And so it begins . . . (Week One-ish: Sep 1st - 12th)

THE EARLY SCARLET SUN

Another year, it begins again.

The pain and strain of being an arty, nerdy and sometimes very hormonal teenager, studying art at your local college, in Wales, in the middle of nowhere some may call it.

What could go wrong?

Well, a lot of things during the course of your first week. You can argue with friends, eat too much sugar and not sleep, take the wrong turn and walk into a herd of bulky teens twice my size, yet half my age. As well, cut yourself with a scalpel even when being careful, get annoyed easily at the smallest of things, agin eating too much sugar, and have a student practically ignore you, which then results in getting ink onto one of your favourite pair of light coloured trousers that have the cuffs which fold-up well and look really good with a pair of funky trousers . . .

Haven, its time to be quiet now!

Sorry, who is this?

A much smarter, taller and nerdier version of yourself, from the FUTURE!

Wait, are you really, are you, I mean me, I think, from the future?

No, of course not, unless it might be, which would be awesome and cool and a break through in scientific standings . . . but thats not the point! This is just you talking to yourself in your new art blog, in order to get you thinking and talking about your work.

Ah, well that isn't as fun, just a bit anti-climactic to be honest-

HAVEN! SHUT UP, STOP BEING NEGATIVE!

Then what do you suggest I do, talk about my socks again and how I love my favourite 'spaceman on mars' pair?

Yes, if you have to, but not now, now is work time. Maybe start with something simple, small, positive.

Okay, well I think that if fair enough. Well, the first thing that comes to mind is the people, lecturers are great, and so are the other students, already starting to form string friendships with them.

Well there is start! What about the work, what have you been doing?

The work? Oh yeah the work, how could I could forget that. Before starting the course I was very hesitant regarding the work, the load which was going to be put onto me, the difficulty of it, and the expectations which lecturers and the other students have of me.

And?

All of those worries were thrown out the window within an instant. The work is fantastic, this first week alone has already got me hooked onto wanting more, like some sort of drug. Or was that just the solvents from the paints? AHAHAH

But no, I have enjoyed the work so far, especially the screen printing workshops, and getting to use, practice and experiment with the process in my own time on a recent Friday, using up my free time to further progress my work. Yah know, show some initiative. It's been interesting to learn about the other practices which me and my fellow classmates will be under taking over the course, of the course (except for the drilling in blatantly obvious safety procedures and rules, uhhhhhhh) .

And from this, and my experiences on Friday, having the freedom to explore and experiment, I know now that if I ever have an idea or feel the need to continue the current practice production whilst on the course, or another I enjoy and can improve, I can ( to some degree of course).

As far as I can see, this year is going to be a blast!

The Screen Printing Workshop:

Screen printing, an art form used on the likes of paper and cloth, has been around for years and years. The technique was created in China, during the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD), mainly used as the tool to transfer designs and patterns onto fabric. Even though it was created there, the process was used on much larger scale just over the water, in Japan, identifying as one of the first Asian countries to create a recognisable form of screen printing, such as in the use on their paper walls, lanterns, banners and more notably, kimonos.

But what I did during this workshop was no where near the likes of what I have displayed to the left.

The brief given to hand for that session was to create a composition, made from a letter of our choice. A mess of sprawled characters were thrown onto the floor, printed on A4 paper sheet in different sizes and fonts.

From thus, we had to pick three letters that caught our attention and interest, and then create a piece of art with it. The letters I chose were: M, A and S. Pieces created from said letters are shown below:

Light and Shadow Photography Exercise:

"Your lack of faith disturbs me", is something I might say regarding this subject, if there was a light and a dark side, lots of planets, and some 'force'. And maybe dressed head to foot in plastic and leather. But that isn't what is happening, so let's talk about what is.

Too right you should be.

Go away, I am talking! Grrrrrr. In this task, me and a few other classmates, were set free out into the world, in order to take pictures of light/shadows and reflections. We were given a few hours, which we used to our advantage by taking a (long) walk from our college, to a nearby river and wood, to the town centre (where we got pizza), along to the local skatepark, then back along a major bypass. The route we took is detailed and present just up to the left.

Even though the walk was long, very long for some, the exercise ended up being rather intriguing, fun and creative, really forcing myself to look at the world around me and capture what caught my eye and fitted within the brief specifications.

And we all know how you felt about the pictures you took, you kept telling yourself they were crap, horrible and a lot worse, but in the end, from other perspectives, one can see something else in what you see. Just the same as you, maybe it not being art, but you view the world in a very different understanding to others, patterns, symbols, functions, shapes, facts and figures, possible myths to be broken. You may see the crescent of a sun setting on a horizon, where someone else may simply see a banana on a beach.

That is very true, thanks. That helps. And yes, I did think that the pictures at first were horribly, horribly awful and had no meaning at all, just of what i thought looked cool and interesting, and fitted within the brief. But after a group conversation with the class, comments from my lecturer (as well as a brief day dream, remembering a speech which Stan Lee gave a few years back, which i have linked below) I have begun to look and think a little differently. I will continue to have these tendencies of looking at my work as a pile of shit, but I will slowly, over time, with more self motivation and belief, I can see my work as "a genuinely good idea", and continue to pursue it.

Stan Lee Spiderman Speech - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a8ECZ4Mz2o