Painting guidance

New BA (Hons) Painting units: 

  1. Painting 1.1: Drawing for Painting (PT4DFP)
  2. Painting 2.1: Ideas Lab (PT5ILB)
  3. Painting 3.1: Practice and Research (PT6PAR)

Teach Out BA (Hons) Painting units: 

  1. Painting 1: The Practice of Painting (PT4POP) 
  2. Painting 1: Understanding Painting Media (PT4UPM) 
  3. Drawing 1: Drawing Skills (DR4DRS) 
  4. Printmaking 1: Introduction to Printmaking (PM4PMI) 
  5. Sculpture 1: Starting out in 3D (SC4SCL)
  6. Visual Studies 1: Creative Arts Today (CA4CAT) 
  7. Visual Studies 1: Understanding Visual Culture (AH4UVC)
  8. Painting 2: Studio Practice (PT5STP) 
  9. Painting 2: Exploring Media (PT5EXM) 
  10. Drawing 2: Investigating Drawing (DR5DRA)
  11. Painting 3: Major Project (PT6MPR) 
  12. Painting 3: Contextual Studies (PH6CTS) 
  13. Painting 3: Sustaining Your Practice (PT6SYP)

Assessment requirements

When considering the learning outcomes for your course unit, it is important to know what you are being asked to submit. These are known as your assessment requirements. In summary, these will include: 

  1. A selection of entries from your learning log. These should evidence the connections between your coursework and the learning outcomes. 
  2. A selection of creative work. This should be a portfolio or other presentation of your final or strongest pieces. You should present good quality images of your portfolio in a way that enables assessors to see the work clearly and in a way that makes it clear which art works are to be considered as your portfolio. This can be a set of Jpegs, a PDF document or a set of Google slides. For some three dimensional, large scale or heavily textured work, you may wish to present a short video as documentation. Do not write across the front of the paintings. You may wish to provide a subfolder or other secondary submission with details of surface or brushwork, however a good image can easily be enlarged to view details. You should also submit uncropped versions of your images in a separate subfolder. Please ensure where possible that your images are titled to include dimensions and materials, or that a checklist is provided with those details.
  3. Any written elements such as critical reviews. This should include any required essay, review or report elements. 
  4. A reflective presentation or evaluation. This will be an opportunity to reflect on your learning experiences as a whole. It can take the form of a presentation, short video, or a written piece, and should be no longer than 6 minutes or 750 words.

Additional advice for Painting students 

Advice for painting course units at HE4 

  • Choose 8 to 12 entries from your learning log that reference your learning outcomes (2 or 3 entries per learning outcome). These might include examples from sketchbooks. 
  • Choose 6 to 10 pieces of creative work.
  • There are no assessed written elements for PT4POP. The 500-word essay on a specific painting medium is required for submission for PT4UPM. The 1000-word critical review is required for submission for PT4DFP. You will need to submit written elements for a plagiarism check in advance in line with the Submitting your work guidance.
  • Your reflective presentation or evaluation can draw evidence from your wider log, sketchbook and studio experience to give assessors a clear message about your learning experience. Remember – don’t narrate – evaluate!
Advice for painting course units at HE5 

  • Select 8 to 12 entries from your learning log to complement your submission of creative work and reference your learning outcomes (2 or 3 entries per learning outcome). HE5 is a place where you are asked to travel in two directions simultaneously. On the one hand you are exposing yourself to new ideas, processes and possibilities, and on the other you are starting to build a personal practice and inhabit it in a deeply significant way. Your log entries can demonstrate that productive tension constructively but your selection should present a narrative of evaluation and critique which clearly shows you making sense of your own learning journey through engaging with complex ideas (LO2). Through your learning log we would like to see some evidence of your studio process; for example sketchbook work, preparatory work, or site visits. Use the most effective documentation for you as a practitioner. 
  • Select 6 to 10 pieces of creative work from across your coursework. Remember to choose your best work here. This is not the place to illustrate improvement by including lesser work. Select your strongest paintings from wherever they appear in your coursework. Consider trying to present a coherent portfolio that demonstrates a developing ability to connect your understanding and synthesise it into your work.  
  • You will be submitting your critical review, so follow the Submitting your work guidance.
  • Your reflective presentation or evaluation can draw evidence from your wider log, sketchbook and studio experience to give assessors a clear message about your learning experience. Be specific and back up your assertions. For example, don’t say “I have been strongly creative and taken many risks” – show that by describing your journey and process with confidence. 
Advice for painting course units at HE6

Major Project

  • Select 8 to 12 entries from your learning log that support your submission of creative work (2 or 3 entries per learning outcome). 
  • Present a body of creative work from across your coursework. Remember that the goal here is the production of an ambitious and focussed body of work at an accomplished standard. 
  • Your reflective presentation or evaluation can draw evidence from your wider log, sketchbook and studio experience to give assessors a clear message about your learning experience. Be specific and back up your assertions. For example, don’t say “I have been strongly creative and taken many risks” – show that by describing your journey and process with confidence. 
Contextual Study
 

  • Select 8 to 12 entries from your learning log that demonstrate your research practice relative to the learning outcomes (2 or 3 entries per learning outcome). 
  • Submit your project proposal (1000 words)
  • Submit your extended essay (5000 words) following the Submitting your work guidance. 
Sustaining Your Practice

  • Select 8 to 12 entries from your learning log that support your submission of your creative practice and final presentation of work (2 or 3 entries per learning outcome). 
  • Present an ambitious and highly focused body of work to exhibition standard 
  • Submit your conclusive essay and any associated exhibition ephemera 
Documenting and presenting your work

It is useful for assessors to see each piece in your portfolio as a cropped image and as uncropped. This helps us see how you have managed to work with the composition. If you have presented the work in such a way that we can easily zoom into a photograph then this is all we need. If you feel you need to show extra detail, please submit that in a subfolder and with a number of details. Imagine the assessor stepping away from your work or moving closer in to look at it. 


We suggest you:
  1. Photograph your chosen piece to include a little bit of the background. 
  2. Make a copy of that photo and crop it to remove the background. 
  3. Then photograph up to 4 areas of the piece you think would be useful to see close up if required. 
  4. Save the cropped image into your portfolio folder as a Jpeg, or as part of a pdf or slideshow. Save the remainder (uncropped and any details) into a subfolder titled to connect it to the main image (for example: subfolder 1). 
Some works (for example installations) are better experienced digitally through video. You could look to make a video using your smartphone or a camera with a recording feature. For example, you could film a walk through of the installation, honing in on important aspects, or video surfaces. Decide if this video is the main image (portfolio), or additional information (subfolder).