Animal Project Evaluation

I found looking at the collage works of Peter Clark very interesting, especially his use of spare paper and old labels that he uses to create his work. At first I found working with his media quite challenging, but as the project progressed I began to enjoy collaging, especially using tissue paper to recreate the dress on the artist research sheet.

I believe my Peter Clark artist research sheet turned out quite well. The two collages I produced turned out well, in my opinion; I really like the dress I created using tissue paper, newspaper and parcel paper. However, I feel I could have produced one or two more collages. I feel the profile turned out okay, but could have been better had I included more information.

The three animals I chose to explore are: a butterfly, an owl and a sloth. I chose the butterfly because in my opinion, butterflies are similar to day dreamers, because they flit around and are light and colourful. Bright colours appeal to me, another reason I chose this animal. I feel the owl relates to me because they are nocturnal; I sometimes stay up late, and I enjoy night time because of the stars and how quiet it becomes. Owls also have large eyes similar to mine. I believe I’m similar to a sloth because they are extremely slow and lazy and love to sleep a lot; they also reflect me because I’m a vegetarian like them.

I chose the butterfly because I thought recreating the bright colours in different media would be interesting to draw and paint and would look lovely and bright. I developed this animal in my sheet work by using a range of media and composition; I used coloured pencil, brusho ink, inks and pen and wash technique.

I chose to make a 3D model because I thought it would make the butterflies wings look more effective. With a wire frame, the material I used hangs better.

My methods of construction for the final piece was using wire for the butterfly’s body and wrapping masking tape around the wire to create the shape of its body. I believe this went okay, but it could have gone better; it was my first time using this method. For the wings I used silk, as it is soft and slippery and frays away, resembling a butterflies wings. I changed my final model from the design sheet, as I wanted the butterfly to be brighter than the design I originally had in mind. I used adhesive fabric to create patches and I have sewn the wings patterns in. I added buttons because I wanted the model to have a patch work look and feel to it. I believe this went quite well, I like the colours I chose; each wing is a colour of the three butterflies I drew prior. I originally planned on using tissue paper, but silk is stronger and brighter.

I feel I have improved my model making skills because it was a different and brand new technique that I used; I’d never used an iron frame before in model making.

I believe that I didn't manage my time well enough throughout this project, I didn’t spend enough time on this project during lessons.

I believe I have produced the best results possible within the time frame, however, as mentioned before, if I had used class time more wisely some pieces could have been better.

My overall thoughts on this project are that it was a very interesting project and very enjoyable. The use of collage made a fun change to the previous project, in my opinion. I also think that using animals to portray personalities is a brilliant idea, I really enjoyed this project.