Cultures Project - Update

During reading week, i have been able to collect alot of research related to my project- specifically looking at Turkey and the mosques i visited while in Istanbul. I managed to explore both The Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia in quite a bit of detail. There is so much infomation you could gather from just two buildings. The pattern and colour really inspired me and hopefully these two aspects very much reflect my inspiration within my sketchbook. I tryed to explore different techniques of applying paint and other drawing materials... and found i especially loved applying paint with a palette knife. Using the palette knife allowed me to express my love for colour, so alot of my sketchbook is mainly exploring colour in an abstract way. I have still to research on Morocco which i have decided to explore in detail aswel. I have some photographs my sister took while she was in morocco of different mosques and old temples she visited. The patterns and colours within the mosques and temples in morocco are very much different to the ones in Turkey which will be interesting to explore and play about with in my sketchbook.
Earlier on this semseter we have had a couple of talks on composition and colour. There was one abstract expressionist whos work really inspired me and has had a big influence on my work during this project - Mark Rothko. His work is very abstract and plays about with colour- which is mainly what i have been focusing on. I am going to research more on Rothko and relate it more to my work and what im doing during this project. My style is quite painterly and expressive and i would say it closely resembles Rothkos style.
Today i started looking at Morocco and the islamic architecture within this culture. It is quite different from the mosques i saw in Turkey, meaning the colours, patterns and shape of the buildings are quite the oppositie.

Tomorrow we are starting a week of knitting which i am looking forward to. It will be interesting to see how we incorperate work we have done so far into the different areas within textiles.

Working with Photoshop

This week we have been using the computer as a drawing tool and creating designs using black and white mark makings in photoshop. So far i have enjoyed using photoshop as i have never used it that much up until now. I have created a few designs using different techniques and tools in photoshop and layered some images together. I enjoyed working with quite a soft colour palette, although i do like using bright colours at other times aswel as other effects. I liked how the colour burn came out on some of them and changing the opacity to create a kind of transparency. Have a look, and let me know what you think of them!..

"The Tipping Point" - Assignment 1

Assignment 1- was to create a general mindmap on "The Tipping Point", pick a chapter and go into detail on it. The second mind map is on the stickiness factor, including detail on Sesame street, Blues clues and Advertising aswel as researcher names and psychologists. This is the first time i have properly completed a mind map, and i have to say i found it quite tricky as i dont usually work this way, especially following Tony Buzans technique.

At first i wondered why we had to read "The Tipping Point" as i couldnt understand how it was connected to design. As i read through it, i realised how relevant it is, as it talks about design in a problem solving sense especially the Stickiness chapter which i studyed in detail. Iv managed to do the general mind map, after rereading the book for a second time. I needed to refresh myself with different sections in the book before attempting to do the mind map. I found reading it for a second time alot easier and once id read it, alot of it came back to me. I was quite surprised with how much i remembered especially when we discussed it at the seminar. It all came back to me as soon as i scanned over the first few paragraphs of each chapter. Rereading it is probably a good idea, as its alot easier to understand and everything comes together.
I didnt think i would enjoy the Tipping Point but i actually found some points in the book very interesting. It makes me look at some aspects in a different light, question and think about different cirumstances you are surrounded by constantly throughout life. The section on Sesame Street was engaging. All the effort and time put into the programme is quite extrodinary and most people wont realise how much it was worked on, to get it 'just right'. The amount of experimentation involved is unbelievable. Thinking about it now, everyone who helped make the programme must of learned so much about kids and their behaviour patterns. Is it just the muppets in it that keeps them interested? or are they acutally understanding the narrative of it all? All this was put to test through several experiments to find out what they needed to know to make the programme a success and become sticky!
The Tipping point overal i think is an eyeopener to what goes on around you and others and makes you think about things in a different way. I would definlaty recommend the book as i think anyone would find it interesting and learn something from it.

Culture Project

My 'Culture' project seems to be coming along better now. I have been struggling with it for a while, but since visiting the mosque i have managed to get some first hand drawings! At the moment i am looking at what is inside the mosque in dundee. There were only a few brightly coloured items within it so i am exploring the prayer beads and the Qur'an. The Qur'an is relavant to architecture as architects often took parts from the Qur'an for the walls of the interior and exterior of mosques. The calligraphy was so beautifully written that the writing itself was used to create pattern on the walls.
I am also now exploring the colours in the islamic culture. The more i find out about the culture the more i want to know.. it is a very interesting subject to research and the colours within the mosques are very inspiring, especially within textiles as colour is a key aspect.

Experimenting with felt today was exciting. It was interesting to see the technique used to bind the felt together as i had been taught a different way previoulsy. I think it will be a good surface to work into once felted, and will be fun to explore in more detail, aswel as seeing different colours blended together.

I went to the Jamia Mosque today, managed to get into the main prayer hall and take some photographs and sketches. It was interesting to find out that contemporary mosques dont have patterns and bright colours on their interior walls as this is now considered a distraction during prayer time. In comparison, older mosques like the Blue mosque, in istanbul, are covered with brightly coloured patterns and mosaics. The walls in Jamia Mosque were just white and the hall itself was quite bare compared to older mosques. It had several books in Arabic including the Qu'ran. All the books were different colours and I found this very interesting to photograph, especially seeing everything written in Arabic....