Because of the summer holidays, I opted for written feedback from my tutor, Lizzy, this time. She sent me a very detailed and hugely helpful report. A summary of key points:
Positives
strong sketchbook work especially on the Abundance palette – playing with materials, effective painterly application of colour – I’m particularly pleased with this; this part of the work felt ‘right’ and flowed; equally I was aware that it was less effective for the second palette – I couldn’t find a way to rectify this, but at least my judgment seems to be developing in terms of when things are working and when not which is half way to fixing them
the palettes themselves, especially Protest, and the way I developed trends from the original photos
effective moodboards and ‘beautifully shot personal photos’ to capture colour
‘very convincing’ trend book – this is a relief as I had some reservations about the slickness of my presentation/page layout and it took a huge amount of time just to get it to this point; more still to do here, though
reflection on my own use of colour in the past – I wondered if his was a bit self-indulgent but it was part of trying to make sense of my own responses to colour (positive, negative, complex) so I’m please Lizzy felt something useful came out of it and encouraged me to continue with this type of reflection
blog – articulate, good reflection and analysis of both own work and research
open to changing my mindset re the whole idea of trends, allowing me to ‘immerse’ myself in this as a creative assignment – this after I decided I just had to suspend my ingrained skepticism about the way the ‘trends industry’ generates consumerism and feeds off a general sense of dissatisfaction in individuals, if I was to be able to learn from this unit
Pointers (in my words)
be confident in my gut reactions re current moods and movements; the concept of ‘zeitgeist’ and social and political history have always interested me so this probably helps here
remember fashion is a ‘free and expressive market’ – broad and creative, which gives me lots of options – very helpful in freeing me from the creative paralysis that comes over me when I think of operating within ‘fashion’ in the narrowest sense
develop sketchbook work as for Abundance theme – lots of work with the imagery, eg enlarging sections; exploring ways of applying media and making marks to capture the theme/mood – be expressive and playful
keep altering and refining palettes as I use them
keep re-evaluating research and learning and my own previous work in order to ‘support a deeper engagement and understanding’ – this was also a pointer from my final assessment on IAP – relating my own work to my research and context
keep extracting imagery or elements from my research and be ‘tenacious with close examination of the elements that really excite and inspire you’ – ‘work more intensely with imagery; take time to really work through subtle nuances’ – this in relation to my work on the Believe palette which I am aware remained sketchy and unresolved (I ran out of time to really nail it – something to address in Assignment 3). Lizzy points out that giving the imagery more prominence will stop me being indecisive and inform my decision-making
continue to evaluate and reflect regularly ensuring that I’m engaging effectively with each exercise (I think this is in response to the patchiness of my sketchbook work in the middle of the assignment)
Although I’m a good way into CC now, the feedback from IAP and the rest of Level 1 will be important in helping me to do well at Level 2, so I’m including it here, with my response.
IAP Overall Mark: 58
Technical and visual skills: 25/40
Quality of Outcome: 10/20
Creativity: 12/20
Context: 11/20
Overall Comments and Feed Forward (my highlighting)
Sketchbook work is highly analytical and questioning of the projects and the directions given within the projects. This shows a great deal of discernment and a full engagement with the course as well as a desire to ensure a beneficial and directional path through the work. Material development, drawing and creation is relatively weak by comparison and although documented successfully on the blog, physical work is disappointing.There is a lack of development of exciting sampling and photography on the blog is functioning as a conclusion instead. Videos have potential to be developed further, as do the materials themselves. There is promise in the body of work and in the ability to begin to situated the work contextually, but the materials focus needs to drive this further. Contextual understanding needs to drive the development of the work as well as giving a framework for the work. The source and inspiration for the project needs to be succinctly communicated. It is centred on process, but lacks content. This has led to materials that function on one level, but lack depth of investigation and development.
Response
I’m hugely disappointed by this, after marks of 67 and 74 for ATV and MMT respectively. The words ‘weak’ and ‘disappointing’ really hit home. I’m surprised, in that I felt that by Part 3 I’d found an experimental but well developed way of working; my tutor commented on how effective my research and use of context were and I felt my work for Parts 4 and 5 really took me out of my comfort zone by investigating a line of enquiry in lots of depth.
On the other hand, I was dissatisfied with my own work from Parts 1 and 2 and found it hard to really ‘get into’ any of the tasks in these early stages. I think my decision to go right outside my comfort zone and work in 2D, film and installation/ ‘performance’ pieces at times and especially for Part 5 didn’t help – I knew the outcomes weren’t going to be polished but I wanted to be truly exploratory and hoped the work and process would demonstrate creativity and depth of investigation. In practice, I failed to fully convey the concept and presentation of my final pieces in a convincing way and as I packed up the box of samples for assessment I was aware that they looked decidedly underwhelming out of context. In this I was probably naive; a more dramatic, professional presentation might have avoided the criticism that: ‘The source and inspiration for the project needs to be succinctly communicated’.
I think a major issue was that so many of my samples in IAP were ephemeral, huge or fragile so that I had to rely on photographs in my assessment submission – hence the criticism ‘There is a lack of development of exciting sampling and photography on the blog is functioning as a conclusion instead’. The ‘storybook’ approach I took for my submission clearly didn’t work. Much to reflect on for the next assessment, then.
However, I’m glad that I took the chance and went out on a limb for Part 5, if only to experience a more ‘fine art’ approach to a project that – despite the comments from the assessors – took many hours over several weeks and completely took over my brain for a while. While the outcomes may have been ‘disappointing’, in many ways I learned more from Part 5 of IAP than any other part of the course – about becoming absorbed in a project, taking risks, using research in an organic way, about working outside my comfort zone and the pros and cons of this. If I’d stayed on safer ground, I’d always have wondered ‘what if’ and, encouraged by Rebecca, I took this chance at the end of Level 1 to push myself into uncomfortable territory.
I’ve looked back at the marks and comments from ATV and MMT alongside those from IAP to try to make sense of my work at Level 1 as a whole.
Sketchbook – IAP assessment response
Sketchbook – IAP assessment response
My conclusions as I move forward on Level 2, as noted in my sketchbook:
To make this more concrete, I also gathered up the samples that I’ve kept around my work desk since the beginning of the course (as opposed to boxing them up, as with the majority of my past work), plus a few ceramic pieces; these are pieces that I’ve kept close by as they engaged and excited me when I made them and still excite me now – ideas to work on further, materials that engage me:
Sketchbook – key elements of past work
Sketchbook – key elements of past work
Sketchbook – key elements of past work
Sketchbook – key elements of past work
Details of marks, materials and textures:
Sketchbook – key elements of past work – textures and marks
Sketchbook – key elements of past work – textures and marks
Sketchbook – key elements of past work – textures and marks
Sketchbook – key elements of past work – textures and marks
Sketchbook – key elements of past work – textures and marks
Sketchbook – key elements of past work – textures and marks
I’m not sure how these will fit with the tasks of CC and the palettes I’ve created but I wanted to remind myself of what had worked for me. There are no samples here from IAP as they are with the assessors, but the only pieces I’d have included are the latex cast from Part 5 and the ‘threads’ I made from latex and PVA for weaving. I think a positive approach for me now will be to keep true to my own aesthetic (as above) whilst responding to the suggestions from my feedback. That feels like it might be tricky – there is very little overlap between, say, the digital colour palettes and these worn and textured surfaces – but this should help avoid the disconnect I felt during IAP when I made the decision to try totally new things. In practice, ideas I can bear in mind to make CC work for me while keeping to the briefs include:
work 3D where possible
use experimental (ie non-textile) materials – plaster, concrete, wire, clay,
focus on materials and surfaces/textures, not concept
aim to produce many, well crafted samples – not too much that is ephemeral or conceptual
I hope this won’t lead to me playing it safe; instead it should allow me to get a balance between working to my own interests whilst pushing into new areas and meeting the briefs successfully.
Before starting the course and during Part One, I have been reading more widely around the concept of colour and looking at how colour is used in different applications from two dimensional art and printing to sculpture, design and fashion. Partly this is to develop my own understanding of and vocabulary for discussing colour; partly it is preparation for what is to follow in this course.
Summary
I am using a Pinterest board – here – to gather examples of the ways in which colour is used in different creative contexts. It’s not a comprehensive survey but more of an aide memoire listing artists and ideas I might want to research further.
Reading David Batchelor’s Chromophobia (2) really sparked my interest in the concept and intellectual study of colour. It’s a very readable, wide ranging survey of attitudes to colour across different disciplines and historical eras. I’ll refer to specific ideas from the book in individual posts as they relate to my work but the underlying impact of this book for me has been to open my eyes to contradictory readings of colour and the historical/cultural subtext of the use of colour. I started investigating this in IAP5 here when I looked at colour in the process of working towards my final pieces, specifically minimalism (3), the absence of colour and the relationship between colour, surface and form. Batchelor particularly writes about unease with colour and its connotations of chaos, sexuality, dream imagery and drug use; how colour is often associated with ‘otherness’; and he discards the notion that colour is ‘interdisciplinary’, which he sees as anodine and watered-down, in favour of calling it ‘antidisciplinary’.
I’m part way through Regina Lee’s book The Color Revolution (1) the development of colour management in the United States between the 1890s and the 1960s, looking at the impact on the design industry and thus on consumers. This gives another angle on colour placed alongside Batchelor’s approach; the two are complementary rather than contradictory. Lee’s research firmly places colour in an industrial textiles context where practical and economic considerations are the priority.
I keep referring back to Hornung’s workshop book (4) and the sketchbook I made after IAP/before CC where I worked through most of the tasks. This has become an invaluable resource, allowing me to compare different tones and palettes that I made at the time as well as refreshing my memory on the terminology.
Task: Reflect and evaluate your work and what you’ve learned about the role of colour and trend forecasting in contemporary textiles. What are the strengths of the work you’ve developed? Are there areas you could improve?
Evaluation:
In terms of the trend forecasting industry, I have learned a lot about how it works and its role in the textiles industry; the process of researching and predicting/creating trends seems to be creative and fun and its global nature appeals to me as does the link to sociological, economic and political analysis. I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of ‘zeitgeist’ and it is genuinely fascinating to find out how this is translated into consumer products and specifically the role that colour plays. Clearly the main purpose of the trend industry is to guide manufacturers and designers and this is essential for the viability of trade; my skepticism remains around the purpose of this – is it to give us products that suit our mood or is it to persuade us to buy and spend more? If I was to work in the design industry, I would need to accept the way that the trend industry relates to consumerism which at the moment I feel some resistance to. As I move into Part Two I will be looking more closely at different sectors of the textiles industry – fashion, interiors and fine art – so hopefully i’ll come to a more refined analysis and understanding.
I have enjoyed the creativity with which these trends are expressed, both visually and in text, and working through this process has been a joy. It has been unexpectedly demanding not only in pushing me to understand colour mixing and theory but the presentational aspects – photography and page layout. I feel the strengths of my three trends and book are the palettes themselves and the way that the colours relate to the original concepts. This is a huge step forward for me as, until I worked through the de Hornung (1) colour exercises I had no idea how to mix and differentiate colour with paint; now I feel very confident with this and have really enjoyed ‘playing’ with paint to explore colours, combinations and proportions. I think the three palettes are distinct from each other and yet sit happily alongside each other in the trend book. I also feel that the process I used was effective in moving from selecting the images to mind mapping and sampling. I think my photography for the mood boards and colour book has many strengths; it is creative and technically sound and evokes mood well. However, I found it challenging accessing appropriate subjects at times (eg I wanted baskets of fruit at a market), especially to convey the more abstract aspects of my concepts, and lighting can be difficult without a professional setup. My sketchbook work felt really effective – loose, extensive and playful – but my final Trend Book feels incomplete; I spent a long time on it and have learned a lot out digital presentation but from a design perspective it lacks detail and subtlety. I think the final outcome would have been better if I’d focused more on materials and their qualities in exploring my palettes whereas my time became dominated by the digital manipulation; however, this is something I can put much more emphasis on in Parts Two to Four.
The biggest challenge was translating colours from paint and physical materials into digital form; actually matching the hue was hard enough but the most challenging aspect was capturing the quality of a colour – its saturation, texture and density. Having worked quite a lot with digital media, I was surprised and disappointed by how hard I found it to manipulate the digital palette to create a product I was happy with and which conveyed my concept effectively. Some of this is due to inexperience; however I’ve also realised I tend to see digital imagery as final and presentational rather then exploratory and expressive so this is a key area for me to work on through the next parts as I’m very keen to explore digital design and manipulation.
References
1 Hornung, D. (2012) Colour: A Workshop for Artists and Designers. London: Laurence King
Task: Now that you’ve finished your trend book, review the processes and methods you used in its development and reflect upon their value in the creation of successful projects, both art and design. Consider:
• image analysis and extraction of themes
I love photography so using photographs as a starting point feels very natural to me; I can see that this is a very effective process for design-led work. I was less confident about being able to identify trends; my research has shown me what a huge industry this is – how could I match it working by myself on this small scale? However, looking for themes in the images was informed by the fact that I read newspapers quite extensively; this formed the backdrop for me to make sense of trends in the imagery and I felt quite confident about those I pulled out. I deliberately didn’t refer to my original research into the trend industry at this point, wanting to try out my own instinct; when I returned to external trend reports afterwards, there are some key points of contact which offer some reassurance about how I was reading the ‘zeitgeist’ eg strongly saturated colour to counteract the gloom (as in my trend ‘Plenty’). Applying this process to an art-based project might go in different ways; a piece of art might be in response to a ‘trend’ in thinking or politics. More likely for me is the broader use of photography as a visual stimulus and research. I imagine it is more a case of artists picking up on the zeitgeist and a trend emerging more organically or retrospectively rather than planning a piece of art in response to comments by the trend industry.
• word association to extend a trend, subject or theme
The value of this process was in refining my initial thoughts about a trend; this proved essential in sharpening up my trends and therefore colours and materials eg in Believe, realising it was the ‘faith’ aspect rather than ‘community’ aspect I wanted to pull out. Having to expand this in semantic choices clarified my thinking. I tend to use mind maps anyway so I think using word association in this way works for all kinds of projects for me ie art as well as design; I used it in IAP4 and 5, for example. Words have long been my primary expressive medium but I’ve found researching precise definitions, synonyms and etymology helpful in the creative process.
• the use of colours to evoke a mood or atmosphere
This seems to be a fundamental part of most visual expression, whether design- or art-led, even if the decision is to avoid colour. I’m aware that this has been a weaker area for me, making instinctive and quick colour choices as a project develops rather than exploring it fully in advance, so these exercises have not only improved my understanding of colour but also of how it might fit into the early stages of conceiving a piece of work whether design- or art-led. The first art work where I considered colour and mood extensively was in IAP5, where I created samples to explore the differences between a ‘neutral’ earthy palette, stronger colours (blue, yellow) and a minimal black/white; this brought home to me the full impact of colour. Now, having completed Part One, I think selecting a quite specific palette to impact on mood will be an integral part of all of my research and development.
• proportional colour analysis to explore colour relationships
This was a huge area of learning for me, as well as looking at placement and the interaction of colours. I can see that this should link with the initial selection of a palette; I think this will happen more readily for a design brief, especially if designs were going to be interpreted industrially, than for a one-off piece of art. Again, I feel the latter might develop more organically during the creative process whereas for design, the palette and proportions need to be specified up front before making begins.
• gathering families of imagery and materials to communicate a theme, narrative or idea
I have often worked with a mood/theme board since ATV and this is a process that seems essential for clarifying a narrative in the early stages as well as serving as a reminder (or ‘spine’ as Twyla Tharp terms it) through the development of a project. In these exercises for Part One, I found that pursuing effective digital imagery drew me away from my focus on materials and my original painted palette so this is something I need to be wary of but generally I feel this process could be fundamental to the whole range of design and/or art-led work.
The task – to present the three trends and palettes in book form, using 2 – 4 pages for each trend and carefully considering choices such as font, composition and layout.
Research and Preparation
All of the research at the beginning of this unit comes into play here and I have gathered a large number of helpful examples of photography, mood boards and trend/colour books during the unit – samples below. I found a few examples that I found particularly appropriate for my own style choices and considered how – without copying them – I could translate their qualities to my own book – notes shown below:
Playing with thumbnail layouts in my sketchbook and digitally was very helpful; in the end, I produced a flatplan of the intended book and found I stuck to it quite closely, suggesting that my research was effective. I have a working knowledge of Photoshop and InDesign; however, I have had to learn a number of additional tools and processes for this task.
The book
Screenshots of the 12 page book I produced on Adobe InDesign:
Reflection and Evaluation
The end product feels well produced but basic; I simply ran out of time to explore more subtle elements of presentation such as additional typography, a more complex cover and end page.
I think the palettes on the whole work well and translate well into a range of mini palettes with good potential for development.
Composition of each page is quite effective to convey the concept; Plenty and Protest are crisper and more blocky while Believe is more dense and layered. This could be further exaggerated if I’d strayed from my core design principles (clean and crisp, lots of negative space throughout, no collaged images, no disrupted frames) but I feel sticking to these principles gives the book cohesion as a product in itself and would suggest my own style as a designer.
I would like to have produced more three dimensional representations of the palettes to photograph (such as those use by M. Odgaard and other examples provided in the course materials) – I allowed the digital processes to dominate my time when in fact playing with materials would have made this more exploratory; however, this physical experimentation will be part of the next part – good things to have learned: how much I associate digital with ‘perfect’ and presentation; how more playful and engaged I am with physical materials especially mixed media/non-textiles; and how long it takes to produce a ‘professional’ finished product like the Trend Book, even with a working knowledge of the software
I would like to add more text to the book – small quotes, key words – to guide the reader through and suggest additional layers of meaning.
I received feedback from a number of fellow students on each of my palettes and the imagery and draft mood boards I posted for each (see previous posts). This is a summary of my response in terms of refining the palettes and imagery plus the final palette I settled on for each trend. The final imagery will be shown in my Trend Book for 1.6.
Abundance
Key points of feedback were:
good colours, lively, contemporary
sense of spring, freshness, ‘juicy’, tropical comes across – change the title of the trend?
remove the ‘harvest’ element of the description as it’s misleading
need more sense of abundance rather than details of individual fruits – images of growth to connect with this aspect of concept
individual colours questioned – do you need the blue? pink? should a red be included? or colours could be added eg the slate blue from the background
I spent a lot of time working in my sketchbook and digitally testing out these ideas, taking additional images and refining the palette. I narrowed down my written description, removing the ‘harvest’ element as this seemed to lead in a conflicting direction conceptually and in terms of colour and layout; researching the definition of ‘abundance’ led me to change the title to ‘plenty’ which is more direct. I decided to keep the full range of colours as they capture the intensity of my original concept – it needs the blue, pink, yellow AND green – and because I am likely to be working in mini palettes in Part Two which will allow me to select from a wider choice.
Abundance mood board from Part One
Sketchbook work refining Abundance palette
Sketchbook work refining Abundance palette
Sketchbook work refining Abundance palette
Final palette for Plenty trend
Given time I would get out and about with my camera to widen the range of imagery – more abundance and growth. Further developments of the imagery could include:
images of market stall, fruit in baskets etc (thanks, Nicki) to give more variation to the close up imagery & suggest context; fewer flowers, different produce
pay closer attention to the background of the images so this reflects a key colour too
During my sketchbook work I started playing with materials and their qualities; the concept suggests smooth, shiny surfaces and pliable materials – acetate, liquids, plastics, the PVA ‘threads’ I created for IAP5 – and I found this very exciting. This will be followed up in Part Two.
Believe
Finding suitable imagery was initially a struggle for this concept because of the abstract nature of the concept. Feedback from my peers focused on the photos I was using but confirmed my colour selection, especially the decision to include the green as an accent colour.
To refine the palette I’ve focused on exploring the disconnect between the paint and digital palettes which was at the heart of the problem, and this has led me to imagery that better conveys the concept. In developing my third palette, Protest, I found focusing on a single inspirational image helpful so for Believe I went back to my favourite image of a Krishna event and created a palette solely from this image to see if that clarified my thinking; I then added this palette to some of my existing imagery:
1.5 FInal Believe palette – moodboard #1
1.5 FInal Believe palette – moodboard #2
1.5 image from The Guardian for Trend #2
This is a more harmonious, simple palette than my original. However, in working purely digitally I felt I’d lost touch with my original concept; returning to paint and sketchbook I looked at the gap between digital and physical colour (exaggerated further by the photography here). I returned to the gouache swatches and realised that I needed to de-saturate the digital colours to achieve the subtlety I needed. In particular, I felt that the quick abstract ‘paintings’ I’d done whilst playing with the gouache captured the warmth and texture I wanted for the concept which are missing from the digital version. Although the palette of harmonious pinks from the Krishna image is very attractive, I’ve decided to stick to the more challenging palette I originally generated (see gouache and desaturated digital palette below).
Sketchbook work – refining Believe paletteFinal Believe palette with selected imagery
Protest
For feedback on this trend, comments on the CC email thread supported my choices and imagery, while questioning the precise tone of red, suggesting it could be stronger, more blood-like. The palette is described as ‘strong’ and ‘exciting’; one student, Claire, made really helpful suggestions re texture – glossy for the red and concrete/matt/linen for the greys. In addition I had a wonderfully detailed 20 minute discussion with fellow student, Inger. My notes are below:
Sketchbook work refining Protest palette
Sketchbook work refining Protest palette
Sketchbook work refining Protest palette
In particular, this discussion confirmed the nature of the red I’d chosen – what Inger described as ‘French red’ for passion not USA stars and stripes red. My main concern about the palette had been not wanting to evoke the nationalism that can be connoted by flags, whilst acknowledging that the flag is often used as a symbol of resistance and protest – Inger pointed me to Delacroix’s ‘liberte’ image.
La liberté guidant le peuple, Eugene Delacroix (1860)
This discussion also made me wonder whether to change the title to ‘Resist’ as I feel this maybe more accurately describes what I’m thinking of but in the end it feels rather passive compared to ‘protest’. However, I’m keen to avoid any rather brutal or simplistic harshness in the colours, hence the red which I hope avoids direct connotations of bloodshed or violence. Our discussion also confirmed the exact shades of grey I’d chosen (which took a very, very long time to mix!) – as well balanced between cool and warm, and inherently ‘calm’ rather than ‘soft’ as the latter would undermine the protest element.
My explorations of this palette led me almost immediately to non-textiles materials and 3D work (see mood board) and I am keen to explore this further in Part Two. My final Protest palette remains unchanged:
Final Protest palette
Conclusions and evaluation
I think I have a varied but coherent trio of palettes that feel quite ‘me’ – placing them alongside each other is quite exciting. Each is distinct – Plenty is more saturated, Believe more subdued and muted and Protest more of an exploration of tonality with accents:
all three palettes from Part One
What I’ve learned from this process:
feedback is very helpful in the developmental stage; face to face discussion is invaluable
trust my instinct re colour and keep a focus on the original concept/descriptive words to ensure later work stays true to this especially once I move into digital interpretations
I need to develop my digital skills to find a way to express concept, texture and subtle ideas – initially, moving into digital palettes led me to oversimplify and wander a little from the original concept (eg the ‘juicy’ element of the first palette, being drawn by some lovely photos; over-saturating the palette for Believe); I can do this through layering, using my graphics tablet for more free drawing and generally focusing on expressiveness and experimentation rather than the visual ‘perfection’ that digital work tends towards – especially, this is the way I’ve used digital in my day job, for ‘professional presentation’ and photography rather than expressiveness
keep playing with materials – as soon as I focused on materials (fabric, paint, acetate) for each palette, it came alive and became much more playful and exciting and allowed me to express quality through form and texture as well as colour; see digital as a material and process rather than simply a presentation device
The last of my three palettes for Part One – once again, I’d really appreciate any thoughts or comments on the selection and combination of colours plus the way I’ve represented the concept with fabric wraps and imagery. Thank you.
Concept
‘Protest’ captures the spirit of finding a voice and speaking out for what you know to be right. It is a stamp of colour on the concrete wall of oppression; it is the voice of passion cutting through the silence of indifference.
Rationale
Among the many images of war and conflict which seem to dominate The Guardian site, I picked out a specific thread where people were protesting against their government or state. I deliberately didn’t research the conflicts; what I was interested in was the urge to protest – often in the face of significant danger and threat of violence; the individual against the massed strength of the establishment; the colour of the human faces and small signs of protest – banners, flags, voices – against the blank grey and black of those in power.
Moodboard
Fabric Wraps
1.5 Protest trend: fabric wraps
1.5 Protest trend: fabric wraps, focus on accent colours
Aims This is the third palette I’ve developed from the Guardian Photos of the Day page, following the same process as before.
Image selection
Among the many images of war and conflict which seem to dominate, I picked out a specific thread where people were protesting against their government or state. I deliberately didn’t research the conflicts; what I was interested in was the urge to protest – often in the face of significant danger and threat of violence; the individual against the massed strength of the establishment; the colour of the human faces and small signs of protest – banners, flags, voices – against the blank grey and black of those in power. I notice how vulnerable the people often look and yet how passionate, fearless or desperate, and how this is kind of represented by the colour of the banners and flags. I don’t want to pick up on the possible nationalism of the flag symbolism but on the visual element where the colour represents the human urge to speak out. Some typical images:
1.5 Guardian images for Protest trend
1.5 Guardian images for Protest trend
1.5 Guardian images for Protest trend
1.5 Guardian images for Protest trend
Developing the trend
Notes from my sketchbook mindmap include:
ordinary people against the institutional/monolithic – people vs oppressive state or injustice or war – human – passionate, reasoned, having a voice, speaking out – grey concrete – splashes of red or blue paint – muted, cool, urban colours – blue & white of flag is key – passion – fight for a way of life – white as accent, element of light/hope – speaking out
My written description of the trend
‘Protest’ captures the spirit of finding a voice and speaking out for what you know to be right. It is a stamp of colour on the concrete wall of oppression; it is the voice of passion cutting through the silence of indifference.
Key Adjectives
strong but muted, urban, cool, simple but subtle, shadow of oppression, passionate, human
Refining the palette
As before, I used gouache to create a wide range of possible colours, particularly looking for the right shades of blue/grey (based on the first image above) – I wanted an element of warmth to match the concept – and the accents from the banners and flags. Working with these swatches is very effective and absorbing; I continue to learn about the subtleties of colour mixing. Here I used crimson to warm up the blue/grey; all colours are muted to some degree, even the accents, as I don’t want any harshness – the idea of protest comes from the contrast in hue, not harshness of tone. Once I’d found my palette, I played with small paintings to see how the colours might work in practice and start to think about both proportions and texture/application – I found the concept best matched with quite clean lines and wet-brush application of paint.
1.5 Protest Trend – refining the palette – gouache swatches
1.5 Protest Trend – refining the palette – gouache
1.5 Protest Trend – refining the palette – gouache
This palette emerged quite readily though it took a long time to get the right shades of grey/blue; my main concern at this point was to avoid a simplistic ‘graffiti’ or ‘urban’ look. (I remember painting a wall of my bedroom red as a bit of a statement when I was a teenager – a protest, yes, but not the level of subtlety I’m looking for here.) – I have kept a more muted shade of each accent colour in reserve (below).
1.5 Protest Trend – initial palette
However, I found when I translated this into fabrics, my concerns disappeared – I found this a lovely palette to work with. I spent a lot of time playing with the accent colours – adding one, then two, adding black and learnt a lot about placement (eg the difference between adding red against white or blue) and proportion. The only mid blue/grey I had to hand had a floral print in the darker tone; although the floral motif isn’t appropriate for this concept, it did illustrate to me the impact that introducing pattern might have in softening the palette and adding a more decorative element. I cut rather than tore the fabric (unlike the previous palette) and kept the wrapping neat and symmetrical – this seemed to fit the theme, adding a sense of intention and control while the accent colours suggested the passion.
1.5 Protest trend: fabric wraps
1.5 Protest trend: fabric wraps
1.5 Protest trend: fabric wraps
1.5 Protest trend: fabric wraps, focus on accent colours
1.5 Protest trend: fabric wraps, focus on accent colours
1.5 Protest trend: fabric wraps, focus on accent colours
1.5 Protest trend: fabric wraps, focus on accent colours
I think when I developed the previous trends, I moved too quickly into digital work so I spent a little time playing with the gouache and testing different ways of applying paint eg roughly printing, and also exploring the impact of surface texture with scratching. I had in mind spray painted text on walls and peeling paint in an urban context and, although these little samples (below) don’t really convey that, it has started me thinking about how I might represent this trend with my own images in paint rather than just photography for the next stage – finding a way to stay true to both concept and palette once I start to create a trend board.
1.5 Protest trend: exploring the palette through mark making, gouache
1.5 Protest trend: detail – exploring the palette through mark making, gouache
1.5 Protest trend: exploring the palette through mark making, gouache
I also tried taking a palette from just one image as I found this helped me when revising my previous palette (see below); this confirmed my choice of blue/greys and the need for black, but also highlighted the need for an accent colour, although white works as an accent in the second image:
1.5 Protest Trend: refining the palette by looking at colours in individual images
Additional visual imagery
My Pinterest board here helped me think not only about the palette but possible visual imagery and materials and also how to make this a working palette within textiles – some of the colours aren’t a match but made me think about how a strong accent such as red could be managed, and how to achieve a balance between suggesting the concept and achieving an essentially harmonious (not jarring) palette.
1.5 Protest Trend – part of Pinterest research
There are references here to graffiti in general and Banksy specifically which I will follow up. However, for this trend my main research was primary – playing with paints and non-textile materials then taking a series of photos to see how this might be represented on a mood board and in my colour book – examples below:
1.5 Protest Trend – sketchbook and photography research1.5 Protest Trend – sketchbook and photography research
This has sparked some really exciting ideas for how this palette might be explored in Parts Two – Four – I had to reign in my explorations of printing and three-dimensional work (cubes, acetate, PVA/paint) to focus on the visual imagery to convey the trend. But there is a lot here to research further and return to, plus links to several artists in different media that I’ll explore.
I also had a very constructive crit session with fellow student Inger out of which came some great ideas – I’ll write this up with other feedback that I get.
Mood board/trend board/concept board
This is the board I’ve developed for now; the next step is to seek peer feedback.
Aims: We are asked to develop two further trends using the same process, starting with images from The Guardian site. This post details the first of these ie my second trend going through the same stages of selecting images, developing a trend concept, refining the palette then developing a visual response.
The final moodboard is at the end of the post; the post documents some of the learning along the way.
Image Selection
Amidst the many images of pain and suffering on the Guardian site, I noticed a strong thread suggesting that people combat this with a sense of communal strength and shared experience. Some of these come from ceremonies associated with established religions but many are more adhoc gatherings in response to a specific tragedy or event. I like the way that this bridges all countries, faiths and cultures – it seems to suggest faith in the human spirit that goes beyond boundaries or labels; I also like the idea of finding a positive story within all of the suffering.
Key images from The Guardian:
1.5 image from The Guardian for Trend #2
1.5 image from The Guardian for Trend #2
1.5 image from The Guardian for Trend #2
1.5 image from The Guardian for Trend #2
I wanted to call this trend ‘faith’ (as in faith in humanity and our power to overcome difficulties) but this seems to have inescapable connotations of organised religion so the working title here is ‘Believe’ – I prefer the verb to ‘believe’ as it is more active and hopefully suggests a way forward; that we can trust our communities and the better side of human nature to outlast and eventually defeat the harshness of current realities, individually and collectively.
Developing the trend
Notes on the images in my sketchbook include:
1.5 new trends #2 believe – original photos
1.5 new trends #2 believe – original photos
emotional tones – solemn – profound (not superficial) – people densely packed; close framed, crowded, ordered – colours are luminous, clean, intense – composition is orderly but colour is almost disruptive, an expression of humanity and faith – deep saturated colours – peaceful but intense – stately, mindful – people massed become a body – grouped together – sense of shared faith in faces as well as in rituals – peace, faith, love, emotion – white and black are solid and warming not harsh – light is in pinpricks – joy
‘Believe’ encourages us to have faith in ourselves and in humanity, even when the world around us is hostile; to join with our fellow human beings and feel the warmth of shared hope and belief in our communities.
Refining the palette
My initial palette drew out the colours of darkness around the people then picked out colours from the people and the light; this worked as a ‘long-list’ of possible colours.
1.5 new trend #2 believe initial palette
To try out this as a working palette, I created gouache swatches and mixed the colours into a wide range of mini palettes (samples below); I also painted proportional palettes and explored this further with fabric wraps.
1.5 #2 Believe Trend: initial palette
1.5 new trend #2 believe initial palette
1.5 new trend #2 believe initial palette
1.5 new trend #2 believe initial palette
1.5 #2 Believe Trend: initial palette in fabrics
1.5 #2 Believe Trend: initial palette in fabrics
My conclusions: there are some effective individual colours matching the brief but the colours were difficult to combine because of their relatively high levels of saturation and just didn’t work together. There were also too many ‘accent’ colours’ that only worked in small quantities with other more neutral colours. The dark brown was just too, well, brown. On the other hand, the colours of ‘light’ were too pale and insipid – I realised this through working on the wraps with a more ‘gold’ coloured fabric – my closest match but it actually worked better so I incorporated this in my revised palette (below).
I mixed a second palette in gouache with more muted versions of the main colours and stronger ‘light’ colours; I feel this palette is much more successful in conveying the concept – more subtle, harmonious – and also better to work with on a practical level. The main colours are intense but muted and there are a few different colours to use as accents; mainly this seems to work through having a primarily dark palette with a light accent or vice versa, picking up the concept and the idea of light fighting the dark etc, although the ‘dark’ can also suggest a deep current of emotion – I don’t want to work with a simplistic good vs bad analogy. Palette below (still toying with ‘faith’ as the title here):
I’m finding that playing with paint left over as I’m generating swatches allows me to be experimental and try a wide range of combinations – some that I like from my sketchbook:
I think these will be useful to return to when I’m using the colours in the next part of the course. Fabric wraps using this revised palette worked well on the whole, though the black/brown element is difficult and I couldn’t decide whether to have one or both in the final palette.
1.5 #2 Believe Trend: revised palette in fabric
1.5 #2 Believe Trend: revised palette in fabric
1.5 #2 Believe Trend: revised palette in fabric
Questions at this point were: do I need the dark blue as well as purple? do I need the green? I noted that the frayed edges and more ‘jumbled’ style of wrapping seemed to suggest the comfort and communality of the trend. I also noted that the wraps with fewer different colours worked best – two dark plus one light, or three analogous colours such as blue – purple – pink; effectively I was working with a series of tonal variations on key colours. I’m not sure how this fits with having a working palette (ie one that can be used in a design or manufacture context) but it works for me from an artist perspective and connects with the harmony and warmth of the Believe concept so this is something I think I will explore as I work with the palette in the next part of the course.
Additional Visual Imagery
This trend was much more of a challenge than Abundance in terms of thinking of appropriate imagery that conveyed both the palette and the concept. I started with some Pinterest research; this excited me about my colour choices (and led me to tweak some – see below) and also gave me the idea of focusing on lights for some of my photography, as representing the palette but also the hopefulness of the storyline.
1.5 Pinterest board for Believe Trend
I was particularly drawn to particular images such as the dark red anemone and quickly selected a palette from these to see how it corresponded to my plans; this proved a bit of a distraction as I created palettes I really wanted to work with! However, it also clarified my colour selections for my trend such as the precise shades of purple I wanted to use (or not). Example below.
1.5 digital sketchbook work developing the Believe palette using an image from Pinterest
At this point I had rather too many ideas floating round; to find some clarity I went back to the Guardian image I was most drawn to and created a palette and mini palettes based solely on this. I considered taking this forward as my Believe palette but I think it lacks the subtlety of my planned palette so I’m keeping this one in reserve too.
1.5 digital sketchbook work developing the Believe palette using a single image from The Guardian
Mood Board
In developing my first mood board for ‘Abundance’ I allowed the photos to dominate rather than the palette; this time I knew I needed to control the digital palette more firmly so I started by creating the digital version of the gouache palette. I then selected photos to exactly match the palette, tweaking the hue/saturation as needed. I think this makes a more cohesive set of images.
1.5 work in progress – developing digital palette for Believe Trend
Below is the mood board I will put out for feedback. I have found a set of colours that I like individually and that I feel match my concept; my concern is that they are too disparate; for example, I’ve added and removed the green multiple times. In the end, I’ve decided to leave it for a while and move on while waiting for feedback.
Contemporary Context 