For the origins unit I decided to investigate Chinatown in Manchester. First of all, I went to Chinatown, wandered round and got a feeling for the place. I then took some photos and did some quick sketches of the buildings and the space around me. Looking back I don’t like these initial sketches as they are very literal and there are not many interesting details in them. I then found ‘Wing Fat Supermarket’ which was full of amazing looking food and all of the packaging of the tins and cans were very bright and I wanted to see explore thses further and see what was inside of them.
At first I was not keen on starting as I just had a big blank sketchbook which looked too pristine to ruin. But once I started to put pen to paper, I enjoyed adding to the sketchbook and seeing my work develop and exploring more about Chinatown. I was also not the biggest fan of showing others my work in my tutorials, and it still is my favourite thing to do. But since the first few weeks I have not minded so much showing and talking about my work to the tutorial group.
I much prefer my drawing and research found from the supermarket and food as it much more pattern based and not so literal and it has been easier to apply my drawings to my chosen workshops, hand processes and dye. I think that the drawing workshops have helped me with this as they have shown me that often the more interesting drawings are when the obvious is not drawn but the unknown is explored, which people often don’t notice at first. Also the different techniques that we have been taught have inspired to draw in a different way, such as blind drawing and focusing on the negative and positive space.
From looking through my sketchbook, it is clear that I need to add more contextual references and look at the work of other artists working in the same media as me. By doing this it will help inspire my work and show new ways in which I could work, as well as helping to show me what is relevant and on trend at the moment. From looking at others sketchbook, I would like to add more drawings and markmakings of the work that I have already done to my sketchbook, as well as using a greater range of materials and mediums.
