To finish the final outcome of the data project, I am writing an evaluation of my planning, research, process and piece. In this I will consider my strengths and weaknesses, the link to the theme and the different components of the project:
Evaluation:
One of the key components of this project and final piece is the planning and research which provides the data and shows the inspiration behind it – because of the importance of the link to the topic of data I decided to place a heavy focus on this aspect of the project. I completed a lot of research on both the original album cover and artist Storm Thorgerson, as well as the experiment itself with first hand experience and landscape photographers. I feel that this research really helped me get a better idea of the topic, which I was able to represent through the different components of the piece and the planning. Within the planning I was able to trial a range of methods, materials and ideas which I think helped really develop the outcome of my final piece, as well as allowing me to avoid mistakes I could have made which I caught early on. I think overall there was a really good link between the theme of Data, my chosen theme, the research, planning and piece, and I feel that the journey from the initial ideas of the final result is detailed and complete.
The design itself is a compilation of all aspects of planning and research, and encompasses all of my main inspirations and ideas into one piece. I had an initial criteria which I worked from, for example I knew from my own art style I wanted to create a landscape piece, and I really enjoyed the previous workshop on the prism experiment, as well as thinking using first hand experience and data would add to my project. The design itself is bold and colourful, which I also think represents the chosen theme of The Science Behind Colour Perception well, and I really love the colour schemes and different components of the piece. There were a couple of small changes I made to the design as I went, for example I altered the colour scheme a little as I went along, as well as changing how I planned to do certain features based on how samples went. In general I think the piece represents my own personal style well, along with going really well with the chosen theme and project requirements surrounding data.
The completion of the different parts of this final outcome were a long process that took a lot of planning and tracking to stay in line and get things done to the best of my ability. I found that creating a timetable and a list of layers to complete in order really helped in terms of approaching the final piece, and realising the best order to apply the layers really helped me figure out how to get the depth and representation of distance I want as it is a relatively complex piece. Once I had planned the piece I went about creating the outcome, ensuring I do the layers in order and letting each dry before moving on. I used a variety of materials and methods for a range of effects and results, which I think really developed the piece. A more detailed description of the process of the piece is one the Final Outcome blog above, along with some photos – I really enjoyed the process and, although long, I think it worked very well and was enjoyable.
During the process of creating the final outcome, I encountered a variety of problems and small changes to work around, both in terms of planning and practice. For example, during the planning I trialled a variety of tutorials and samples of different methods, some of which didn’t work the way I had hoped – I feel that this was really beneficial for my final result, as it allowed me to avoid these particular problems during the end process. Another small change I encountered was a change in canvas size, bringing my piece from 5 canvases to 3, as I couldn’t find the sizes i was initially looking for and instead opting to buy canvases in person. The main problem I came across during the creative process was with the rainbow spectrum – I tried a variety of different methods on the canvas over the course of 3 days, none of which worked and some even effected the surroundings of the piece which caused some more small problems. Eventually I was able to find a method that worked even if it wasn’t the result I had planned for, and was relatively happy with the appearance. There were a couple of other small details that didn’t go quite as planned, for example I would use a different approach for the mountain texture as opposed to the palette knife, and some of the oil pastel detail on the lake was a little off in colour. Finally, I lost my fan brush leading up to the project, which I was planning to use for the bushes, but I found the dabbing method worked well.
In general I feel that the final piece went really well, and I love the final result of the outcome – I find the appearance good and I feel that the journey and information behind the piece works really well. I enjoyed every aspect of the research and feel I used a good range, which I was able to represent and draw inspiration from for the final piece, and enjoyed creating mood boards for inspiration. I find that the majority of the components went really well in practice too, I was particularly happy with the effect of the prism – I think the paler colours, distorted background and glass highlights worked well together to create a glass-like effect which represents the experiment well. I really love the overall colour scheme of the piece – the pastels of the sunset work really well together, but also provide good contrast to the bold colours of the bushes and rainbow spectrum. I think the use of oil pastel created a really nice effect on the blue areas of the water, and I like the texture and depth of the bushes created by the dabbing motion of a round brush and varying tones. Overall I really love the result and journey of the piece, and am incredibly happy with how it turned out.
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