WEEK 1- EXPLORING LANDSCAPES

In my first week of starting my final project, I already knew from doing my RSA project that I would be receiving Blackface sheep’s wool from a family friend in the Scottish Highlands. James the Shepard kindly gifted me 7 bags of Scottish Blackface wool so that I could start to experiment with using it within textiles. I started my project off in an unconventional way- knowing what material I would be using and then basing context and content around this.

I started to explore my own imagery for my content. I had an inkling that I wanted to base my project around The Scottish Highlands, so I started to look at photographs I had taken on my many holidays there. It is a very special place to me as I have been going there for over 10 years and I have always felt a strong connection to the beautiful landscapes. I began painting inspiring landscapes from my photographs into a concertina sketchbook as I had done this previously within a zine project and felt like it worked well. By painting the imagery, it allowed me to look closer into small elements within the landscapes that had interesting patterns and shapes seen within the hills and lochs. I took a note of these details whilst painting as I felt using it would be good for sample inspiration. I felt the paintings were successful due to me using gouache paints, it brought a lot of bright colours to the landscapes and heightened them.

I felt that there was a strong connection between the material and the landscapes, with blackface sheep seen within the highland’s hills and rocky terrain, being considered an iconic element of Scottish heritage. Another connection being the sheep’s wool is a direct product from the landscapes themselves. I felt this was a successful start to the week as I had gathered a strong idea of both materials within my concept, and Scottish landscapes for my content that connected well. My plan for the upcoming week is to continue developing my concertina paintings, and to begin further researching the connections between sheep farming in Scotland and its importance.