Winter Workshop Day One

So this is it! Back to college and in a totally new discipline. Excitement and nerves were all mixed together as I arrived in Bradford last night. This morning we had a tour of the department and a look at previous students' work. We also found out more about the course structure.

This afternoon, it was starting the visual research for the first project brief, Organics. First we just explored the different black and white mark making tools we had. It was supposed to be random, but I think it will take a while to stop thinking like a primary teacher, because I just *had* to turn it into a title page for my sketch book...

 

 

Then I had to focus on one object, and use a view finder to zoom in. I also used it to carry on exploring with some of the media I've not used before like the graphitone.

 

 

I liked my first drawing (top left) but it went downhill from there. The final piece, on the buff paper, is awful, much more like a deformed killer whale than flint, and to be honest, I couldn't see how I could get a weave structure from it for fabric deign (although the demented killer whale could lend itself to colour blocks in different greys).

 

In the last half hour, I tried a shell instead, which I think has much more scope for weave patterns. I enjoyed sloshing the ink over the wax resist on the paper, too!

 

 

Tomorrow it's finish this off and then start exploring colour. I'm completely shattered, but I can't wait!