Mid Project Blues...

It happens every so often, I get to the mid-way point of a project and suddenly feel uninspired and lost. A kind of writer's block takes over and I find myself doing anything but my project.

Yesterday I decided to catch the train back home for the weekend, with the aim of focusing my ideas and coming up with an action plan to hopefully re-ignite my inspiration and enthusiasm for my work.

I began looking through my collection of old Elle Magazines, and realised lately I've lost my interest in fashion. Through college my textiles projects were always heavily influenced by collections I had researched and designers I loved. I think this really enriched my work and so I decided I really need to start trawling through Style.com and WGSN again for my current work.

This led me to thinking about how the way I complete projects and respond to briefs has changed. I have learned new ways of doing things and avenues to explore whilst at uni, however I don't want to forget methods that worked really well for me in the past.

So I decided to write a list of roots to explore, things to do, elements to include, and places to draw inspiration from that I can come back to when "designers block" strikes. So here is my recipe for a lively, successful project;

General Internet Research

Primary research photos

Word Mind Map

Mini mood board sketchbook page with;

internet images

magazine cut outs

photocopies from books

sketches

colours

Observational drawings

experiment with media;

combining media

collage

photocopy images and draw on top of/collage with.

size

line 

tone

Experiment with drawing exercises.

Draw inspiration from 

books

films, film posters

illustrations

adverts

trailers

music videos

look books

Tv 

blogs

art movements

Inspirational visits

collecting

walking

journeys

travel

documentary's

trends

carry a small research book

annotate

keep referring to the brief

document stages of the project

keep a diary

set yourself challenges eg. a ten min drawing a day.

talking to friends

gathering opinions

shared experiences

cooking

recipe's

music

Processes

style.com

WGSN

Welsh Textiles

Fashion weeks

Mission Gallery

Tate

National Museums

art projects

magazines journals 

library

graduate work

brands

boutique shops

Interior design

Pinterest

Photoshop

The high street

make mini books

'zines

Marquette for final pieces

experiment with layout

Make something just for fun

This list is kind of incoherent, but hopefully it will spark some idea if I read over it when I get stuck. I think I'll keep adding to it, maybe re-write it. But if in the mean time it inspires someone else's project then great! 

The City Project Ideas Moodboard

The two weeks of rsearch ended and this is a quick moodboard I put together to convey some of my ideas;

Sites;

The Arcades

Llandaff Cathedral

Main topics Researched;

General History

Welsh History of Textiles

Welsh Textile Designers/Artists

The Welsh Blanket

Shawls

Quilting/Patchwork

Maps

Architecture

Vague Ideas/Key words;

The Hidden City

Highlighting undiscovered/un-noticed spaces

Narratives

Prommoting heritage

Celebrating history

Creating patchwork from maps.

Even Vaguer points of interest;

Vintage Fabrics.

Old Crafts

stories passed on

threads of narrative

street lamps

doors

door knockers

bells

shop windows

collecting

jars

glass,wood,metal

memory

carving

honouring the past

fragments of life

Typography

Hidden treasures.

Jacobs Market

During the first two weeks of my current project I visited Jacob's Antique Centre.

Open Thursdays to Saturdays 9.30 to 5.00, Their leaflet boasts;

50 dealers with a wide variety of;

Jewellery, Silver, Lace, Art Deco, Books, Furniture, Treen, Tools, Flatware, Glass, China, Pottery, Toys, Militaria, comics, Clothes, Postcards, Prints, Copper, Brass, Watches, Clocks, etc.

There are;

Collectables for the Collector

Curios for the Curious

Coffee in the Coffee Shop for the Thirsty!! (Ha!)

Its tucked away at the bottom of St. Mary's Street, Cardiff, under the railway bridge, and is an aladdins cave. Its three stories jammed with antiques from across the decades and cabinets full of treasures to be discovered. 

There's bags of inspiration, you could do 100 projects inspired by this place. They have a website look them up!

Here are some photo's I took;

The City Project

The second term at uni is dedicated to the project 'The City'. Students from every dicipline of art in the year group were given the same brief. We spent the first two weeks researching the city in small groups made up of students from each art/design course.

We were given a list of sites in Cardiff to explore. We then had to decide on two sites to research in depth, which we would later take forward to create a project and eventually a final piece around.

I decided to work with The Arcades and Llandaff Cathedral, here are some initial research photo's I took;

The Trees

This morning was one of those crisp, fresh, clear and frosty-type winter mornings, so I went out to take some photo's in the woods behind my house;

The Fern Leaf

Inspired by Wednesday's walk I set up my desk and made some art;

I picked out the fern leaf as an interesting motif to work from, and started with some inky drawings;

I then began to work with a colour story  I hadn't used before;

Black
White
Gold

After making the inky drawings I progressed on to printing with fern leaves and using them as stencils.

I also introduced a triangle stamp, I liked the contrast of the geometric shape with the natural form of the fern leaf. It was also a nice way link in the colour story with block colour.

 Finally I experimented with pattern making. I used really basic techniques/media which made for a scruffy/rustic look which I think works well.

Walking on Sunshine!

Yesterday the weather was beautiful and sunny which makes a change from the otherwise constant rainy, misty and dark days of late. 

So I went for a quick walk behind my back garden and took some photos...