Evaluation

I feel I have continued to challenge myself throughout this unit although I have been ill, I feel starting embroidery this year was a massive risk. I have not fulfilled my skills in this unit however I do see development in my work considering it was a new area for me. My Photoshop skills have improved, improving my digital prints, which I would like to focus more on in the next unit.

The first unit went relatively smoothly, I kept drawing and got inducted on new machines therefore starting sampling and experimenting with the skills I had gained. As drawing is definitely one of my strengths I thoroughly enjoyed focusing most of my time on that, from my initial rough drawings to final paintings have really improved even in the weeks of the practice unit where I have managed to go to workshops and take advice off advance painters and drawers to again improve my skills in this area. Using colour is certainly not something that comes naturally to me, but having such a monochrome portfolio me and my tutor felt I should experiment, although it failed it did give me the chance to realise I want to engage with colour a lot more in unit x.

Deciding on a live brief was hard for me as I wanted to relate it to the subject I was passionate about but also create something for a company or individual. The denim jacket brief was perfect for what I want to achieve and I am happy with the outcome. However, it has flagged up some issues with my practice, if I was going to start this brief again I would definitely take advice off technicians in the art school if they had the time and I would make more samples for the embroidered image on the back. I do like the idea of taking out pieces and replacing them but I would also in future like to print my own fabrics or make my own lace and replace them with that rather than bought lace.

For the last four weeks I really wanted and tried to bring out my skills and talent in painting and drawing which meant a lot of the things I did were extremely time consuming therefore not producing as much work as previous weeks. Even though this is a negative on this project I also believe the paintings I produced, two of which I have chosen to be my final ones, were very strong and were worth that time taken on them. This aside I have certainly grown with my painting and really let go with it proving to be successful.

This unit has been a roller-coaster for me I have had many ups and some downs, I am extremely proud of how far I have come and that I have managed to not only finish this unit, but finish it with work I am proud of and mistakes that I will most certainly learn from. As my health has deteriorated this year I have been in and out of university but really trying to make the most out of a bad situation and not letting it come between getting my degree. Even though it is extremely hard, I feel I have been able to achieve a good level and standard of work to the best of my ability at this time. As I am starting to get better I am ready to start unit x and get myself completely stuck into it, take myself out of my comfort zone and produce original work for the degree show.