Painting Two. 

Self-reflection.

The Painting 2 course was my first course at Level 2 toward my degree. 

My dominant feeling over the course was the sense of academic confidence I developed to this stage, completing three courses at Level 1. Another main thought was that I was pleased to be back to practical artistic assignments after a very academic and theoretical course – Understanding of Visual Culture. These two factors allowed me to enjoy the Painting Two in particular. 

 The Painting Two course tremendously helped me to develop myself as an artist. Without my studies, I would definitely stick to very conventional tools and mediums, limiting my artistic growth. 

I appreciate the structure of the course, and I am very grateful to those who developed the method. All texts, assignments, tasks and projects, as the overall logic of the course, were clearly articulated and made up in a logical sequence I could fully perceive, understand and implement. 

After working through the Painting two course, I can observe the following positive outcomes: 

1. I feel more confident and mature as an artist regarding my academic background and practical skills. The amount and direction of research we were asked to do, built up further my knowledge about ArtArt, approaches in arts, art movements and particular artists. In painting practice, I started to work with a painting knife and loose work with dripping and splashing paints.  
2. The course has pushed me far beyond my normal artistic boundaries and developed a new direction to grow as a visual artist. For the first time, I tried creating installations with ready-made elements and elements of my own design. I have never done it before this course. Course assignments and projects revealed an entirely new artistic side in me. I started to see and notice installations naturally occurring and unintentionally created by others around me.  

Another thrilling discovery was working with texts. Since I have always been fond of languages and writing, I was ready to incorporate texts into my artwork. I felt capable of thriving to succeed in this kind of visual Art 

Another milestone I have achieved in this particular course was a final task, part six: we had to produce a Critical writing piece. My topic was about Japanese Visual Art Traditions influence modern Western Art. It was great that we could devote our efforts to any topic we liked, following all academic standards of good academic writing. It is worth noting that I felt well-prepared to do this Assignment due to the excellent structure of the course. 

My next course is Drawing Two: a personal approach to drawing. Reflecting on what I have done so far, I think I should work more on the following:

1) Develop more works and projects in the “textscapes” genre. I feel very engaged with this visual art direction and have many ideas because I see how I can connect ideas from my readings with visual art. 

2) Devote more hours to painting practice with mediums I resonate most so far: inks, oils, and pastels; Practice brings better painting skills and this matters. After doing a volume of required research on all my earlier courses, I can see that famous painting are notable with mature painting techniques and skills. 

3) Continue to read good academic writings about art movements and the theory of Art. Continue to visit museums and art exhibitions, and keep exposing myself to other artists’ artworks.