Introduction

Knowing where to start is not always easy; I was at a watercolours class for beginners recently and the teacher gave every one a pencil, a sheet of A4 paper and a flower with the instruction 'draw the flower'.

 I looked at the flower, paper and pencil for some time, ending up holding the pencil above the paper not knowing where to make the first mark.

Starting this course has been a little bit that, what do I do first, do I produce a hand written Learning Log or as I am doing now an electronic one, annotations raise anxieties as my hand writing can be illegible at times (some would say most of the time) and as for the sketch book, well I can not draw, I know lets have an other coffee and things will be clearer!!!

Starting has been put of so many times but the time has actually come for action, hence this introduction.

I thought it would be useful to say at the beginning of a Learning Log a little bit about my interest in art, why I have chosen to do this course and what I hope to achieve by the end of it, the latter will form the the basis of the final reflective activity for the Learning Log.

I first went to a major art gallery some 23 years ago forming judgements very quickly as to what I liked and did not, and have I think developed a view that 'I know what I like, and like what I know'.

Joan Miro, messager from a Friend. Oil on canvas 1964. Tate

For example, on my first visit to the
Tate I saw Joan Miro's
Message from a Friend and was instantly taken by it,why I'm not sure, was it the bright red and yellow, the huge black whale looking shape in the middle and after all those years I am still trying to work out the message!
What I did that day was to discover an artist whom I had had never heard of and have subsequently visited the Jon Miro Foundation in Barcelona twice and more recently The Ladder of Escape exhibition at Tate Modern.

What followed were several visits to major galleries both at home and abroard, when on holiday. I am sorry to say that I think I developed a very blinkerd view of what I liked.

Henry Fuseli Titania and Bottom c1790. oil on canvas. Tate

I would walk pass Henry Fuseli's Titania and Bottom, too dark to hold my interest, though I am sure there is much to see in it.

Some paintings may catch my eye and I might stand for a short while for a look but not linger, for example, Proserpine by Rossetti. The facial expression is engaging but I had no awareness of the social conext of the time when it was painted so a limited understanding of the influences on Rossetti.

Dante gabriel Rossetti, Proserpine
Oil on canvas 1874

Some years ago Tate Liverpool opened and I have visited on many occasions. If I remember correctly at the opening exhibition Magritte's Man with a Newspaper was on show, now that drew me in like a shot, and having seen it again more recently at the Rene Magritte, The Pleasure Principle exhibition  held at Tate Liverpool, it still facinates me as much now as it did then.

Rene magritte, Man with a Newspaper.
Oil on canvas 1928 Tate

 I think that over the years I have allowed myself to develope a very narrow appreciation of art and have consequently dismissed much of what is 'good' in favour of, as I said previously, 'I know what I like and like what I know'




That I suppose neatly leads me on to why this course?

 Having enjoyed a number of major exhibitions, seeing work in either a chronological order ( Miro at Tate Modern) or in a social context (Picasso at Tate Liverpool) there is much I do not know or understand about various styles or movements and how they interrelate or have impacted upon each other. In addition I am not to sure how good I am at looking at pictures, sculpture or architecture and as a consequence miss out on much that is on offer to the truly observant viewer.

In the most simplest of terms buy the time I finish this course I hope to;

• have a better understanding of the relationship between styles and movements
• understand how and why styles and movements developed
• understand and appreciate the impact of styles and movements in the wider society, and most imprtanly of all,
• learn how to look at art