electives over and now time to decide!

I finished my 2 weeks of painting, my final elective I chose to try out. Before we knew it we are thrown into the massive decision of deciding what we want to do for the next 4 years of our college lives last week.

I was torn between painting and animation. Which one do I want do study for the next 4years? I enjoy both!

I had my progress reviews for painting, animation and print. I got all my grades for this term during the painting review. I was shocked and delighted I got good grades for a change, my hard work paid off.

Painting: 68
Animation: 85
Print: 54

BUT! (there is always a but) the first semester is worth double the second semester (now they tell me). So I got 54 in the first semester and now my overall is 57. Not  a big leap is it? I knew that struggle in the first term would come back and bite me in the bum!

Anyway, I'm still happy. In painting I was told I got the highest in the discipline, although I presume I'm one of many, and I can get into painting but it's my decision what I want and I should go with what my gut tells me and decide on something I would enjoy and wouldn't dread coming back to in the future years. So they said I was lucky because I have the choice between my highest teo disciplines. The review was short and sweet.
 
Animation went pretty well to, my tutor said he was really impressed and thinks I'm suited to animation and so he gave me the high grade, I was delighted! However first term has hurt my chances of getting animation because my overall grade was low. So I went from being the top 5 to getting animation on his list to having a battle with 'fate' on whether or not I'll get it. He said there is a chance but it depends on the numbers who want it and there are only 24 places available. So we'll wait and see!

Print also went well. The tutor said I am good enough to choose to do print and wouldn't have a problem with it. My grade is kind of in the middle so I'm not terrible or brilliant basically. The decision is up to me. It was a sort but sweet meeting.

Because of the big difference in my grades, animation obviously being the highest, I decided to put animation as my first choice, painting second and print third.

On that Friday we got our results... and guess what? I GOT ANIMATION!!!!!

Paint Elective

I'm finally doing my painting elective. This is my final elective I get to try out before finally deciding which one I want to study through college.

Before we began our painting elective we had our rag week (which was lots of fun) and then got back to business. We were given our brief and each of us were assigned a colour, we also had to bring in 6  objects of that colour. I got orange. Which was really hard to find objects for because I have nothing orange!

We just finished our first week doing painting, the week consisted of painting and CCS lectures and constructing still lives/installations etc . To start off we did some blind paintings, which is obviously painting without looking at the page and only focusing on the objects in front of us, which were tables in the beginning of the week, trusting our eyes. My blind drawing results are pretty abstract looking or child like, using primary colours:

 

We then had to paint using something like an old credit card, which was quite difficult to do because I'm only used to painting with the brush. You can get some interesting marks using the card. We mixed our primary colours together from the previous exercise to make the brown colour.

Here's my results:

 

 for the above painting, I only like the centre table. The others are a bit proportionally wrong... darn!



We then constructed our objects in such a way where the different colours compliment and contrast each other and with interesting shapes and textures and negative space in mind. after rebuilding it several times and when we were happy with it, we finally set out to paint it. Again we started off with doing blind paintings, giving an abstract result:

And then back to using the card:

 

I quite like the above painting, it's very simple but enough detail for the viewer to acknowledge what the subject matter is

 

We then moved onto painting a close u section of our ibjects using a palete knife. I'm not pleased with this painting. I knew it was going wrong from an early stage and wanted to rip it up and start again but we had to continue dispite our mistakes.So now this painting bugs me haha, but have to learn from your mistakes right?

 

 

 That's all for now, keep you posted! :)

Magdalene essay

I also wrote this a long time ago along with my Renaissance essay. This is the second essay I had to write. Basically the second part of my CCS course. From my previous blog you will already know that my college was once a Magdalene Laundry, this history of our college promted my tutor to base our essay on this topic. We researched different sources and finally had to write an essay on what we have learned. It wasn't a hard essay to write because we did so must research as a class in preparation for it and as a class project.

Magdalene Sister’s Essay

Film Review

The “Magdalene Sister’s” is a historically based film directed by Peter Mullen in 2002. It is based on Ireland’s tragic history of the Magdalene Convents which were maintained by the Catholic Church. These were institutions for “fallen” women who were sent away and thought to be a moral danger to themselves and others. Here the indefinitely imprisoned women were sent to work in the laundries.

 

The film tells the story of three women. Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff), a young woman who reported being raped and she was then treated like the criminal. Patricia, who was then given the name Rose at the Convent (Dorothy Duffy) a young woman who had a “bastard child”, a child out of wedlock to the horror and shame of her parents, and Bernadette (Nora-Jane Noone), a beautiful young girl still attending boarding school who received too much attention from men and was believed to be a “temptress”. All of these young women were cast away to the Magdalene Convent. Banished by their families because they were ashamed, these young women had no home to return too. Once at the convent they were introduced to the cruel sadistic head of the Convent, Sister Bridget (Geraldine McEwan).

 

They were sent there to “cleans their souls and bring them closer to Jesus”. The nuns believed through hard work you can cleans yourself of your sins, but the Convent acted as more of a work house that leaves it’s women physically and emotionally drained and mentally damaged.

 

Throughout the film the women in the Convent suffered from continuous beatings. In one scene, a young woman who managed to escape , ran home only to be beaten by her father and dragged back to the convent, despite the girls painful screams “ I hate it here”, “I just want to come home Dad”, the only response she was given was to be beaten once again by her father’s belt. Sister Bridget only looks on waiting for the punishment to end. Once the ordeal is over Sister Bridget sadistically says in a chilling manner “see you in the morning”, indicating that the young woman’s punishment was not yet finished. That morning all her hair was cut off.

 

A very disturbing scene was when the women had to prance around naked in single file. The nuns were looking on and laughing at them and playing games by comparing and insulting the women’s bodies. The sadistic nature of the nuns leaves the women emotionally drained and humiliated. It is clear from these scenes the institutional cruelty the women went through.  In a particular scene, Margaret had the opportunity to escape and was outside the Convent but she decided turn back inside. I found this scene very powerful. Due to the fact the women were so institutionalised, out of fear and constantly being beaten and trained by the nuns, the women learn to accept their fate and realise they were considered outcasts in the world outside the Convent.

 

Overall this film is very powerful in evoking an emotional response from the viewer. Mullen created a piece in the credits describing what happened to the main characters afterwards. This gives a chilling realisation that the characters were in fact based on the stories of actual women in the Convent. This film even caused great dispute with religious societies. Mullen brought Ireland’s tragic history out of the shadows with this film and making sure these women’s stories were told.

 

Exhibition Review

Evelyn Glynn exhibition “Breaking the rule of Silence” was held in the Limerick College of Art and Design. This exhibition features a selection of drawings, sound and video installations, photography and an archival website that contains three years of research that gives an insight into the Magdalene laundry and the lives of the women incarcerated there.

The College of Art and Design was originally a Magdalene Laundry. Evelyn used the building itself for her exhibition. Using the historic elements and comparing them to the modern, allowing the viewers to see how the building was before becoming a college.

 

There were a few pieces that stood out the most for me. Rubbings of the shower wall, these were drawn from the original showers by the orphanage and hung in such a way that resembled a washing line. It was placed near a doorway so that every time the door opened these drawings would sway slightly. This piece indicates the relationship between the Magdalene laundries and the orphanage, mothers who could never see their children. The fact that the drawings are rubbings of an actual piece of history makes the piece far more emotive. Another of my favourite pieces was the beautifully drawn spiral staircase. These pieces were to scale and placed in the area were the original spiral staircase once stood. These stairs lead to the attic to the dorms of the women workers. Now that the stairs have been removed it is as if history has been locked away in the attic. Evelyn not only brings back the original historic design but it is also as if she is trying to lead the viewer to revealing history that is hidden in the college walls. The piece with the statue of the Saint has a great metaphoric meaning. The statue was the original statue in the orphanage that depicts the saint that protects children. The statue was in a filthy condition and covered in pigeon droppings. Rather than cleaning the statue, Evelyn placed it in the reception area of the college to be viewed by all. To me this piece screams out that the children were not protected but in fact treated quite cruelly.

 

Evelyn’s intention of this exhibition was not to attack religion by revealing it dark secrets but to reveal the history that has been hidden for so long by the Catholic Church and making sure the women who suffered or even died in the Convent should be recognised and making sure the historic qualities of the building were preserved and she did this by expressing it in the best way she could, through her art.

 
 

Reflections on the digital project

As a studio group we decided to do a digital project based on our Magdalene Convent theme. We each contributed our own work to the project. We started off by being influenced by a photograph of stairs by a previous student. As a result I took various photographs of different types of stairs. I did this by taking photographs at different angles of the stairs and trying to give an interesting perspective on something that many would consider just boring stairs. I also did quick sketches of stairs in the College; by doing this it makes my contribution more personal. I also tried a little experiment. I placed my jacket on the stairs and stood back and observed from a distance. Anyone using the stairs simply moved around it making sure to avoid this object in their path. After a few minutes I was beginning to lose interest, till eventually a woman picked up the jacket and placed it on the railings. This shows in our society many people avoid what is not theirs in fear of confrontation perhaps. Also placing clothing on the stairs can have a metaphoric meaning, perhaps a laundry worker dropped some laundry on her every day journey on the stairs.

1256 words

Critical & Contextual Studies Essay

I wrote this essay a long time ago, being to scared to put it on my blog in case it was terrible ha! I got 64% in my overall essays, not to bad for my first college level essays!
Here is my main Critical & Contextual Essay. I think I did the layout wrong though, but one shall learn from her mistakes. I shouldn't have footnotes/endnotes I thoink and the pictures should be on a separate page with clear labels.
I'll make sure to do that next time!

Renaissance

Evaluate the differences between Northern and Italian Renaissance art through the examination of two works each by a different artist, who worked contemporaneously.

By examining the specific differences and by evaluating the work of Rogier Van Der Weyden and Masaccio, in relation to techniques and themes, several differences are clear. Realism and composition was a major difference between the Northern and Italian Renaissance. Also the influence of religious Greek and Roman styles were much stronger during the Italian Renaissance than that of the Northern Renaissance.

During the early Italian Renaissance paintings consisted of frescos. Frescos were paintings using pigmented plaster and painted directly onto walls. The timing for these paintings was very important. The longer the plaster took to try the darker the pigment became. The use of frescos is a technical difference between Italian and Northern Renaissance. Due to the climate in the Northern countries it was very difficult to use fresco as the colours darkened, faded or the fresco itself was easily damaged, as a result the Northern countries could not produce well-made frescos. However, Italians developed their skills during the high renaissance and “displayed such strikingly new qualities and techniques”^[i]. This is where Jan Van Eyck, a Flemish painter, then introduced oil paints.

The use of oil paints quickly spread throughout Northern countries and discovered this new way of painting. Also during the Northern Renaissance, some artists moved away from traditional Italian styles of painting such as painting exquisite faultless images of Jesus to far more realistic figures full of expression and emotion and also moved further towards Gothic architecture. Northern artists also painted far more highly detailed and realistic portraits, whereas Italians found this skill more difficult to grasp in the beginning “the individual portrait became one of the major challenges to an artist’s skill”[ii]. Italy was greatly influenced by its history had continued to imitate the styles of its past,”artistic power often from the ancients”[iii]. Italy eventually discovered oil paints and adapted and moved away from their traditional fresco method. Italy realised it was a superior way of painting.

More complex ways of painting were introduced such as the use of composition, sense of depth and colour. Italy’s painters were greatly influenced by Greek and Roman ways of life and imitated them into their paintings, “Italian humanists had pioneered the discovery of classical texts, and had prompted an awareness of the pre - Christian societies of Greece and Rome”^[iv]. Whereas for the Northern countries they were influenced by Greek and Roman style to a certain extent but eventually moved away to doing their own way of painting. Northern countries refused to generalise or simplify their work, the Northern Renaissance had a “love of detailed description at is core”^[v].

Rosier Van Der Weyden, “Deposition from the Cross” 1435, Prado Madrid

This piece by Weyden was created as an altar piece. It was painted to just about fit its unusual haped frame that "reinforces the shape of the church^[vi] with its higher central nave and lower side aisles. This was a new way of expressing Jesus on the cross and depicts Jesus fully removed from the cross and gently handed to mourning friends. Jesus’ body is realistically limp and heavy in comparison to Masaccio’s “Holy Trinity” where Jesus stands stiff and lacking realism. The realism in Weyden’s paintings greatly contrasts that of Masaccio’s. Weyden paints Jesus’ body pale and pure with only the wounds on his hands and feet, the wound to his side and blood running down his forehead from his crown. Even the wounds are neatly done, being careful as to not ruin Jesus’ pristine and pure essence. Weyden pays extraordinary attention to detail and expression and painted in such a way that the figures have the same characteristics a sculpture would, “he presented the ultimate painterly illusion of sculpted contrivance”^[vii]. There is also incredible detail to the tears and every detail on each person’s face, clothing and body and clearly visible. There is a great sense of mourning in this painting. Each person in this painting expresses individually their sadness towards Jesus’ death. The woman in blue is Mary, Jesus’ mother. Mary fainting from her sorrow mirrors Jesus’ limp lifeless body. There is very little depth to this painting composition wise. There is enough space in the bottom of the frame to hold several figures but there is very little space for the cross and helper with his ladder. It is almost as if they fade into the background and are not the focus point of the painting. Jesus is being held by Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus, who both seem to protrude from the painting and Jesus even more so. Due to the gold gilding in the background, this allows the colours on the figures to stand out much more.

Masaccio, “The Holy Trinity” 1425-27/28 Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy

Masaccio is an artist from the Italian Renaissance. Masaccio’s painting of a similar scene to Weyden of Jesus and the cross lacks the technical realism Weyden has in his paintings. “The Holy Trinity” is a fresco painting. The fresco was painted in sections as to allow the plaster dry correctly. The figures in this painting also lack the emotion and expression that Weyden is able to express in his paintings. These differences are clearly evident when looking at the two artist’s paintings. Masaccio’s depicts Jesus on the cross in a different manner to Weyden. Jesus stands stiff at the cross, skin of grey colours and seems somehow more ragged, “Masaccio art is one of rugged, austere realism”[viii]. However Masaccio pays more attention to composition than that of Weyden. There is a lot of depth to this painting. Mastering Brunelleschi’s skill of linear composition, by making a “mathematically faultless version of his newly discovered formulation of the rules governing classical architecture”^[ix], gave the painting a great sense of depth that Weyden lacks in his painting of the “Deposition”. Due to the great composition there is a sense that there is an entire barrel vaulted chapel behind Jesus, “to make pictorial space look like the real space in which men moved”[x]. All the lines of the architecture meet in the centre of the painting where Jesus stands. Jesus is the focus of this painting. God, the Father stands above Jesus and Mary and Joseph stand a step below him. The painting is separated into two sections, where Jesus and the chapel are above and a tomb holding a skeleton below. Where Masaccio lacks in extremely detailed realism he excels in composition and giving his paintings a large amount of depth and symmetry.

Although there are many differences between the Italian and Northern Renaissance, it is a sign of progression. The Italians paid more attention to making their paintings more symmetrical and well balanced and have mastered composition and underlying anatomy in comparison to the Northern Renaissance that focussed on realism and minute detail. It is clear that over the years the Northern countries during the Renaissance advanced their skills and techniques by learning and imitating Italy’s classical methods of composition and subject matter. The religious theme can be seen throughout the art of both periods which is the one similarity between the two. Religious paintings were the most popular, “the demand was overwhelming for paintings with religious content”[xi] and most profitable at the time since the Catholic Church had a lot of power and influence over the countries. Also social rankings were a major part in supporting the artists in making their art. Only the nobility could afford the work of these artists, “the illusion of all the wealth and beauty that only the nobility could afford”[xii].

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References

[i] [1] Murray, Linda. (1967) “The High Renaissance and Mannerism”. Thames and Hudson Ltd. Print. Pg.7

[ii] [2]Hale, John. (1977) “Italian Renaissance Painting: Masaccio to Titian”. Phaidon Press Ltd. Print. Pg.11

[iii] [3] Harbison, Craig. (1995) “The Art of the Northern Renaissance”. George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd. Print. Pg.24

[iv] [4] Hale, John. (1977) “Italian Renaissance Painting: Masaccio to Titian”. Phaidon Press Ltd. Print. Pg.11

[v] [5] Harbison, Craig. (1995) “The Art of the Northern Renaissance”. George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd. Print. Pg.39

[vi] [6] Harbison, Craig. (1995) “The Art of the Northern Renaissance”. George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd. Print. Pg.44

[vii] [7] Harbison, Craig. (1995) “The Art of the Northern Renaissance”. George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd. Print. Pg.44

[viii] [8] Hale, John. (1977) “Italian Renaissance Painting: Masaccio to Titian”. Phaidon Press Ltd. Print. Pg.22

[ix] [9] Hale, John. (1977) “Italian Renaissance Painting: Masaccio to Titian”. Phaidon Press Ltd. Print. Pg.22

[x] [10] Hale, John. (1977) “Italian Renaissance Painting: Masaccio to Titian”. Phaidon Press Ltd. Print. Pg.13

[xi] [11] Hale, John. (1977) “Italian Renaissance Painting: Masaccio to Titian”. Phaidon Press Ltd. Print. Pg.11

[xii] [12] Harbison, Craig. (1995) “The Art of the Northern Renaissance”. George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd. Print. Pg.47

Bibliography

 

1.      Hale, John. Italian Renaissance Painting: Masaccio to Titian. Phaidon Press Ltd. 1977. Print.

2.      Murray, Linda. The High Renaissance and Mannerism. Thames and Hudson Ltd. 1967. Print.

3.      Harbison, Craig. The Art of the Northern Renaissance. George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd. 1995. Print.

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I tried my best when doing this essay not to do any plagerism. I uploaded it to turnitin and got 6%, all that was highlighted red were my reference titles... kind of odd but I'm still happy. Basically I had absolutely no plagerism in the essay...delighted!

Completed animation

I finally fully finished my animation today. It's all edited and sound effects added. This is the first ever video that I have made. Not a bad first attempt I think!

Enjoy! :) ....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Animation preparation

I had two weeks for my animation elective. At the beginning of these two weeks we were given a brief 'I walked in the door and...' , we could make any sort of animation based on this brief, absolutely anything! Our imaginations could run wild, that's the great thing about animation!

I decided to go with the first thing that popped into my head. I brainstormed a bit and chose an idea that seemed the most appealing... my dough man character! We all know him from my previous blogs! I've grown attached to my little dough man, we've been through a lot together haha!

Firstly, I had to plan out all the movements using tracing paper, then transfer the finished images back to the paper and then cut out the figures and add details. I drew everything by hand so it took quite some time and work to achieve the result, was lots of fun though! I ended up with a lot of little dough men doing different actions and of course to add on to this I had to cut things like props such as the door for example. I then had to take lots of photos of the set up scene moving items slightly that needed to move in the video. My animation is done using the stop motion method.

Here are some photo's of my work and preparation to achieve my final result:

These are some of the tracings I did. The first draft of my figures. I hung them on the wall to help me piece together my story. My wall eventually started looking quite busy and like an animation itself.

 

 

 

These are all my cut outs. Each motion had to be drawn twice and cut out separately. It's time consuming but it's worth it in the end when you get all excited about piecing together your final result.

 

My favourite scene in my animation are probably the falling scenes. I'm quite happy with how they turned out! The short sound effects really add to the video too. I decided sound effects would add more to the video rather than trying to find a song that suited my animation. I find the man scream pretty funny!! It's unexpected and loud and hopefully makes the viewer smile a little!

Along with these I have a sketchbook that I continued from last semester. In it I put all my tracings, directions and plans, scripts and storyboards.

All very busy!

ANIMATION!!!!!

I started my animation elective. We started off by watching lots of animations and anime's... brilliant! What a great way to start off class! I guess finding and watching these animations counts as contextual work, looking at how they are made and the styles they were drawn/made in.

This is one of the anime's I found particularly funny: 'A Gathering of Cats' ( Neko no Shuukai ) ...enjoy! A cat planning world domination because humans keep standing on his tail. It's the bitter sweet life of a cat....

 

 

This is another animation that stood out for me, 'Ohayo' (オハヨウ) Satoshi Kon. I found the style of anime was beautifully drawn and the story was simple and effective. Enjoy!...

 



 

 

This is a really cute animation with a lovely love story, based on soulmates:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aTLySbGoMX0

 

 

 

I found this animation pretty adorable!!!!!! and a really nice story! Enjoy!...

 



 

 

A typical Pixar looking bird. Funny story based on the difficult life of birds on a telephone wire. Enjoy!...



 

 

This is really funny!...Enjoy!...

 

 

'Big Buck Bunny'... poor guy gets bullied and gets his own back, a cute and funny animation, enjoy!...



 

I thought this was a really well made animation, it has the typical stop motion appearance and flows really well. |'Ten Thousand Pictures of You', enjoy!....

 



 

'Darkness Light Darkness' (1990) by Jan Svankmajer. A extremely well made claymation. I find myself conficted watching this. I like it yet dislike it. It's well made yet creepy! (mainly the creepy face...no offence!)It's an animation about becoming aware of your own body as you grow.

 

 

A short film from 'Wall-E' that I recently discovered. Love that film and the short films related to it.