Aleatory starter project- 20th - 24th March

For this week project, I have been required to produce a piece of finished artwork based on the theme, ‘aleatory’, which is to be displayed within The Island gallery. Due to the quantity of students taking part in this exhibition, I have been given the limitation of working within the dimensions of 1 foot by 1 foot.  This has provided me with the opportunity to enrich my C.V as well as being able to expose my work to the public. The main aim was for this project to link in with my final major project proposal, which involves rebranding and promoting Weston- Super- Mare. I linked this ‘aleatory’ theme to my project by exploring the process of mark making, which allowed me to focus on capturing a new perspective and composition on Weston- Super- Mare. Even though I was not required to include this in my sketchbook, I thought it would benefit me because it acts as a good starting point in my project and it will allow me to justify why I have taken specific steps and it illustrates how my ideas have adapted throughout the project. I am hoping to use this starter project and develop it because it has allowed me to find what composition I am trying to depict, which will make the process of rebranding easier and more straight forward rather than having difficulty with moving out of the research stage.

I have starter off this project by creating a mind map and exploring different interpretations of the word ‘aleatory’ in order to get an idea on how I could link it with my final major project.  One definition that caught my eye must was, ‘an uncontrolled element in the details of life or the creation of art’ because it links with mark making due to the randomness in movement and the expression being captured within the drawing. With this idea, I started exploring different pieces of work that explored mark making and produced a mood board for inspiration. My mood board also looked at composition of cities, which gave me an idea on how to present Weston. Additionally, I also looked at 20^th century posters in the hope that my work would transform into a piece of visual communication, however, due to the amount of time I had, I was unable to do any further research on the layout or the history of these posters; however, I did manage to gain a general idea on how Weston was promoted in the 20^th century, which I might consider looking further into because it will be interesting to compare the attitudes towards Weston.

Then I researched Weston Super Mare and its competitor’s attractions and characteristics in order to separate the town’s uniqueness, which enabled me to have a clearer idea on what composition I wanted to depict and it made me more confident with how I was going to approach this week project as well as the final major project as a well. Then I collected different compositions of the town trough photography, which was mainly orientated to high altitude locations in order to illustrate the three settings of the town within one single image, which wasn’t too difficult as I was very familiar with Weston and was aware of the scenic viewpoints within Weston. After choosing my favoured photo, I researched an artist called Steven Jones in order to speed up the experimentation process and to gain an idea on what materials and techniques I could see within my work. I liked the warmth presented within his work that was created through rich oil pigments and dynamic movement. I have used acrylic paint because using oil paint would be too time consuming; acrylic dries quicker and is easier to manipulate. I have also made use of his colour by presenting a mixture of delicate and contrasting colours in order to create a dynamic atmosphere, which brings the town to life and brings a new perspective on Weston as a whole. Weston is often represented as a quiet traditional seaside town, however, I have captured a composition that depicts Weston for its urban settings and gives the town a dynamic feeling that will become attractive to young consumers; the town is of a university status, therefore, reaching out towards students. Whether it is tourism or locals, the town needs to become attractive to the young without compromising the town’s unique qualities.

I have produced this piece by printing out the photo on A4 paper and using the lightbox to draw the outlines of the image because I wanted to make my work accurate in proportion and it is less time consuming than having to correct any imperfections in your drawing. After achieving this, I photocopied my original drawing and enlarged it to an A3 piece of paper so it would be give me more space for my mark making. I only had enough time to paint one piece, which ended up as my final piece because I was too precious with my work and wanted it to be accurate and familiar to consumers. As I was progressing through my work, I started getting impatient because there was so much s=detail to be covered in my work and my work wasn’t appearing professional (it looked close to a child’s painting); however, I considered using a fine liner to go over the outlines in order to recover the details in the buildings and to give the image a cleaner appearance, which proved to be very effective. I am pleased with my work because I found a way to improve my work and work my way through problems while on a deadline. I am also pleased that I was able to use mixed media because each medium has a different effect on the image in depth and texture, and using the same medium in a single piece makes the image feel less dynamic and too consistent; there isn’t much excitement I the variety of texture.

I have met the brief because I have carefully linked my work to the final project as well as sticking to the given dimensions. I like my work because it has a strong contrast in colours, which enriches the pigments and places emphasis on the town’s vibrancy and gives the town a dynamic atmosphere. This draws the consumer’s attention because the composition of the town feels desirable; the town emits dynamic energy, which conveys the town as fun and atmospheric. There is also a sense of direction within this composition because the viewer’s eye is drawn towards the tallest building (cathedral) and then they direct their attention upwards due to the negative space adding a sense of relief from all the chaos at the bottom. The viewer is left moving their attention in different directions because there is so much going on t=in the image, making the town appear busy and exciting, which juxtaposes the current concept of Weston being a quiet seaside town. This image also has a sense of rhythm because the use of medium has been used throughout and the contracting pigments have been spread out in order to create balance as well as unity. It is important to consider the principles of design because otherwise it becomes noticeable to the viewer; they feel uncomfortable looking at the layout and the composition of the piece, which limits the amount of time they look at it as well as reducing the likeness that your piece will be memorable. A good design is subtle. The viewer doesn’t notice the significance of the layout, however, the design is known for being pleasing to the eye and visually stimulating.

The area that I was most successful with was the research because it gave me a clearer image of what I was doing, and it added context to my work. However, I think I need to improve the development of my ideas because I didn’t have enough time to experiment and I was mostly concentrating on collecting primary and secondary research. In order to improve, I would balance my work a bit more by focussing less on the context and experiment on different concepts. I will consider this as I go through my final major project because experimentation allows me to learn from my mistakes and explore what works and what doesn’t; it helps me develop my work further and enables me to be more reflective in my work. I think balancing out this project would have made this project less contextual and broader in my ideas, which would have allowed me to do more experimentation. I think my weakness for this week project was that I don’t like going through a project ‘blindfolded’; I want to know exactly what I am doing before I start experimenting, which limits my range of ideas and it shows that I am being too sae with this project at the moment.

In conclusion, this week project has acted as my first step towards my final major project and has given me an insight on how I want to present Weston- Super- Mare. This project has allowed me to capture different elements within one image, which adds context to my work and shows that my compositions and my visual communication with the consumer has improved. My strongest point is my research, which allowed me to strengthen my work contextually, however, I didn’t explore the mark making/ experimentation process as much as I would have liked to, which constrained the development process as well as the broadness of my ideas. In my final major project, I will make sure to be less precious with my work and touch every surface by balancing experimentation with research.

Next, I will attend the Bristol gallery called, The Island, and take a photo of my piece in order to act as evidence that my work has been displayed. Afterwards, I will go through my sketchbook in order to backtrack what I have been investigating and resume my final major project.