Briony Howell Art Studio

Briony Howell, 1st year student studying Fine Art at DeMontfort University, Leicester,Uk. Website updated termly (end of each semester) Next update June 05

Click here to see work done in first term (semester1)

Hello again another busy and very productive term, lots of exciting developments happening. I think Iv'e enjoyed this term more as it has allowed me to be more focused with my work, finding areas that interest me. Trying to find myself as an artist.

My studio space

This is my studio in the second term and like my work it has a way of developing... into a huge mess. Im usually quite organised when it comes to thinking and process but my thoughts don't necessarily come in any order. I don't use sketchbooks, I find them too constricting I  like sketching though and have done a lot of drawing this term.

Observational stuff like drawing works well to me as its a primary source and allows me to get my ideas down quickly. So that means I have lots of ideas and lots of pieces of paper flying about everywhere, it seems to work, so that's what I do.

As I have said drawing has become a valuable part of my development on the course.  This is one of the drawings I started work on near the start of the year.  As a mini project to get our ideas going we were told to walk around the town and by the canal.  I started to look at texture and contrasts, the contrasts of texture, urban vs nature, old vs new. I'd done a presentation on Anselm Kiefer previously and I like the way he introduces texture and layers into his work to convey meaning.  Also the way he gives his images atmosphere and mood interests me.

When dealing with the image I started to look at urban decay but that didn't interest me to much, I was more interested in the physical contrasts of light and tones and space within the image.

Drawing of canal, jan 05 Charcoal, graphite, ink, emulsion, pva glue with stuff-i-found-near-the-canal crap on board.

This second attempt at drawing saw me looking more at contrast, tone, and texture with the subject matter becoming not so important contextually, but landscape is a good starting point.  After several attempts of trying to get a good balance in terms of contrast and texture in my work i was just told to stop by one of the tutors, as it was looking more like something the dog threw up. She told me to challenge myself and start using nothing but charcoal and an eraser and work really big. Some of the problems I have when drawing is that I tend to overwork the image , then use lots of ink and then overwork, then I will get bored and will usually overwork some more stuff. So I could see lots of problems working with the charcoal, smudging etc. I also like to work quickly and spontaneously so this drawing is definately not my usual. The drawing was worked on continously for nearly a week and nearly drove me insane.  This is the thing I find about art that it is very easy to start sometimes but knowing when to stop is very difficult and takes a lot of practice.  I am also find now im getting older (and hopefully wiser) that starting is almost as difficult as finishing as there are so many things to take into account.

This is the drawing that was threatend with Turps. wash on more than one occassion.

Carpark drawing, March 05, compressed and willow charcoal on fabriano paper.

I actually really enjoyed working with the charcoal and eraser, I like the way the image advances and recedes in terms of depth and the high contrast gives the image atmosphere and a sense of motion.  

Painting and drawing have been my main areas of interest this term and I use drawing alongside my painting work.  Figure as a subject matter interests me and I touched on this during term one.

I have been working on the idea of mood and emotion and I find the psychlogical side and how the image is percieved interesting.  For example if you place a figure in the image the context automatically changes even if there is no message and the image is purely objective.  A certain mood can be percieved from this.  So I started to look at the placement of the figure, the figure in an environment, in a space. I did several studies of my flat mates in the kitchen.  Like working out a composition the space also changes as you move a line.  Lighting and colour is also very important so I started to look at the light and the way it  'cut' through the composition and I also experimented with perspective and veiwpoint.  I like the way the figures have a conection, the space changes when there is more than one figure, that physical-but not, connection.

Colour-wise I don't think I have been to successful, images have been overworked a problem that I find when using oil paints, colours have become muddy, a problem that I need to work on.

Other than that I feel I have a lot to work on in terms and space, figure and emotion and I am going to work on this subject area more.

Study 1, Oil on canvas, Jan 05

Study 2, Oil on canvas, Jan 05

Figures in a space 1, Oil on canvas ,Feb 05

Figures in a space 2, Oil on canvas, Feb 05

That's all for now the next update will be around June time.  Any feedback or any suggestions would be great, once again I have included a bitmap to stop the spam harvesters , if you click on it , it will not do anything you will have to type it in yourself.

This is my new address.