Open College of the Arts Tutor report Student name C Hell Student number 507411 Course/Module YOP Assignment number 4 The Critical Review and log books for this assignment were downloaded as digital submissions from the student s blog site. Overall Comments Thank you Christa for this pen-ultimate assignment of paintings and associated sketches. Generally I d say the work is in line with the improvements seen previously in assignment 3, so well done I therefore can t agree with your own assessment that the work is short on quantity. On the contrary, as my report details, this is in my view a strong submission. Continue with the hard work in a similar vein in your build up to the final submission. Feedback on assignment Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity Part 7: A sense of scale Project 7: Breaking perspective rules I read your log book entries for this project with interest and approve of your choices and your decision to link the subject (and perhaps characters it appears) with your major project. As a result I maintain these pieces hold together better as part of the larger body of work for YOP that will eventually form your final assessment submission. 1
The initial sketching is, as you say, rather simplistic (facile) and unsophisticated - but has nonetheless led you logically to a much stronger conclusion. I would perhaps have liked to see you using the sketching media rather more expressively, in a manner closer to the style of the final paintings, where the quality of the brush marks and the inherent characteristics of the medium is revealed and exploited. For this reason I especially approve of the A1 charcoal sketch which accompanies the final painting, and encourage you to continue oscillating in your practice between several different interpretations of the same idea simultaneously in a range of media, The final piece is strong. It is well developed and competently executed in a limited but effective palette. The brushwork is lively and varied where the paint has been applied expressively, establishing a restless atmosphere of stress and agitation. The composition is well balanced where the crawling figures have the slightly menacing appearance of some of the female characters in the paintings of Paula Rego, especially those from her Dog Woman series. I can t help wondering what this piece (successful as it is) would have looked like if the perspective had been further challenged by tinkering with the rather static horizontal division? For example, you could have considered breaking the line in places where the division between floor and wall became compromised, or blurring the distinction, as in the pieces from your Major Project. It would also have been appropriate - given the scenario of the figure being held back by restraining forces - to have set the whole action on an incline, where the horizon became a sharp diagonal - as if she were fighting her way up a psychological hill? Major Project Firstly there s lots here Christa, for which I congratulate you. Secondly this body of work is evolving as an extremely emotionally charged series of powerful images - well done Your work has become highly personalised based around your real experiences. The log entires record your thoughts and the ongoing feelings association with these paintings, tracing the practical 2
processes which switch back and forth between painting and sketching and back again - this is good practice, and precisely as it should be. I approve of all the choices and changes you ve made for this most recent set, and especially the more limited dramatic palette of grey, red and black. I might only suggest that you may wish to experiment with making your own black, using for example any mixture of darker shades of the complementary pairs. If in doubt a Burnt Umber and Ultramarine produces a fuller more characterful black than any straight from the tube. It will also give you more interesting greys when mixed with white or any lighter colour. On the practical issue of paint, by all means carry on using the acrylic red as your base and overpainting in oils - this saves on drying time and is also accepted practice. Your draughtsmanship is clearly improving, as is evident in this assignment in the more accurate interpretations of the hands and feet. Which is good, but don t allow yourself to get too tied up in the detail. This is a successful assignment submission where the nine paintings I have spread out on my floor before me make are communicating a powerful statement. They relate intimately with each other and hang together beautifully as a themed series or set. A distinctive signature style is beginning to emerge in this group of paintings, so do be careful not to become too derivative of other artists s styles you may be studying. My only caveat is to ask you to remember that there s no distinction between rough preparatory work, sketches and finished pieces - all have equal status - where I suggest any of these pieces today could form part of the final assessment presentation, just as they are. I beg of you not to try now to produce a new set of finished pieces to replace the current set, which are valid and successful as they are. By all means continue to reassess and revisit your changing ideas, but view this process as a circular creative continuum, where there will never be a finished piece which replaces that which preceded it I fully expect some of these pieces in their current state will safely find their way into your assessment set. I would also encourage you to work on large loose sheet charcoal drawings throughout and simultaneously with the painting process, focussing on 3
gesture, expression and tonal balance. Allow the painting to inform the drawing and vice-versa. Learning Logs or Blogs Your blog entries are thorough and record the origins of your ideas and the development of your work. Along with telling me about the processes - the media, how you achieved visual effects e.t.c. you have now begun telling me more about your thinking processes - your feelings and emotions whilst working, and how these have changed the direction and outcome of your paintings. This is a distinct improvement on some of you previous entries, so keep it up - thank you. Critical Review I m encouraged by the improvements in your Critical Review from the previous draft on Jonas Burgert. This time you have included reviews of other relevant examples of his work and identified themes, styles, colours and approaches which reappear across a wider sample? Beyond the biographical details of his life and achievements you have supplemented these objective observations with your equally important and interesting personal views and opinions on the artist s work. In your revised section, Relevance for me you begin to explain what it is in Burget s work that interests you, and how his themes and style have influenced your own practice as a painter. Sketchbooks Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity I don t know if my previous comments about using a combination of loose sheets and proprietary bound sketchbooks was helpful or not, nor am I sure whether you work in standard sketchbooks at all any more. However, if you do, I d like you to include some examples of your sketchbook practice next time with your final assignment. See my other comments about on-going large scale charcoal sketching earlier in this report. 4
Suggested viewing/reading Continue looking at the artists you reference in your log, but do be careful not to become side-tracked by too much detail and smooth paint. The slick images of Rob Hefferan are visually seductive, and for me are too overtly romanticised to be relevant for your current theme and approach. We have an artist here in the UK,Jack Vettriano, who s themes and style are very similar. His work is immensely popular with the buying public, which has made him a rich man - but I should advise you, he wouldn t pass the OCA YOP course :-) I believe you re in safer and more appropriate hands with Bacon, Auerbach, Rego, Kahlo and D Kooning. Tutor name: D Winning Date 03/04/2014 Next assignment due First week of July 2014 5