Drawing a Week 2015-2016

Back once again! What began with the 'Drawing a Day' project in 2013* continued in a moment of madness for a second time in 2014** and in 2015 evolved into the more manageable, 'Drawing a Week' 2015-2016!

 

February 27th 2015, Mono print and ink on paper.

Despite having finished it in December last year I have been uncharacteristically slow in getting this sketchbook scanned and uploaded online, this is largely due to the fact that I don't feel that everything I produce needs to be made public. Sketchbooks, to most artists are generally quite personal or private things and feature often the most honest and rawest work; some of which is ugly or badly drawn and other works experimental and full of an integrity of purpose. 

 

Against that better judgement perhaps, I've eventually decided to present this project here. Though genuinely still a bit reluctant to do so, I value the opportunity to reflect on them through writing this post and comments from the public and peers more than my insecurities of sharing them to a wider audience.

 

What a year 2015 was! I'd made the decision to do at least one drawing a week, in my A5 Sea White of Brighton, sketchbook -this was as consequence from wanting to allow more time to produce and experiment with the work as well as be able to produce more work outside the sketchbook. In fact images that began life as tests or drawings in these books have grown and continue to be starting points or references to new work I'm creating at present. In variation to last year 2015's offerings were in a much wider range of media, from pencil, to ink, mono printing, silverpoint and watercolour (though often a combination of a few). This was in my view the most successful aspect of the 2015 drawings and the re-introduction of mono print significantly gave a rekindled sense of life, expression and depth to my work. Nothing still quite matches mono printing, for quality of line, chance and sensitivity in my opinion. 

 

March 5th 2015, Mono print and ink on paper.

Other changes to the 2015 drawings were that they were considerably more open to chance in how I experimented with media, allowing the medium to dictate the drawing rather than the other way around.

 

 The subject matter for the drawings followed tangents of thought that were parallel to work I was creating outside the sketchbooks, so for the first time last year work I was making outside the sketchbook was fed by work I'd previously done and vice versa [probably most evident in the mono print works/tools]. They had a bit of a dialogue which I'd like to develop further this year.

 

 The mark-making and type of line was expanded upon from the previous 'drawing a day' projects which was mostly due to the introduction of silverpoint which forced a broader depth of layering/mark-making to happen and has impacted on being more experimental with marks during mono printing i.e. applying different pressures of line to create different thicknesses.   

 

Working bigger has also significantly changed the intensity and surface of the drawings from previous years allowing for more surface/texture/background and detail.

 

Whilst I feel marginally my drawing continues to improve there are still many aspects I aim to develop which include; 

 

Working more/if not entirely from life: In many ways the better drawings have still been those drawn from life (i.e. real objects, things). There is a 'flatness' that comes from drawing objects, animals, things from photographs or off a screen. Similarly a sense of movement or resonance from drawing actual objects may bring a new challenge or perspective to the work -sense of immediacy or 'lived' moment that could invigorate my drawing. Its a challenge that slightly daunts me, but would be an opportunity to really demonstrate my passion for the 'remarkable everyday'.

 

May 28th 2015, Acrylic ink/pencil on paper.

 

Cylinders: Just a small observation, but an important one. I seem to struggle with cylinders! The bases of paint cans, cups, bases of round or curved objects etc. They never look quite right, even when I think they do -I don't notice it until looking back on it much later. I'd like to improve drawing this form as well as perspective and 3D forms generally.

 

More experimental: So far I have been almost solely representational in my consideration of 'what a drawing is' but conversely one of the more interesting drawings from 2015 was the below image; a completely playful experiment made by rolling a ball covered in ink inside a tube. I'd like to try more non-outcome based or preconceived ways of drawing and instead play with ways of making marks. This wouldn't be to abandon the representational stuff but I think it would open and loosen-up my way of drawing that may worth trying. 

 

Work bigger/different paper/outside of sketchbook: I think working outside of sketchbooks is a lot more liberating in terms of having a freedom to make more marks, stain, pour, paint etc. I also prefer the tautness of paper outside a sketchbook to print onto. So more experiments outside the sketchbook and on different papers.

 

Develop threads of thought: It has to be said that all previous drawing projects seem erratic in their subject matter and tone; going from the political to caricatures or illustrations. In many ways as touched upon earlier, not many are directly observations. Whilst this form of spontaneity has been very  cathartic I am conscious that it leaves many ideas or ways of working undeveloped. My suggestion is to take a starting point and work from it continuously evaluating and learning as I go in order to refine or explore ideas/mediums/subjects in greater depth rather than treating imagery to the equivalent of fast-food!

January 21st 2015, ink on paper. 

 

Overall however, I have already been actively making work during 2016. None of which as yet is sketchbook-based, interestingly, so I am keen to reinvigorate this thread to my practice but want to approach it with the new suggestions mentioned above and see where the work takes me. The dark sincerity remains for me that drawing is still a pleasure and a mystery that is very integral to my practice and my overall sense of being/purpose. 

 

Therefore I am once again pleased to present the 'Drawing a Week 2015-2016' project below where you can put to test all my above observations and hopefully draw your own conclusions...

 

Enjoy!



Created with flickr slideshow.

 

 

(Note - you can either watch the flickr slideshow here or if it doesn't work on your phone/tablet then please click on the link below)

 

Watch the slideshow and/or click on the link here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/113459200@N03/

 

The previous 'Drawing Projects' can be viewed at: **http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/unimportant-somethings-drawing-day-2014.html

*http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/a-drawing-day.html

Tales From The Tool Shed

Is Facebook supposed to be educational? 'Bored Panda' anything other than amusing procrastination?! Imagine my delight logging on to my Facebook account to find amidst the usual shower of cat photos, political garbage and relentless invitations to play candy crush saga (NOTE: I’m still not interested!) something that was actually, amazingly, inspiringly and, somewhat vainly, relevant posted on my wall! THANK YOU!!

 I was so excited to learn about the work of artist, Lee John Phillips and his ‘Tool Shed Project' that I felt compelled to spread-the-word further here on the blog.     

 “Talented artist Lee John Phillips has undertaken a project of epic proportions to celebrate the memory of his late grandfather. Phillips estimates that it will take him about 4-5 years to draw all 100,000+ items left behind in the shed by his grandfather, who passed away roughly 20 years ago. Everything from large tools to jars full of nails, nuts and bolts will be covered!”

Lee John Phillips 'Tool Shed Project' *

Lee John Phillips 'Tool Shed Project' *

Meanwhile, elsewhere, “Not so talented but passionately curious” artist, Natalie Parsley (that’s me) has also been drawing her late Grandfather’s tools estimating it may take between four and five hours to draw the chosen few, picked seemingly at random, but actually via a highly discerning process of aesthetic elimination (in other words I draw what I like the look of)! Saws, hammers, clamps, bill hooks, pliers , keys, spanners and even the occasional nail or bolt. I jest, but on a serious note there is something uncannily brilliant about the discovery of another artist working with drawing tools in a similarly obsessive manner to myself as I have previously done and most recently on the ‘Drawing a Day’ projects from 2013 and 2014.

It is also interesting to analyse what motivates other people to take on these sorts of projects and how there is a reoccurring theme of cataloguing tools of which the aesthetic is of huge appeal to me. I speculate my love/appreciation for order, systems and archiving comes largely influenced from working in a bookshop, but I think that psychologically there is something bordering on compulsive versus the meditative and reflectively endearing about painstakingly ordering, sifting through the items left in Phillip’s Grandfather’s tool shed that is both cathartic and a touching tribute.

“Phillips has been numbering each object in his meticulous project, and has drawn nearly 4,000 at this point. He has spent so much time drawing recently that it has taken a toll on him; “I already have to have physio for the toll it’s taking on my body. About 5% done so far!” he writes on his Instagram."

Experiments with Tool catalogues, labels etc. during my MA.  

Detail from 'Kaye's Tool Kaleidoscope' (2011) Natalie Parsley 

I’m in pretty good health, or at least can honestly say that my art has never physically damaged me (mentally, more likely!) in some way other than fatigue, the odd paper-cut  and I  wouldn’t yet speculate the untold damage years of graphite, turps and varnish inhalation may have caused on my system. Ahem, none-the-less this doesn’t pay dividend to my commitment to drawing and particularly my history of drawing tools. In recent years the tools in my own practice have taken more of a backseat but their influence has been present in other ways either in; drawing similar hard-edged/sculptural objects OR drawing something completely different/opposite to tools i.e. softer/more organic things such as plants, animals, insects. In this way, I had something of a revelation when I realised that my ‘long time art hero’ Jim Dine has explored plants and tools as well as plants with tools in the same image. This is an important distinction as I feel that Dine’s intention in doing this is in order to provide a contrast and a greater understanding of the properties and formal qualities of tools and plants respective. For example, you cannot appreciate, or comprehend the solidness and weightiness of a tool until you know how to capture the lightness and delicateness of a plant. That sounding more Buddhist than it perhaps should, but I am beginning to think that there is possibly, to my mind nothing more enlightening, more revealing than drawing both in terms of perception and personal solace. Recently I have been drawing a lot of plants, but then conversely almost craving to go back to drawing tools with a renewed fascination and attention.

From the 'Drawing a Day Project 2014-2015' Natalie Parsley

From the 'Drawing a Day Project 2014-2015' Natalie Parsley

I will post more of my recent work soon, but want to give it an opportunity to be first seen away from the internet before I reflect and document it on here. Watch this space...! 

Going back to Phillip’s project however, I admire the detail in which he draws each object individually ever perhaps slightly daunted it is part of a much bigger body of work. It has taken me years to appreciate noticing the unique patina each tool bears, the sign or trace of the person who wielded or possessed it. This makes Phillip’s project very much unique, in the same way a portrait is. This project is very much a portrait/tribute to his Grandfather and gives the project more meaning than just becoming pleasing wallpaper. Looking back on my early work, mono prints of tools I missed the opportunity to capture some of that uniqueness that is present in each individual tool. Rather than being an illustration or documentation of tools, I am almost reluctant to admit in the early days my tools had always been more about me, the tools almost a redundant shape on which to hang expressive mark making and intensity. I say 'reluctant' because I do not see myself as an ego driven artist so it feels difficult to contextualise my work within a personal viewpoint. The last few years have been about looking more closely and I’ve grown slightly more patient and with that has come a more conservative and conceptual treatment of tools. There is a slickness and clarity of purposefulness to Phillip's project that I sometimes lack in giving my work a truly professional or contemporary edge. Ultimately my aim is to find a middle ground between the early tool work and my new sense of intention and focus. In recent years my outreach to the art world and public place within it has wavered but my commitment and curiosity have remained.  The fight against the darkness is truly never ending?!

Natalie Parsley (2015) Mono print and ink on paper.

More of Lee John Phillip's Work and further details of the 'Tool Shed Project' can be found at:

 https://leejohnphillips.carbonmade.com/

https://instagram.com/leejohnphillips/

*IMAGES AND TEXT FROM: http://www.boredpanda.com/grandfather-died-illustrations-tools-shed-project-lee-john-phillips/

Unimportant somethings - A Drawing a Day 2014-2015

Happy 2015! You didn't think that I wouldn't complete my 'drawing a day' challenge for 2014 did you? I have to admit the challenge of working bigger and in colour for what was going to be my second year of completing 365 drawings, left me unsure if I was going to actually find enough time and have the discipline that was needed to complete such a task. What was I going to draw for each of those days?!

 

From whatever depths of madness, obsession and passion for drawing that drove me I managed to complete the year. Self congratulations aside it is useful for me to take this opportunity to reflect and evaluate on the experience. Similar to the year before I formed a love but also hesitant relationship with the daily commitment to drawing. Unlike no other medium I've found in art, I actually feel the 'need' to draw and if I haven't drawn something for a number of days I start to feel like something's amiss. Like an itch that needs scratching, perhaps it is the closest thing to some mild form of addiction. Yet despite this, I found it interesting how making time to do a drawing everyday; on your good days, bad days, holidays, when you're feeling unwell, days when you're just so busy; really offers a rare moments pause and reflection where the only thing that matters is your attention to the thing you're looking at/'what's on the page'. Days when you really feel too tired, stressed or just too busy to draw are the most challenging yet once you lose yourself into the process of looking I felt reminded of why I enjoy the concentration, focus and escapism it offers. In part a lot of this has something to do with the 'type' of drawing I do everyday which borders on something closer to illustration than the eye-opening skill-set of drawing/looking I explored during Fine Art. To confess I think I have always wandered the periphery of being more representational dare I say 'a closet illustrator' a 'repressed doodler or cartoonist'. This 'tight' way of drawing often, arguably not leaving much to the imagination; other than appearing as a purely self indulgent exercise has, I think testament in the choice of 'what' is drawn and intensity placed upon 'how' it is drawn. In this way, conceptually at least, it shares some threads within Fine Art practice. The purpose and where this project 'sits' within my practice bothers me slightly as it is less defined and I am less clear in its motives other than it 'was something I wanted and felt a compulsive need to do'. It is a question I will have to consider later in more detail. 

 

The drawings themselves should reflect some of these observations more accurately. It is an honest account of my drawing ability, some of which has improved  whilst other aspects, as you will see, still remain a challenge (wheels for example!).There are many bad drawings as there are many successful ones (and that's not necessarily about being subjective, some drawings are just bad drawings!), but all of them of course a learning experience. Some days are quite lazy others clearly have had more effort put into them, it would have been impossible to be in the same state of concentration everyday for a year. Life, events and your emotions won't allow for consistency. And that's not to say the days with a bad drawing were a 'bad' day and vice versa, I think it's probably a lot more subconscious than that and never at the front of my mind when I draw. I just draw. What I will say is that they definitely improve throughout the year as my confidence with using colour and experimenting with pencil instead of pen begin to creep in. I acknowledge that, but it isn't always evident just how much attention I pay in learning from my mistakes along the way as drawing everyday doesn't allow much time for reflection. However through the persistence of drawing you can't help but naturally improve slightly as you go. Albeit slowly, I did come to the conclusion that whether I work in black and white or colour is really dependant on 'what' I draw rather than pre-determining it from the offset. For future reference the qualities of the thing I'm drawing should determine the medium.

 

In terms of what I draw and why, that will probably remain a mystery without going into a running commentary on each drawing as ideas from one often lead to ideas for the other. At times it is possibly a little more disturbing than last year, I didn't hold back but in doing so found the times when I was drawing from a real object (as opposed to an imaginary thing) the finished drawing had a lot more integrity, intensity and were on-the-whole more enjoyable to do. If it was my intention to reveal something of 'myself' in the work then the drawings which have these qualities and are based-on real objects with real histories or connections stand out as, in my opinion as the more successful drawings. I prefer working this way and it is something I will certainly consider for future drawing projects.

 

A lot of the time what I draw each day works on an association basis, for example, you can be painting the smooth metallic sheen/surface/rendering on a wind-up bird toy and it can remind you of something similar you've seen and then you choose to draw that the next day, or the shape of it reminds you of something or the thing itself recalls a conversation you've had, a place you've been or purely something straight from your imagination or something ready-to-hand at home. To anyone else looking, it certainly will appear at most times incredibly random.  A lot of the images this year are also from pop culture, music/cd album covers, films, video games, other art works from Rembrandt to Grey's anatomy. Other things are unusual curios that my family have bought or collected. There are plenty of animals which have been useful in helping me to 'soften' my quality of line and explore more organic/subtle forms, but if hand-on-heart I still prefer drawing objects and yes, tools! If you ask me, I'd probably have a story to tell about most of the images. 

 

The completed stack of six A6 sketchbooks for the year 2014-2015.

 

As per last year's 'drawing a day' project it was never my intention that whilst drawing something each day, that I may actually end up completing the year and secondly that I might not choose to show it online a second time. I'm still not quite sure about putting it in the public domain, but feel that a certain degree of closure or an end to this project needs to be told and for that reason,

 

 I am pleased to show here, the completed 'Drawing a Day' project 2014-2015!

 

Enjoy!

(Note - you can either watch the flickr slideshow here or if it doesn't work on your phone/tablet then please click on the link below)


Watch the slideshow and/or click on the link here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/113459200@N03/sets/72157649815526320/

 



Created with flickr slideshow.

Thank you for reading and taking the time to look. Please do leave a comment below and/or email me at natalieparsley@yahoo.co.uk 

 

Where does that leave me now?...

 

Do you really need to ask? I do still have an A5 sketchbook waiting to be filled... so  of course I am going to do something similar again!!

 

Only this time I'm going to do one drawing a week, 52 in total and make them bigger more considered and worked. Allow myself more time to think and revise what I'm doing. I can't promise it will be any looser, experimental, safer, riskier, weirder or more wonderful than the last, but we'll just have to wait and see.

 



New Year’s Resolution – Is this the end?

Happy New Year!

 

My 2013 New Year’s resolution was as follows, ‘One diary, one drawing, every day for one year.’

 

 See blog posts:

http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/new-years-resolution.html

http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/new-years-resolution-half-way-point.html

 

 I’m pleased to say that I succeeded in creating 365 drawings inside a small A7 Moleskin diary.

Hooray! The following is a list of the stuff I’ve drawn:

 

snowman, beer glass, newt, chameleon, bumble bee, frog on nut, Dali clock, dragonfly, portrait of weird looking man, ear, stork scissors, zombie, netsuke, seated Buddha from Gandhara, clay skull, coal tit, telegraph pole, netsuke nut, biro pen, dormouse, ladder, predator, dark bush cricket,  row boat, bowling pin, Mona Lisa on toast, paraffin lantern, wood pigeon, cross-section of chest, typewriter, seahorse, sheep, steak, old telephone, sailing boat hotel Dubai, lobster, ball of string, tawny owl, amber spyglass, platypus, trumpet, pig, converse trainer, silver articulated fish, Inca gold lama, flying bird, walrus, grenade, cross-section of pepper, crab, egg in frying pan, light bulb, Don McCullin’s Nikon camera, tree frog, sundae, strawberry, pumpkin, gas mask, petrol can, lion, guitar, chicken, film camera, hippo, Native American mask, raven, bucket, moose, peas, key, telephone, Maya Mare God statue, raspberry, revolver, prawn, peg, flame, radiator, pinwheel, hat, lettuce, accordion, fan, Sangrada Familia, Joan Miro sculpture 1, Joan Miro sculpture 2, Cat statue, La Pedera 1, La Pedera 2, anchor, pipe, dart, electric fan, tortoise, high heel shoe, poplar leaf beetle, kestrel, ray gun, vacuum cleaner, ear of wheat, shark, wood plane, hypodermic needle, seagull, unicycle, Roy Lichtenstein Desk Calendar, copper kettle, telephone box, red lipstick, snorkelling gear, pneumatic drill, fish, hour glass, knight chess piece, penny farthing, oil can, natterjack toad, roller skate, chainsaw, ice skate, fire hydrant, zeppelin, spray paint, Van Gogh Skeleton, jelly, tin robot, arrow, cuckoo catfish, iron, budgie, pickaxe, flintlock pistol, rubber duck, JCB, spinning top, lighthouse, puffin, scarecrow, lighthouse lamp, gargoyle, wooden bird, fire extinguisher, padlock, gramophone, fox skull, mushroom, flamingo, hydraulic clamp, sarcophagus, saw, hand whisk, acorn, Georges Melies’ moon,  cassette tape, kangaroo, diamond, T-Rex, squirrel, black spotted woodpecker, wren, penguin, closed umbrella, wooden chair, folded shirt, Somerfest beast, formula one car, pheasant, electric iron, rhino, hairdryer, fox, bowler hat, pelican, blue whale, leak, ostrich, scorpion, watering can, badger, roadrunner, suitcase, blender, meerkat, Dettol, old-fashioned can opener, Friesian cow, hamburger, palm tree, window/shutters, rose, circus tent, giraffe, sunglasses, merry-go-round horse, parrot, rabbit in top hat, killer whale, catcher’s mitt, camel, bicycle, jelly baby, bat, baseball bat, vulture, ocean liner, space shuttle, hot air balloon, crocodile, stag beetle, Texan boot, polar bear, sailing boat, cat, armchair, seal, axe, sausage dog, hot dog, tennis racquet, rat, bottle of poison, wolf, baboon, duck, fountain pen, sword, false teeth, toucan, snail, scales, captain’s ship wheel, double Decker bus, oil lamp, Big Ben, sleigh, panda, quill and ink, catapult, Japanese cuttlefish hoe, mini, ladybird, push lawnmower, tap, desk lamp, electric drill, steam train, toilet, medieval helmet, squid, kingfisher, elephant, hare, swordfish, mammoth, piranha, raccoon, biplane, Easter Island head, astronaut, Henry Moore’s ‘Reclining Figure’, ant, paint pot and brushes, chimpanzee, binoculars, apple tree, beaver, peanut, wheelbarrow, kite, jade bear, apple core, shopping trolley, crane, anteater, microscope, stegosaurus, box camera, sushi, open umbrella, bison, corn, kiwi bird, prickly pear cactus, cactus, talon, poppy seed head, stingray, antelope, pomegranate, secretary bird, plug, Terry Adkins ‘Omohundro’, violin, armadillo, dice, skunk, butternut squash, staircase, hand of bananas, bears, broom, rooster, spinning wheel, wash bucket, snowy, wooden musical frog, candelabra, car tyre, bagpipes, tiger, egg and egg cup, plastic soldier, scissors, deer, tank, cockroach, strange tool, Saint Bernard, peacock, swan, Venetian mask,  pinecone, gondola, French horn, Scala Del Bovolo, sea shell, alarm clock, radio, electric guitar, poodle, praying mantis, bra, vine of tomatoes, blue jay, traffic cone, sperm whale, watermelon, picnic table, propeller, stag, chipmunk, tape measure, goggles, horseshoe crab, goat, life raft, old boot, jellyfish, singer sewing machine, dove, potato, barn owl, cheese grater, ballet shoes, dustbin, reindeer, partridge, Scottish terrier, drum, ammonite fossil, golf ball, king chess piece, wooden mouse

 

 

Apologies, at the risk of coming across a bit smug, I have to honestly say at the start of January 2013 I didn’t think I was going to realistically find the time or willpower to draw everyday for a whole year, and what started off as a ‘task for the sake of task’ became something I look forwarded to if not a bit of an obsession. Minus a few exceptions (due to illness and holidays for example, I was too scared to take it to Venice; there’s water everywhere for crying out loud!) I sometimes had to catch up with doing two or three drawings in one day to compensate, however most of the time I would dedicate around thirty minutes/an hour to draw and found it became an almost meditative discipline of stopping, sitting down, most of the time at my bed (it’s also a desk), attempting to put to one-side the thoughts/frustrations/delights of the day (ha ha, most of the time frustrations!), intensely looking at something to draw and all the challenges and difficulties it sometimes created. There were times when it wasn’t possible to concentrate, I wasn’t in the mood, I was tired (finding the time some days was a challenge in itself meaning I’d often be drawing late at night or early morning) or the thing I was attempting to draw was perhaps too difficult often sparking questions of, ‘Why am I doing this to myself?’ ‘What sort of person comes home after a stressful day at work to cook dinner, wash and draw a picnic table?!’ In a year that has been depressingly lack-lustre in the way of my own art experiences, this tiny little Moleskin was the only thing that kept me focused, hopeful and somehow retaining my ‘involvement’ in art even if I wasn’t ‘exhibiting’ or showing it anywhere. Of course I’d seen loads, heaps of art in 2013 but still yearn to create things myself. Admittedly there was some slight motivation from the thought of being able to ‘share’ some of this experience with people here on the blog (more on that at the end). I had never previously questioned how astonishingly important ‘art’ is in my life until I tried to live with its absence in the latter of 2012. I think I find it truly impossible to exist without having something creative on-the-go or at the forefront of my thoughts in the way of a blog, a drawing, a project.

I’d recommend it as a form of self-help or therapy! Ha ha, although appreciate I may not be entirely the most convincing person there! Aside from my own personal thoughts on how incredibly joyous it has been as a whole experience there’s also plenty to learn from it too, both personally and technically. Such as, how I draw, what I draw and how/or not my drawing has evolved over the course of the year.

Although... you know... all of that would only be relevant and worth reflecting on if, I don’t know... if say, that I enjoyed the last year so much and found it so useful that I was going to repeat the project for 2014 but with a bigger sketch book, different materials and more weird and wonderfulness than ever before...

 

Challenge accepted!

 

 

Woo-hoo! So what are the changes for 2014 as part of the ‘sketch a day’ challenge?

 

1) Bigger sketchbook

What did you get for Christmas? I received bigger sketchbooks (amongst other things)! I think it was hint to work bigger... I’m also going to do one sketch per page instead of double-siding my drawings as done previously.

 

2) New Drawing Materials

The very same sketchbook instigators also gave me inks, pens and brushes! No more excuses to work only in monochrome, it’s not going to be easy! Time to start experimenting using a bit more colour methinks and being a lot looser in my painting/drawing style. This will be a personal challenge but one worth doing as I kept my drawing style in 2013 incredibly tight as there wasn’t a lot of space per page for anything too expressive.

 

3) Altered mind-set on ‘what to draw’ and review on ‘how to draw it’

This will probably be the most difficult of all the new changes. Much debate and many questions were raised from the things I decided to draw in 2013, to which my rationale and answer is still the same in that, I would choose to draw things which I ‘felt’ like drawing or had never drawn before and felt somewhat, perhaps inexplicably compelled to capturing on paper because of the shape, form, texture of ‘said thing’ I was drawing. There’s a whole world of infinitely wonderful things out there to draw and at last I was liberated to draw whatever I chose without having to justify or explain myself. I think I was searching for what visually or aesthetically appeals to me personally. Sometimes one drawing would lead to an associative link to another thing to draw, i.e. pen drawing followed by sword drawing. Other times it may appear completely random and I am all-too-aware of what it all could unconsciously signify and have best avoided interpretation at the peril of my sanity. I’m pretty adamant that the things I enjoy drawing the most are things with a very distinct form, things with a very clear or solid line/edge to them such as inanimate man-made objects, buildings and occasionally, natural forms that are very structural such as pinecones. Softer, less defined more ephemeral things such as egg yolks, transparent fabric, delicate, fury or hairy things remain something of a bother to draw, in the sense I don’t particularly enjoy it and they often don’t look ‘as well drawn’ in my opinion. Intent, here is important, as one could say, what am I trying to achieve in my drawing? Am I trying for realism? Self expression? What exactly is it I am trying to do and if it isn’t realism then does it matter if the egg doesn’t ‘look’ like an egg? There are some examples within my drawings of animals such as birds and rodents (which fit into the feathered, soft and hairy category of not being enjoyable to draw) which have turned out to be quite well observed and sensitive. Does this mean they are good drawings? And, is this more important than drawing to fulfil or communicate my own personal need to draw for the sake of self expression. Ahhhhh!

I offer, what is hopefully an elegant solution. This year, I aim to draw more freely, more sketchily and loosely so that my drawings become more expressive and are therefore more representative of how I feel in response to what I am drawing than a mere illustration of it. When possible I aim to draw more from ‘life’ or from my imagination (woah, could be disturbing!) taking inspiration from events, places, things and or books. Whilst in Venice I saw the sketchbook drawings of artist, Jose Antonio Suarez Londono who drew a page-a-day based on the written diary of Franz Kafka. The resulting drawings were imaginative, elegant, in some cases surreal but above-all incredibly poignant and with a meaning and relevance that my drawings were some-what lacking. I’m hoping that by referring to text, quotes from the surplus of books I read I can use them as a source of inspiration for creating drawings/images. Occasionally I may retreat back to familiar, comforting ways of working but even in that familiarity I believe there is still room for me to improve.

  Anyway, I appreciate this may all be beginning to become incredibly self-reflective and boring for any of you reading this so I’ll end it there.  I needed to have this conversation with the internal monologue inside my head so as to reflect and prepare myself for the exciting new challenge I’ve set myself for 2014. Thanks for following its progress with me.

You will be able to pass your own critique, take delight or perhaps be thoroughly disturbed by my drawings as I will be creating a sort-of PowerPoint animation of them all to post here on the blog in the imminent future.

 

Points of Interest 1#

When I created this blog I did so with the intention that it would have several functions; to act as a webpage where people could view my current and previous work as well as my CV, a platform from which to reflect and write critically on arts exhibitions, events and books and also become an online sketchbook in which I could collate images of other artists work as well as text/quotes from other inspirational sources. This post is the latter and is hopefully the first of many more snippets of things which are interesting and may be influencing my practice.

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I discovered the piece, 'Tools' by Mao Tongqiang in a sculpture magazine that  eventually found its way into the art office about three months later than it should have. Still, luckily for me, this meant I came across it just recently.

"Tools" (Gong Ju) by Mao Tongqiang consists of over 30,000 pieces used sickles and axes (and hammers) that the artist has collected across China in over two years. In terms of the context of the work, the most fundamental nature of these sickles and axes is working tools, the symbol of the farming civilization that had been dominant over thousands of years. If we look at these tools from a historical or sociological perspective, they were also the most primitive weapons in countless peasant revolts that marked the changes of dynasties in feudal China. In the modern history of Comintern (Communist International in Soviet Union) and the Communist Party of China, sickle represented peasants and axe (and hammers) workers. It’s the union of the two groups that led China into victory in the Communist Revolution in the 1940s, who also constituted the fundamental force of Socialist Construction afterwards. So it’s not surprising that the flag of the Communist Party adopted a pattern of sickle and axe, which illustrates the symbol’s significance and value."

Initially I was drawn in by the obvious connection in similarity of subject matter, 'Tongqiang uses tools, I use tools.' Both of us completely different in our approaches and how we actually use/then present the tools which is also exactly why I'm interested in his work. I've never attempted to use tools as an installation/scultptural element before and equally I have never looked at the political connotations that my selection of tools may have (particularly hammers, which have quite significant associations with 'law/order', buying/selling, Communism). Similarly, ideas around repetition, layering and how the work is poignant to its context (of the country/as well as the architecture of the room its in) are also food for thought. Formalistically speaking I also get quite excited by the shapes and consistent and subtle tonal palette of browns. All of which gets me thinking about how I might approach new ideas to forming work. Ie. Maybe layering, selecting tools that have paritcular significance/association to an idea/site.

The work, 'Tools' was recently exhibited in an exhibition, 'Real Life Stories' (In Bergen, Norway) featuring a collection of artists, selected and curated by Ai Weiwei. That in itself is also quite revealing, as I thought of Weiwei when I saw the image below, as it reminded me of his piece in the Tate Modern, 'Sunflower seeds'. There is a pattern emerging it seems with Chinese artists making work that is comprised of thousands of individual components (be it seeds or tools) that are viewed both individually and as a mass at the same time. I am thinking that this is a referent to the ever increasing population of China and that, whilst each (seed/tool) is different in the eyes of a communist, political regime it is really only about the majority and 'might' of the greater whole. Similarly the association of tools with labour/work and the way in which labour (in the form of craft) also played a significant part in the making of Weiwei's sunflower seeds is indicative of the work ethic and striving for development and prosperity that is particularly present in Chinese culture.

 On a slightly different note, I am also becoming increasingly interested in artist curators, as revealed here in Weiwei's selection of artists for the exhibition, 'Real Life Stories'; the kinds of work they choose are often refelctive or similar of their own artistic practice as they are united by a concept, visual language or ideal. It seems that you can be quite creative with the message you are communicating and how works are brought together/interpreted with curating as much, if not more so, than you can actually making art. NOTE TO SELF: Find out more about this... 

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* Image from :http://www.adamsongallery.org/limited-editions/mao-tongqiang/ 

** Image from :http://artnews.org/archivesandwarehouse/?exi=11496