Latest News on my Final Major Project Sense of Place

Wow I can't believe how fast this semester is going?  I'm on target so far with my project and I've started experimenting in my sketchbook. There are so many techniques I want to try from image transfers, intaglio and collograph printing, to textured backgrounds to name a few.

My project will focus on the relationship between the past and the present looking at what has stood the test of time from the Industrial Revolution.  Castlefield was the birth Manchester from the settlement of the Romans, of the worlds first passenger railway and home to one of the first canals, the Bridgewater.  When taking photographs in Castlefield my main focus was on the bridges, viaducts and the canal basin in Castlefield.  These features have stood the test of time and are still strong component linking the past to the present. 

When researching secondary sources using the internet and books I have looked for old images of Castlefield and Manchester to use to represent the past and I will use some of my own images to represent the present.  These will be integrated into a mixed media background.  I have found some interesting ephemera during my research, such as old train tickets and train timetables.  The layout of the timetables gave me the idea of using squares and rectangles to help break parts of the image up.  This will also have the effect that there are more than one focal point, though not distracting from the overall effect.  I aim to blend them so that they appear as a suggestion of constraint whilst achieving a loose appearance to the whole image.

I have decided I want to go back to some mixed media techniques that I experimented with when I started practicing art 4 years ago.  Over this time I have covered many techniques, which I will be using along with some new ones.  However, I will have to watch out that I don't use too many, as I have a tendency to have alot of ideas and techniques I want to use and therefore I have the problem of refining these to a few.  After I have finished with my experimenting I will decide which ones I will use in my final piece/s.
I have been thinking long and hard about how I am going to display my work. Do I use canvas or board?  How am I going to embed various materials, such as paper, cotton, watercolour paper, card etc?  Do I use shapes to help break up the overall effect?

I have decided to use numbers and words that I feel are significant and I had thought of using clock faces to signify the passing of time, but I have changed my mind, although the numbers of clock faces my appear in my work.
I have created two large photomontages, from which I can produce some abstract sketches.  I then aim to take these further using intaglio and z-acryl printing.  By experimenting with this form of media I can then ascertain which will work well on a mixed media background.  Watch this blog for updated images from my sketchbook and experimental canvases.

I've been wondering which artists to research and so far I've looked at Turner, Caravaggio and Rembrandt, who all practiced the art of chiaroscuro, the use of strong contrasts between light and dark.  Having read quite extensively about applying a variety of mixed medias on one page or canvas the consensus is that using light can draw the viewer to look at specific areas, whilst not letting other aspects of the scene become less important.
Pierre Adolphe Valette tutor to L. S Lowry painted many areas of Manchester.  He has produced painting similar to how I want to portray to past in my work; almost ghostly.  The reason for using images or paint in this way is to create depth alongside stronger clearer images or mixed media techniques. 

Well that's all for now.  I will be posting images and further developments in the near future.

'Sense of Place' Final College Project News

Hi Folks
Well I'm almost at the end of my Foundation Degree at Macclesfield College.  For this Final Major Project we have to work as a group thinking of a theme collaboratively, choose a venue and have weekly meetings taking minutes and generally agree on various aspects of the process of setting up our own exhibition. 
We have decided on 'Sense of Place' as our theme as this is a broad one and can be interpreted in many ways.
Everyone has researched various venues, with mixed results.  I'm not going to name all the possible places as I've already spoke about them in my Reflective Journal.  However Lucy Hill one of our group contacted the Castlefield Gallery in Manchester and they told her they had a free space at the end of May, just at the end of our course.  It couldn't have worked out better.  As a group we arranged to go and see the Gallery on the 14th February 2013.  The Gallery had looked large to us going by the floor plan, but when we arrived we were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as big as we'd first thought.  We had all been feeling daunted by the prospect  of such a large venue, but I think after we had had a good look round we felt alot better.  
Kwong Lee the director was helpful and his enthusiasm for the Gallery and the works and exhibitions they have had showed.  After a brief history of the Gallery he showed us round and told us what part they would play in the setting up of the exhibition, the promotion of it and about the curator Clarrissa Corfe who will be on hand to help us any time including the 'get in and get out'.  
We were all made to feel welcome and the Gallery has a good feel about it.  I think our work is not going to look out of place here.
So now for the hard work of producing the work.  I plan to undertake alot of experimental work in my sketchbook in mixed media and a couple of prototype canvases to show the development of my work, before completing a larger canvas.  Watch this space. next time I will discuss my particular project in detail.  I have already started my Action Plan and I've written my Statement of Intent, which will keep me on track, although it will is subject to some changes if needs be.