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Appreciation of Neighbourhood
Art (Paint)

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My focus in this placement is, to begin with, a sketchbook by collecting the different ideas from each stage. I introduced the purpose of a sketchbook and create a mind map with ideas following the theme in the first week. I encouraged the students to create it with some drawings and colours to support the ideas, however, the length of creating this might be too long for them to focus. At the same time, some students could even be focused on the first few minutes. For the 1st year (group 1), I introduced the different mediums of paint, however, this is too overwhelming for them to understand, so I only focused on introducing acrylic for 1st year (group 2).

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Example of student's work with the artist's research worksheet

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For these two groups of 1st year, I was planning to let the students look for an artist to complete the task with the school laptop, however, I was told that they might get distracted as they are still a beginner at using the laptop. After the discussion with the teacher, I decided to introduce two artists and chose one as their reference for painting. Two artists introduced Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh, so the focused art movement are Impressionism and post-Impressionism. They chose one artist to complete the worksheet which included some keywords and art elements to be studied. Some students weren't interested in the section as they wanted to focus on practicals without any artist reference. Besides, I also realized the planning could introduce the two artists separately so that they could complete another task in half of the lesson.

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Example of student's sketches within the exploration of different scales and frame

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Due to the consideration of drawing all the details from the full landscape will be too overwhelming, I came out with the idea of thumbnail sketching which will be focusing the smaller parts of each landscape to analyze as the final drawing. I introduced this with a demonstration on the whiteboard along with the pictures presented on the side. This somehow brings their interest in progress and I encouraged them to focus on the smaller parts of the landscape so it's easier to study the details for painting. however, some students refused to follow the concept of thumbnail sketching and intend to make it large scale which loses their focus in the progress.

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Appreciation of Neighbourhood
Craft (Print)

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The intention of the first week is the same as the other groups, however, the mind map is following the same theme as the other 1st year groups.

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Example of student's work with completed worksheet with sketches

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For this group of 1st year, I introduced two artists and they will be focused on an artist to analyze and as a reference for their design for linocut. Two artists have been introduced Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso who used strong lines and form which might help in their lino design. The intention has been done, however, I realized I should have introduced the relevant printmakers instead of a painter to present the idea of relief print.

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As I mentioned, the first weeks of progress are similar to the other 1st year. The intention of doing thumbnail sketching is to bring the idea of studying the details and lines for linocut. The drawing is influenced by the artist's research. Due to the limited materials, I was suggested to change the plan to a smaller scale of lino if it's a reduction print along with different colours, however, I was thinking this will be too overwhelming for the students as this is their first time doing print. After the supervision, I was suggested to present some simple relief prints to bring the idea of linocut.

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Innovative Product Design with Cardboard
Design (Sculpture)

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Example of student's work with some description for the different ideas

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Similarly, the intention of the first week is the same as the other groups, however, the mind map is following a different theme than the other 1st year groups. After this section of introduction and task, I introduced the different mediums and purposes of sculptures along with explaining the material that they are aiming to use to create their final design.

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Example of student's research on Salvador Dali along with some sketches

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To present the idea of the artist's research, I introduced two artists who are Eva Jospin, a contemporary artist who used cardboard for her work (a recent project is partnered with the Dior fashion show) and Salvador Dali, a Surrealist who bring the objects with dreamy effect. I think these two are suitable to develop their sculpture ideas from the use of materials and the idea of Surrealism. I gave one worksheet as a practice along with some keywords that are important to analyze the work for research. The second research is written down on the sketchbook with the questions on the board after the introduction. There's a section where they are sketching out the details that they notice from the artwork which will influence their design ideas.

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Example of student's one-point perspective drawing

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This lesson intends to teach them the purpose and method to study the 3D form of an object and they will be analyzing the form of their design. However, this should be a practice that can be done in a short length of time so they could focus more on designing an object with Surrealism.

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Example of student's design with Surrealism and different perspectives

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This stage of work intends to combine the irregular form of ideas to an object within the school environment to create the Surrealism effect. I also encouraged the idea of combining two objects to create a new idea for the not-making-sense object which could be interesting. After introducing "Object" by Merit Oppenheim, I suggested they think of creating different textures on the design while showing the examples (tear the thin layer to show the rough surface, scratches with scissors etc) they could try with cardboard. With the design, I encouraged them to sketch out the different perspectives to analyze the 3D form of the design. This also helps to analyze how to construct the design with techniques and materials.

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This stage intends to experiment with the material with tools while studying the form, technique and textures. Some students have decided to use the certain technique that has been introduced and they began the experiment by folding and carving the carboard. I encouraged them to begin with a smaller scale of work, however, I was suggested to encourage them in creating a bigger scale which will be easier to cut the pieces out. The experimenting helps to familiarise them with the relevant materials, however, it didn't help them much in developing the ideas.

After the supervision, I decided to make this a group project (can be individual as well if they want after the consideration of finishing the project within weeks). The students will be focused on combining Surrealism ideas to develop more ideas for a shoe.

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Example of student's experimenting with the acrylic along with description on how create the colours

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The colour theory practice intends to create a colour chart for their painting following the focused landscape. This is not only a practice in studying colours, but, it is also a practice in creating accurate colours with hue, tints, tones and shades from primary colours, black and white. This could be the reference for their landscape painting which can be developed in the future if needed.

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Example of student's work with relevant painting technique

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I introduced and demonstrated the two different painting techniques to show the differences, so they could apply the relevant technique to the painting following their chosen artist for their research. The purpose of this is not only to practice applying the colours following the colour chard but also to study the different techniques through history. However, most of the students only applied the base colours in this lesson and decided to apply another layer of colours with technique.

After the supervision, I have to change the material from thick cardboard to thinner cardboard which will be easier to present quality work. At the same time, I need to balance the teaching with the practical section to bring the interest of the students to engage in the art room.

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Example of student's final design influenced by Vincent van Gogh used of lines

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After discussing with the teachers, I was told the students could only use A5 lino due to the limited materials. Besides, they also suggested focusing on the technique first, so reduction or 2-block lino print will be much more difficult for the 1st year. In the end, the plan was refined from a two-colour block print to a one-colour block print which only focus on their basic understanding of lino cut.

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I introduced and demonstrate the technique in linocut with the consideration of safe ways in using the tools. I explained the ideas of remaining or reducing the black lines or outside of the lines which they will decide. After transferring the drawing to lino, I suggested they add stronger lines which help to differentiate the two areas and analyze which area to be remained or reduced. However, some students got confused even with demonstrating one-to-one before I hand each student the tools.

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Week 6: Collect Photographs around School Environment

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Week 6: Collect Photographs around School Environment

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To bring an emotional connection between the students and the subject matter, the teachers and I managed to lead them to collect some photographs around the main school building. Before the short tour, I roughly introduced the technique to get a good photograph with the consideration of clear quality, the main focus, balance composition, better lighting from directions and alignment shot etc. However, one of the challenges of this process is the morning light brings strong contrast to the subject and the background. After the tour, the students primed their pieces of new cardboard for the painting while I collect their photographs to be printed for the next class.

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Failures are always a challenge. When I used to be a Secondary school teacher, I always learned more about teaching when I faced a difficult class than a nice docile one. They made me go away and think about what I was doing and how I could do it better. Painting is no different.

I have been thinking about the composition of larger paintings. When I used to think about painting a scene I used to think in terms of "that's a small painting, it won't "stretch" to a larger canvas", or "That's a mountain, definately, therefore, it's subject suitable for a large canvas". I am parodying myself somewhat but generally, I have this feeling that small birds belong on small canvases and big landscapes belong on larger ones.

My thinking was challenged by a commission I did in the summer where a client asked for a very large version (120 x 90cm) of a relatively small painting (41 x 33 cm). So I scaled up and despite my anxiety, it worked. This was important as my confidence had been dented by a previous large landscape painting that hadn't work out for me.

It got me thinking about composition. I understood the basics and had looked of compositional grids in Artbooks as a teenager and thought I'd internalized them. I realized that I had got sloppy. I'll explain.

I am not going to do an information dump about theories of composition here (I have added links to some good blogs on the subject below) but the "rule of thirds" is one that springs to mind here. The idea that you should look for naturally occurring in divisions of thirds in a scene and try and locate points of interest at the intersection of the "Golden section".

I had been influenced by ideas of composition from photography and the work of artist-turned photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson,in particular.

I liked his use of diagonals in particular, and this has influenced my paintings of urban scenes.

When I came to Donegal I was so blown away by the vast overarching skies and majestic landscapes. I got very excited by everything I saw. I tried to capture everything. The houses, the mountains, the sea, and the sky. Most of the time it worked.

You can probably look through these paintings and tick off the composition approaches I instinctively used; the diagonal, the pyramid, the rule of thirds and so on. They all worked.

Then, it really pains me to admit it. I lost it. I got carried away and overreached myself and painted this big beast.

What was I thinking? There is far too much sky in this painting. Worse than that, it was a large canvas. There are things I like about the painting, the light on the island in the bottom half of the painting, but the sky was just too vast. It pained me that I had such a large reminder of my errors of judgment. I don't mind screwing up every now and then but I hate waste and that was an expensive canvas. It's no coincidence that I am planning a blog post on reusing stretcher bars to stretch my own canvases.

My confidence was dented. It put me off large paintings for quite some time. It wasn't until I did the commission I mentioned earlier, that I got thinking about what had gone wrong. I realized that I had to rigorously apply the same rule of composition to large canvases as I instinctively did to my small ones. So I tried an experiment, I took a successful composition of a medium size painting and did a much larger version of it. This composition was based on a compound curve.

It wasn't a copy of the smaller painting. It wasn't meant to be, although it was meant to encapsulate the same feel of the smaller work, with some adjustments. I have included some more detail, changed the tree, and added a shadow and a ditch in the bottom third of the painting. I think it worked.

I have since done another small oil sketch of another composition before I scale it up. It's another diagonal composition. Although, the larger version will not be "portrait" format but my usual "landscape" orientation.

I will add the larger version later in the week. So you will have to wait to see if that composition works as well as this smaller one. Watch this space!

Blogs on composition
http://photoinf.com/Golden_Mean/L_Diane_Johnson/The_Basics_of_Landscape_Composition.htm http://www.workovereasy.com/2019/06/13/a-beginners-guide-to-composition/ https://feltmagnet.com/painting/Value-Pattern-Painting-Composition

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Failures are always a challenge. When I used to be a Secondary school teacher, I always learned more about teaching when I faced a difficult class than a nice docile one. They made me go away and think about what I was doing and how I could do it better.

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Love and Death on a Sunny Day (2018) by George Shaw

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I used George Shaw's paintings to present the ideas of developing the landscape photograph they have collected for the new painting. The concept of developing the photograph included enlarging the area to be focused with balanced composition, and alignment, reducing unwanted objects and combining different backgrounds to get a better visual effect. I showed the stages of this process with an example photograph and an explanation of reducing and combining objects to avoid distraction and achieve a more interesting background for the painting.

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Week 8: Background, Midground and Foreground

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Week 8: Background, Midground and Foreground

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To demonstrate the stages and technique of applying acrylic for each layer with the consideration of background, midground to the foreground, I created a sample for the lesson and document with photographs which easily explain in the lesson. Some students were able to understand the thickness of the material able to cover the layers underneath to achieve the desired result, so the realization of the background, midground and foreground slowly been used at the end of the stage.

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Due to the short notice of the limited lesson, the students were encouraged to simplify their design by carving the parts that easy to create a relief effect yet still able to differentiate each area of the design. Some students follow the instruction and feedback that I've provided to complete the progress, however, some have expectations and patience in creating more details on design which is inspired by the physical example that I've demonstrated.

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During the process of continuing the painting, I reviewed a few times with the student's work at the front which their classmates could learn from each other with the expected technique along with the textures and colours. When they completed the work, I was able to do a small exhibition in school to encourage the students with their hard work.

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I demonstrate the technique of printing with the consideration of cleanliness and tidiness to create a good quality print. I even show examples to compare the differences and explain things to be avoided unnecessary attention from the audience. Then, I led the students who completed the linocut for test print and they were able to explore the tools, materials and technique. At the same time, the other students were allowed to continue the carving or develop the lino after their test print. They were also encouraged to continue printing to achieve their ideal outcome with some developments and analysis.

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Example of student's work with blue ink on yellow colour paper

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Week 8: Explore with Different Materials

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Week 8: Explore with Different Materials

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This is the last lesson with this group of students and half of the group wouldn't be attending the class expectedly following their school activity. However, I still prepared the lesson with the relevant tools and materials so they could use the opportunity to explore the different colour ink or colour paper etc while practising more in the technique.

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There's the same issue with getting their long-term attention and interest in the project. The lack of focus on design is the main part of issue in this project. Besides that, the project with printing is quite suitable for younger group students as it is a less complicated process for them.

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With the observation, I realize the theme for these groups' project was unable to connect them emotionally which led to their lack of interest and focus. Following the discussion with the cooperating teacher, I learned that as a teacher, we have to consider the students' background and school environment regarding their support in the project (or any academic subjects). Firstly, the students have to understand the purpose of the primary source to develop the theme of the project, however, it is difficult for them to collect or photograph them due to the limited support. So, as a teacher, we have to put the limited materials that we have to good use as extra support for the students. For example, begin with the art element project in each lesson to build up their ideas with the classroom equipment or self-portrait as the students have the interest to figure the details on their or classmates' portraits.

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Following the slow progress, I decided to move this project as a group project and combined the ideas from previous stages and each groupmate to the footwear design. This showed a huge improvement in their project compared to the previous stage. With the primary source, the students were able to observe the form and details of their ideas in creating the cardboard footwear. I even presented examples with the term Chindogu (the practice of inventing ingenious everyday gadgets that seem to be ideal solutions to particular problems, but which may cause more problems than they solve) for creative ideas from the school environment and combined with the design.

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Week 8 & Week 9: Style, Balance and Quality

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Week 8 & Week 9: Style, Balance and Quality

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By the time of short notice of schedule, I realized there was only 1 double and 1 single class left with both 2nd-year groups. With encouragement and assistance, they were motivated to develop and complete their work. Meanwhile, we had a group review to consider the balance and quality of the design to attract the audience's attention to the work. This brought the idea of analyzing during the process to refine and develop the work till the final stage. At the final stage, we were able to discuss the focus they could have for the future if they design footwear again, they have the realization that they could be improved the design with weight and form balance along with the smooth edges of each part of the footwear.

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As mentioned before about the issue of subject matter, they weren't able to realize there were so many objects surrounding them for ideas which led to slow progress while experimenting with the cardboard. So, the plan change brought benefits which motivated them in the project with their interest to focus. The shoe as a primary source is an interesting subject matter for the students as they are daily use items to which they have a sort of connection to them. Following the discussion with the cooperating teachers, I learned that I could show the images of each stage to present the expectation of each lesson instead of showing all to present the final expectation. Besides, I was encouraged to show more physical work to discuss the improvement that could be done, so they could emotionally be connected with schoolmates from previous years. At the same time, consider the mixture in the seating plan so they can observe and review to learn from each other.