Inspired By Animals

I realise I should currently be concentrating on my pepper project, but I've been distracted by the next big art project in the pipeline.

This year's GCSE paper has been released, though the class won't be given it until after Feb half term. I've been having a look through the paper and there are a few questions that instantly spark my inspiration. I'm considering going for the "Animals" themed one. But is that just the obvious and easiest choice to go for? Should I expand my mind a little more and go with "Here and now", or "Sense of place"? Both choices also caught my eye. They'd definitely take more thought as they're such abstract concepts. But then why not just go for "Animals" if it instantly inspires hundreds of creative thoughts? There's still plenty of time until I make the final decision though, so I can think on it some more.

I believe that the class teacher is opting for the "Buildings" themed question to give his class. I'd be devastated if that one was forced upon me. Especially considering the six other choices. So it's likely to be a completely independent project for me. That suits me fine. At least I won't be unconsciously affected by other student's work.

Artistic Genius

I'm currently on my second year of a GCSE art course. I work in a secondary school and some of my pupils study art. Last year I decided I'd take the course along with one of my year 10s.

I've always had a great love for art, but I didn't take it very far at school due to a number of regrettable reasons. I'm not sure what I expect to do with it once I get a GCSE in art, but I'm certainly enjoying the journey.

I rarely get a chance to be in the actual GCSE art classes, but I often drop in to the art department to speak to the teacher and get a bit of direction. I usually just find out what the pupils are currently looking at, view the assessment objectives, and do my own thing. I find the art teacher takes a "spoon feeding" sort of approach to the pupils in his class, which really doesn't work for me. I like to let my creative skills take over and go in my own direction.

I'm currently working on a final piece of a pepper project that's been ongoing for a few months. It didn't initially spark my creativity, but I've become more involved in it and am actually rather enjoying the project now. To hit all the assessment objectives, I've had to look at other artists work to inspire my own pieces. I found this difficult at first, as the final piece can't be completely original. I must show progression from looking at a piece of art I admire, linking it to peppers, then interpreting that into my own work. The whole project has been ongoing for a couple of months, so I've managed to get the hang of it and do what is required for the course.

Back to my final piece. I've always been a fan of Salvador Dali's work, especially his surrealist pieces. I could instantly see an aged, melting pepper when looking at Dali's soft watches. I admire the use of ants in his work as well. He manages to make them look like jewels on a watch in the Persistence of Time. I wanted to replicate this idea myself. So I'm in the process of creating a mixed media piece, showing a large moldy, melting   pepper, crawling in ants. I've gone out of my comfort zone somewhat in creating this piece. I prefer to work with paints, pastels, pencils, crayons on paper or canvas. I'm not into creating 3D models or anything like that, but I really need to show I can do more than just flat pieces of work all the time. So, although I'm working with acrylic paint on canvas, I'm building up the pepper using toilet paper and making the ants out of clay and wire. Not entirely sure it's going to turn out as envisioned, but having a good go! Will post photos as I go.