Reflection for Assignment 2

Student Number: christina510830

The coursework for this assignment took me through the basics of colour, composition, developing a design, and printing and painting on fabric. Looking back it seems extraordinary that I have become aware of so much I didn’t see before, in such a short time. 

The colour section revealed how much work I need to do to become competent at seeing and mixing colours accurately.  I have, during this part of the course, found some tricks which make it easier for me, (for example starting with white when it is a pale colour), but essentially it is a question of focus of attention, and of regular practice in my sketchbook. I now notice when there is an interesting colour combination, or the effect of restricted ranges of colours, and make up colourbags for these. 

The pattern section and the work I did on it in my sketchbook have changed for ever the way I see things. Around me I see more and more of the influence of density of pattern, colour, repetition and scale on the movement or power of images. I found the exercise choosing small sections of drawings particularly clarified this, because of taking the distracting ‘meaning’ out of the picture. 

The research point looking at a textile at home helped me to understand that such things intrinsically reflect the cultural mores of the maker, and the owner.  And my reading on art theory confirms that this is as true for fine art as it is for textile crafts. I have started a process of thinking about the relationships between fine art, craft, design and decoration with the help of reading from the booklist, internet, and museum visits. 

The section on developing a design taught me a process for working from drawings towards new ideas, which I found inspiring and rewarding in itself, and produced a wide variety of ideas for me.  And another process to help me think about texture, colour and composition and what is important to me in each image. I have done some of this work since then in my sketchbook, which confirms that this process clarifies the concept for me in a way I did not expect. I have some way to go before these two processes become automatic, (for example I did not think of doing it for my final ‘single image’ sample, to its detriment) but when I do translate these exercises into practice it makes a great difference, so I aim to do it routinely.

The final section on printing and painting involved more design development, and also learning and practicing a variety of techniques. I enjoyed the hands-on creativity of both these aspects, and developed in both during the exercises. One sample worked much better than the other, probably because I applied the processes of the previous exercise before starting it. In all the sections above I have found myself wanting to explore more as I moved on to the next one, but this last was the most inspiring for me. 

During Part 3, I intend to continue to apply these techniques regularly in my sketchbook so that I can make the most of the opportunity this course is giving me to improve what I make.