Well that was a struggle! Looking back on before I started the course I had very little concept of the time it would take to get to this stage. There have been issues beyond my control for sure but I have to be honest and say the main delay in my progress has been a lack of organisation and discipline in getting the work done. The result in rushing over the last two weeks to get back on track leaves me feeling I have not done enough research or experimentation within the exercises.

My Sketchbook up until this point has been a chaotic shambles but from now I will organize it to be more in line with the coursework.

So taking the positives and moving forward I have discovered Organisation and Discipline are key. The last two weeks have shown me how much can be achieved if you just knuckle down to the work every evening. One of the things that helped me was moving my working space to where I could be more involved with the my family so I didn’t feel I was neglecting them. I now start my work at 6pm and aim to work for an hour although once I get into the task it could end up being two or three hours.

Also instead of working aimlessly in my sketchbook I think an approach more focussed on the exercises will help.

So after reading the assessment criteria this is how I think it went.

Assessment of Technical and Visual Skills.

Materials: I’ve tried some different materials and surfaces as well as familiar ones. These included Charcoal, graphite pencil, dip pen and ink, Brush and ink, marker pen, biro , soft pastel, oil pastel, correction fluid  and white gouache. Surfaces have included Cartridge paper, newspaper and recycled card.

Techniques: Techniques used included Hatching, Line, spattering, graffito, blending/smudging, dots and scribbling.

Observational skills, Visual Awareness and Compositional Skills: Not sure how I did but sure they need development. What does visual Awareness mean?

Quality of Outcome: All in all for the start of the course the quality is what I expected and will develop as I progress.

Demonstration of Creativity: Nowhere near enough experimentation with the mediums or exploration of the exercises. Still struggling with developing a direction for my personal voice hoping as I continue it will develop.

Context Reflection: Again not enough research or critical thinking. This learning Blog is was meant to be full of research already and that is something I have to work much harder on when dealing with the exercises.

Finally I’m actually happy I’ve managed the first assignment and look forward to hearing from my tutor on what is needed to move my work forward.