Throughout my journey in MA Fine Arts Digital, I was able to develop and expand my knowledge in so many different areas; I can pinpoint and summarize them in the following:
1- Time management by being punctual attending the chat sessions and submitting assignments on time.
2- Expanded my knowledge in my speciality subject area; which is fine arts.
3- Learned about digital technology and about its ongoing impact on arts. Furthermore, I experimented printing on different materials for the first time in my life.
4- I completed Photoshop beginner’s course by watching tutorials on Lynda.com and documenting every step I learned, and applied several techniques in my art.
5- I developed my communication skills with non-Arabic speakers and became more aware of diversity of cultures.
6- Improved my drawing and painting skills with a variety of media.
7- Got my artistic approach more focused and took seriously most of the advices and directions suggested by my course directors and other artists.
8- I built up confidence and became more conscious of my real interests and focused direction, and I realized that I could spend up to long hours manipulating pieces of art using digital technology, and am willing to explore all possible options to reach my goad.
9- Expanded my knowledge theoretically and practically in different forms of digital fine arts.
10- As I let go of all the unfruitful experiments I am very pleased with the outcome of this continuous growth of my artwork, and I consider it successful. I intend to explore more digital techniques for altering my artworks through completing intermediate and advanced Photoshop tutorials, along with exploring other computer soft-wares.
11- I am planning to produce a bigger scale of the tile prints in the form of murals, and exhibit in Riyadh.
12- I intend to take up a course in curation in order to develop my installation art skills.
13- I received a placement offer letter from the principal of the school I work at (BISR) to take up the PGCE secondary in order to become a certified art teacher.
14- Finally, I did realize the weakness points of my research paper and I would like to develop my research skills further by reading about it and get more exposed to research papers for MA students.
After I completed my first painting after unit1 assessment, I decided to take a new approach in my art, especially after I read my unit 1 assessment feedback. I decided to become more focused and narrow down my direction. I also decided to develop my work in terms of content and source material. In this regard, I planned to achieve three major goals:
1- I will be taking my own photographs of the process of nature on natural and man-made objects, which will be the background of my paintings.
2- The Arabic calligraphy writing will appear in an abstract forms rather than clear readable traditional quotes or sayings, as I want to establish a universal rich content in my works and the final composition is intended to be seen as abstract forms for those able and unable to read Arabic.
3- I want to explore printing as a new technique in my artwork. I would like to adopt this new direction in order to follow the photorealism path in which my research paper was about, however, I am still unsure until I begin with my first experimentation. I want to achieve high contrast level in two ways:
a- The soft texture of the script writing against the rough textures of the background
b- The contrasting tones and saturation of colour in the entire art piece.
1- Taking photographs in Riyadh is not an easy task according to traditional laws, so I started taking my own photographs of natural effects on objects in nature in turkey, as we traveled to Istanbul in our Eid holiday. Furthermore, I took interesting photos of nature during my Journey to Jordan in December (x-mas break), and finally in Bahrain, I took pictures of Islamic art panels and designs. After that, I started incorporating Arabic calligraphy in an abstract way that had a more mysterious meaning that won’t be noticed even by people who are able to read Arabic.
https://alaabeseiso.wordpress.com/2013/12/06/my-new-approach/
https://alaabeseiso.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/more-digital-experiments/
https://alaabeseiso.wordpress.com/2014/04/15/in-preperation-for-the-final-show/ (the second lower part of the post has my Bahrain photos)
2- As I planned to explore printing, I approached the curator of an art gallery in Amman, she gave me the contacts for printing services, as I contacted them and explained to them what I wanted, coincidently, forwarded me another printing services specialised in printing on many different materials. So I started my journey of exploration! As I went and saw all the possibilities, I selected the below materials, in which I thought matches my works and intentions best:
a- Canvas printing (2 prints)
b- Wall paper printing (1 print)
c- Wood printing (2 prints)
d- Stone tiles printing (1 print)
e- Styrofoam printing (2 prints)
https://alaabeseiso.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/1st-printing-experience/
then I started painting on them using acrylics and oils as I intend to combine traditional and digital techniques:
https://alaabeseiso.wordpress.com/2014/01/07/1st-overpainting-trial/
https://alaabeseiso.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/my-stone-print-trial/
https://alaabeseiso.wordpress.com/2014/01/25/prin-on-canvas-3rd-trial/
https://alaabeseiso.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/rusty-metal-designs/
3- Out of all the experiments, I enjoyed and liked painting on wood and stone tiles, and I found the stone tiles very interesting as they come in different sizes, and the printing effect on them appears to be naturally authentic, although it’s done digitally. I also find it artistically unique! Furthermore, mosaic and geometrical shapes of Islamic designs on tiles are two major forms of Islamic art and architecture, so I aim to create a contemporary digital Islamic art, which also combine traditional painting techniques on a natural surface, to maintain the authenticity of the natural material, in this case stone. To further develop my work, I decided to adopt tile-printing technique after I’ve digitally expanded the image’s complexity, by adding more layers of the photos I’ve taken and modify them in a satisfactory coherent final outcome using Photoshop. So in preparation for the final show, I prepared around 30 digital multi-layered images using Photoshop; mainly from four images of a hand painted paintings and three digital images.
https://alaabeseiso.wordpress.com/2014/04/15/in-preperation-for-the-final-show/
In my Easter break, I travelled to Amman to complete all the printing of 17 pieces:
https://alaabeseiso.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/completed-printing-on-stone-tiles-in-amman/
4- Finally, I create a last layer using traditional means of painting like oils and acrylics, to bring the pieces back to life, and achieve a balanced composition with the desired contrast level. ‘Later you realize that you can’t represent reality at all – that what you make represents nothing but itself, and therefore is itself reality’ G. Richter
https://alaabeseiso.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/over-painted-tile-prints/
https://alaabeseiso.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/pieces-modified-in-jordan/
Ala'a B. 