Saint Mary's Church, Stafford

Further photographing opportunities with my grandmother in Stafford. Inspired me enough to FINISH MY COMIC ABOUT THE BEGINNING OF TIME AND SPACE. Yep, that's right, I finished it! and the portfolio is looking great. Just need to wait for boots to stop pissing around with my photographs and print them already, and then the work I've been doing since I stopped going to uni will be all finished and beautifully presented.

Some kind of progress

Slowly starting to build up layers on this piece. We got my particular spin on illuminated manuscript, with all the letter forms taken from this old doodle from last year. Originally spelling "In the beginning" the famous phrase that begins a certain controversial old book, this is part of my attempt to recreate a science-based story about the beginning of the universe using religious visual language.

Not sure if it needs more doing to it yet but I'm liking where it's heading. Softened some of the rigid felt-tip lines with water to create a more organic look, to compliment the glass forms. Torn up graph paper, netting and stitching are used similarly to move away from the rigid outline of the squared paper. A lot of religious-based art borrows heavily from nature, so it wouldn't make sense to create an excessively man-made industrial-feeling piece.

Began mounting the glass work for my portfolio, just needs silicon-ing in place. Squared paper gives it a nice scrap-book feel. Blue felt-tip pen geometric drawings to make the thin blue glass strips melt in seamlessly. It's strange because I preferred the top drawing the most when it was in front of me, but I think the bottom image looks better now it's on the computer screen.

Can't help thinking that it's missing something though. Stitching? Inks? collage? Not quite sure yet so it might be one of those leave-it-for-a-few-days-and-come-back-to-it jobs. It's gonna drive me mad trying to think of what it needs. Letters? Might try dabbing water onto the lines in the top drawing (I always use washable felt tips for that exact purpose). Or maybe it just needs re-drawing completely.

It's so irritating knowing that there's just something not quite right about it.

Le webcam

 Le Shiny Big camera <3

Le Not-so-great camera

 Le Big Shiney Camera <3 (painting now slightly damaged by cigarette smoke though, grandmother you fiend!)

oh my god the pixels.

Nicer folio pictures

New 'folio page to co-incide with the bird canvas I did (on the right). Once again, woeful photo-taking efforts from my webcam but I'm quite chuffed with the layout so far.

'Folio

I have also started mounting some of the work I've been producing within the last year so that I can make a professional portfolio, just starting out with some of the stuff I made at unit 12 under the supervision of Emily Notman which I can upload online and maybe get myself a proper website (gonna take better photos than these obviously but these are just so ye can get the rough idea).

This is the first 'folio I've built all by myself without other people telling me what to put in it and so I'm a little bit nervous but excited. Might take a while to get hold of some of the pieces (like the painting I did for my grandmother that I need to scan on an A3 photocopier, the glass I did from a Saturday crafternoon with The Cultural Sisters since I'm no longer in Stoke-On-Trent or getting hold of a camera for my ceramic pieces that isn't totally rubbish) but if I'm living life without challenges, then I'm pretty sure that counts as 'Doing It Wrong'.