# The Personal Project

Painting I · Analysis, Project and Presentation · https://tryals.app/learn/painting-i/the-personal-project

## What Makes a Project a Project

"I want to explore colour and emotion" names a territory, not a question. 

**A project has a question that could be answered wrongly.**

| Not yet a project | A project |
|---|---|
| I want to explore colour and emotion | Does a passage read warmer when its neighbour cools at constant value? |
| I am interested in memory | Can a photograph be repainted from memory at intervals? |
| I want to work with my local landscape | What does the same view yield across different times of day? |

### Scope and Arithmetic

Scope is decided by hours, not ambition. A semester offers **72 hours** of studio time. 

At nine hours per piece, you can produce **eight** canvases at most. Layered oil painting needs drying time. A four-layer method requires **three** drying gaps between sessions. Plan backwards so the work fits the calendar.

### References

A reference is not just a picture you like. It is a **position you are arguing with**.

* **Formal**: solves a problem of surface, colour, or structure.
* **Thematic**: addresses your subject but reaches a different conclusion.
* **Methodological**: provides a way of working to borrow.

### The Logbook

Record all decisions **at the moment they are taken**. Note your reasons immediately, before they evaporate. Include dates, state photos, recipes, and unexpected outcomes.

> **Common pitfall:** writing the statement after the work is finished to describe the result. 

Write your question first. Let the record show where it shifted.

Project · Scope · The · 72

## Practice questions

8 of this lesson's 14 practice questions, with answers. The full set is in the app.

### 1. Which of these turn a territory into a project?

A. A scope fixed by the hours actually available rather than by ambition
B. A question specific enough that the work could answer it wrongly
C. A statement written at the end, describing what the finished work turned out to be
D. References chosen as positions to argue with rather than pictures admired

**Answer:** A. A scope fixed by the hours actually available rather than by ambition; B. A question specific enough that the work could answer it wrongly; D. References chosen as positions to argue with rather than pictures admired

**Why:** The fourth is the standard failure and it is invisible in the finished dossier. A statement written afterwards fits the result perfectly, which is exactly why it is worthless: it cannot have guided anything, and the interesting moments where the plan met resistance have been quietly deleted.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/painting-i/the-personal-project/which-of-these-turn-a-territory-into-a-project

### 2. A twelve-week semester provides six studio hours a week. If each canvas takes about nine hours from stretching to finish, how many canvases can the semester hold?

**Answer:** 8

**Why:** **Eight canvases**, 72 hours divided by nine, and that is before anything goes wrong, before drying time, and before the two weeks the documentation will take. A plan for fifteen canvases is not ambitious; it is a plan that has not been multiplied out.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/painting-i/the-personal-project/a-twelve-week-semester-provides-six-studio-hours-a-week-if-each

### 3. Sort each reference by the kind of work it is doing in a project.

**Answer:**

- Formal: Flat-area technique, Studying edge-work
- Thematic: Opposite conclusion, Disputed account
- Methodological: Borrowed daily sets, Adopted photo logs

**Why:** The methodological column is the one students under-use. Borrowing a way of working commits you to nothing about the result, so it is the safest kind of influence and often the most productive, and it is the only kind that a tutor can see you actually carrying out rather than merely admiring.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/painting-i/the-personal-project/sort-each-reference-by-the-kind-of-work-it-is-doing-in-a-project

### 4. Complete the account of a project.

**Answer:** A project has a question that could be answered **wrongly**. Twelve weeks at six studio hours gives **72** hours in total. A four-layer oil method has three waiting gaps, which at five days each is **15** days of drying. The record kept at the moment decisions are taken is the **logbook**.

**Why:** The third blank catches almost everyone. Four layers have three gaps between them, not four, and the difference of five days is exactly the margin that decides whether the last canvas can be finished. Counting intervals rather than items is worth doing slowly.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/painting-i/the-personal-project/complete-the-account-of-a-project

### 5. A student submits the proposal "I want to explore the relationship between colour and emotion." Why can no amount of work in the studio confirm or disturb that proposal?

A. It is too brief; expanding this broad idea into several sentences fixes the issue
B. Emotion is subjective, so personal feelings cannot underpin visual investigation
C. Colour theory is already settled, leaving no genuine visual problems to explore
D. It names a territory, not a question, so no result counts as an answer or failure

**Answer:** D. It names a territory, not a question, so no result counts as an answer or failure

**Why:** Nothing could count against it, which is the test it fails. "Does a passage read as warmer when its neighbour is cooled at constant value?" is the same interest made answerable, and it can come out no. Emotion is a perfectly good subject, and length is not the problem, falsifiability is.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/painting-i/the-personal-project/a-student-submits-the-proposal-i-want-to-explore-the-relationship

### 6. A layered oil method uses four layers, with five days of drying required between one layer and the next. How many days of drying does one canvas need in total?

**Answer:** 15 (within ±2)

**Why:** **15 days.** Four layers have three intervals between them, and it is the intervals that consume the calendar. Two weeks of drying per canvas is the figure that decides whether a layered method fits a semester at all, and it does not shorten because the deadline is close.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/painting-i/the-personal-project/a-layered-oil-method-uses-four-layers-with-five-days-of-drying

### 7. A project question is only a question if it is possible for the finished work to answer it wrongly.

**Answer:** True

**Why:** **True**, and it is the fastest test available on a proposal. If no result could count against it, the work cannot be steered by it and cannot learn anything from it. The question does not have to be scientific; it has to be capable of coming out other than expected.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/painting-i/the-personal-project/a-project-question-is-only-a-question-if-it-is-possible-for-the

### 8. A reference functions as a position being argued with, not mere visual inspiration. What does this distinction require of an artist selecting historical sources?

A. They must reject any source material that produces agreeable imagery
B. They must select works that share their exact moral or thematic stance
C. They must adopt the entire working philosophy of the chosen exemplar
D. They must identify the specific painterly problem the source resolves

**Answer:** D. They must identify the specific painterly problem the source resolves

**Why:** Treating references as active arguments means engaging their structural solutions or distinct stances. Conflating dialogue with total imitation or ideological agreement mistakes critical engagement for passive endorsement.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/painting-i/the-personal-project/a-reference-functions-as-a-position-being-argued-with-not-mere