Looking back at the at my original assignment proposal and the statement made in relation to the artists I would research, as well as the develop sampling influenced by their work. I think I was a little optimistic on the amount of artists I would be able to research and develop as far as I felt would be needed for this assignment.

I did show within the proposal some initial research, enough to show which designers work I wanted to research further and develop. However as stated below: -  

Time management is a mislabelled skill. What you need to manage is your activity during the time you have.

Jonathan Yates, 2009

Comment 5 in the start section

(all-time essentials for entrepreneurs

100 things to know and do to make your ideas happen

Jonathan Yates Capstone Publications Ltd. 2009)

I'm not saying that my time management skills need looking at too much! But I do feel that I needed to limit myself in relation to the amount of work I did on the artist I looked at. If I had not got so involved in the artists I did work on, then the answer is clear, more artist research and sampling would be evident.

For me the most relevant aspect to the work produced from this research, allowed me to expand elements from some of my existing skills such as free hand embroidery and reverse appliqué, as well as developing skills taken from the artists such as fabric collage and mixing traditional embroidery with machine embroidery. Resulting in the sampling you can see within this Blog.

At first I felt that I knew exactly what I was going to produce in relation to the artwork I was going to make, and hopefully sell within the assignment requirements of setting up the business on a shoe string.

However, as a tutor I am always encouraging learners not to limit themselves to their own imagination and allow their research to influence their sampling and idea development. I should practice what I preach!

That in mind I did reflect on my original ideas, and with comments from tutors and peers as well as tutorials I expanded my initial idea development to include aspects from the research and my samples.

Having analysed this information, I now realise most importantly that, I have learnt to be more divers with my art work produced for sale. In particular, re-looking at the fabrics used as well as the strength of colour. Making my work suitable for a wider market.  

My next step is to develop my ideas, taking and acting on comments made and producing sample work to place within the areas where I hope to sell my work. From any comments I receive from these samples I will then amend and develop the work further to produce a range of final pieces to be sold within the chosen areas.