Assessment & reflections upon initial feedback

Following my assessment in the studio yesterday I was initially deflated by some of the comments that I received.  However now that I have had time to stop and think, and reflect on the comments that were actually quite constructive, I thought that it would be prudent to record as much as I can remember about the conversation. This is in respect to the evaluation that was written at
http://grahamhadfield-contemporaryfineart.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/another-term-completed-exactly-half-way.html
and
http://grahamhadfield-contemporaryfineart.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/term-1-assessment-synopsis-of-project.html


The first project was assessed briefly, - the original drawing project where I chose St George's square in Huddersfield as the subject my enquiry.  The feedback was that this project was well drafted particularly as there were really many ideas that were moving forward together with concepts that were attempted in practice.

With regards to the second project, I spoke about a number of my paintings, - and I made the comment that each of the pieces were not full finished and I considered them as concept pieces.  My tutor recommended that I should be careful about calling these pieces concept art concept pieces, because in generally, and in art parliance "concept art" is really about fantasy paintings and fantasy drawings, which traditionally lie in the illustration discipline.  Therefore I should avoid using the phrase "concept art".

My tutor felt that in the second project, I did not have the technical ability in trying to emulate old Masters paintings in the way that I have done, to carry it off successfully.  She was nervous about telling me her true feeling, but I did press for it, and the response was "I think I can liken your paintings in this second project, to a really nervous but comedian, who rather awkwardly tells a joke to an audience but there is no response."  A tumbleweed moment.

Initially I was a little taken aback by these comments but I now understand what was being said, and I have perhaps been trying to make people smile, but not break out into laughter, - which is my mistake.  I think I need to ditch the idea of humour in my paintings and get a little bit more serious of the rest of this degree work.  I suppose the reason for my original position, goes together with my own temperament and personality, in which generally my demeanour is a little facile or asinine, at times, as I do enjoy my own feeling of making people smile.  Perhaps I am trying too hard in this area and are not trying hard enough in creating the real art that I'm perhaps capable of.

On a positive note my assessment tutor commented on the strength of my draughtsmanship, which is very good.  She recommended that I continue to develop this draughtsmanship and explore different areas to practice my draughtsmanship in a much richer and detailed fashion.

• For example look at how the question arises, "is culture out of control?"-This would be an investigation into relationships of this functional culture which has potentially been written about in many novels, and compare it with the culture we find ourselves in now.
• Advice was given also to create the three-dimensional technological style objects or images, but make them so that they are incapable of working.  This would be very suitable me to explore as an ex-engineer as I have the logical and technological experience make something look really authentic.
• A further advice was to keep drawing and painting as a discipline, but I must try to use the latest technology to exercise these skills in a new domain.  The recommendation was that I should use more media in my next project.  This fits nicely with my own ambition to gain a much deeper understanding of the open software application "Blender" which I notice is now available within the University environment too.