Digital Workshop: Architecture/Interior

 Today I am doing the digital workshop for Architecture and interior on Photshop.  I will be starting to design my presentation boards. 

I began by creating a canvas.  I clicked on 'File' in the top menu and the 'New'.  I then clicked on 'Print' in the top menu of the dialog box. I then chose A3, Landscape orientation, checked it was 300dpi resolution which is high quality and a white background.  Then I clicked 'create'.

To design the board I chose three different back drops that were in abstract wood design so I could decide which might work best with my presentation boards.

To decide which background I wanted I uploaded to Photoshop just by clicking on 'File' and 'Open'.  I then clicked on the tab for each and then in the layers menu I clicked on the padlock to unlock each background as this opens up the opacity, so I tried lowering opacity to decide if this would work. 

I chose the one I liked and then I clicked on 'Select' on the top menu and then 'Edit' and then 'Copy', I then went to my canvas tab and clciked on 'Edit' and then 'Paste'.  I then went to my move tool in the tools menu on the left hand side, I then could use the transform controls to drag the image out to cover the canvas, I did this then clicked back on my move tool.  I then went back to layers menu and clicked on the Layer One with the image then I lowered opacity to 60%. 

My next step was to add text layers, so I began by clicked on  the 'T' tool in the tools menu and then clicking into the canvas, I then chose my font which was Baskerville Old Face and for the title of my project this was at 60pts, I then added subtitle using the same process however this was at 48pts.  Underneath this I added the title of the board which was 'Concept' 48pts.  As by backdrop was a little dark I lowered the opacity further to 51%. 

I then used Adobe Express to create a logo.  I chose an elegant style and approriate icon and typography for architecture.  I then downloaded this and made sure I had a transparent version. I then opened this on Photoshop, I did not like the colour so I duplicated ther layer then went to 'Image' in the top menu and 'Adjustments' and then I went to the and saturation and I just used the sliders to find the right shade for my logo.  I then went to crop tool in the tools menu and cropped excess space round the logo .  I then Selected this and the copied and pasted as previously onto my canvas.  

I then chose a 'stand-in' image until I have completed my own concept picture.  I opened this Photoshop and selected and copied and pasted into the canvas. I then just used transform controls and the move tool to put this in place. 

The final piece of work was to write the concept in line with my research and ideas for this design.  I added the concept using the text tool and the first few lines were 24pts and then the majority I changed to 20pts to fit into the space.  I finally did my own proofread and checked teh spelling. 

I saved my board as both a jpeg and psd file.  This is my final board here...

Reflection

Software Practice: Creating a Small Yacht Floorplan

 In this post I will try to create a small yacht floorplan for an Interior Design project, my theme for the yacht is Japandi.

I began by opening Homebyme, I launched a new project and used a blank template due to the unusual shape I wanted to create as this program is more for traditional residential homes.

I had researched average small yacht sizes UK and I found that 'Mini or small yachts typically range in size from 20 to 40 feet (6 to 12 meters) in length.' (Yatco, 2024).  I also then looked at floorplans of other yachts to see how these were laid out, here is an example

Small Yacht Layout Examples 

Here I can see how the bedrooms have been laid out on the 'ground' floor,the livingroom and Kitchen area on the 'first' floor and then further living space on deck.  I think my yacht will be quite small and I will just have one floor.

I then clicked on the tools menu and in the top bar for layout and clicked on build wall, then I carefully drew out my Yacht basic floor.  I then clicked on 'validate' and I had my Living Area.

I really need to think about space planning but for this exercise, I will add some basic rooms to try this out in the space.  So I went back to the layout and started to add further walls using the layout tool.  I then went to the build tool to start adding windows and doors. I added two small bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and living area.  I tried to keep the choice of doors in a Japandi design and used sliding door due to the lack of available space. 

This worked quite well and in a small space I had managed to fit in all basic rooms plus an additional snug.

I changed the 'patio' to 'Sea' by clicking on 'Patio' and in the dialog box on the right-hand side I changed the flooring to carpet and just chose sea-coloured carpet 

I decorated one of the bedroom by just going to furnish and decorate and choosing elements to add. I took an image of this view. I also took an image of the bathroom I will add when this has been rendered.

Also, I took an image of the 3D view of the whole yacht so I could get an overview

Overall I actually quite enjoyed creating this small boat interior, I think it needs more thinking about on the floorplan as the bedrooms are exceptionally small however boats can be so I may just play with the wall and perhaps just make one large bedroom rather than two as then it might feel more spacious. I do like the shape though and I think the floorplan will work well on a presentation 

I took a quick snip of the project details - this is useful for the square footage.

References

Yatco (2024). Mini and Small Yachts for Sale. [online] YATCO Luxury Yachts for Sale, Superyacht Charter & Business Services. Available at: https://www.yatco.com/types-of-yachts/new-used-small-yachts-for-sale/ [Accessed 11 Feb. 2025].

Software Practice Photoshop/ Client Profile

 Today we are creating a client profile on Photoshop.  For my project I am creating a performance art video

I opened Photoshop.  I clicked on 'File' in the top menu and then 'new' .  I then chose 'Print' in the top menu of the dialog box.  I then chose A3 size canvas and I chose landscape orientation.  I then checked it was 300dpi resolution which is high quality. Then I chose a white background and then clicked 'create'.

Then went to Unsplash and chose an abstract image that was copyright free.  I then went back to Photoshop and clicked on 'File' in the top menu and then 'Open'.  I then went to 'select' in the top menu and 'select al'.  I then went to 'Edit' in the top menu nd then 'copy' I then clikced bak into my canvas and clicked on 'Edit' and 'Paste', I tehn used the transform controls to drag the image over the canvas then clicked filaly on the move tool in my tools menu.

I then changed the opacity to 55%.  I then needed to find my client. i chose a suitable Gen X man and I opened thsi image in Photoshop.  I changed the image to black and white as this will work with project.  I did this by clicking on 'image' in the top menu then 'adjustments' and then 'black and white'.

My next step was to select the image of the man using the same process as above to place him in my canvas.  I used the move and transform controls just to place him where I wanted. I then clicked on the'T' tool in the tools menu and then clicked on canvas to create a title.  This was in Berlins San FB at 72pts. 

Lastly today I add using the text tool as before the name, age and occupational of my ideal client.  I used the gridlines and checked spacing was exactly the same between each line.  Then I went back to the 'move tool' to finish

I continued writing using the text tool and changed size and layout accordingly.  I also used the gridlines to line up all the text in a pleasing manner on the page.

My final job was to click on 'Edit' in the top menu and then 'Check Spelling' I then saved the work as a psd file and a jpeg so that I could easily use this in any program. 

My final work is here 

The Man With Night Sweats: Analysis of a Poem

 In this post, I am going to analyse the Thom Gunn poem, Man With Night Sweats. 

Thom Gunn by Ander Gunn 1992

The Man with Night Sweats was published in 1992, at the height of the AIDS epidemic. The rise of HIV/AIDS in the late 1980s and early 1990s was shocking at the time and was largely covered up through the 1980s the silent spread of disease was known by health professionals and the gay comunity. 'In the early 1980s, reports of a strange new disease began emerging from the United States. It was picked up in the British gay press – Gay News ran a story in November 1981 under the headline “Gay cancer or mass media scare?” – but relatively few people noticed.' (Weston, 2021).  Gunn wrote this poem as he was watching his friends suffering and dying; 'I had assumed that I would age with all my friends growing old around me, dying off very gradually one by one. And here was a plague that cut them off so early.' (Spacey, 2023) The poem here is expressing the pain of his friends through his words

The poem is in the form of a Caelica '(Latin for Heavenly) - short octets, alternately rhyming, ended by a rhyming couplet.' (Spacey, 2023).  This form of poetry comes from a poem by Greville (published 1633) which, ' in his sinewy and demanding verse include philosophical treatises and unperformed melodramas (Alaham and Mustapha) that have a somber Calvinist tone, presenting man as a vulnerable creature inhabiting a world of unresolved contradictions' (Encylopedia Brittanica, 2025).  Gunn used this form as in his poem the tension is between his body that he once knew and trusted to his body now which is weak and does not protect him.  

In the second quatrain (Lines 2 and 3)

'The body I could trust   

Even while I adored'

This is his show of strength and goes on to suggest that as he felt immortal and he trusted in his own body he could take risks.  Then later in the third quatrain (Line 2, 3 and 4)

'The given shield was cracked,

My mind reduced to hurry,   

My flesh reduced and wrecked.'

His body is cracked, this extends to his mind not functioning as it should, his flesh now 'reduced and wrecked', this is destruction of not just his body but all that he knows, like Samson his strength has been taken and he now cannot live. Here, the use of enjambment makes the pace quite fast as you are forced to continue on as the line runs through to the next line. In the final (fourth) rhyming couplet (lines 1 & 2) the reader is breathless  at the end of the poem, the despair as he can no longer protect himself from an 'avalanche', this will suffocate, crush and kill him and an avalanche is cold harsh, it suggests isolation. Many who died of AIDS were in isolation, alone in death. 

'As if hands were enough   

To hold an avalanche off.'

In the 1980s AIDS patients were treated very badly in British and possibly worse in American hospitals, 'AIDS patients are locked in hospital rooms, denied care and treated like pariahs in society. Because of the lack of education around AIDS' (Mussen, 2021).  In the 1980s there were still laws against homesexual realtionships and literature such as Section 28*.  

This poem means a lot to me and discovering Gunn was one of the pleasures of my life, this poem makes my heart ache as I read it.  In terms of the form and literary devices, I looked at enjambment as I was using run on sentences and polysyndeton, as I was talking about the rhythm and pace in the work of Wallace and my own work, which is linked here to how enjambment is used. There is so much more that can be explored here but for this short post, it has been helpful to meditate on the meaning, form and just one of the literary devices used. 

References

Austin, A. (2022). LitCharts. [online] LitCharts. Available at: https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/thom-gunn/the-man-with-night-sweats [Accessed 11 Feb. 2025].

Brewster, G. (2025). A Brief timeline of LGBTQ+ laws in the UK | Llanelli LGBTQ+ Support Group. [online] Llanelli LGBTQ+ Support Group. Available at: https://lgbtqplus.org.uk/heritage/a-brief-timeline-of-lgbtq-laws-in-the-uk/ [Accessed 11 Feb. 2025].

Encylopedia Brittanica (2025). Caelica | poem by Greville | Britannica. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Caelica [Accessed 11 Feb. 2025].

Foundation, P. (2021). The Man with Night Sweats by Thom Gunn. [online] Poetry Foundation. Available at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47956/the-man-with-night-sweats [Accessed 11 Feb. 2025].

Mussen, M. (2021). ‘It angered me’: Nurse shares what life was like on the wards during the 80s AIDS crisis. [online] The Tab. Available at: https://archive.thetab.com/uk/2021/01/26/it-angered-me-nurse-shares-what-life-was-like-on-the-wards-during-the-80s-aids-crisis-191978 [Accessed 11 Feb. 2025].

Spacey, A. (2023). Analysis of the Poem ‘The Man With Night Sweats’ by Thom Gunn. [online] Owlcation. Available at: https://owlcation.com/humanities/Analysis-of-Poem-The-Man-With-Night-Sweats-by-Thom-Gunn [Accessed 11 Feb. 2025].

Weston, J. (2021). Aids: the epidemic that changed Britain. [online] HistoryExtra. Available at: https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/aids-hiv-epidemic-changed-britain-how/ [Accessed 11 Feb. 2025].

Footnotes

*1988 – Section 28

Section 28 of the Local Government Act was introduced by the Conservative Government lead by Margaret Thatcher, a step back in the fight for equality. Section 28 made it illegal for local authorities from ‘promoting homosexuality’ or ‘pretended family relationships’. It also banned Councils from funding educational materials and projects that were perceived to ‘promote homosexuality’. By preventing the discussion of LGBT issues, it stopped pupils and young people from getting the support they needed. In 2003 Section 28 was repealed but it was not until 2009 that the former prime minister David Cameron apologised for the legislation. (Brewster, 2025) 

Chapbook: Chapter One - Second Draft & Mock Up

 After completing a Second Draft of Chapter One I began looking at the pages in Blurb and mocked up the first chapter. I chose a Trade Book of the smallest size 13x20cm.  The font is Alegreya and the spacing is 1.5.  I chose some images to see how this looked.  As can be seen here this is around 15 pages as I left pages free for the book title and contents. 

 

Website Evaluation & Comparison: Pipilotti Rist and Hermann Nitsch

In this post I will be comparing the websites of Pippi Lotti Rist and Hermann Nitsch.  I will be looking at the design, layout, colour palette, typography and also technical aspects such as navigation, ease of use, presentation of galleries and how easy it is to use the site and understand the artist.

Pipilotti Rist

I will begin with Pipilotti Rist website, a video and perfomance artist. On the homepage there is a full page of video stills that move through different images.  The artist name is in the left hand corner in large letters and is static, there is no header or footer and there is no navigation bar...I clicked hopefully on the screen but that led nowhere so I found one button that said 'contact' at the bottom of the screen and this has a small menu.

I clicked on 'Galleries' in the contact button and this just has a list of galleries where the artist work is shown. The next menu item is copyright and images and this just list copyright for her work, then there is a list of distributers.  This is all there is, this is now the shortest evaluation of any website I have ever done.  There is no work to look at here and there is not even links to guide you to other works, there is no copyright notice on the site with a date.  A very very disappointing experience.

Hermann Nitsch

The second site I am looking at is Hermann Nitsch another performance artist (Vienna Actionist).  Hermann Nitsch's Homepage is bold black writing in the header with the artists name in sans serif font, in large letters.  Underneath this is had the 'Das Origien Mysterien Theater' again in in big bold black sans serif letters. Below this is the navigation bar.  The whole page has a white clean background.  Underneath teh navigation bar is a gallery grid 2 x 6 with different areas these are: Biography, Painting Actions, Actions, Music, Events and Publications.  In the footer there is a privacy and legal notice, these are well writtien and clear notice which outline the scope of privacy and legal requirements in relation to Nitsch's site and work.  There is no copyright date to the website on the footer or on the homepage that I can find. The homepage is bold and clear and clearly the links to all ages work well.

The site can be viewed in either German or English and it is easy to switch between the two as the language in in the navigation bar and in the footer.  I clicked first into the Action Paimtings box and this is the page I was led to 

his has a very long essay on these paintings and their origins with the three images at the top as shown here. There is also am additional menu and regsiter of action painting is lierally a register of all teh action paintings and where they have been carried out as a record.  Then selected painting actions leads to another page with these selected works which you can click into as seen below.  you can also click through the gallery here.

There is many other pages that are too many to list here but one of these is graphic works and this again has three images and an essay on these works. 

The pages are very consistent, there is excellent navigation through the pages and there is so much work to see throughout with many galleries . In the Orgies Mysteries Theatre the page is laid out the same with three images and an essay 

This also has a sub-navigation menu with again register of actions, selected action and 6-Day Play - the mysteries threatre are longer more intense works involving many performers as can be seen in the more detailed image below.

The next page that I looked at was biography - again the same consistent layout with three images at the top of the page and then the writing underneath. This is a long life in chronological order, it is something you would read with a large cup of coffee!  There is much to read throughout this site and if you are really interested in the artists there is a wealth of information.  I have been scrolling down to the bottom of each page and I realised there is no back to top button - this would actually have been really useful on this site. 

There is much to learn on this site but what is missing is perhaps videos of these events and performances, I checked on YouTube and there are videos of some of these events and they could have been included.  Overall this site is consistent, with good navigation and back buttons, it is available in two languages and does give a good account of the artist (now deceased Hermann Nitsch 1938-2022).  

Comparison

The two websites I looked at are so wildly different in design that this comparision is a little challenging. Pipilotti Rist site had essently nothing on it at all, it listed galleries where here work could be viewed and copyrights but nothing else.  I could see no work, there was no links to work and overall is basically completely unhelpful as a site to know and understand the artist and her work.  Hermann Nitsch, on the other hand, was full of informtion there were many pages all full of different informaton about different areas if his work and.  There are long essays and explanations on each page and a very full and lengthy biography, there is a list of publications and contacts include a link to the Nitsch Foundation Website, this was also great and contained loads of additional information and work I could view.  I really don't think there is a comparison here as such as the Rist site just does not contain anything whereas Nitsch attempts to contain everything, perhaps that is very much represents teh artist as he was fairly uncontainable! The website here is well presented, clean, easy to navigate with the exception of not including back to top buttons on long written pages.  Some may not enjoy the long written pieces, in this age of people who do not read and want instant information, however I like the slow read and know that I will learn something important from this. 

Chapbook: Chapter One - First Draft

 I have written the first draft of my first chapter, this is the set-up to my story.  The main character George Fox has had a fall...

First Draft: Chapter One - Awakening

The action here takes place in George's home - I think I may add more details about location as perhaps he needs to located in time and space further, I may need this for later in the story. I will think about any additions and add them prior to writing the next chapter. 

George intends to escape to Canada, I chose Canada as I went there as a child and it really made a lasting impression on me and I can imagine the places I went still really very clearly. 

I will continue this story and keep adding drafts, over the next two weeks....