...update...

so a slight correction needed from my last blog about the whitworth. it was not alec finlay giving the talk it was tim machin. i arrived late to the talk so i didn't realise they had changed the speaker.

now update on the animation...
i have started making one of the sets to my piece and it's taking slightly longer than i first thought!
i've started making the burger place where the spoon will work... here's my progress so far:

so yeah this has taken me 2 days to do!
saying that it has been quite fun and i'd prefer to spend longer on it and it look good on the camera than really bad!
(i also like how in this photo you can see the evil clown (arch-enemy to spoon) just poking out from the side)
ill post more photos when ive completed this set and when ive made more sets, props etc

now... on wednesday i eventually had a book-binding induction. we got taught how to make some books just from a single sheet of paper, how to stitch books and then we made concertina books with hardback covers.
i really enjoyed it, especially seeing some examples of different types of books we were learning how to make. inspiration for the scope of things i can with a simple design.
i got a couple of books about book making from the library so i'm going to give those designs a go and see what happens. watch this space...

outing to the whitworth

after umming and ahhhing about whether to go or stay in bed i decided to head on down to the whitworth art gallery for their tuesday lunch time talk. the artist this week was alec finlay.
after initially not liking his work i started to appreciate the thought process behind his pieces. hiw works are quite minimalist and he likes to make something out of nothing so flyers, leaflets and a large amount of blutack are in his work. the piece i liked most from the ones he showed us is called 'birds' and is silouhettes or british birds cut from a birdspotting guide and stuck onto a wall. although in terms of style it was no different to his other works for some reason this one i felt was more beautiful and was more aesthetically pleasing.
although i not sure i like how his works look and the execution of them i do like the fact that he uses 'normal' everyday objects in his work, turning the everyday into a work or art.

now for my project, yesterday i had a mid-year review of my work in front of 2 members of staff and about 6 other students. i was happy with the work i showed and although i hate presenting anything i think it went ok. i did realise however how scatty my work is and that i do flit from one project to the next very quickly. i now see the need to keep at a project and push it forward and not just abandon it.

and now back to reality

after a busy, fairly tiring but fun christmas and new year break i'm now back in manchester.
my schedule during the holidays has meant my work has been somewhat limited but i have found a few items to possibly use in my animation. i've found charity shops have been the best source for things to use and i found in my local oxfam a scary china clown that turned out to be a teapot.
i have still been thinking about what to do for my animation and i'm torn between a few ideas but in the next few weeks i'll have the time to experiment and try to eventually learn how to use computer animation software properly.

over new years i was in rotterdam in the netherlands for a taize meeting. taize is a community in france and each year they have a european meeting over new year in a different city around the continent. each year thousands of young people accend on a european city, this year there were around 25,000. i loved the fact there were so many people especially in the prayers with all the people singing together. i like the idea of so many people being unique and individual but coming together to make something new.
after the meeting i stayed with a friend in groningen which is in the north east of the country. it is a university town and still has lots of the original architecture (only a small section was bombed during the war). it is quite a pictureesque town especially along the canal where my friend lives where there are all the old warehouses that have been converted into houses.
whilst in groningen we also climbed the martinitoren (martini tower) which is one of the oldest towers in the town. despite being slightly scared of spiral staircases i managed to get to the top and get down again.

because of being involved in the taize coomunity i have friends from all over the world. whilst seeing a lot of my friends in rotterdam i thought i could show about the journeys people made to get to rotterdam or the journeys i have had and will have seeing them in their own countries. this is still early ideas that are forming but i wanted to do something to bring together the exerience i had in rotterdam.

lastly, a few days ago i watched an animation of peter and the wolf directd by suzie templeton and a short film called cashback directed my sean ellis.
i loved the animation style in peter and the wolf and the lack of speech in it made it much more beautiful and made it have a dream like quality. the whole 'look' of the film is very cold and dark but that doesn't stop there being beauty in it. i especially loved the ice skating scene and the animation here.
cashback is about an art student who works the night shift in sainsburys to pay for his course. to make the time go faster he imagines time has stopped and he can imagine what he wants. in parts this film was enjoyable and funny but i think more could have been done with the main character stopping time. in the film he stops time, undresses female customers and draws them, i think i would have enjoyed the film if he had stopped time then made something funny happen. the rest of the film is funny and entertaining but it completely changes when he stops time which spoils it slightly.

so these next few weeks will be ones for experimenting and hopefully having a finished animation at the end!