My research questions throughout this project that frame my studio practice pertain to the responsive nature of the viewer, and how the themes in my work may be perceived. ‘Why is this message important?’, ‘Who can benefit from the nature of this work?’, ‘What message is the work trying to convey?’ are some of the questions driving my practice forward and influencing my research.
My individual method of enquiry involves experimentation on a smaller scale regarding use of mediums and materials, the creation of personal reference images and thumbnails, consistently practising several painting techniques such as paint pouring, gradient blends, mixing pigments, masking and figurative painting.
My method of enquiry regarding conceptual and visual inspiration involves seeking influence through a plethora of sources including visiting exhibitions, watching art/ artist documentaries, collaborating with other creatives, journaling and documenting ideas through sketches and photography. Employing these methods acts as a catalyst for me to gather information and inspiration through which to create my work.
My methodology incorporates the use of absorbing this inspiration, developing it into my own conceptual ideas, sketching out painting ideas, creating thumbnails, and eventually transforming these into final pieces and painted scenes. Because this methodology is rather structured, I also have a series of low-pressure works that I nurture and develop alongside the main focal piece to ensure I’m maintaining a flexibility and playfulness within my work, these pieces typically consist of paint pour experiments or figurative studies.
To ensure that I am critically reflecting on my practice, I analyse the successes and failures of my artwork to gain a deeper understanding of how I work and where to improve. The successes I have reaped from this year’s work include learning to mask properly to ensure paint pours do not infiltrate into areas of the piece I don’t want it to, learning to observe a reference image in far more depth to ensure my painting renders an essence of anatomical accuracy and mixing my own pigments. Refining my skill set in each of these areas has aided in my ability to create paintings that not only reflect my visual taste but tell my narrative more coherently. It has been a pleasure to experiment and indulge within these areas to fine tune my technical ability and learn more about the creative process.
The failures I have run into involve preparation, planning and time management. Because the paintings I have planned are quite ambitious for my current technical skill set, I would have benefited from working on these areas more thoroughly to assist in my creative practice’s success. As the completion of our third academic year approaches, I can reflect on my weaknesses regarding these skills and will make a conscious effort to prepare more thoroughly and manage time more meticulously. The troubles I have run into mean I have felt like I am running out of time or working under pressure against the clock, which is not a good environment for relaxed creativity to thrive. In light of this, I have realised that I have a keen interest in painting, visual aesthetics and storytelling through my work but a need to refine my capacity to manage time and to structure myself and my workload.
The means by which I choose to document my work usually involves a variety of methods including photography, sketch booking, digitally written notes, and drawing. Drawing and sketch booking in particular are a fantastic way to visually portray an idea to yourself to come back to at a later date. Many of my sketchbooks are full of annotated thumbnail sketches depicting scenes that I want to paint on a much larger scale. In addition to this, taking photos of scenes, situations, paintings and moments throughout time can be an excellent way to remember a thought or feeling felt while in a certain moment, encapsulating the trigger that caused an idea to influence your practice. The use of photography has also been paramount for the formation of my thumbnails, aiding in visual reference from which to paint from.
Before commencing the creation of my final major project, I considered the organization concerning planning, budgeting and scheduling. I was fortunate enough to be in a position where I had an abundance of paints, canvases, tapes and paint mediums at my disposal – I am often bought artistic tools and equipment for birthdays etc so I didn’t need to consider buying any more pigment or tools before starting. However, to transfer the painting from my studio at home to the exhibition space will require some considered budgeting. I will need to hire a van to transport the final project, along with its appropriate supporting work and sketchbooks, to the university. I will also need to purchase a spirit level, nails, a hammer and some bulldog clips to assist in the installation of my work for the degree show.
The planning, scheduling, and general organisation of my work throughout the third year could have been more considered. Initially, I created a timetable of the academic year to adhere to, to ensure I was staying ‘on track’ and meeting my weekly targets. This worked brilliantly initially, but I gradually lost touch with the schedule and began to work spontaneously once more. I don’t necessarily think this is solely a negative, as working in serendipitous ways can breed wonderful happy accidents, but I would like to improve on my organisation skills to avoid feelings of overwhelm when deadlines are approaching.
From this process, I have learned that I need to better manage my time, not to underestimate how long things take and to work consistently on a project, rather than in intense peaks and troughs of productivity. Working in this way can lend itself to highly charged exciting periods of creativity, but also means there is a lack of consistent contact with your work, which is a desirable relationship to have with your craft. If I had employed all these reflections, I believe the quality of my work would be intensified regarding presentation, observational skill, and technical use of paint to achieve certain visual effects. I will learn to incorporate these improvements into my learning process so as to improve future performance and encourage critical thinking in my practice.
Next, I am going to create a second large scale painting depicting the antithesis of the one I am currently painting to create two juxtaposed scenes side by side. I am going to take personal reference photos, create a thumbnail to work from and work consistently at this new project. I will give myself a longer time scale to complete the project in, I will use clearer and higher definition reference images (as this was something of a hurdle in the painting process beforehand), I will actively carry out the sufficient prep work to ensure the success of the piece (using gesso, mixing paintings properly, using clean paint palettes, cleaning brushes properly etc). In addition to this, I will also work on battling my fear concerning painting. I have become rather perfectionist in my approach to making work and this year I have been able to identify this as a short coming of mine that stunts my creative progression. Once employing this combination of lessons and tactics, I believe I can gradually eradicate the shortfalls in my creative practice and allow my work to develop while maintaining a vital critical thinking approach to my methods. 
