I'm just gonna put this idea down, so I don't forget! While I was on the train earlier, I was listening to Pink Floyd and that bit just before Time comes on is actually really cool. All clocks ticking and going off and stuff! I really want to put sounds into my project now. I mean I could use that snippet and repeat it or find a sound clip or ... something! I also really want to make an animation, after looking at Harrison's first timepiece that he made. There were two parts connected with a spring that met together and moved apart - it was reaallyy cool. I totally want to make something with that idea. So little time! Aah!

I knew there would come a point where I fail at updating.

(I have been ill though!)

Tuesday 22nd March: Jenny took apart her TV. It was a goldmine of wires and crazy things to photograph. I love her project! I don't think she knows what the hell she wants to make, but it's gonna be good!

 

I did some collage, as Julia suggested (since my tissue paper components had dried) and it's coming along nicely. I also made some backgrounds to work on.

I also spoke to Nicky who suggested I look at auras. I think she thought one of my pieces showed that idea in some way... I wasn't so sure, but I'll still think about it! Although she did also get me thinking about nerves and electricity. And maybe even thinking about what happens when something in the body doesn't work... Interesting stuff!

Wednesday 23rd March: Nicky had given me some wire to work with (I wasn't entirely sure why) so I decided to make a sort of brain shape out of it. I've been looking into emotions and I found out a lot of science-y stuff recently. Been drawing a lot of diagrams... So yeah, I made a (very basic) little brain and Limbic System wire-y thing. I did some relief prints over the top and they came out alright I think!

Thursday 24th March: Went to the Science Museum and I tried to do some drawing, but I didn't get much done... Oops. So I took some photographs to work on later, haha. Since the weather was so nice, we decided to go to the park nearby instead, bahaha.

Friday 25th March (today!) : I made up for yesterday by going to the Maritime Museum & The Royal Observatory in Greenwich. I studied some of Harrison's clocks and did some proper drawings! It was really interesting in there, (admittedly I didn't get much time to read all the information) but the movement and seeing all the parts were fantastic!

Also, I find whenever I draw in museums, kids love to watch you! It's hilarious. It started out with just two boys quizzing me;

"Are you trying to draw that?"
"Wow, I bet that's hard!"
"What are you using? Aren't you going to get all messy?"
"Where'd you get that book you're drawing in?"

Then I found myself surrounded by kids, and even a teacher!

"What's your name?"
"I really like your drawing."
"So, you're looking at that, and then drawing it down there?"
"Wow, that's amazing."

Seriously, can I just illustrate books for kids? At least they'd appreciate it!

I didn't get to take any pictures actually inside, but I did get a few around the Observatory and such!

Started off the day by taking Julia's advice. She suggested I print onto tissue paper using the actual components and then using them for collage! So I spent all morning printing away. I ended up using 'yellow ochre' simply because I couldn't get the lid off the black ink! But I like it anyway.

So after lunch, these prints were still wet and Dave was looming. Eventually he caught up with me and said he liked what I'd done so far. He asked what I was gonna do next and I kinda shrugged and mumbled. He nodded and told me to keep printing and that he'd had an idea. He went off into the cupboard, grabbed some stuff and then took me to the skip to find ... well, anything. We picked up an old floppy disk but not much else.

He then showed me how to do a relief print (really easy, but so effective in my opinion!) You basically stick something under this brown paper and roll over the top with an inked-up roller. Lovely.

This is evidently Dave's favourite process, since he did about five before he let me even have a go. I kept on going until he left, and when he came back, I'd done at least 20 prints! I started using my own shapes and components and it's all starting to look pretty cool. Especially on the aluminium foil!

So hopefully all this stuff will be (vaguely) dry tomorrow so I can work with it.

Otherwise, I'm gonna be b o r e d.

The drawing on the back of my print...

Day Three didn't go according to plan. I was supposed to go to the Science Museum, but felt ill so didn't go. Same as today actually, I had been meaning to go to the Maritime Museum, but both me and mum felt it was too long a journey if we didn't feel 100%.

Nevertheless, Day Four did go to plan! I decided to get out of the studio and work in the print room which was cool and pretty quiet. I didn't feel too well still, but I decided to do something fairly simplistic. The photo above and below show what I worked on the whole day.

I used one of my small silhouette templates to draw three heads, and using the components and bits me and Ashley gathered the other day, I drew around those too. I tried out random pieces first, then all circular pieces and then a negative/positive combination of nuts and washers.

Here's the actual print when turned over;

I love mono-printing so much! You don't have to do very much to get a good result! Haha. My teachers said they liked it too which was cool.

So for the rest of the weekend I think I'll be planning for next week, getting my proposal right and maybe I'll start looking at that Wimbledon portfolio...

Day Two: I started with trying to find a working OHP, which took me long enough. I then was able to start drawing silhouettes, and do it fairly large scale. So that felt pretty good. Although by the time I'd done a few, I wasn't so sure if it was such a good idea anymore. It's so annoying, it's all I've thought about recently and now I'm starting to doubt whether I can make this into 'the best project I've ever done'...

SIGH.

I saw Ashley later on walking around with a box of screws, bolts and metal and instantly asked her what she was up to. Turns out she plans on making a Steampunk type thing too. Whether I inspired her, I sincerely doubt but I was interested anyway. She said I should come along with her to the skip and see if we could find anything and we found tonnes of stuff. We even nagged the engineering guys for stuff and they didn't disappoint!

Wandering around the skip we found a migwelder (I had no idea. I had to be told several times what it was because I kept forgetting the name of it) and apparently we could take it as it was broken. We hauled it down to Sarah's workshop and asked if we could take it apart. I think she was even more excited than we were to get stuck in. So with her (and Jenny decided to come along too...) help, we took it apart and found the most amazing and intriguing machine parts. By the end, we had tonnes of stuff to work with!

I had great fun taking it all apart and collecting all this stuff... my only worry now is what the hell will I do with it? How can I actually put it into my work? I have all these ideas but I'm worried they won't work and... oh. I don't know. I worry the teachers have high expectations of me and I won't or can't fulfill them. I'm taking on all their suggestions and ideas I just.... ugh. This is supposed to be fun, not stressful!

I had another chat with Nicky which was pretty interesting. I don't think she (or any of the teachers in fact) had noticed my life-size painting on the wall. I pointed at it while we were talking and she seemed surprised almost... Eh. She suggested I think about processes in the body or something; trying to show the nervous system, emotion or even thought as it goes through the brain. I liked that idea a lot! At the end she said, "Well, that's the most positive feedback I've ever had."

I try and stay positive, even if worry and negativity are creeping up on me...

I realise now that it looks a bit uh... grim. But that's just a background layer... thing. It won't stay like that I promise! Haha. It's just lots of layers of black and red ink, brown gouache and water.

Well today was Day One~ of the FMP! I wasn't particularly excited to start since I'd already planned things to exhaustion with all those bloody 'Action Plans' I filled out... (Although, I think it could've been something to do with it being Monday! Ha!) But as the day progressed, I made some silhouette stencils and used Maddie as my first person to draw around!

Annoyingly, I didn't get around to asking about using an OHP for silhouette-drawing... But hey, I can do that tomorrow for Day Two! I got talking to Dave too and he suggested I could project something moving (machinery or whatnot) actually onto a piece of work. I hadn't thought of that! Such a shame Dave only teaches on Monday... ffffuuuu.

Today was a bit slow. Part of me wonders why they even told us to come in, since for most of the day people just sat and talked. I tried to busy myself as best as possible by planning, writing lists and sorting out my proposal. I also got a book out about Tinguely which is fantastic.

Ok, Jean Tinguely is really, really cool!

So, today I presented my idea to the group and it went really well! I was nervous for no reason whatsoever since it was perfectly fine. The teachers even suggested things I had considered anyway - particularly in terms of scale and maybe using animation within my work. (I'd sorta mentioned how I'd photographed the machines in movement, while at Kew Bridge, to perhaps create an animation of some kind...)

They suggested that I look at Rebecca Horn and Jean Tinguely as well as kinetic sculpture as a whole.

Then afterwards Nicky came over to me and we discussed perhaps using real components that move or light up! And I spoke to Jenny about working with silhouettes and drawing around people to get the body shapes I'll need to work with.

Aah, it's all coming together now.

Now I think I'll check out that Steampunk Iron Man video Kevin told me about...

 

Looks a bit like a face - he looks a bit sleepy. If I were to make a Steampunk-type character, I could definitely use this in some way. Might even use it in a collage or something... 

So much to consider, so little time, haha.

More FMP Research... I just can't get enough of all those gauges they have around the place. Sure they're for safety and to check the levels of steam and heat... but they just look so cool.

Usually for research I draw and photograph anything and everything that I'm interested in or find at that moment when looking around. I was at the Kew Bridge Steam Museum recently with my dad and they turned on all the steam engines and just wow, it was really cool. Admittedly this photo is not of a steam engine, but I really liked the way it looked. The lighting and everything...

This is part of a huge collection of photos that I took for initial research into my Final Major Project. Problem is, I really want to do this Steampunk/Human Body idea that I have... but I haven't been able to present my ideas to the teachers yet!

I finally will tomorrow... I hope and pray they like my idea and don't try and change it too much - I've had so much fun doing the research so far!