Comparison

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/527061962624375738/

I need to stop comparing myself to other people/practitioners who I admire. I find that I work much better when I am doing my own thing with some influence from things/people that inspire me in the world. Basically I think I am spending too much time online because its summer I read a lot of articles online, I find that I like to do things - then feel guilty for not doing work. However, I have also realised (being in Italy) that doing things makes me feel a lot more inspired from life - then I feel a lot less stressed out about work I produce. A bit of a rant more than anything but just an observation about myself and my practice.

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

I want to start blogging about the books I read as I feel like the different stories have an influence on me and the way I think about things, therefore on my work too.

I started reading 'The Girl on the Train' right before and during my first week in Italy expecting it to last me through the majority of my time there. From the very beginning I was so addicted, my favourite genre of film/book is a psychological thriller (not horror), something you really have to think about to work out with lots of plot twists, so this was definitely right up my alley! I wish that I had taken my time a bit more when reading it because it was finished within a few days :( this is now my favourite book! VERY excited for the film but I hope they do the suspense and the characters justice.

Favourites

The protagonist (Rachel) is an alcoholic, not someone you can necessarily understand and who has made a lot of bad decisions. She changes her mind repeatedly which was extremely interesting and exciting for me in relation to the story and the possibilities of where it could go.

Bergamo Architecture

My daily routine of walking around Bergamo and taking the kids to the park inspired my drawings. I have always liked drawing interesting buildings and recording the detail. Italy has some of the most beautiful and unique architecture I have ever seen, even the ordinary houses were captivating to look at because of the window shutters, flower pots and balconies. 

Milan

Duomo Terraces

I went to Milan twice, my favourite part of going to the main city was going to the top of Duomo on the terraces with another Au pair I befriended, Katie. The detail was just crazy, from the ground you can't really tell but the top of the spires are carved people. Although the heat was ridiculous and we had the fantastic idea to walk up to the top instead of the lift (idiots) it was a great experience and I spent a lot of time finding details carved into the architecture.

People

Whilst here I noticed the amount of people in the main tourist areas and what they were doing, being alone means that I could people watch an awful lot which I liked and think about what they were doing or where they were going. I also spoke to a lot of people, more than I would usually if I was with someone else - I recorded some of my conversations in memos on my phone and plan to work from these.

Sforza Castle Milan

My last weekend in Italy I went back to Milan to visit the Sforza Castle. It was a crazy hot day (37 degrees) and I walked there from the station, so by the time I was there I was very happy to find some galleries and go inside where it was cooler! I liked wandering around the ins and outs of the different areas and I saw a Michelangelo (teenage mutant ninja turtle voice) sculpture. Although I enjoyed the galleries, my favourite part was the architecture of the buildings.

Opera Venice

My first day wandering around Venice I came across a concert hall advertising an Opera complete with Venetian costumes. As I was a loner for the weekend  wanted to find activities to do and make the most of the time I had so I bought a ticket.

What I thought

I really enjoyed the whole thing, the costumes and the operatic voices were beautiful. I want to make some work based on the costumes and the audience but I think it would have been a bit strange to take my sketchbook in with me I would have felt too self conscious. I took some pictures to base some of my ideas on and hopefully I will get round to drawing from these.

Gallerie dell'Accademia Venice

Paintings and influence on my own work 

I eventually found the art gallery after asking a few people for directions! I loved the atmosphere of the paintings and the detail depicted in some of them, the one below uses negative space of dark colour which I found very interesting in helping to weigh out the detail and colour. As I enjoy including detail in my own work, the use of shape or larger areas of colour might help me to balance things out in a frame. Rather than having areas appear too busy.

Detail and shape

Following my train of thought in regards to shape and detail in the paintings, this really caught my eye - the way the detail is very sparingly composed in the circular frame of a stained glass window with the majority of the space being clear glass is very effective in drawing your attention to particular areas. I loved this area and spent a long time looking at it, deliberating over compositions.

One of my favourite parts of the gallery were the statues. I am always fascinated by the craftsmanship and wonder how much time it took to make each one. They are also a bit eerie to me, but I think I feel that way because sometimes they look a bit too lifelike for me. The lion made me jump when I came round the corner, purely at the sheer size of it!

Venice

Venezia - How I am glad I met you

Venice was by far my favourite place I travelled to whilst being in Italy. It was definitely worth going a bit further and staying overnight in a hostel (which actually turned out to be very nice too). I felt very spontaneous as I didn't book trains or plan what I would do there, I just knew I had to go. I would have regretted not going. 

Beauty/Language

Everywhere I went was so so beautiful and I was in awe of the whole city. My favourite thing to do was just wander around the place and take it all in, the buildings, the canals and meeting local people. It was also a bit of a break for me because everyone here spoke English, for four weeks I had tried to speak Italian (what very little I know) and simple English in the town centre of Bergamo. I would like to continue learning the language for next year.

Pigeon Guy

The San Marco area was just exquisite and where I probably spent most of my time. For some reason though, every time I go to a big city (Venice, Milan, etc) some crazy guy would try and either make me feed a pigeon or put one on my head. I HATE PIGEONS and I always have, it the feet and the twitching! So this was a nightmare for me - hence the drawing above. There's only so many times you can say 'No grazie' before you start to lose patience with the crazy pigeon man!

People (Italy)

Drawing people from Observation

Going to the Bergamo Balla (which was amazing) I was inspired to take my sketchbook along, I knew there would be so much to see and try and record. It was basically a huge street party with great music, food, dancing in the streets and lots of people! I sat down to draw the above picture, I found that I am not very good at being discreet and at times people caught my eye when I was drawing them - I find it much easier to draw people from behind.

Despite this I really enjoyed the process of drawing somewhere so busy and definitely want to do this more. I think I might start to focus on drawing crowds when I get back to England.

I drew a few faces from imagination and continued to try and capture individuals I saw around town.

Galleria D'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo

Early on I found out where the local art galleries were around Bergamo. I was intrigued by the modern art one so I went down one afternoon with a local Italian girl I became friends with called Emma.

Emotions/Hidden Meanings

My favourite parts of the exhibition were the things that contained hidden clues/cryptic symbols within them. Some of them we found to be very morbid and made me feel very uneasy when walking around certain rooms - however, I believe this was the point of the room. I had forgotten how much I enjoy the interpretation of art (fine art) and maybe this is something I would like to bring into my own work more.

I need to remember this ^

Bergamo - Au Pairing

This summer I decided to leave for 5 weeks and try Au pairing for two children in Italy. I felt like I needed something exciting and inspiring to do, so I didn't get stuck in a rut creatively and personally. I don't like feeling too comfortable because I get worried that this will make me afraid to try anything new or potentially scary.

The thought of going abroad on my own was definitely daunting, especially as I hadn't met the family I would be spending such a long time with - but as it happens, that uncertainty and sense of adventure is why I wanted to do it.

I had such incredible experiences in Bergamo. I love the kids to bits and I really felt excited and fulfilled every day. Being able to travel around northern Italy was so much fun, I felt so free being on my own and being so meant I met so many interesting people.

I drew with the children a lot, I left them a little sketch I drew of Lea the dog when I left. Being away made me realise how much I still love to draw without being in a pressured environment for it to be 'perfect'.

The family have invited me back next year and to visit whenever Margherita and Giuseppe have school holidays. I can't wait to see where else I can explore!

Beatrix Potter Brief Entry

I decided to attempt the student brief that Matt told us about before the holidays. I think mainly because I wanted a brief where I knew I wouldn't put too much pressure on myself. During first year I have really started to enjoy using cut paper as a process of placing things down and moving things around on the page - so I wanted to continue with this.

Fun Times

To be honest I treated this as more of a fun project for myself and most of the idea making happened straight on the page. Making Peter Rabbit in particular was a lot of fun and I loved adding texture to different areas. I was aware of not making it too busy so I used more of a neutral background.

I think overall I could have drawn out a few more idea based images and maybe had Peter as something more exciting/adventurous, but like I said I just wanted to enjoy the process of making a simple image. In future briefs I want to draw more ideas out before committing to an idea.