I made the decision to work on a combine as my Assignment Two final piece for several reasons. I had enjoyed the process of working on a Combine during Part Two. The physicality of the process of creation gave me an energy which I had not previously experienced when working on my art. The possible exception being when I had worked on large canvases. Additionally I was still trying to understand and reconcile Combines as a form of painting. Whilst I could see the artistic merits of using and repurposing objects in a way that makes the viewer think of them in a different way, I was still struggling to extract meaning from the completed paintings. Perhaps I was looking at them the wrong way in so much as there wasn’t a single meaning but that the act of looking, thinking and reflecting was the challenge.

Working on my previous Combine had been a new way of creating work. The manipulation of objects, the playing with ideas, testing juxtapositions and trying to relate forms to each other presented questions that I did not have a learnt knowledge to solve. This was new. I had to try to solve the issues that I was confronted with. To my mind the previous Combine that I had completed was more about the process than the result. That I completed the exercise was an end in itself. However reflecting and looking at the work it lacks coherence. It presents itself as a set of objects that have an inherent commonality which have been placed together. There is no challenge as to what they are or why they have been presented in the manner that they have.

The process of moving, reassigning objects based upon their aesthetics, their shapes, lines, colour and form becomes an act of creativity. The confines of the frame becomes apparent. The choices of what to discard becomes as important as what to include. Their placement, manipulation and how they interact with each other is far more important than what they are. In completing this piece I wanted to create a work that forces the viewer to look at it, is interesting to look at and provokes questions.

My opinion of the completed piece is that it invites closer inspection and solves some of the issues documented above. There are forms suggested which are beyond what the individual objects would convey by themselves. The objects are not placed randomly there is clear evidence of a choice being made to arrange and display them as they are. The viewer is confronted with a piece that is interesting as a whole and is challenged to look at its make up, the discarded objects, and to reflect on their original purpose and how this has now been rendered obsolete.

A short video is included below the painting with more of my reflections.

• Part 2