Monday 09:00- With one of the lecturers away today we had a talk and practical workshop of learning plate lithography printing, Something i do wish we learned a bit earlier on in the semester, as it gives the opportunity to take them out with you to sketch on, and also fairly in expensive compared to etching. 
After the talk i finally got round to printing my stone from a few weeks ago, and grained it off, not quite yet sure what i'm going to draw on it but its always exciting to have a clear stone. 

Friday 24th  14:00 After a pleasant morning at uni, doing some prints, my self and a few friends took the opportunity to bask in the unusual occurrence of the sun.  As well as enjoying a BBQ, music and drinks, i jumped at the opportunity to paint outside in the sun for once. Taking a few sketches of things happening around me, noting temperature, light, movement, noise to help when i would come to do a larger or more finished painting, as often when i go to the studio to paint more finished pieces, it is much harder to get the sense of space and atmosphere in to the painting than is from painting in the moment.  As well as a few sketches, i took what i call painting sketches, (anything between 2-10 minute paintings) which i painted on different coloured grounds,  not focusing on detail but rather, space, colour, composition and tone. These paintings help me a lot when it comes to do more finished pieces, as they provide inspiration for further paintings, and help me learn a lot. Painting on different colour grounds especially helps, as forever painting on plain white doesn't give colour the full potential it could have, for instance i did to small quick paintings one on a warm ocre, and the other on a cool lilac. Both of these colours worked really nicely as an under colour, the ocre especially helped bringing out the warmth in to the greens in the hills, and generally warming up the painting much like it was that day. The lilac gave a different feeling to the painting, the colours looked a lot cooler, and calmer. Now was the idea of working out what ground worked best for its intention, and how i could use the ground in a further more completed painting.

08.45- Reality struck, quick cuppa and a slice of toast and up to uni. A  crisp morning, sun out but not yet warm enough for all the puddles to have dried up. Wasn't prepared for the day ahead of me, but was sure once i was there i'd have fun. 

Monday 08.45-  Ready for a classic Monday fun full day of printing, For once i was up early enough to have a proper breakfast before the day began. A very unusual occurrence. 

Thursday 17:40 - An empty train journey home for the weekend. After an intense week at uni, A weekend break with family felt deserved. Sometimes we seem to be constantly stretching ourselves, constantly pushing with work and nothing seems to come out of it. What I learned is that if you constantly try hard to get as much done, you lose the love for what you are doing, and your work suffers for it. I thought to my self why is my best work things I've done for me,  or family and not for my degree? I guess the difference is I feel that in my degree I'm trying hard to please others and sometimes forget the reason why I'm even doing it, becoming a chore rather than something I love. And how can art be such a chore when all I get to do is everything I love. Draw, paint, print , and play? i guess, it's difficult to be so self motivated, one needs to be told to do something sometimes for it to happen, if you set goals for what you want to achieve in a day, you are much more likely to achieve them, appose to taking each day by day and seeing what comes out of it. That said, spontaneity is always welcome, and change is good.