furnishings (that would be the worst course for me …). And because of this, I knew I was in the right place.

Even sat in “The Gallery” (a little cafe which holds live music from time to time!) I knew that I was sitting in the right place…

I think everything is coming together slowly now… And all I really need to do is focus on my school work to make sure I get the best possible grades in August – and one’s which I deserve!!

And So Another Week Starts…

The start of this week hasn’t been the greatest… I have a terrible cold, and a tonne of work to catch up with from last week. Such a mistake which I don’t seem to learn from.

However, the majority of this work is now complete, so I can focus on finishing the little things. I am glad I came home early today – I needed the extra time to tie up loose ends (with work I mean, not social matters – they seem pretty irrelevant these days!!).

The main thing which has been on my mind today is my interview on Wednesday at Manchester Metropolitan University. This is the most important interview this year – scratch that – my whole LIFE. I can’t blow this, I really can’t.

These next five weeks are tough – I need to have both my Fine Art and Textiles exam projects pretty much finished (or as close as…).

This is a really tough call, but I know I can do it. In the last year I have become quite an ambitious person, and in interviews in particular, I really do become quite a confident and come out of my shell really…

I cannot wait to be at university – studying in order to get the job I really do want in life. Ideally, working with a firm of architects (an international firm so I can travel).

Time to get back to work then… Otherwise these dreams definitely won’t happen!!!

Exam Titles Are Finally Announced …

Before the February half term started, I was given the exam paper for both of my art subjects so I could think about what I would like to explore with the title and start taking photographs for it. This weekend marks the end of half term, and school starts on Monday. Great…

The exam paper is built upon a title which you must explore/experiment with (this title corresponds to every art subject within the exam board – so for me, I need to think about what I can do for both Fine Art and Textiles, and they must both be different ideas). The paper also gives a thorough breakdown for each subject area with different routes that could be taken to base our projects around.

“Combinations and Alliances” – the title for this year’s A2 art subjects.

Combinations: The act of combing or the state of being combined.

Alliances: The formal agreement or treaty between two or more nations.

Both of these definitions are quite general, and therefore aren’t much of a help with ideas. However, I was given a presentation from a teacher about further ideas and routes which could be used to base our projects upon.

Deconstruction and reconstruction was one of the main points I picked up from this for Textiles as I have a keen interest in Architecture already… However, this is quite similar to my final outcome from the coursework unit which has just been completed, so I may need to re-think this one.

Rural vs Urban and Old vs New would also link and relate to this very well. If I were to explore these areas for Textiles, I think I would look at the environment and surroundings rather than just focussing on the buildings.

For Fine Art, I have been thinking about exploring vaccinations – the “alliance” of good and bad bacteria/germs and also link in the relationship between sugar and tooth decay. I think this could be quite an abstract approach to the title, which would definitely keep me interested and focussed.

Not only should I be looking for an idea which either has elements which combine together and therefore form an alliance, but also how they depend on each other and what would happen if you took one away from the other.

This is definitely something which is going to tickle my brain today… I need to start taking photographs and writing introductions!