Crit exhibition week

I have created a painting based on my Journey from university to where i am living currently, using landsacapes as my main focus. I have painted in an abstract mannor because i prefer painting in a way that isn't precise and there isn't a lot of detail, i also like the look of landscapes painted abstractly. I also painted my journey as a collage, getting this inspiration from when we done the research journey, this also puts all the different places into one image showing one journey and not loads of different ones.

I decided to paint my Journey because i travel this way 2 times a day, to and from University. As the day times got shorter, i noticed that on the way to university, it was dark and foggy and on my way home the sun was always setting and it was almost dark by the time i reached home. This helped me to record which journey to paint. I decided to paint my way home because i loved the bright colours of the sunset, making the painting more eye catching and not using dull, boring colours.

I used acrylic paint for my medium because it was something i have used loads before, therefor i found it more comfortable. Before i started my peice i done a few practises in my book to help me with how i was going to paint. I found the dabbing technique more successful and more landscape looking. I painted onto a foam board because i liked how smooth the board is, adding no additional texture to the painting.

Alongside, to have some other work i created some collages from the original photos, this is also inspried from the research journey.

For the final crit show, i wanted to hang my painting on the wall but nailing or screwing it on wasn't a good idea. I thought about double sided sticky tape but every few minuites it would fall down and i wasn't sure how i was going to do this. In the end a tutor gave me an idea to put nails in the wall and place the painting on top. This was a good idea and stayed up.

Artists

Ansel Adams photography-

 http://anseladams.com/

I chose to use Ansel Adams idea of landscape photography by taking photos outside and mainly using the sky.

Galen Rowell photography- 

http://www.mountainlight.com/rowellg.html

Looking at Galen Rowells work, it gave me the idea of the bright colours, this helped me choose taking photographs and painting the sunset instead of the dull mornings.

Jayne Stokes paintings- 

http://cameroncontemporaryart.com/JAYNE-STOKES

I love the look of Jaynes work and how they come out, this inspired the way i worked and the textures i used.

Feedback

At the end of crit week, i had  lot of feedback of what i could have done, what i can do next and what can work better.

Before the crit day i was speaking to a tutor who gave me an idea of what i could have done instead. He suggested that i could have painted one image, taking up all the space and then painted the other one on top ect, giving it some texture and giving the affect of looking into the journey instead of having sections of the journey. I didn't really like this idea because you wouldnt be able to see the painting underneath the one i would have just painted but its something i could try in the future. 

On the peer crit day someone who reviewed my work but didn't put a name on said that it was clear my work was a journey but it would have been better if i painted them in time instead of taking photographs first. They put that my main strength was that they like how i have blurred between each painting to make it one painting and my weakness was that they didn't know why i photographed first then painted it. To develop my work, they suggested that i look at time and place and where i do the painting.

I also got another review from Hannah, first year. She made it clear that she really liked the painting and that the central sun drew her eye in immediately. She explained the colour was one of my strengths adding that it portrays nature and she loves the technique. She also explains for one of my weaknesses that i should think about the overall composition but she understand journey scenes are often seen like this. She said that something to improve my work is maybe creating a film using my paintings and showing my journey that way. 

When we went around as a year, the main points that kept coming up is that im an unapologetic painter and i should cary on like that, the use of colour and how i make the colour, the surface i paint onto and who can see how many paintings are made into one painting. 

From this feedback i think i am going to stick with painting the way i like because i feel like a lot of people likes the abstract look and the way some colours aren't actually natural looking. I might try out film but i don't think it's something i will stick at as i don't feel very comfortable. Next time i will think about what i paint onto, maybe priming a board or stretching some canvas. 

An idea that isn't from the feedback but what i got after i finished the painting was trying to make the painting 3D by using a lot of materials and building out of the painting, making people interact with it.