First Group Crit

     I came to the group crit with my initial ideas of using white and texture. However this didn’t really leave me with a direction to start drawing from. Lesley suggested I draw things that I associate with texture and white together, and really think about the association between the two, for example; snow. In addition to that, I am to question what the colour white actually is. It is much broader than it seems and in a way using only white may be harder than it seems. It may also be worth looking into textured architecture due to some of the influences on my mood board. 

                From this, the main thing I want to take is the association of white and texture as a starting point to draw from. Further down the line I may need more of a specific direction in order to create drawings but I believe for now this is enough to work with. 

Initial Ideas

     To start this unit I wanted to begin with something out of my comfort zone. For the last unit I did this with my colour scheme and it worked out really well for me. It encouraged me to think more closely about my colour selection and in turn, the effect it may have on the aesthetic of my piece. Having just experimented with colour I thought this time it might be worth taking colour mainly out of the equation and focusing on texture – something I am known for not really dabbling in. Although worried I may struggle, I am excited to see if texture is something I can work well and experiment with.

                Jumping ahead to what I would like to weave, I imagine this time I would like to work with a fairly plain warp threaded up on a point so that I can make more figurative patterns. I think combining this with lots of contrasting textures could give some really nice effects that are not only nice to look at but also interesting to touch. The challenge of having no colour to use will test me on how I can make a design interesting and different with only use of texture; without it being boring.

                For my live brief I would still like to stick with a white colour scheme to start with but am not sure yet where it will go. I think I will begin by thinking about my audience so that I can direct everything towards that. I may start by drawing and thinking of who might have an interior with that drawing printed on it – What kind of person do I imagine having it? What is their job? Where do they live? Etc. 

Evaluation

                Checks and Tartans have been of interest to me since I began to weave; however throughout this project I have been able to explore and understand the construction much more while also developing my own techniques. Through colour and pattern, I have examined the possible outcomes for my tartan/check patterns and expanded on what I know to understand of this area.

                From the outset I tried to push myself and go out of my comfort zone – This began with my warp. The colours I chose, I was very unsure of due to their limitations in contrast to each other. I was very aware that orange and green would require specific colour combinations to create an aesthetically pleasing design, but I wanted to take the risk. Now having gone through the project and seen my final outcomes, I am very pleased I took the chance and went with the warp that I did. In regards to risk taking, I am aware that I generally work very flat (which is again how I began this project) but was hoping to try and expand on this and include some more textures. Through using mohair I was able to brush some of my samples to create a much more warm, cosy and tactile effect which therefore expanded my ideas for my context.

                In terms of skills, which I have augmented throughout this unit, I was very pleased I chose to dye my warp. Not only did this allow me to enhance my dyeing skills and refresh my memory, but I also felt much more sense of pride once my warp was made and ready to be woven. In addition to this, weaving on the floor looms has been a great experience that I thoroughly look forward to continuing with. It allowed for more design options, saved time and really pushed me to think more about and plan what my intentions were.

                As a result of this project, although I am very pleased with how I have worked and what I have created, I feel as though I need to work with patterns and designs that are more out of my comfort zone for the next unit to really expand my skills. Tartans and checks were almost a bit of a comfort zone because it’s what I enjoy to look at (even if I have only really explored them once before this). Perhaps next time I will work with a plainer warp and a much more limited colour palette to push myself to think and create in new ways. 

Mon 6^th – Fri 10^th Nov, 2017

                I had an issue this week; running out of the 3000 yards I had made of 2/40s Mercerised Cotton, Orange. I had tried to initially make enough so that I wouldn’t have to dye anymore but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. When I went to try and dye the same colour again, I struggled to get the ratios of colour right due to the big difference in the weight of yarn since this time I was dyeing much less. However, taking this into consideration, I think I did quite well in getting a colour match.

                In terms of samples, at this point I have focused a lot on checks/tartans and getting those how I wanted them. Since I have reached quite a satisfied point with this, I thought it best to try some things a little more different and out of my comfort zone involving texture. A lot of my work is very flat so I have been testing peg plans and yarns that give more of a 3D effect. Rebecca also noticed that I was using mohair and recommended I test brushing it to see the effect. I am actually very happy with the brushing finish and think it work well with my check/tartan patterns.

                Looking at all my current samples together I noticed everything was very warm and yellow. Since I was contrasting flat with texture, I thought perhaps I should try some colder colour and look more into the blues that I’ve been using; which was also suggested in our group crit. So far I have been happy with the testing I have done and hope to continue this next week and produce some nice samples.

Mon 30^th Oct – Fri 3^rd Nov, 2017

     Sampling has been my main focus this week. I feel as though I have spent a lot of time testing but don’t really like a lot of the test pieces – Therefore I’m having the dilemma of not wanting to waste any more of my warp but also not knowing which bits I could move forward into samples. This means I have tried to have a big focus on where these sample ideas could come from; with colour being my biggest issue throughout (since my warp is so bold). A couple of my sketchbook pages from early on have lots of bright, vivid square yarn wraps on them which I thought could help me develop my ideas further. I have tried using these wraps as collages with newer, more relevant wraps alongside. 

Mon 23^rd – Fri 27^th Oct, 2017

                Last week I was still unsure about my warp, while I was making it, and was worried that I would hate it as it would be too dominant against my weft. However, now that it is on the loom and I have started weaving, I could not be happier with it – It has fulfilled everything I wanted it to be: quirky, autumnal, slightly traditional and much more versatile than I was expecting. 

                My issue now is that I am struggling a little with how to sample. This is a problem I had last year and am still learning. I keep wanting to jump straight into making samples without putting much thought into them – But with a limited warp that isn’t the best way to work. With help from Lesley and Rebecca I am learning how to be more selective with what I produce and how to get to that point to begin with. I have been trying new ways of drawing/ collaging to try and create possible ideas for samples. I am still in the early stages of this but will hopefully get some nice samples out of it. 

Mon 16^th – Fri 20^th Oct, 2017

                This week has been very busy due to preparing to get onto the looms next week. Since my EPI for my warp is very high I wanted to get as much done as possible so that my allocated time on the looms can be use to its best potential. Therefore this week I began by getting all of my yarns dyed. My initial plan was to try and get two tones of 3 of the colours so that I could wrap them round end on end. However due to the technique that I used, unfortunately this didn’t work so I ended up with just the 3 initial colours. I also ended up with my brown/grey yarn colour coming out a pale Khaki Green. Thankfully this colour is in my colour scheme and still works with my plan so is still useable – I almost think it looks better and more complimentary.

                After the dyeing process I wound my yarn onto cones so that I could begin my warp. However it took 2 days to wind all the yarn on so I have started making my warp a little later than planned. Once I finally began my warp on Friday, it all looked really nice together and worked really well. But after I added the orange I started to question if I still liked the colour combination I had chosen. I felt as though it looked a bit more spooky, almost like Halloween, rather than the warm autumnal colour palette I was looking for. At this point it is too late to change anything so I will have to hope that once it’s on the loom I will really like it and will have lots of ideas to play around with.

                So far I have tried out a few possible peg plans on Scotweave. I am hoping to create a fairly simple one to use for my first go since I will be focusing on how the loom works and getting used to that, rather than necessarily focusing on creating a nice sample.

Mid Project Review

                For my mid project review, I was able to get some positive and also constructive feedback from my group which I found very helpful. To deconstruct these points and see how I can take and use them to my advantage, I’m going to pick them apart and apply to areas that the group have stated I need to work on, but also what I know myself still needs to be done.

1.       I have made clear connections with my visual research but was told to try and narrow down my ideas. I agree with this to an extent since my sketchbook seems a little more disorganised than usual. I think this is due to needing some more connecting images to previous work to make my progress clearer. This can be done by spending some time looking back through all of my work and seeing where the influences came from ie. Drawings, artist research etc.

2.       I was told there is evidence of material sampling with lots of variety; especially with yarns. I have looked at a lot of possible warps to make a clear and thorough decision. To extend this, once my yarns have been dyed, I will need to create another yarn wrap of my warp plan and show what the yarns are – I will also document the yarns in my technical file.

3.       This question was not answered in the group critique but I would still like to self asses it. I think my colour palette has been established well but almost has two halves to it of autumnal colours and bright colours. Finding the right balance of these colours to fit with what I wanted took a bit of time but I now feel as though it has been defined well. I have also tried lots of colour combinations that I can work with later on within my weft.

4.       I have shown clear evidence of experimentation in Photoshop that I should continue with. Perhaps it would be worth starting to think about weft ideas from older drawings or photographs. It was also suggested that I maybe work outside of my sketchbook to continue drawing. I absolutely agree with this since I would like to try to continue drawing away from digital and go back to pen to paper.

5.       I have shown clear evidence of contextual research through my mood board. I would like to expand on this and start to think more about the options that are available on it eg. mens suits, interiors, scarves. I need to find some artists that are making the same sort of things that I imagine my work fitting into.

6.       For positive recommendations, it was suggested that I make more links to my digital drawings within my sketchbook. Again I completely agree since the connections in my sketchbook are lacking and I need to clearly show where everything is coming from. 

Mon 9^th – Fri 13^th Oct, 2017

                Following on from last week, I was trying to decide which tartan I wanted to work with so that I could make decisions about my warp in both pattern/design and colour. I decided on Clan Gordon due to the amount of colours that were available with the design.

                While sampling various colours and slight design variations with this tartan, I was beginning to make decisions about my warp and accidentally made it harder for myself by making more pleasing colour combinations.

                Through several peer reviews and my weekly group crit I managed to decide on an orange/turquoise warp which I was initially unsure about. This is because these colours are quite dominant due to their contrasting nature which I thought might have too much of an effect on my samples and I would grow to hate it. However I chose to take the plunge and try something out of my comfort zone. To test out this warp I tried it with various wefts.

                 Creating my warp plan was a bit of a challenge since I have always struggled with the numbers before. This time it was even more of a challenge since I had to get the numbers to fit but was also trying to keep my design proportional. Although it took a while to do I was very happy to have managed to complete the warping order on my own.  The yarn I decided to use, 2/40’s Mercerised Cotton, was not readily available so I have had to plan dyeing the yarn which I will continue with next week. 

Mon 2^nd – Sun 8^th Oct, 2017

                Throughout this week I have been trying to push my drawings forward to link more to weaving and to see how they can develop into elements of weave eg warp. To do this I went onto Scotweave to try and see what my current warp ideas would look like in reality with a weft also in place. Since I have been wanting to do checks/tartans I kept the warp and weft pretty much identical and ended up with some really nice results. I also tried some peg plans that I had been wanting to work with such as houndstooth and twills. 

                Since Scotweave I have been looking more into tartans/checks to see what exactly I want to do with them and how I can use my colour scheme effectively to enhance my tartan designs. In addition to this I have looked at specific tartan designs and recreated them with my colour scheme.

                After my group crit I have been looking at using an extra warp to create shapes within my weaving. This is also something I have been considering as I have been continuing with my drawings. So far I have used my motifs to create these shapes. Whether these will need to be simplified before I start weaving, I’m not sure; but for now they are working well and bringing in more vivid colours in subtle ways. 

                While I am still in the process of understanding my colour scheme and the proportions I need of each colour, I have stuck with fairly traditional autumnal colours for these drawings. The darker tartan pattern is my favourite because the colours are much more interesting and less traditional, which is the kind of aesthetic I want to go for. The other two are too traditional in appearance and look almost folky. It might be that their only needs to be a slight colour change but this is what I will be working on through to next week. 

Mon 25^th – Fri 29^th Sept, 2017

                For the past week I have had a large focus on digital drawing. It isn’t something I attempted over the summer, and since I enjoy doing it, I thought I would come back to it. However rather than refer back to something I am comfortable with I tried to venture out and adapt it to something that is quite new for me. This began with mark making motifs and compositional drawing (as opposed to patterns). In my PDP with Lesley, she appreciated that you could tell my drawings of flowers had come from the real thing so this is something I would like to extend and work on since I am also beginning to get sick of looking at my current motifs. She also suggested that I begin to unpick my digital drawings to develop them more into qualities of weave e.g. warp – And start to think about the qualities of yarn. These are things that are fairly new to me this year since I now need to be much more selective and decisive of what I am going to weave. As daunting as that sounds I know it will help to develop my practice and I hope it’s a skill that develops well over the new couple of years.

 

 

                Considering these points, I began with working on warp ideas. The paint stripes created from my drawings do look good and represent the drawings well, however I am concerned about how overpowering they may be. I have previously worked with both a busy warp and a much more neutral one and I found I preferred the latter. Nevertheless, I would also like to create checks. This caused a problem. So far, the solution I have come up with is to have changed in colour in my warp but in very subtle shades. I would also like to create something quite mesh like which will require very thin yarn, which I will probably need to outsource.

 

                I have also since returned to digital drawing from the beginning of the week to create more repetitive patterns. This is to give me an idea of what kind of patterns I could make on the loom and hopefully having more visual representations in front of me will help guide me to the next stage of the weave process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RHS Tatton Flower Show

                Prior to the Tatton Flower Show I had already established colour schemes, but completely changed my mind (and am still continuing to do so) after seeing what the artists were producing. There was a strong sense of rust and wood mixed with other warm tones. I found that I preferred these colours and so changed my colour palette.

My colour scheme has since changed and developed even after the show but I think I may have swayed too far away from it and need to bring back some more of those rusty elements. The geometric shapes that were in the show gardens were also very interesting. The buildings were strong and structured with an industrial, contemporary element.

 

 

Summer Work, May 2017 – September 2017

                Over summer, beginning this project with only ‘Floral Geometrics’ to work with was more challenging than I initially thought. This is due to how literal it is. I have always struggled with thinking in ways that aren’t literal and so decided to work in baby steps and start where I knew I didn’t want to end up. My first thought was to do with tattoos, since I have a floral tattoo myself and had considered having geometrics combined. Unfortunately this didn’t provide me with much inspiration to work with so I quickly moved into paint which I don’t normally use. I also had the idea of using acetate quite early on because of its transparent nature which I decided to continue to use in other ways to link with floral geometry. These worked quite well and I continued to use it throughout my drawing.

                One floral geometric artist stood out more to me than the others – even though the idea I had from her was very small. Julia Wright uses lots of floral geometrics in her work but I used her for reasons not to do with her usual practice of jewellery; but photography. The raindrops in the photographs were so perfectly formed that I found a new way to bring geometric shapes into my floral drawings, while also venturing into mark making (which is another area where I struggle).

 

                I think a common theme with my summer work was trying to develop areas that I enjoy but struggle with. It was something I wanted to do while I had the opportunity of only focusing on drawing.