First taste of competition.

For the past couple of weeks we've been working on a Proverbs brief, a joint project with art schools in Warsaw and Katowice, Poland. We have to take a polish proverb that translates into English and create an image preferably using both meanings. So I started with the usual mindmap process, wrote down all the quirky proverbs that would be fun and started sketching.

 P:The blacksmith was guilty but they hanged the gypsy.

E:The scapegoat suffers not for his faults.

P:The beggar spoke to picture but picture gave no answer.
E: Like talking to a brick wall.

Now, for a while the lecturers have been going on about getting a style, we all have one but maybe we don't see it or we just find it hard to keep it consistent. Ever since first year they've stressed the importance of having a recognisable style and how it will affect our future work. When they first mentioned this all I could think was PANIC! I couldn't for the life of me see my style and if I did, I didn't like it. I kept pushing, forcing some sort of style but nothing would come so typical over dramatic Natalie began to think that I was destined not to have one. Alas! You can imagine my delight when on one Tuesday afternoon I wandered into the print room and spoke to the lecturer there and found myself starting an etching, and I loved it!

 From little acorns great oaks grow
Dry-point etching - 1st attempt

I've dabbled in print before but nothing serious and it's always something that I've wanted to progress with. Then I spoke to my  lecturer with the print-maker and we all agreed that for this semester I should spend some time with print and furthering my understanding and skills.It sounds stupid but it feels like it fits, lord knows Photoshop and myself aren't going to become friends anytime soon and there's just something about printing that I find intriguing.
So for the past couple of days I've been scouring the internet to find artist research etc and it makes me want to experiment with it, a sort of mixed media printmaking piece. When I graduate I don't want to be a plain Jane and want to combine different techniques, even as a second year, it's clear to see that if I want to go into the creative industries then you have to stand up and be noticed and considering these proverbs will eventually be put into a published book, this may be the first step!