Alternative Postcard

Back in September I was given my second project to complete for University as part of our introduction weeks. This was to take a trip to Thee Cliff Bay in the Gower Peninsular and create an alternative postcard in response to the area. My idea was to include the typical picturesque scene that is usually seen on Gower postcards but to make it very extraordinary, but still in keeping with the Welsh quality.

         I decided to make it Doctor Who themed a I am a fan myself, and thought it would be a playful and comical alternative. I planned what I was creating beforehand so I knew exactly what to take images of. I took an image of disturbed sand, which I used in front of the Tardis, then started to edit in the sky where I took the image from here. I then had to edit the water colour, the levels of the image so it matched with the ‘time of day’ and weather that I added into the photo.

The original image - Beginning of the Editing process

Final Edit

I created two of these postcards, both with the same process but this was the final image I chose to present.

Final Edit

The Brangwyn Hall Panels - Art Objects

Yesterday I visited the Brangwyn Hall to look at the amazing paintings by Sir Frank Brangwyn. This was part of a task for Visual Studies where we had to sit and examine these huge, vivid artworks for one hour without any distractions or cameras, just with the act of looking. This came from a session we had in Visual Studies where we read a piece of text from Jeanette Winterson's Art Objects. There was a very important quote from the text which sums up what the task entailed. 

Art takes time. To spend an hour looking at a painting is difficult. The public gallery experience is one that encourages art at a trot. There are the paintings, the marvellous speaking works, definite, independent, each with a Self it would be impossible to ignore, if…if…, it were possible to see it. I do not only mean the crowds and the guards and the low lights and the ropes, which make me think of freak shows, I mean the thick curtain of irrelevances that screens the painting from the viewer

My initial thoughts when being given this task were very negative, and had no real desire toward the task despite reading this text, it was something I had never done before and couldn't image it being stimulating or interesting. However I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised after completing this task. I found it very comforting and relaxing as I don’t think I have been left alone with only my thoughts, for just one hour in a very long while. It was nice to just have a break from everyday life, and I found that completely immersing yourself within a painting was incredibly refreshing and a much needed escape for myself. I think Frank Brangwyn successfully created another world and time with his powerfully detailed paintings. Not only are they detailed in how he captured the human body and foliage, but in colour and in a political way also. Here is some information and background of the paintings. 

In 1924, the House of Lords decided to commemorate the First World War by commissioning new artwork for the Royal Gallery, Palace of Westminster, London, and Brangwyn was chosen.Brangwyn had been an official First World War artist and was a Royal Academician with a high international profile. His intention was to enliven the space with ‘decorative painting representing various Dominions and parts of the British Empire’.However, in 1927/1928 two of the supporting peers died, and in 1930, when the artist was asked to present his work to date, public controversy ensued; the scheme was deemed to be inappropriate, and was declined.Respecting Brangwyn’s reputation and his paternal Welsh connections, Swansea expressed interest in housing the panels in the new Guildhall. Successful in securing them, the Brangwyn Hall was inaugurated along with the Guildhall in October 1934.    - Source

When walking into the Hall, it was very clear that these paintings were the heart of it, and I was quite surprised by the size of them. Especially these ones in particular (pictured below) as they captured my attention instantly.I don't think these images, or any images in fact give them any justice at all. Looking at them in real life, towering over me created an ambiance that these images just don’t produce. Their scale adds to the technique of creating another world, one that you feel you want to interact with and jump in to. What I found remarkable was the detailing of these paintings. When you look closely they have just as much detailing as smaller paintings, and the more you look at these paintings new things appear. Even after an hour I was noticing something new within the paintings. 

Thoughts and feelings during the 1 Hour period

These paintings initially created a sense of Utopia, unity and harmony from the integrating of races and species seeming to be working as one. With the help of the vibrant and cheerful colours used. However one section of the 5th panel stood out to me in the upper right corner. It depicts White men cutting down trees, and another taking a photograph of what appeared to be a tribal man, who is clearly very different from the white male. This in particular didn't display the unified Utopia I initially experienced looking at these scenes. It somewhat reminded me of the Iron Maiden song 'Run To The Hills'. This song is though of as a political anthem and as the story unfolds it speaks from the two viewpoints of the White Europeans and the Native American people, and how the land and community was taken from the Native Americans. For about 10 minutes, this song began playing over and over in my head, unintentionally, and the scene became a different story to me. I then noticed the expression of the Red Indian in the very foreground of the image. He seems to almost gaze out to the viewer with a very unhappy, enraged expression which led me to then begin looking at other facial expressions and began to realize that most were the same and had an unhappy expression. I started to question if this was intentional, and if Frank Brangwyn wanted to subtly reference the true implications of the Common Wealth.

Panels 3,  4  and  5

Brangwyn Hall

Final Images - The Way We Live Now

Here are the final images of my project of The Way We Live Now and how they were printed and displayed for our group critique.

Sorry for the bad quality image, this was taken via iPhone