Carmen McNally's Art

  Artist Research on Andy Goldworthy All of these pieces by Andy Goldsworthy have a sense of journey, which is what attracted me to them. The journey reminds me of the twisted turns of some of the dangerous roads that we rode down throughout Europe. They are simple yet effective and all relate to Traces of Landscape.

  Artist research Hattori Makiko This Japanese artist Hattori Makiko makes just a few works a year. This sculpture required tens of thousands of rolled clay shavings that were precisely placed on and within the curved form. T he unglazed pieces of crinkled florets are made from Seto porcelain, a material from Aichi Prefecture in Japan, and can take up to six months to dry. The spiral effect takes your eye on a journey and can be enjoyed from different angles. From a distance, it just looks like one of those dried up natural sponges. It's only up close you can see the hard craftsmanship that has gone into creating this piece. It also makes me think of the mouse skull sphere made by Alistair Mackie that on close inspection, only then you can see the intricacy that went into the creation. I really like the light and shadow that have formed from the creases, folds and curves.  This sculpture makes me think of my journey on the motorbike because of the folds and spiral effect. I think c

  Mono-Printing Using the continuous line drawings of the plant life, I used them to create some mono-printing. This was a great way to do some mark-making with a selection of tools. With my first print, this is in a surreal style as the flower is not in a realistic proportion. I was experimenting with the different marks the tools made. However, how I thought the marks would turn out, they didn't and I wasn't happy with its overall look. With my second print, I like the finish. I went over the same lines several times which has created depth.  I did some collage mono printing using the leaves in our studio. With the first print, I laid the leaves on the acrylic plate and rolled black ink on top, creating a negative space when I lifted the piece of paper. For my second and third prints, I inked the actual leaves which showed all the vessels and small details in the prints.        

Exploring Lino Printing Today I was in the print room trying out some Lino Printing. I traced on the same piece of paper, 3 different versions of the Stelvio Pass in Italy that we rode. The above image is my work space wall.      The line print was successful however it was lacking something that I think was missing. I think that by swapping the negative and positive space around would improve the intricacy and the thing it's lacking.   I feel that if I was going to explore further with this process, I would want to cut a more abstract effect on the lino. Even reversing the positive and negative space when I cut. If I reverse the positive and negative space, I will have more play with how I position the Lino when printing. Overlapping and changing directions.

Textile plant life I decided to make a textile version of my Echeveria plant which looks like a cactus aloe vera flower. When I think of this plant, I think prickly, withstanding and resilient. The textile version of my Echeveria is soft, floppy and cosy.

Looking at Vessels Today we visited Nottingham Castle with our tutor Julian. We were looking at lots of different vases at the gallery to give us ideas and inspiration for creating our own vessel in the ceramics workshop. There were a few that stood out for me that were really quirky and different like This earthenware teapot created by Josiah Wedgwood in 1759-61. It's molded in the shape of a pineapple I really like the diamond shape pattern of the pineapple skin. All the different textures and mark makings really work together. This coffee pot that's in the molded form of a cauliflower is also made by Josiah Wedgewood in 1759-65. The detail and texture that Wedgewood created of curling edges and the mottled effect is great on the cauliflower leaves. This is really creative and unique. One of my favourites.   Below is a Derby porcelain bough pot, Unknown date, which says it was probably painted by Daniel Lucas 1788-1876. When I first looked at this portion object I thought it

  Walking across 4 bridges Today me and my children went on a journey across four bridges in Nottingham. We started at Trent Bridge walking along the embankment and ended our journey on Cattle Market road.    Eva and Jenson had fun tracing the ground and other textured surfaces like the trees around them.     Jenson spotted an overgrown bench.   They took their time here reading all the Love Locks along the suspension bridge.   As we were walking along the suspension bridge, we spotted a house with a man working at his desk. We wondered how many people would stop and stare and whether he had blinds for his own privacy. As we got to the end of the bridge there was a lovely lady called Jenny that we got speaking to. She had two dogs. This is her barge, the Blue Bella. She was docked here for the next two weeks and then she was off back home to Gramthorpe. She said her barge could only move at 4 miles an hour and it would take her 3 hours to get back to Gramthorpe.   Eva and Jenson were h