University Campus Suffolk

Looking back over this last year of uni and thinking about the work I have made and I can honestly say I am so pleased with the paintings I have created. At the beginning of third year I had a very different idea in my head of the work I wanted to make, mainly because of the link with my dissertation and studio practice. But when my dissertation was completed and I got back in the studio I really didn’t feel a connection with the work I was making and couldn’t see this idea progressing any further in a positive way. Plus if I couldn’t enjoy and connect with my work then how could I expect the viewer to.

But after changing my project to the current one I really enjoyed being in the studio again, which I am so pleased about. It would of been horrible not enjoying my last year of uni because I wasn’t enjoying the work I was making and it would seem silly to continue a project I didn’t enjoy just because the topic linked with my dissertation.

This project has given me the opportunity to look at artist’s work I already knew a bit about as well as discovering new artists like Samantha Keely Smith, Paul Bennett and Jessica Oliver.

The paintings I have created have been exactly what I set out to achieve and I think looking back over my work from this year I can see a real progression since I started the final year, as well as since starting uni in first year. When I first started this course I dont think I would of planned to be working on a large scale like I currently am. But now whenever I imagine a piece in my head that I want to create I cant think of it being much smaller than the paintings I have up for the degree show.

I have had some ideas about how I want this project to continue after I have finished uni and have mentioned them in a previous post. So hopefully once I leave uni and move back to Harwich I can continue my practice on the current scale I am working on and that my painting technique will improve over time so I can create some really amazing pieces.

Seeing as I have my work up ready for the degree show I have started working on some small paintings in my sketch book testing ideas I have had for larger paintings.

Just because this year is coming to an end doesn’t mean I am going to stop with this project. I have enjoyed working on this project more than any other I have worked on before, so I really want to continue with this theme of work.

I have been testing some small ideas for working portrait rather than the landscape canvases I have currently been working on. I’m not sure exactly how this will transfer onto larger scale but it’s an idea I can try next hopefully.

The last week has been really busy with sorting out the studio ready the degree show and assessment. Im feeling really good about everything so far, I got my walls painted, helped move everything out the studio and then put three of my paintings up on the wall.

I had originally planned to only have my two big canves next to each other on one wall. However after sorting through my paintings and getting things organised I had another painting that I really liked and wanted to show rather than have it as supporting work in the assessment. Luckily there was a wall free next to my other paintings. So I am now showing three paintings in the degree show.

At the end of last week I started working on my second 4x6ft canvas. I wanted to create a different sense of atmosphere compared to the first one. I feel like I have achieved this. However when I have been in the studio this week I feel like there could be more added to it. I have worked on it a little more yesterday and am starting to feel better about it, although I still think they are missing something, just not sure what!

Once I have both paintings on the wall I will see if I think they need more done to them. I think it will be easier once they are on the wall to know whether or not I should add to the painting.

Even though we are coming to the end of this degree project I am still finding artists work that is inspiring and also relates to my subject matter and me.

Thanks to social media like Facebook and Instagram I came across the artists Samantha Keely Smith and Jessica Oliver by accident.

After seeing a few images of both artists work it made me want to look a little more in depth at each artist and their paintings.

Samantha Keely Smith

Essex born artist Samantha Keely Smith paints ‘abstract ocenic landscapes’. She mainly works with shellac, enamel and oil paint, materials that I havent really used within my own practice (except from some experiments with oil paints towards the start of this project).

I found a quote from Smith which relates a lot to my paintings . . .

“My images are not at all real places or even inspired by real places. They are emotional and psychological places. Internal landscapes, if you will. The tidal pull and power of the ocean makes sense to me in terms of expressing these things, and I think that is why some of the work has a feel of water about it. My work speaks of things that are timeless, and I think that for most of us the ocean represents something timeless.”

My work is not based on any real place or copied from any image, what smith says really relates to me and makes me think about my work a lot more in relation to them being emotional and psychological places.

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/04/internal-lan…

http://www.samanthakeelysmith.com

Jessica Oliver

Jessica Oliver is an artist from suffolk that is now living in london. Oliver works from the natural environment.

“When painting from landscape my intent is to represent the light, impact, immersion and energy experienced in nature. The viewer’s exploration of atmosphere and the visual and visceral surface of the paintings is my main focus, using abstraction to re-invent an experience of space.”

http://www.jessoliver.co.uk

http://instagram.com/jessoliver_