PwDP posted off for July moderation

Well, it's all done now and posted off for moderation.  I didn't think I'd do it but having time on my hands due to contracting shingles at the beginning of May gave me time to sort everything out.  I'm much better now and can concentrate on finishing my blog to go with it. 

Good luck to everyone going for moderation, I hear the office has been inundated with applications for this session.  Lee in the office reckons the results should be sent out by email at the end on July.  I remember when I first started this degree it seemed to take forever to get your result.

James Ravilious Day - 25th July 2014

Last year I joined the South West OCA Regional Study group and went to a meeting at Ilminster Hall to hear a talk about an artist called Eric Ravilious as the Group has organised a meeting in Barnstaple which will feature the work of the late Devon photographer James Ravilous who was Eric's son.  We'll also meet with James' wife who will be talking about his mammoth body of work on the rural Devon in the latter half of the 20th century. 

James Ravilious

There was a black and white print exhibition of James' work at the renowned Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in Exeter last year.  This was a fascinating body of work showing the hardships of country life but also how communities came together in celebration.

Difficult two years

Well I've finally finished this module, albeit not sent it off yet.  I've only just scraped into the 2 year deadline as I've had several family illnesses since I started it in July 2013.  I lost my motivation quite a few times as my husband was ill soon after I started it and again in the summer last year.  Then this year I've been ill for a couple of months.  Not the best of times but I'm still standing.

I'm just waiting to have my second attempt as a critical review remarked by my tutor and have a phone tutorial with him and then it will be in the post.  It has to be there by June 15th to be accepted for the July assessment.  You get the results much quicker now as when I spoke to Lee in 'The Office' the other day he said we should hear by the end of July.  I can remember having to wait a couple of months with previous modules.

Rather lax posting to this page - 7th March 2014

I was trying to blog using my iphone yesterday after I had been to see the Lord Lichfield exhibition at Mottisfort Abbey in Romsey and found that I had not posted here since 2012.  I have found this module challenging but am working through my final assignment at the moment.

My final assignment is not assignment 5 - that of a 'Covering an Event' which I completed last year but assignment 4 - 'A Critical Review' which has had me struggling to get it together.

My two year study period ends in July this year (2014) and I should have this last assignment completed by the end of April.  That will enable me to finish up and tidy up all the outstanding items from the exercises/projects and suggested improvements from my tutor on previous assignments before putting this module to bed for assessment later this year.

OCA Study Day - December 7th

Just noticed that there's a study day at the Hayward Gallery in London.  Sounds like an exciting day but a really early start. Luckily the Axminster line goes straight to Waterloo and the South Bank is just by the station. I love people watching and the time of the only train that gets there in time for an 11.00 am start at the gallery, gets in with loads of time for pictures.

Two of my previous tutors, Robert Enoch and Clive White, will be leading the day so I'm expecting some interesting comments. 

London here I come!


Sorry to say that I never got to this exhibition due to appalling bad luck with train delays .  The engineers decided to do emergency track repairs which entailed long diversions and this would have made the journey a total nightmare so I put it down to experience and look forward to joining another study day next year.

Moving on

Time for new beginnings and I have found my motivation to continue with this module and next assignment. The last few weeks have been very hard what with the poor winter weather, personal grief and other outside influences but now I feel I can put all my energies into completing assignment 3 within a good timescale.

Struggling to get on with it!

Ever since Christmas it has become increasingly hard to focus my energies and time on working on my next exercises.  Life and the universe have a way of interfering.  What with families, life and death and general clutter, I can't seem to produce anything of worth.

I was interested to follow a forum thread on 'has the fun element gone from picture taking  link here

http://oca-student.com/node/100066 

and I can really relate to it.  Sometimes my creative side seems to have dried up and I struggle to link new ideas to the exercises in front of me.  Other times ideas flow thick and fast but circumstances put a stop to it.

Things should get back to normal in the next few weeks and I'm determined to get back on track if it's the last thing I do.  I'm still waiting to hear back from my tutor about assignment 2 and it seems to have been a long wait to hear his comments.  Perhaps today his report will come in the post.