Assignment 5 – Reflection on Formative Feedback

For my final feedback I chose a video tutorial with a short report. I am really pleased with the overall comments of my tutor. I have really enjoyed this course although there were elements of it that I found difficult and a lack of confidence in my ability, particularly in the use of some of the media proved a bit of a stumbling block in some areas.

Feedback on Assignment

My Tutor recognised the planning and composition of the paintings and recognised the push, pull effect I was trying to create when arranging the four pictures for viewing. The Walkie Talkie image, which was my least favourite, she said, did something different. The other three could work as paintings in their own right whereas this one sits well within the four.

In my Part 4 feedback she suggested that I should do more thinking around the subtlety and sensitivity of colour and I really worked hard on my colour choices in the light of that feedback. I am thrilled that for this assignment she states that I have taken more control of the colours and tones and that my background colours make the structures more dynamic. I feel this is a huge learning curve for me; colour has always been a big stumbling block in my work and I am pleased that my choices for this assignment have worked.

My tutor also asks the question that I talk about the structures as individual entities but what would happen in their amalgamation? Quite by chance I am now doing the Exploring Drawing Media course. I am about to start Fluid Media, Exercise 1.4 – Invention and Mystery which talks of layering, blending, ambiguity and occlusion. I am going to take this idea forward for that exercise.

Sketchbook

As we are currently in lockdown due to the Covid 19 crisis, I took a video of myself turning the pages of my sketchbook and uploaded it to my drive sending a link for my tutor to see. I also took high resolution photographs (in my block the photographs are usually reduced slightly in quality due to space) and posted them also so that she could zoom in as much as possible to see the brush marks.

She states that I sometimes retreat in my thinking and question the potential of other material combinations and she is absolutely correct. I feel my problem is I can’t see the potential in the kind of work I like to produce and therefore become restrained when tasked with the knowledge that other material is required for an exercise; I get stuck worrying about how to use the material with the certain knowledge that I won’t like what I create therefore almost dismissing the experiment before I start. I realise this is something I desperately need to work on and hope that my current course will open some doors in my thinking to enable me to break free of this particular constraint.

Research and Learning Blog

My tutor feels that my research has developed well and has both informed and positively impacted my practice. Again she recognises that I sometimes find it hard to engage with some forms of abstraction. Working through the beginnings of my next course where research into abstract artists is fundamental in Part 1, I hope this will improve as I progress.

I still have a tendency to write my blog as a diary or commentary as I work. I find this helps me to remind myself of my thoughts as I am working through an exercise or assignment. I do however recognise that this can become a little repetitive and I am therefore trying to ensure that I provide a more considered and detailed reflection at the end of an exercise to consolidate my thoughts and reflect on my work.

Areas for development

• Allow the exploitative to become part of the work
• Think of the different aspects of control; method, skill, intention, material interventions
• Continue to think tentatively about the research and how it can be applied
• Continue to push the growing awareness of the possibilities of colour

Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank my Tutor for all her brilliant advice, enthusiasm and encouragement. She has enabled me to get over the hurdles I have encountered when my confidence in my ability has taken a knock and has encouraged me to try things I would never have undertaken, Assignment 5 being one of them.