Assignment 1: Reflection

Before you send this assignment to your tutor, take a look at the assessment criteria for this course, which will be used to mark your work when you get your work formally assessed.

Review how you think you have done against the criteria and make notes in your learning log. Send these reflections, along with the monoprints you have produced, your sketchbook, supporting studies and your learning log (link to your blog)

Here is a link to the assessment criteria at HE 4 level  on the OCA website

As a complete beginner at printmaking I find it very difficult to assess my performance so as I have no idea of the technical standard required at degree level. I have looked at blogs by my coursemates and compared my own work but this only takes me so far as I do not know how my fellow students fared at assessment. 

Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills:

Here I fall down mainly on the technical skills aspect of things - I had no experience of printmaking before starting this course so this first section has been a very steep learning curve. I have applied myself and made good progress from a standing start but there is still a lot of progress that needs to be made in handling printing inks, papers and in particular in print registration. Design and composition are also the elements I struggle with the most when trying to produce a finished piece of work - I am much happier just experimenting in a rather random and abstract fashion. Thinking about and planning composition fills me with dread. I would therefore put my first submission at a 'D' : Satisfactory development of visual and technical skills, design and composition. 

Quality of Outcome:

The quality of outcome here is very patchy, largely because of my inexperience with the medium. Again I would score myself a 'D' on this as I have found this section of the course rather difficult: Adequate realisation of ideas and satisfactory presentation of work. 

Demonstration of Creativity: 

I am more comfortable experimenting than I am with applying the results of my experiments to produce finished work. I have plenty of ideas but find it difficult to carry those ideas through into completed work. I have thought about what it is I want to say with my work although my 'personal voice' is not very much in evidence yet in my finished prints. I would score myself as average 'C' Good development of analytical and creative thinking, some independent judgements and some evidence of personal voice. 

Research and Reflection:

Some of my research points go into more depth than others. I have also attended classes and visited galleries for ideas. I have read extensively around the subject from the recommended texts for the course but I have failed to record everything I have read in my log because I got a bit behind with my writing up. I have reflected on each exercise in my learning log and recorded the important learning points and ideas for further development. I would therefore score my performance here again as a 'C' 'good average' 

I think it will become easier for me to assess myself against the criteria once I have received some feedback on my first assignment. There is plenty of room for improvement here.