FMP Exhibition

My exhibition space 

Me in my exhibition space, including a label stating my university destination and degree choice!

'Rural' watercolour paintings mounted in foamboard

'Urban' silk screen prints mounted on foamboard

Poetry based oil paintings in canvas, with quotes from Mark Goodwins poem 'Ways Through An Outskirts Estate', which the paintings are based on. Mounted on mirror plates with screws.

I am absolutely over the moon with how my exhibition has turned out, which is currently still open at Leicester College. Leaving the Art Foundation, my tutors  and the friends I have made will be hard, but the excitement for starting my degree at Sheffiled Hallam will make it a lot easier!
I would like to say a huge thank you to the poet Mark Goodwin, who has allowed me to use his passion within my passion, to create work that I would never have explored if it wasn't for him. He has been extremely encouraging and positive about my work, which has given me the confidence to want to carry on creating 'film-poetry' and using poetry in my painting. 

Rurban//Ways Through An Outskirts Estate

 "Tarmac paths
fissured &
patched"













"green-glow
august sun"

 "wrecked
pushchair kneeling in
nettles"

"windows doomed wooden
with boards"

 "a dog-growl close
behind a creosote-drenched
fence"

 "bent
& rusty bmx"

"up a scorched cherry tree
black"

 "bent-over nails in an oak's
trunk"

 "blue polypropylene rope tied"

"to a brick tangled
in an ancient hawthorne above"

 "the hot soft
smell of drying
grass-cuttings"

"& petrol"















My paintings are an abstract interpretation of the poem 'Ways Through An Outskirts Estate' in the book of poems written by Mark Goodwin (family friend and Leicestershire poet).
All done in oil paints and presented in a handmade book, alongside the quotes from the poem, which I have rearranged slightly to fit with my interpretations.

Rurban//Architecture Work

I started drawing whilst walking around Leicester, but felt that more detail could be achieved in my drawings if I worked from my photographs. All the work I have done so far has been in an 80 page A3 sketchbook, and the work consists of drawings done in 4B pencil, graphite pencil, fine liner with pencil, biro with hairspray, charcoal and silk-screen prints.









Graphite pencil

Graphite pencil

Graphite pencil

Graphite pencil

Graphite pencil

Fine liner with pencil

Silk screen print

Silk screen print

Silk screen print

Rurban//Architecture Research

 The first step of my Rurban project was to do some photography based research. I went round Leicester city with my Pentax DSLR to take photographs that I could later use to base my drawings, paintings and prints on.

As an artist, photography is very important to me, as I believe it helps me to see things I would usually miss and find interesting ways of later composing my art work. In photographs, a higher level of detail can be achieved than just with the naked eye, so I like using photos as a back-up for my ideas and art work.

Whilst taking photographs around Leicester, my eyes were opened to what was actually around me and made me realise how interesting Leicester actually is, as I was constantly looking around for any buildings that would make interesting photos. I have now made two photo albums of the photos I took when exploring Leicester which I am using towards my final project.

The start of 'Rurban'

1.

Rurban

(adj.) a place that has a rural setting that is in the outskirts of an urban environment. (Urban Dictionary)

The last few months of the Art Foundation consist of a self set Final Major Project. Having done research on the concept of 'Rurban', I decided this is what I would use to explore during my FMP.

My interpretation of the word is simply the links and contrasts between 'rural' and 'urban', the words that make up the new idea Rurban. Although in the definition Rurban is described as rural and urban being side by side, in many cases, rural landscape around the country has been completely urbanised by today's society, meaning that rural and urban are often found completely intertwined.

I was inspired to explore this idea by a family friend, Mark Goodwin, who is also a published poet from Leicestershire, who is also very interested in the idea of Rurban and has written poetry that can be linked to it. After talking to him about his ideas and work, I thought of many ways I wanted to convey my ideas through art work in my final project.

I decided to look purely at Leicestershire, as that is where I live and where Mark Goodwin's inspiration came from. Basing the project on my area also allows the project to be more personal, as well as giving me perfect first hand resources.

I decided to explore each component of the word 'Rurban' separately by doing work on architecture around the centre of Leicester city and landscapes around Leicestershire, then linking the two by making a short film at the end to link all the ideas together.

Architecture

 The last project we were given during the first stage of the Art Foundation was a drawing project based on architecture. We were given a 40 page sketchbook to complete in a week, which I did very successfully. I went out into Leicester to draw first hand observations, as well as taking my camera to collect photos to help my observations. 

 I was the only person on my course of 65 that completed the whole book in the week we were given, which meant some amazing feedback and compliments from tutors and peers, which gave me a great confidence boost. 

I started my drawings in 4B pencil, but gradually progressed to using 6B and 8B graphite pencils to add a more atmosphere to the book, and stronger detail to each drawing. 

 After the drawing project was over, we were then given a 'drawing into making' brief, which said that we were to develop our drawings into another form of art using different materials. Painting has always been my strong point, so I chose to make a book of paintings, but I decided to challenge myself by using oil paints, which I had never used before. 

 My paintings turned out to be very abstract and colourful representations of the patterns I achieved in my drawings. The texture of the oil paints and the colours I was able to achieve, made my paintings very successful and some of the best work I have produced on the course. I also presented them in a handmade book, which is something I have never done before. 

 For the first time on the course I also tried mono-printing. I used the glass printing table at college, and painted using oil paints, the pressed paper on top to create my prints based on my paintings and drawings.