'Making The Ordinary Extraordinary' a lockdown project by Emily.

The concept of making the ordinary extraordinary was born out an interest in seemingly dull, everyday imagery or occurrences being transformed into something beautiful.

Basing my project on this felt only natural considering the circumstances, and taught me to appreciate parts of everyday life that i paid no attention or gave no second thought to. This could be as simple as looking at pigeons eating out of a crisp packet; the act of noticing something you would usually ignore and realising it's subtle charm. This was a great starting point in the project as it gave me a chance to just let loose and draw what interested me in my surroundings.

I developed the concept into experimenting with inanimate objects and looking at how i can make them come alive. I brought pomegranates (my foundation year final project title) back into my work by giving them human features and experimenting with the idea that the fruit itself is closely linked with femininity and sexuality. I love being playful and making my work humorous. Linking closely with pomegranates, i drew a lot from nature and combined all of the themes i was looking at into chaotic dreamscape imagery. I experimented with different textures, colours, lines, materials and ways of mark making appearing confident yet purely formed by erratic drawing.

I also loved drawing lounging women, and enjoyed the simplicity of using only watercolour and fine liner to bring out the shapes and details i thought were necessary. I realised in this project that i instinctively use white space to draw attention to mark making and the confidence in line.

I came to the conclusion that 'nature personified' and women had become the foundation, and that my final piece should be something that fundamentally sums up the path of the project. I decided to make a 'pomegranate woman' out of clay. She sits perfectly on the edge of any surface with her legs elegantly crossed and her arms placed behind her. It was a lot of fun to create and i am pleased with the result (even if her legs do occasionally fall off).

I tried to refrain from being a perfectionist in this project. Sometimes i think it gets in the way of my freedom to completely indulge and do whatever i want with a concept. This attitude towards my work particularly helped in quarantine when, due to working almost full time in a cafe, i found a rare moment to sit at my desk and see where the project took me.