Summary

Titled for my first A-level art project, I chose architecture because I was set on this being my future career. I looked up old and modern buildings to compare and contrast. The buildings I compared used similar materials but used and showcased them in different ways; I learnt that it is not necessarily the materials themselves that make the buildings old or new, it is the age that represents the old and new – technology, fashion and organic change. However, the main difference I have observed between the old and new architecture is the use of glass and metal to finish off the buildings compared to brick in the older style properties. As we went further through the year, I was trying to find the deep meaning behind the idea – what did this mean to me? Why is it so personal to me? Although I used my own home as a 'before and after' theme, that question was unanswered for a while, until a family opportunity arose to buy a Sheep Shed (literally!) and transform it into our new home. This was perfect for me – it's architecture, it's an old building and I get to design our new family home taking it into the modern future.

As artists, we all have preferred mediums. Mine is most definitely biro but I enjoyed experimenting with watercolour and digital print too as exampled here.

Throughout my projects, I completed numerous developmental pages, stretching my ideas, and constantly evaluating techniques, designs and skills. I also researched many artists and architects and created detailed double-page spreads on many. I drew most inspiration from Sunga Park and Kyle Henderson:

Henderson is a biro artist and creates artwork of buildings using a mark-making technique. Biro is my favourite material to use as I like the definition it gives to my pieces – either sketchy or more defined. My favourite biro artworks of lots of buildings that stack on top of each other, the pictures are shown beneath. I used the mark-making technique as it is different to shading and it taught me that I can create different tones in many ways. I find Henderson's work inspiring because of his biro technique which I like and admire.

Park is a watercolour artist who uses bio for details and a theme of dissolving/disappearing which is an unusual but interesting method. Biro is my preferred medium, so within my comfort zone, however, the introduction of 'disappearing' was a great experiment and linked to my theme perfectly as I was able to use it to show the fading out of the old building and bringing in the new one. Sunga Park's artwork is centred around buildings which she was inspired by on her travels.

Through evaluating my work from beginning to end, I can see a marked improvement in my style, as I have developed my biro skills and have incorporated more materials through experimentation, and combined different mediums to create one piece.