Pencil Drawing of a friend, A2 Art coursework

To practice my drawing skills I did a pencil copy of a photo I took of my friend. I'd been looking at some work by Marion Bologensi which included faces showing a specific emotion and so I wanted to take some photos of my own, concentrating on showing different emotions through the facial features.

A2 Art coursework

I did a watercolour study of a face by Marion Bologensi. Originally Bologensi's version is in pastel shades and has quite a content look, but I did this one in just grey tones to completely change the meaning, creating a more solemn, dismal appearance in the face. It really reminds me of the civil rights movement, perhaps because of the powerful, determined look in the eyes yet the sorrow and the tears falling down the face.

'Peace, love and destruction' GCSE coursework

A mixed media composition submitted for my GCSE coursework. I started off my coursework by looking at 50's and 60's art. Pop art pieces by Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol appealed to me because of the catroon-like style and the use of bold colours. I was also drawn to images from the hippy era, and especially the phrase of 'love not war' which I think is an important message to spread. I tried to represent this idea of love and good-will overcoming war and destruction in this final piece. It features a hippy girl in the foreground, painted in a pop art style, with images of war and negativity in the background. She is shown to be spreading the love, with flowers and birds rising around her.

Cultural Diversity AS Art piece

I produced this mono-print piece as part of my AS level final piece. My chosen theme was cultural identity, and this theme really appealed to me as I thought I could draw on my own cultural identity- being mixed race, part African and part British.

I really wanted to explore how these seperate cultures are represented and what defines them so I focused on traditional patterns, clothing, symbols, facial features and hairstyles. I was inspired by the simplistic style of African American artist Mary Burroughs' work, as it looks very traditionally African. I applied a similar style to my own work. The piece features myself in the middle, next to two friends either side who are both white british. I wanted to bring both cultures together to show their contrasts but also to show how they combine in harmony and convey the message that everybody is equal, no matter their race.

Life Drawing

I went to three life drawing classes that were held once a week and produced this final A1 sized composition using chalk pastels. I really wanted to emphasise the light and shade by using complimentary colours. I found the sessions really useful and really learnt how to draw the proportions of the human figure, I've applied these skills to my Textiles work.