#mondayworkshops

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Exploring Electives - Painting W1

This week, I began the painting elective. On Monday, I attended the life drawing workshop with Eoin.

In this workshop we drew a nude model, using charcoal only to create gesture drawings. We drew the figure for different sets of times. 30 seconds, 5 minutes and 10 minutes.

Drawing is not really my strongest skill but I enjoyed how free this workshop made me feel, as it was more about getting the information down then fine details.

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Monday Workshop - Pinhole Camera

Today, I attended the Pinhole Camera workshop with Gemma Dardis.

We began the workshop by discussing the basics of photography and pinhole cameras. We looked at some old style and contemporary pinhole photographers.

After that, we tested the exposure on a pinhole camera that Gemma had pre made to see how the photo developed, she ran us through the different steps of developing and the rules when you are in the darkroom.

After we learned all the basics, we made our own pinhole cameras.

Myself and a few of the girls from the workshop helped each other when taking the photos. Ugne and Aoife were a great help during this workshop, and it was a great opportunity to go through all the steps together and have someone there to help with the timing, taking off the shutter etc.

This was one of my photos after developing.

After taking our photos, we got to scan them into the Mac and invert and play around with the levels of black and white in them.

These were my favourite ones from the workshop.

I tried to capture the movement of Ugne going in circles, she spun in circles and I timed the camera for 30 seconds. Although it wasn't exactly what I wanted, I think it came out cooler than what I had pictured in my head.

I think the circular effect I got in the camera with the curved corners captures that circular rotation I was going after, and Ugne's almost ghost like appearance in the photo represents how although she may move, the world stays the same around her.

I loved this workshop and I'm excited for the rest of the week!

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Monday Workshop - Stencil Screen Printing

This morning I was lucky enough to attend the Stencil Screen Printing workshop with Fiona Quinn. It was great as there was only 12 of us so it was very personal and informative.

We began by simplifying our designs. I chatted with Fiona about my concept and decided on focusing on the animals on the carousel and creating a stencil of two of them. One of the horses, and then a tiger.

These are the positive pieces left over from my stencil

After lunch, we were shown the process of screen printing. This was my first experience of it, and I admired how the paper was made by a company that used little water in their paper making and all recyclable materials.

The print will be be developed over the week as I continue to add layers, but this is my piece from today. I made 5 prints and this was my favourite one.

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Monday Workshops - Photography (w2)

This week, I decided to revisit photography as I was interested in bringing in props and discussing with Deborah how I would create a sense of movement with them.

In the church, Deborah went through the different ways to use a DSLR camera, similar to the workshop I attended last week. However, it was good to get a refresher on these as I knew I could do with a bit more practice.

We discussed how I would bring my carousel prop and work with lighting to create a feeling of the constant moving in circles.

I really love the idea of using a 2D image and feeling as though it is a moment stuck in time.

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Today I attended a workshop with Jennifer on Vinyl and Laser Cutting.

We had to draw an outline of our chosen photo or sketch and convert it into Illustrator. I was lucky as I had done my line drawing in ProCreate on my iPad and had a much easier process.

We then had to upload our sketch on to a program on the computer to then have it cut out on the vinyl cutter. I cut mine out in red card, and then used the foam cutter to cut around my shape.

We then learned the process of using the laser cutter. I cut mine out in timber.

I enjoyed this workshop but don't think I would like to use these techniques again as it wasn't the most enjoyable for me. I'm glad I experienced it though and I was very happy with my finished bits.

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Monday Workshops - Photography

On Monday, I attended the Photography workshop with Paul Tarpey.

In this workshop, he showed us how to use a camera properly and how they compared to just using our phones, according to light and focus etc.

It was important to Paul that we create something during this workshop to use in our projects, so I decided to work with what I had and create something on the spur of the moment.

I used a red light sphere over the camera to create the red colour over Rachel's face, and her stare into the camera is almost demanding you to look at her.

In this instance, Rachel represents the red, the pain and suffering one experiences through heartbreak. She is telling the viewer, through her stare to notice her, to stay put and to acknowledge her.

This temporary interaction between the viewer and the subject is an example of the way people heal, through acknowledging what they're feeling and growing from it.

He then showed us how to edit the photos, using the Macs we have access to in college, by playing around with colour, exposure and sharpening.

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Concept and Development Workshop

Today I attended the Concept and Development with Sharon LeGear.

I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop as it was a group reflection activity, so the group sat around a table and we discussed our projects just like in tutorials with the help of Sharon. However, it was really nice to get some feedback from different people in the course, and to gain inspiration and discuss other people’s work.

From this workshop, I realised that I actually wanted to go back to the primary research that I did on the heart, but approach it in different ways! I learned from Sharon and my fellow peers to work with what I have and bring it on further, seeing as we don’t have a long way to go from now until Christmas.

I created this collage using loads of different materials and textures.

I don’t want to discredit the research and work I did regarding Ancient Egypt, so Sharon helped me look at in a different light. It's totally fine to have an idea and work on it, but if you're not enjoying it, you can always move on to something else!

I was so happy coming out of this workshop, and was so happy to get to do it!

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Workshop Mondays - Plaster Processes

Today, I attended the plaster processes workshop with Sarah. I found this workshop so fun, and messy and overall really eye opening to a type of medium I have never worked with before.

There were loads of examples on the walls of the plaster studio that were super impressive - from draping fabrics to plaster casts and molds.

I wanted to use something associated with my project, but the only thing I had that I thought would be suitable was a air dry clay heart I made a while ago when I visited the clay studio, so I just decided to use that.

To create a mold to out the plaster in, our tutor showed us a machine where you could melt, or vacuum plastic on to the object to create a 3D old to pour plaster straight into.

I had never seen anything done like this before so it was really exciting to even just see that this machine was an option if I happened to have any ideas in the future.

Along with this, we were shown how to mix plaster and water together, and how to prepare alginate to create a mold. We were also shown different methods of dipping things like fabrics into the plaster and hanging them to dry.

I was really happy with my finished piece from this workshop. I know it is just a mold of something I made before, but I love the appearance of the different textures from the plaster vs the clay.

Although I enjoyed this workshop, I think I am understanding now that I'm not really enjoying the sculpture side of things.

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Monday Workshop 07/10/2022

Today, I attended the Me & You Workshop with @eoinmclsad.

In this workshop, we were split into groups of two and drew each other in charcoal. We did sets of 10 30 second gesture drawings, 5 minute life drawings, drawing with our left hand in different time intervals and finally a 10 minute life drawing at the end.

Eoin told us to focus on what we were seeing, to draw what we saw in front of us. He told us not to worry about fine details and just draw freely. I especially liked the aspect of sitting on the floor with just paper and some charcoal and a subject to draw.

I’ve been feeling in a bit of a slump with my project lately, and I wanted to try out something I usually don’t enjoy too much, life drawing. It’s probably been my favourite workshop so far as I got to really let go and not think too much about perfecting details or getting the perfect perspective.

It was a great experience and I hope to maybe bring something similar to this into my project.

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Workshop 2 | 10th October 2022

Today I attended the Bookbinding Workshop with Lorraine. This workshop was a lot of fun (as you can see from my pictures) and it was so cool being able to make your own sketchbook in a matter of hours.

We used traditional bookbinding methods, using traditional tools such as a bone folder, special linen thread and beeswax etc.

This workshop was challenging as you had to be very precise with folding, measurements and cutting. All the while trying not to cut yourself with a sharp blade!

My favourite part of the workshop was using the Dos-à-dos binding method as it gave us not one, but two notebooks in the end.

Although I did enjoy this process, I was unhappy with the end result and decided to pass it on to a friend for their use.