Royal Hastings, University of London Multimedia Art MA Final Project

Candidate name: Patrick Bright

Candidate number: 0883480

Finding my style:

I’m a sketcher, I draw from life. The human body is especially fascinating. I’ve done the odd life-drawing class, but it’s faces that inspire me. I don’t know, I was hoping this final project would involve human subjects, but instead I found myself working with machines and parts of machines. The nearest we got to a human body was the giant head that Gela and Jem made as a showstopper centrepiece. It doesn’t even have eyes or ears.

Because I’d never studied art I was keen to find my style, as they say. That’s what I got talking to Gela about, over the months she was coming into the shop. She told me about her fine-art courses and I thought, yes, that’s exactly what I want to be doing. Exploring different drawing styles, working out where my skills are most suited. I’d like nothing more than to escape somewhere and watch people, sketch them and perhaps paint in oils any scenes or figures that spoke to me. That’s always been my dream. An MA would give me that chance. I’m sure that’s how the conversations went. So how did I end up on this course? Struggling to operate software and thinking about ad campaigns and marketing? It was Gela. She’s some smooth-talking sales person, that’s for sure. I can see why she wanted Alyson, Jem, Jonathan, Ludya and even Cameron. But why did she want me?

So instead of finding my sketching style I learned to work with various media and, despite my misgivings, it did prove a revelation. I learned how to create computer animations and tried out epoxy resin. That’s the clear stuff used to make solid ornaments. You mix liquid resin with a hardener, pour it into a mould, leave it a couple of days and you’ve got a solid transparent block in whatever shape your mould was. But more interesting than that, you can suspend things in the resin, so you’ve got jewellery or a little ornament at the end. People suspend egg timers, glitter, trinkets, action figures or watch parts. I remember seeing shamrocks in resin at the tourist shops when I was a child. I’ve sold the raw materials for years, but never used them.

Now I intend to go back to Schull to paint and sketch for a few years, but I’ll need to support myself before I can get by selling paintings. When Rita showed me how to use the resin, I was struck by an idea. That area of south-west Ireland is a very popular location for weddings. Imagine you’re just married, you’re about to throw your bouquet, but it has some wonderful blooms in it – say, a rose – and you want to keep that as a symbol that your love will never die. So you pluck it out, throw the bouquet and give that single flower to me.

Now resin is strange stuff. You can seal anything inside it – so long as that thing is dry. A fresh flower will rot from the inside, so you have to dry it first. I’d take your wedding rose and submerge it in silica powder for a few days before I arranged the dehydrated bloom in resin. There you have your wedding flower and happy memories, perfectly preserved in an ornament that will last for ever.

It’s a simple business. I know where to buy all the materials at the lowest prices and it would take the pressure off selling paintings before I’ve found my style. The idea grew and grew, but I didn’t tell anyone else on the course. Not Gela and not even Jem, who I get along with fine. Why not? It’s hard to say, even now.

Looking back on this course, perhaps it wasn’t so much about me finding my style as finding my voice.

MMAM ( FTP ) WhatsApp group started by Patrick Bright. Added to the group are Alyson Lang, Ludya Parak, Cameron Wesley, Jonathan Danners and Jem Badhuri, 28 February 2024:

Patrick

How does everyone feel?

Jem

We’re not meant to talk on WhatsApp. Gela won’t like it.

Patrick

It’s Gela I want to talk about.

Jem

We can do that in a private Doodle group. No one reads them. It’s just that RH need access to our convos in case of online bullying. It was the same at West Mids.

Jonathan

What are you getting at, Patrick?

Patrick

Gela said the radio has woodworm. I know what woodworm looks like and that radio didn’t have it. What else is she lying about?

Ludya

Whatever. I wouldn’t worry about it.

Patrick

I got in early this morning and that radio was outside the rear doors, wrapped in a carrier bag. You’d think it was being thrown out, only it had a card on top, blank except for two lipstick kisses in Gela’s shade of pink.