Lara Davey

Close up

Throughout my project I think many things worked well in my project such as the experiment of a duck beak using acrylic paint because the paint blended nicely, the lion fur experiment using acrylic paint because I like the abstract look that it creates, the jelly fish experiment linking to invertebrates using watercolours and pencil colours because I think by using pencil colours added finer detail, the butterfly experiment linking to arthropods because the yellow and oranges blended nicely and stand out. I also really like how the fish experiment worked of the rainbow trout because the pencil colours worked really well, in my opinion what also worked well was the experiment of the frog from the book ‘jungle’ using acrylic paint because I think it looks quite accurate to the original. I also think the experiment of the mouse from the BBC Wildlife magazine worked well because by using pencil colours I was able to create the effect of hairs. I also found that the experiment of a frog using acrylic paint on cardboard worked well because it blended well, and it painted nicely on the cardboard. From reflecting on my refinement I found that the pieces that worked well was the pieces of the eyes using oil pastels and the monkey ear using pastels because the pastels blended nicely together. The camel mouth using acrylic paint worked well because it blended nicely, I also preferred to use this because it covered more white area on the page. Throughout my project I found that many things weren't successful such as my experiment of a salamander for my amphibians' experiment using pencils because in my opinion it looks messy. I also found that the mammal experiment of a sloth didn't work well because the watercolour didn’t blend and the pencil in my opinion didn’t work well with the watercolours as it just stands out. I also think the experiment of a snake from the 'natural world' book didn't work as well as I think I needed to add more detail to the oil paint. I also found that the A2 experiment of a giraffe inspired by Nicole Zeug and Kev Munday wasn't successful as I think I should have zoomed closer in to achieve more detail. I also found that while analysing my refinement I found that the eagle I painted from my primary research wasn’t successful because the beak of the eagle is too bright, and the eye didn't work right. In my opinion I think that my project worked well as for my experimentation I used a wide variety of different mediums to see which would work best overall throughout my project I then narrowed all the materials I used down to 3 for my refinement where I then did more pieces of artwork zoomed further in where i then narrowed it down to a few materials for my final pieces which were mixed media: acrylic paint, pencil colours and collaging where I used newspaper and a patterned paper. The things that didn’t work as well in this project was my primary research I wasn't able to go where I wanted to go due to the Coronavirus pandemic, if this didn’t happen I would have gone to Graves Park like I planned to get more primary research. In my opinion throughout my sketchbook I used post it notes on every page of what I was going to do to make sure it was in the right order and to make sure I wouldn’t forget anything as I was going through my project. I also throughout this project used a planner what I used every day to make sure I was doing the most work possible for this project. In my opinion I don’t think I can improve my organization skills and time management any further as I used a planner everyday to make sure I could make this project organized and the best I could and to make sure I was doing something for this project everyday. For my final designs of my seven panels for amphibians, reptiles, mammals, birds, fish, invertebrates and arthropods I was mainly influenced for these ideas by the artist Nicole Zeug as she has some artwork which is zoomed in and close up and that is where I got my idea from. I really like this idea as I thought it was really interesting. I then took my secondary research of amphibians, reptiles, mammals, birds, fish, invertebrates and arthropods and decided I would sketch them into 7 separate panels using all my animals images from my primary research. I incorporated primary research into my project by doing many experiments such as painting on a feather to get the effect of a parrot feather inspired by a parrot I saw at Fuerteventura Oasis park I also did an A3 experiment of a frog I saw at the Manchester museum using cardboard and acrylic paint which in my opinion worked really well. From my artists I also used primary research for inspiration inspired by Tamara Phillips, Kev Munday, Carol Gillan and Nicole Zeug doing 4 experiments for each artist. Also from my primary research I used an image of a giraffe which I then painted onto an A2 piece of cardboard using oil paint. Also using cardboard and acrylic paint I painted a snake that I gathered for my primary research. To practice using different techniques and materials I then did a collage experiment from a reference image from an eagle I had taken for primary research. I then did an A3 experiment inspired by Kev Munday of Zebras. Inspired by an image of a flamingo I then used chalk pastels inspired by primary research. When I narrowed down the materials I would be using I started my refinement and used images from my primary research. I then narrowed down my materials even further of what worked best and completed a practice final piece and then sketched and painted my final pieces of amphibians, reptiles, mammals, birds, fish, invertebrates and arthropods. I incorporated secondary research into my project by completing 3 A5 pieces inspired from the images on my mood board. Also using oil paint and acrylic paint I used some animals from my animals mindmap. I then did a painting of lion fur and a polar bear foot from my animal adaptation mindmap using watercolour pencils and acrylic paints. I then researched amphibians, reptiles, mammals, birds, fish, invertebrates and arthropods and did a different experiment of an animal from each group using different materials. For further research I then used some books and did 2 A3 pieces for the books: animal life, natural world, bird families of the world, jungle, natural world, Why? Why? Why?, and the BBC wildlife magazine. Once I had completed further experimentations testing and trying different materials I then moved onto my refinement narrowing down my materials I used 4 images from the books I used for research but then I decided it would be better to work from my primary images. For artist research I looked at Tamara Phillips, Kev Munday, Carol Gillan and Nicole Zeug. These artists influenced my work as they all looked at animals but all used different materials and in different ways. I was mainly influenced by Nicole Zeug as she zoomed closer into the animals which then added more detail to her paintings and drawings. I also researched Gucci, Balenciaga, Nars, MAC, The Body Shop and Too Faced to show brands that do and don't use animal testing and to also show the effect animal testing has on the animals tested on. Throughout this project I decided to use a variety of materials such as acrylic paint, oil paint, pencil colours, pencils, collaging, markers and felt tips, oil pastels, fine liners, chalk pastels, watercolour pencils, watercolours, biro, sublimation printing, experimenting on cardboard as I wanted to test a huge range to see what would work best for me and how much detail I wanted to achieve for the animals I chose. From the range of materials I used I would like to improve using chalk pastels as I think they can be quite messy and they also show the lines you draw with the chalk pastels. I would also like to improve using biro as I think the pieces I have done so far aren't good quality. I think that it would also be possible for me to improve on using watercolours as I think I could add more detail and use less water so the page doesn’t go bitty. In this project I used a new technique of painting onto cardboard as due to the coronavirus I wasn't able to get any big pieces of paper to work on however I was able to get cardboard boxes from my workplace. The ideas behind my final outcome came from researching amphibians, reptiles, invertebrates, birds, fish, mammals and arthropods and from my primary research I thought it would be a good idea to use this research and create 7 separate panels. My idea also came from the artist Nicole Zeug as she has a piece of artwork where it was just eyes. However I really like how my final pieces turned out as I think the materials worked well together and I really like the primary images I chose for the different panels. If I was to do this project again I would do more primary research as for this project I wasn't really able to gather much due to the coronavirus as they shut Graves Park as I was planning to go there.