Oviously over the pamdemic motivation was hard to come by. I found myself having difficulty drawing simple sketches to do with work and in my spear time. My drawings weren’t up to my full potential and I became slower at them too. I then discovered that I had an art block.

To gain my motivation back I understood that there was no room for perfection because I had less time to complete my FMP than usharal and perfection takes too much time. After a while I didn’t aim to get motivated or hoped to be motivated because I had a feeling that this art block was long term. Because Iam a perfectionist it was really difficult to fill my sketchbook with sketches that weren’t up to my full potential but I had to choose quantity over quality this time which was my biggest challenge as a perfectionist.

Over quarantine materials were limited so I had to make do with sculpturing. I chose sculpturing for my two last projects for the same reason and after a while I became fond of sculpturing because it doesn’t require a lot of thinking and it’s a method where you can automatically see progress.

My FMP I constantly had to change plans with my FMP because time was catching on and my ideas were too extreme for that time scale. At first my FMP was meant to be a sculpture made of fabric posing as it was ripping through a blanket and screaming, it was meant to represent a freeing feeling expressed through anger. As time was catching on I had to change my idea because the timing to complete the idea was unrealistic. I eventually changed the idea and forgot about the blanket so I changed it to thee sculpture posing as it was tearing it’s head open out of anger and frustration. I liked this idea better because it was a lot more simpler. Near the end time was getting too close so I decided not to make the sculpture out of fabric so it know became a paper sculpture. That was a quick decision and I wasn’t that disappointed that it didn’t tern out how I planned it because it made things easier to complete. I wasn’t used to settling with simple materials because I always want to try something new with every FMP but at that point I had no choice.

If I had more time I would have liked to make my FMP sculpture out of fabric and show my textile skills. I was in a debate in my head about deciding if I should color my paper sculpture in white paint to cover the prints on the news paper but Iam learning not to go all out with this project and to appreciate what I have created..

I was looking for artists to research and I discovered the ” Ecstasy ” by Karen Cusolito. Ecstasy is one of the 8 metal figures from Crude Awakening. A staggering 30-ft tall and 9 tons heavy, the piece is concisely constructed with tightly-wound steel to create a female silhouette with hanging chains to represent flowing hair. 

I was so impressed by it’s enormous size and it’s beautiful features like the hair made of chains. This was quite inspiring to me because it was big and bold and gave me such a surprised feeling. That’s how I want my audience to feel towards my FMP.

I have attempted painting sketches inspired by the ” Ecstasy ” in my sketchbook and tried to do my own versions. I am currently suffering from an art block so these were particularly hard to paint with limited motivation.

I painted my own designs of the Ecstasy but focused on facial expressions to see what it would look like. Since the statue was quite dramatic I chose to give the sketches dramatic expressions so I focused on anger and distress. I figured these would suite it the best.

I liked the dramatic affect on images of how the statue was holding a ball of fire and the colours reflected well of it, so I painted sketches using water colours and acrylic and painted my version of the statue but have the fire in her and have the light come out through her eyes and mouth.

I feel that this pose really suits the statue because its so expressive and dramatic.

I believe there was too much water on the page so that’s why it is difficult to see the face. I tried my best to reflect the colour’s well like in the image of the statue holding a fire ball.

From sketching expressions based on the Ecstasy statue I began sketching other expressions based on the same emotion, anger and sadness. This made me become more convinced on what my theme should be. My theme is expressionism because I am very interested in feelings and emotions and understanding the mind and human behavior. I feel that this theme is a real representation of me and I want to show that through my FMP.

For my primary research I got my twin sister Bethany to pose in a distressed position so I can copy the images. I directed her put her hands on her head and act like her was trying to tear her head open out of frustration. This pose really expresses the emotion I was going for really well. I mostly admired the showing of the teeth and the eyebrows because it made the facial expression more complected to identify. The eyebrows show anger and rage but also they are slightly tilted up so the expression seems sadder like the person is falling apart, it’s a fearful expression.

I began experimenting with clay and sculpturing faces with negative expressions to practice for my FMP.

This is my attempt of sculpturing a face with an angry expression. The brown clay around it’s eyes and mouth was by accident but makes a great effect, especially the eyes.

This expression represents fear and frustration. It was my first time sculpturing teeth.

Creating the teeth was difficult because the mouth kept blending in with the teeth so I drew lines to separate them.

This idea was from a completely random thought one day. This was an idea to create a life sized model of a woman made of fabric shooting an arrow through a sheet of fabric. The reason why I thought of textile for my media was because a class mate suggested it to me in a group chat through quarantine. She remembered a doll I made of a suffragette when we were both in Level 2 and admired my hand stitched skills.

I found this idea inspiring at the time because I wanted my FMP to be unique and powerful and a reflection of me. I wanted my audience to experience a moment, to capture a moment and this idea was a perfect example because it’s a pause on an epic moment and by capturing that I can make the moment last. I thought of this idea before I came up with a theme so at the time I thought the theme should be ( freedom ). I though of freedom because the model is holding a weapon, taking control, completely independent and symbolizing her freedom by doing a power move. The theme may not be obvious but I didn’t want to do something cliche. I wanted to symbolize freedom in my own terms. Thinking of a theme gave me a chance to think about what I saw, almost like I was part of the audience and seeing it for the first time and trying to identify the meaning behind it.

I drew this image with my tablet on an app called ( sketch). The idea was to have half a life sized model made of different colored fabrics and hand stitch patterns on to it.

I came up with this idea because in the past I’ve always wanted my FMP to be graceful and pretty. I wanted the audince to purly admire the beuty and detail.

I began to explore different aspects of the idea and it became more emotional. This idea represents exploring your thought. The butterfly’s symbolize thoughts and the lady is gracefully exploring, observing and wondering over these butterfly’s. Exploring your thoughts is really trying to find some truth or closure to why we think certain things, to discover and understand yourself. I wanted to symbolize that process through a pose to try to humanize it.

I wanted to explore the opposite of my last idea and have this idea represent intrusive thoughts. The butterfly’s represent intrusive thoughts and the model is desperately trying to swot them away. I feel this can be very relatable to people with mental health issues and that this could be a representation of mental health awareness and tell the audience that we are not alone and that people that currently deal with intrusive thoughts are very strong. The idea was becoming emotional and I preferred it because I am very interested in emotions, expressions and feelings and I want my FMP to be memorable, to make people feel how I feel about it and connect and relate to my audience.

I had a feeling that I wasn’t actually going to go through with this idea because it was too serious and deep. Even though I would have liked to have been represented for something quite sophisticated but I didn’t feel that it was a representation of me. I want to leave my audience with a good feeling

This is a picture of the manikin tearing through fabric.

This idea represents anger and frustration. It was very expressive and I really liked it because expressing those feelings can be so freeing and empowering but it can also be seen as violent and idiotic so in today society it’s a feeling that can’t be expressed. I was thinking that it could be a representation of Toxic masculinity and how men aren’t aloud to express these feeling as much as women because it would have be seen as weakness.

I mostly saw it as a representation that can relate to everyone. How we all sometimes want to scream at the world and act irrationally and take a stand, it’s very empowering.

On a more positive side it reminded me of my brother working out and I could hear him screaming outside with each squat. I remember a few times I would here a mighty roar from him and by hearing it I would automatically know what it meant. It meant that he had accomplished a fitness goal and was trying with all his might to beat his own personal record and finish his last squat. That squat represented all his work being payed off. That scream was a scream of relief, the final push and knowing you have reached your goal and you will never have to experience that again and that you can only improve from know on.

I found that moment quite inspiring because it made me realize that art doesn’t usually represent these great moments or even moments we hope to experience. So I thought that this pose could also represent that feeling of accomplishing of completing a goal and to remind the audience that sometimes the future can be what you want it to be.

This idea is based on a different media because I wanted to explore different medias. This is a picture of a wood sculpture tearing through a plank of wood out of anger and frustration, it represents breaking free.

I thought of involving wood sculpturing because during quarantine I have based my two FMPs on wood sculpturing for my Folklore project. At the time wood was the only media I could use because I didn’t have any other materials but I became good at wood carving and created a string puppet dragon based on a viking dragon called ( Nidhogg ) dragon of death.

I was thinking that I could actually carving a sculpture out of a plank of wood but I remembered that I used the same type of wood last year for my FMP when I was in Level 3 year 1. It was based on the romantic Greek mythology, Calyx and Alcyone. It was made over the first pandemic in 2020. Leylandii wood was not made for carving and was very difficult to use. After that I discovered Bass wood was made for carving but only comes in small rectangles so I can’t make a big sculpture with it. Because of those reasons I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to go through with this idea also.

When researching artists for my sketchbook I discovered images of sculptures made of white fabric and completely hand stitched. They were made by Karine Jollet.

The stitching looks so precise, almost like every stitch was planned.

Karine Jollet was born in 1971. She studied in Paris applied arts with special attention to sculpture, metals and design. Her main area of research has always been the relationship of content and container or, in other terms; the relationship of the outer skin of things and their interior. Looking for soft and flexible materials, in order to discover a less aggressive contact with the form, eventually took her to textile sculpture. Over time, the human body became her main object of sculptural research. Since 2003 Karine Jollet has presented her work in private and collective exhibitions in France and abroad and mainly in Switzerland, Belgium, Italy and Japan.

I love the detail of the hand stitched foot. I find the form and the tow nails most impressive. I find it so creative for each strand of stitch work to represent the veins on a foot.

I love how realistic the hands look. I find it clever how she stitched the markings you would find on a real hand. The stitching’s going down the forearm remind me of veins, I don’t know if that were her intentions.

I have decided to create a sculpture posing as if its ripping it’s head open out of frustration and anger.

I began by building a skeleton for the sculpture so it can balance. The skeleton is made of wood, wire and glue. I then covered it in news paper to create the shape.

I then started to create the face muscles on the head and shoulders. The facial expression was difficult because I was unsure of the out come of what it might look like if I add more layers.

Hand were exhausting because they are very specific. I made individual joint for each finger so it can be flexible.

After putting on the hands I could really see the sculpture coming together. I kept the arms loose because I needed them to flexible too so it can assume the position.

I put PVA glue on bits of paper and stuck it on to the sculpture and kept layering to make the body smoother and thicker. Compared to how it started out I never expected this outcome.

I had to make a quick decision because time was catching on and I realized that I wasn’t going to complete my FMP unless I made a new plan. The decision was to not include the fabric at all and have it remain as a paper sculpture. This decision made thing easier because I didn’t have to rush.

The final part was to create the rip in its head. I wanted the rip to be more clearer and more interactive with the fingers but it was the best I could do.

For my FMP Folklore and fairy tales I decided to create a wooden puppet dragon. I based the dragon off the Viking legends ‘ Niddhog ‘ the death dragon that eats corpses and roots from the tree of life. I based it off the dragon Nigghog because I have always been interested in Viking legends and I randomly had my heart set on creating a dragon. I wanted to make it a puppet because I wanted my art to move some how. I wanted to expand and not have my art stay still.

I made the puppet dragon out of bass wood because it’s easy to carve with. To create the shape I used a coping saw then I did the actual carving with a carving knife. It was difficult to begin carving but once I got the technique it was quite satisfying and therapeutic.

I originally wanted the dragon head to have a horn but that would have been difficult to carve and shape without accidentally snapping it off.

I am very proud of the horns for the back because they were particularly difficult to shape because they were so small.

I eventually cut the tail and neck into pieces and drilled a hole through each of them. Drilling the holes was difficult because the draill refused to drill through the middle in some of them, so I was worried that the neck and head was going to look wonky.

I then painted the pieces in vanish. I had many shades to choose from but in the end I chose the darkest shade to make the wood stronger and to hopefully cover the rough patches.

I am very proud of my wooden dragon puppet, it was my first time creating a wooden puppet and carving a creature. Because of this project my carving skills have improved and this had given me a chance to expand my art skills. If I had to change anything I would have put patterns on the puppet and would have made it look intimidating like the Viking dragon Niddhog.

My little wooden man is made of leylandii wood. It is 26 cm in height. This carving was an experiment to see if I can use this type of wood for my Final Major Project.

This is sketch that I copied from a small artifact that belongs to my mother. It’s a small replica based on a Chinese warrior in the Terracotta army made of stone. I colored it with water colors and drew over it with pen for detail.

This is a charcoal drawing I made 2019 on my first day of Level 3 year. The task was to get a partner and copy them throughout the whole day. Size, A2 sheet of paper

This page is in my sketch book. This is a planning and recording sheet dedicated t the wooden man.

This is a landscape drawing made of oil pastels. This is based on a walk by a lake. It’s 20cm in height and width.

This is an art collage based on the artist Micheal Landy’s mechanical art pieces based on Saints. This is made of glued down images from the internet, pen, water colors, cardboard and acrylic paint. This is on an A1 sheet of paper.

This is a pop out book based on the fairy tale Red Riding Hood. It has seven pages and 15.3cm in height and 11cm in width. Is is made of water colors and pen to out line the pictures.

This is a statue I made for my Final Major Project. It’s made of Laylandii wood. It’s based on the romantic Greek mythology Ceyx and Alcyone. This was made over the first pandemic in 2020.

This is a my self portrait made of pastels, oil paint, chalk and acrylic. It’s made on four pieces of A1 sheets of paper.

This is another Final Major project based on my Christmas dinner. It’s a table cloth with acrylic paintings of food and cutlery and I had sewn around each painting in different colored threads. 180 x 275cm

The skeleton was introduced as soon as the model could not continue the classes. I found the skeleton very interesting to draw.

I used a different method for this rib cage. I actually colored it in white chalk first then drew around it in charcoal. This method has made the white chalk clearer.

I painted on an A1 piece of paper. I was mostly experimenting with colors to see which ones suited the room most.

This is what I accomplished when I developed the painting further. This was very difficult trying to paint the tones and reflections in the plastic cube. looking at in this photo I have really underestimated the coloring and objects in this painting I especially love the lamp and the chairs and art equipment in the background they are surprisingly realistic.

I chose the topic night in because compared to night out I found it more specific and easier to come up with ideas. When I think of night in I automatically think of family night. I relate the topic to my family to represent a cozy, comfortable night in.

The idea is to create a jigsaw puzzle. I found the idea perfect for the theme because people usually do activities to keep the brain active on night’s in. Jigsaws are artistic and clever and that’s what I wanted my project to be like.

I took this photo of some of my family members trying to act natural in a dark lit area with a warm fire. I was pretty pleased with this photo because it really looked like an image you would see on a jigsaw puzzle, with the different characters and how random objects are scattered around the room and just the lighting is perfect for what I wanted to paint.

The plan is to paint on card and then cut out jigsaw pieces.

This was drawn on the other side of the painting. Each square is about 10cm long.

I copied the jigsaw patterns from the internet. I put numbers in case I can’t put the pieces together quick enough.

This painting took a long time and was delayed for a while because of all the practice rounds. What I most proud of this picture is the shadowing and tone. This would be my first picture based on the indoors, fully colored.

Choosing and sauteing out the colors was difficult because nothing was ever one color so I constantly had to put layer upon layer to get the correct color and completely cover the background.

To cut out the pieces I used scissors and a craft knife. Using the craft knife was time consuming and difficult but I fell that to become an expert on it I needed more experience but I feel it’s about as neat as I can cut it.

This is the outcome of my project. I can say that I defiantly appreciate my painting a lot more when it’s cut out into jigsaw puzzles. I do believe it makes a convincing jigsaw puzzle.

The task was to draw images of you between infancy, adolescent to young adult. I chose the age when I was 5 to 14 to 18.I chose those ages because they are the most memorable to what I used to look like. The materials I used to make it was acrylic paints and oil pastels. I used a massive piece of paper that I stapled on the wall. Everything on this paper was supposed to represent who I am and my history.

I began by drawing it out with pastels but the main topic was to focus completely on filling in the white gaps and color.

Family is a big part of my life so using oil pastels I drew my family that I copied from one of my family albums. I remember that image when me and my family went on a walk. I am one out of seven there’s my parents, the oldest brother john who is know 25, my older sister Juliette who is 22, my other brother Sam who is 20, my twin sister Bethany and then me I’m the youngest and we are both 18. My older sister wasn’t actually in this photo so I just added her in.

This one was a happy memory when I was really little me and my family were on a cruse to the Caribbean and that’s the day we all explored the caves.

I can’t remember who took the picture but this was based on a family photo in our utility when we were all really little.

This is my homework That I did on A1 piece of paper. Just a smaller version of my larger piece.

I am pretty proud of this A1 painting. This was based off a painting I did in my book. This one comes with text this time.

I’m really proud of the colors I chose in the background because they are the colors of my bed sheets so I really think these colors are a good representation of me. I really love the colored lines I put around the characters to make the it really come together. To be honest, I not usually a person who likes to plan but I feel with this piece I was really slow because I was mostly guessing so I feel if I’d made a plan I could have been a lot faster. I would have liked to put words and symbols in but I guess I ran out of time.

I think the hardest thing about this was the physical effort, you would be standing for most of the day, your arms would be tired from trying to lift them up to paint the top and the knowing how much had to be done in a day.

Stitch 1: Back- stitch

Stitch 2: Split stitch

Stitch 3: Chain stitch

Stitch 4: Stem Stitch

Stitch 5: Couching

Stitch 6: Threaded back-stitch

Stitch 7: Double Threaded running stitch

Stitch 8: French knot

Stitch 9: Ermine stitch

Stitch 10: Satin stitch.

Philadelphia based artist Matthew Cox is best known for his x-ray work which highlights the contrasts between the two materials from the tactile to the technical.

I love the scenery of where the foot is placed. I especially love the technique of how the floor was stitched. I really love the plants and the blue sky. I’m really impressed how he managed to separate the wheat from the grass and flowers.