First hand in of 3rd year was for my Future Life module. We visited Hanover Street Mill and took pictures and objects of the site. It is a mill that hasn’t been used for many years and endured a fire so has many signs of decay and dereliction. I had to pick up an object and eventually draw the object or part of the site at A2 size. From the object and the site I then had to create an essence model based on my interpretation of the site and what I took from it.
I took a few objects from the site at first and started to sketch these to figure out which object I wanted to draw at A2 and what style of drawing I preferred. I haven’t drawn for a while and never considered myself a good artist so at first I struggled with the sketches and found the A2 size quite daunting. However, once I started and persevered they didn’t look too bad. I decided the sketches that looked best were the wood, brick and charcoal as they looked more natural and free-flowing. I decided on the wood as it had a lot of textures that would create a more interesting drawing. Then when I printed my photo of the wood at A3 size even more details and textures showed and the thought of drawing it at A2 seemed easier. In the end I was really impressed and proud of my A2 drawing,considering I didn’t think I could draw.
My initial thinking for the essence model was how the materials on the site had been affected over time. I then thought more closely about how the wood in particular had been affected and I loved how the wood looked after being burnt. The site had endured a lot over time and was still standing and I really wanted to focus on this. So I took the wood and the site as a whole and combined them to look further into how the elements affected wood and the strength of the wood. I was still going to focus on wood and fire but wanted show the other elements, air and water, and show how much they can impact a structure but the materials are still standing. Almost like a fight or battle between the elements and materials. I started by looking at wood that had been left outside to the elements and then how fire could partially destroy wood. My final idea for my model was going to be a wooden structure that looked as if it had been so affected by the elements it shouldn’t still be standing. I wanted to burn the bottom to show its strength and from that it developed as the model was being made, as the pieces of wood, that all came from the same block, looked so different from each other. There were cracks in the wood which I put oil on to make it look as if the cracks were from water settling the holes and freezing and melting repeatedly so split the wood. Because of the uneven legs from burning, the structure also became uneven which made the structure looked like it had been bent from wind or as if the wood was really old as it does bend over time naturally. I put the model on a black base with some of the objects I found from the site and the ash and dirt from the wood I burnt. I’m again really pleased with how it turned out and how it developed as I was making it, I also think it put across what I thought of the site and my interpretation of it.
To bring this project together, I created an A3 presentation board to show how I came to my final essence model and what it was based upon. I am trying to develop a clear style to my work that is clean and professional and shows off my work and I think this comes across with my board. I started with my current logo and used this design through the board in a way to make it flow and to make the reader of the board work through it in the right way. We also had to find a poem that represented our ideas for the essence model but I couldn’t find the right poem so I wrote my own text instead which I put at the top of my board. I carefully selected the pictures for it and didn’t overload the board and I personally think it really worked for my project.
PORTFOLIO 
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