Madeleine's Portfolio

 Following a recent tutorial with my tutor, I have realised that it would be beneficial to my creative process if I were to change my style of blogging and documenting my work.  I want to approach my blog as a place of reflection, where I can document how I feel about the work I've produced and what it means for my creative process; what I can take from my outcomes and how to progress in the future. I want to use each post as a place to reflect on each outcome I produce (mainly weekly) and so I will include the most relevant images to make my reflection applicable to the reader. This is important to me as at the beginning of my FMP I set the goal to use my blog more to my benefit and treat it as a 'diary', so I want to start this from this point onwards. I will use Schön's theory of reflection; reflecting in and on my work as this is the most effective way to truly evaluate how I'm working.

I learned about the technique of modular type in my workshop.  I found it fascinating and also useful to use only certain shapes to create type. It helped my creativity thrive as I enjoy working within restrictions as I am able to test the boundaries and think creatively and problem solve. This is my notes from learning about the technique:   I was instructed to work with the 2 shapes shown below. I wanted to create an alphabet and so started with the letter A as a basis for my ideas. I wanted to incorporate my topic of the moon into my type so I could possibly use it in my designs in the future. I referenced other posters that focuses on the moon and looked at their type style, I also wanted to use the circle shape as this reflects the moon well. This is the final alphabet I created (with notes and reflections).

I thoroughly enjoyed the risograph workshop. I felt it gave me an opportunity to experiment and consider colour in a way I haven't before.  These are the layers I created for my personalised moon poster. During my session, I learned the importance of organising what lines I wanted layered and in what colour- which made me consider my designs in a new way. As components that work together to produce a final image, and so perfecting each line and colour is crucial for the overall outcome.  I chose to use charcoal as it creates thick textured lines that match the texture of the moon. I rolled the side of the pencil to fill in the moon. Above is the first design I came up with. I liked the colour choices and the way the lines of the face overlapped and were layered. However, I identified that the overall piece lacked in texture and colour. I wanted to create something with a big impact and filled the entire page so it could possible be used as poster. So I implemented that into th...

Inspired by my 'look to the moon for guidance' poster, I wanted to research how Christianity views the moon as a 'guide'. I looked at Christian art and how the symbolism of the moon is used. I became inspired by the glorifying and romanticising of the moon, which was portrayed through positioning it either above or below the main character of the art piece. I wanted to explore this further in my own work; portraying the moon as a glorified 'guide'. I was particularly inspired by 'The Mond Crucifixion' and its personification of the moon. I found the face within the moon effective as it appears as a person- wise and as a 'guide.' I feel this is the most effective way of positioning the moon as a 'guide' and so I wanted to experiment with this in my art. So I decided to experiment with this personification within my risograph workshop. I wanted to use my face as a baby as this feels personal to me, and I, as an artist, want to create work t...

 One of the results from my printing workshop really inspired me to create a poster. Below is the plan I made for printing a moon poster inspired by a quote I had come across earlier in the week.  I wanted to create a poster that inspired the viewer to use the moon as a 'guide' and I intended on researching this notion further.  This is the outcome from my plan: I realised that I had made a mistake with the layering of colours and also the choice of colours. The yellow was too light/transparent for the text and imagery that I wanted to be very clear to the viewer. In light of this, I edited the image in photoshop and experimented with different colour combinations to see which would be best for the future. I used photoshop to enhance the colour saturation of the poster to see if the words and symbols would be more clear. Pinks, blues and purples were the most effective colour combinations and yellow wasn't. I now know for further printing workshops that layering yellow wi...

 These are the outcomes from my relief-printing workshop. I enjoyed working with simple shapes and viewing print from a new perspective of telling a story. I wanted my prints to tell the story of the moon and paint it as a character, up in the sky. It's a simple circle shape yet it holds so much meaning for so many people, that's why I wanted to print it on its own. It's plain and simple for people to see and connect to.

 Using the feedback from my Pecha kucha, I decided to research the artist Olafur Eliasson- whom was recommended to me by my tutor. I enjoyed his use of light in his work and layering of different colours to create depth in his moon pieces. I drew some sketches from his 2 moon pieces and wanted to use these to inspire some relief printing. I like his technique of layering perspex to add dimension, I want to experiment with layering colour in a similar way with my prints. Maybe I could replicate the presentation style by displaying in on a wooden shelf. This is effective as the wood adds a natural element to the moon picture. At the stage, I wanted to take the way Olafur uses layers in his work into my own printing work. I also planned on using the circles in my shapes as well as this is relevant to the moon. These are the sketches I produced when planning the cutouts I needed for my relief printing. Planning for the colours I wanted to use, inspired by the moon and also Olafur Ellia...

 This blog post summarises my prep sketchbook for my FMP. Generating ideas and experimenting with possibilities are the favourite part of my projects, so I really enjoyed this start to my FMP and I feel this is clear in the amount of research I produced and experiments I conducted. I am documenting this during my Easter break, and so I have mostly finalised my ideas and coming to finish my Project Proposal, although there are still some minor changes and affirmations that need to be made. SWOT ANALYSIS FOR UNIT 2 In order to ensure that my skills develop even more after unit 2 and I bring my best attributes into the FMP, I completed a SWOT analysis of my previous project: Completing this analysis helped me to realise my strengths and weaknesses within my creative practice and I used what I discovered to create a tick list of goals for my FMP to complete. Looking back on this task, I really feel it's helped me so far as I was able to lay the groundwork for what skills I wanted to wo...