Banksy

Heavily inspired by art from Imogen Reeves, José Parlá and Banksy.

I painted an acrylic background then transfer printed an image of an Irish Famine memorial in Dublin. I changed the threshhold to make it look more Banksy-fied and used pva glue to give a see through look so you can see the background through it.

 Then put through different filters on the computer. I especially liked the last one!

What do you think, Imogen Reeves?

David Hockney

This page is a bit of an assault on the eyes with all the bright colours on the red carpet background- sory about that! An art history of David Hockney with a scan of a double canvas painting i made in response. Keep working outside the book as well as in it!

Fold Outs

 Mix up resposes and art histories so the examiner can really see how you are thinking about what the artist is doing and why they are doing it. And also so they know you're not just sticking things down "because it looks nice". Make sure your art has a purpose and relates to the topic!
The brown church is a monoprint usung chalk rather than printing ink.

 Fold outs are a great way of getting the examiner involved in your book and getting them interested. It shows that your book is full of work and exploding with ideas.

Identity

 http://imogennicolereeves.blogspot.co.uk/ http://imogennicolereeves.blogspot.co.uk/ http://imogennicolereeves.blogspot.co.uk/
I found out about this Artist from the above blogger^^ really helpful and amazing blog if anyone wants to look!
This page was me experimenting with grounds or the "background" of my art.

This is a monoprint i made in response to the art. A monoprint is when you basically cover the back of a piece of paper with printing ink, place it ink side down onto another piece of paper and then draw onto the clean side of the inked paper. The printing ink will print onto the bottom piece of paper and this process can make some cool effects when you use different colours and maybe swirl the ink around with a brush before putting it down onto the bottom paper. Experiment!  

Also, i recomend to anyone buying a white pen. they are really useful if you want to paint up your sketchbook because it will write over the dark colours.

 This was a film I saw which really got me thinking. It's about cave art and how it meant so much to people then and now we don't really know what it even is. The film was called "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" and i'd recomend watching it to anyone!
To make the background of this, I paper machéd the pages then water coloured it brown to make it look rough and natural. Yes, that is real bark stuck down in the corner.

 Much simpler page about George Catlin. An awesome painter and historian. Always make links between your artists and as well as talking about them, talk about why you like them and how they relate to eachother, your ideas and the overall topic.

 Again with the white pen... Black and white photography looks great on black and white paper, but always make it look exciting! every page is a new page so try and make each page different- make your book memorable. 

Some experimentation with collage and different mediums you can use to draw the human face and facial features. I had no room to write things about these pictures, so i used some WH Smith's travel tags to write on which makes the page a bit more funky.

Responding to Artists

Here i mixed sketches and photography to make a responce to to both Dan Flavin and Alex Sturrock. This page, i have to say, is actually really inspired by Dragonology books with lots of foldy-out bits and secret wallets.

 Here is a sneaky litle wallet keeping some loose photos safe. I made the wallet itself out of  a page of sketches so it serves as both art and something functional (Bau Haus style!) Also inspired by Immy Reeves- truely the best blog ever for help with GCSE Art--- forget Bitesize and give herself a go!

It's important to show progression through out your book and I thought these sketches show how my ideas and plans were changing. They show experimentation of form and show that your'e exploring anatomy so try and get some studies into your book, maybe acompanied by an Art History of Da Vinci/Rembrandt or other renaissance painters.

Originality

 This is the first double page spread in my book. I tried to make each page totally different in this book, using different techniques to create each page ( Dan Flavin - tea and water colour next to Sturrock print-roller). Make an impression! Notice too how i decided to only make artist studies on these two pages with no responces. This was to give the examiner an idea of what i was planning to create and where I was first getting my inspiration from.

these are some shots from the first page of my new Identity book....

Like in my Junk book, i wanted to show what I was thinking about doing during the project however this time i made the mind map digitally for some variation.

First book and Project of Junk is gone, now working on Identity.

Van Gogh Inspired Painting

here i made a pencil sketch based on Van Gogh's charcoal studies of Holland's serfdom.

Inspired by oil paintings from Van Gogh, i made an acrylic response using similair brush strokes and use of gesture and impression.

Art History and Response

following the theme of Junk, I wanted to look first at Urban Artists to explore Art which can be percieved of as Junk. Who better to start with than Banksy. Writing a bit about the artist's history and individual style usually makes a nice Art History, but it's a good idea to also talk about why you like or dislike the artist, make it individual.

 sometimes you might run out of room on you page, so it's ok to use more than 1 double spread, just make sure you use it well! If you find you have a few loose drawings with no home, fold outs are a nice idea. Make your book interesting for the examiner to look through so it's not boring. Remember- the examiner will decide within the first few pages what grade you will get so make an impression!

 see, fold outs :)

you dont have to stick to artists too. Here i did a small artist reasearch about a film! Anything that inspires you.

decorating the pages is a nice way to respond to the artists too. It says to the examiner- 'all you can give me for this page is A*' because it shows that you are really thinking about what you are sticking in your sketchbook, eve if you just do it because it looks pretty.

Annotation

this is a double page spread of my thought process for the theme of Junk. Remember, it's important that you show the examiner what your thinking through annotation.

Art History of Me

for the first page, I wanted to start off with something really personal- an Art History of me! This is because I was told that the Examiner doesn't want to know you as an individual, something which I disagree with as I think art focuses on the individual and it's important to understand the artist so you can understand their art.  

My Sketchbook

So, this is my sketchbook. I wanted to buy my own book as i wasn't happy with the book I was given at school and I'm very happy about this decission- having your own book sets you apart. However, I would suggest not to get a ringbound book as they tend to fall apart (although this could be a nice touch especially if your studying the theme of Junk as it gives your book an exploding look which can work to your advantage).

First Blog

Hello everyone! Like many people, I've been stressing and stressing about GCSE Art, never quite sure what to do and then suddenly running out of ideas. In this blog, i'd like to help people in the same situation as myself and inspire you to create your own art and to help to make your sketchbook as good as it can be!
In year 10, we were given the theme of Junk as our first topic. This was a really good topic in my opinion as you can really do a lot with Junk- it's such a broad topic! From Junk Food to Scrap-yard sculptures, from Sticker Art to Graffiti, it's a good idea to explore as many ideas as you can to really get a kick start into your topic.
I really hope this blog helps you on your quest for Art!

Another really good site for more inspiration can be found here: ttp://imogennicolereeves.blogspot.com/2011/05/gcse-art-book-1.html 
Honestly, it's an amazing blog with great ideas about what you can do for your sketchbook. Check it out!