An end to the tale...

A quick bit of important news that I neglected to mention until now. On Tuesday 20th of May 2014 I was one of 86 artists who donated an A5 artwork to be auctioned for Musgrove Park Hospital's, Art for Life, 'Art on the Block' fundraising event.

 

In total, the combined artworks raised £7350!

 

 

My block (pictured here) of 'Herman' the chameleon sold for £80.

 

The money will go towards, 'enhancing the patient environment at Musgrove Park Hospital which might be through workshops with patients, improving a neglected area or an artwork that brings a smile to someone’s face.'

 

Those of you following my blog will also know that in addition to our block, Orchard Shopping Centre donated the pigs myself and Michael Fairfax rescued from rotting to be auctioned at the same event. Full details found here: http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/piggybacking-art-on-block-2014.html.

 

The good news is that instead of being left to rot another day, the pigs made £560. My Pigsaw going for £210 and Michael's Polden Pig going for £340.

 

Thank you to everyone who made a bid and/or bought an art work at the event.

 

A big THANK YOU is also long over due to Marika Sterry Marketing and Events Coordinator of The Orchard Shopping Centre, Tim Martin,  Candice Dean and those who worked at making the project happen in its origins. Thanks as well go to Emma Quick from Art for Life who allowed us to 'Piggy back' onto their event which has ended in the pigs going to good homes and raise money for a fantastic local arts cause!

 

And that, brings an end to our tale.

Drawn Out

The drawing a day project continues and now at my half way point it’s time for the, now customary reflection on how it is progressing (and there’s a lot to say so make yourself comfortable!):

Some days I don’t feel like drawing (hard to believe, for someone that has set themselves a drawing a day challenge for the second year in a row but it’s true). I sit at my desk (ok so it’s actually my bed which I kneel at) and think, ‘What am I going to draw today?’ ‘How am I going to draw it? Should I even bother?’ I may go for a walk or if I don’t have the time I just start drawing, usually the first thing that comes into my head. These things are usually picked from conversations I have had with people or images I have seen during the day but the link is often so dependant on context or personal that I do not expect anyone to know the reference other than me. You see it’s not really what I draw that’s important to me but the need to draw the kind of drawing which involves an intense amount of concentration or thinking that is my concern.

Of course most of the time I first have to search for an image of the thing I’m drawing for reference or when possible draw from life or imagination (although in practice this seems to happen very little) and then after few minutes into starting and my earlier doubts or fatigue gradually disappear and I’m immersed in the focus of what I’m drawing. The intensity of looking, mark making, decision making and working out generated by drawing offers escapism to think and reflect. The conscientiousness comes back towards the end of the drawing and I start analysing whether it looks ‘finished’ or not. This often results in a few minutes spent polishing/or not what I've created.

Why be so representational in my drawing style then? I have always found this the hardest question to answer and have had an ongoing dichotomy between my need to make marks/surfaces, often more associated with the self expression of abstract art; and the symbolic, meaning imbued imagery of representation. I tend to hover between the two and as result am never sure if the representational image is there acting as ‘something to hang the paint on’, a ‘shape in which to draw in’ or whether it is something more subconscious and therefore more meaningful than I pay attention to. Perhaps by staying within the boundaries of creating a representational image I’m keeping a control on what I’m doing with the mark making/act of drawing implying that I want to ‘let go’, so to speak and become lost in the expressiveness of mark making but not loose myself completely, having to control the mark making so that it eventually ‘looks’ like something and remain somewhere within the familiar constraints of reality? Well, that’s a frighteningly honest assessment which goes some way into revealing more about my personality that I hadn't really expected. It makes it difficult to know where to go from here or whether I carry on as I have done and let this journey run its course. It’s certainly proving very useful and developing, albeit very slowly at its own pace so far...

05/05/14 - Inspired after seeing (a friend from my art degree) Lucy's drawing of a goldfish on Facebook.

In my usual search to find answers to these questions I refer to knowledge learnt from books and have recently read ‘Guston in time’ by Ross Feld. The book is an analysis and dialogue through the letters of American painter Philip Guston (an artist whose paintings and unique drawing style I have long admired) and writer Ross Feld revealing new insight into Guston’s working practice.  I found it interesting how Guston spoke of his ‘need’ to paint as though it were a compulsion, almost something non-voluntary and that he saw the act of creating as a ‘getting-rid of’ or purging, the resulting painting being seen to Guston as a sort-of aftermath of these intense thoughts/feelings he expressed through his art,

 ‘That the purpose of creating is to kill it or at least get rid of it -once and for all. Now I truly am fearful of creating -such a dread of it.’  (Guston 2003: 64)

This counterbalances the preconceived idea that creativity is this joyous, celebratory or almost divine experience and highlights that the ‘need to create’  and act of creativity as also being painful  or coming from difficulty, frustration and the more unpleasant sides to a person’s character/experiences. Now, I in no way (thankfully) have similar life experiences to that of Guston, who when very young found his father hung himself and since (Guston) went on to have an incredibly self-destructive relationship with excessive smoking and drinking; but and the reason I included that quote by him here, is because I can relate to the need to create as a kind-of compulsion or obsession –better out than in, sort-of mentality. The thought of not making any art or doing something creative for a considerable length of time is terrifying and actually unimaginable. Even if that creative outlook wasn’t drawing I would have to find something creative to do. Although, again, perhaps like Guston I often wonder if I would be better off without this urge to create/to express oneself as it is often more difficult to do than what it actually helps/solves. Hence the ongoing spiral  and denial of the artist: and need to have to create more and more until you reach an end or find an answer that all the while you’re conscious of not actually wanting to reach that end because you wouldn’t know what to do with yourself once you got there. And we voluntary put ourselves through this?!

I briefly alluded to this same conundrum in my Masters dissertation which touched upon the idea of ‘drawing is a drawing out’ where head, heart and hand come together in the embodied act of drawing based on not just what a person is seeing but their lived experiences, thoughts and feelings that influences how they draw. It’s worth a read, as of course I would say, and if you’re interested there’s a link to read it online at the top of this page titled ‘MA Project Report’. I refer to it as well as it seems that I am still on that thread of enquiry and am interested in returning to it again, with more focus, in the future.

12/04/14 -The post-Rembrandt inspired drawings. Image of ceiling fan seen in a Rauschenberg collage/combine painting that I decided I wanted to draw.

16/01/14 -First drawing painted by mixing tones of green. Had a stigma of using green in paintings since using pre-mixed green on Foundation Diploma. I'm over it now! Honest.

There were quite a few significant changes to the project this year, namely; use of colour, larger sketchbooks, more open-mindedness in what I choose draw/more imaginative. The results so far have been a much more diverse, richer, challenging and interesting set of drawings than those of last year. I think the drawing has ‘improved’ in the sense that they are now more varied in mark-making, shading, tone and in observational detail but in this way they, at the start of the year became much more illustrational and lacking perhaps in personality or trace of hand, by which I mean the sort-of imperfections and handwriting evident of the person who has made the drawing. In ‘Drawing Water’ artist Tania Kovats whose practice uses drawing as a means of exploration, notes ‘Awkwardness in drawing is as interesting as fluency.’ (2014: 11). You heard it here first, I have license to become more awkward than perhaps I already am!

Around March time, after having seen the Rembrandt etchings in Amsterdam the drawings took on a whole new quality where the intensity and variety of mark-making was key in defining form and tone. These drawings had more substance to them and were an improvement in coming out of the flatness of representation I had fallen into. Currently the drawings are in a limbo between the two as I am trying to combine the colour painting  of the flatter illustrational drawings with the mark making learnt from the ‘Rembrandt inspired’ drawings. We’ll see how it pays off!

17/02/14 -As result of conversation with friend regarding the Yellow Long Horned Beetle (Seriously! This is the kind of thing we talk about in the pub.)

With that in mind points to consider now moving forward into the second half of the year:

-          Backgrounds: Why do I tend to always draw objects/animals/plants in space? Left as a drawing on the page. I have begun already exploring on using the whole page instead of just focusing on the subject.

-           Combine colour with mark making: As mentioned above, experiment in combining the more painterly and tonal attributes of using coloured inks with the tighter more intense mark making learnt from the Rembrandt black and white pen drawings.

-          Try some purely painterly, loose drawings with no pen. Or use pencil instead of pen for softer more subtle line quality.

-          Leave some drawings unfinished? Abstract. Continuous line/blind drawing.

How much or little I choose to push myself to fulfil these is up to me. Already the project continues to improve and develop naturally at its own pace and how keen I am or not to push it on more quickly will depend on how daring I feel on a day to day basis. By at least being aware of what needs improving and what is working I can make those decisions more informed.  Tricky stuff this drawing business, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. I’ll leave you with this quote from John Vernon Lord, he’s an illustrator but I think the following quote encapsulates what drawing is pretty succinctly,

‘The challenge of drawing involves fathoming shapes; probing measuring and adjusting; working out comparative proportions; highlighting and shading; emphasising and diminishing; composing; combining intuition and thoughtfulness; fumbling and stumbling; the sorting of marks; the cursing; the rubbing out; the hesitations; the adjustments; the decisions; the hopes and anticipation; the heartache; the overcoming of weakness; the hoping for control; the taking of risks; reacting to unexpected developments that may arise; getting the desired expression and mood; establishing the content; getting to grips with the subject; inventing – and the whole process reaching towards a visual conclusion.’ (2014: 8)

References:

FELD, R. Guston in time: Remembering Philip Guston. (2003) Counterpoint Press: USA.

KOVATS, T. Drawing Water. (2014) Fruitmarket GalleryPublications: Edinburgh.

LORD, J V. Drawn to drawing. (2014) Nobrow: London.

FAB 14

If there was a Fringe Arts Taunton then I guess it’d be called FAT?  Probably just as well that we have FAB instead, Fringe Arts Bath festival of free visual arts, performance and film ran in the city from 24^th May until 8^th June 2014. This was my first visit.

Art everywhere! Just not maybe where you would expect.

A lingering thought in my attitude towards ‘art’ is beginning to take root; I’m becoming less interested in the art on the walls, in the windows and on plinths and pedestals, instead  I’m noticing the places, the stains of human remnants and decay in which all this stuff is being exhibited. To this extent some of the best things I saw in FAB were the empty, unused buildings and spaces that housed the work. Open to the public for the first time it may seem harsh but walking in a former empty shop on New Bond Street where portraits, drawings, photos and canvases were on display as part of the Fab Open felt all too safe and familiar. There was nothing particularly different or challenging, the work was ok but incredibly dull. The winner of which is bizarrely hidden around the corner instead of being on prominent display. Such was the beginning of what seemed some weird curatorial decisions (or lack of) in Bath Fringe.  

The glimmer of hope came when I headed reluctantly at first, downstairs into the basement, away from the ‘acceptability’ of the Fab Open into the ‘Cellar of Curiosity’ where all those deemed ‘unworthy’ of being shown in the prominence of a Bath shop window front are given creative freedom to be exposed in all their, uh, glory. This space could have been curated but instead it looked as if it was left to whatever a group of the artists felt-like which is a shame because it could have been something more thought provoking than the slightly disturbed mess that it was. Still, I enjoyed exploring this dank, dark, dripping, naturally aged, rotting pit of a space infinitely more than any of the art upstairs. The contrast between Bath’s historic yellow stone buildings, the spa and tourist facade compared to the grungy, unseen reality of urban detritus I was facing was nothing short of brilliant. Whilst most of the art, in my opinion, was only slightly better than what you may see at a weak student exhibition, I was glad to see it there none-the-less. If artists hadn’t decided to exhibit and take the ingenuity to use these spaces then people like me would never get to see them and I still see the value in making art and need for expression even if sometimes the results are pretty morose or lacking in quality (I include my own successes and failures in this sentiment).

In the Cellar of Curiosities on New Bond Street where the cellar itself was the curiosity.

The Octagon. Stunning venue as part of Fringe Arts Bath.  

FAB8 at Octagon had some interesting work in it but felt loosely connected in the way of any theme. It is a fantastic space and I have seen it used for some great exhibitions, namely 'Wunderkammer' from the Bo Lee Gallery in 2011

 http://somersetartworksblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/curiouser-and-curiouser.htmler-and-curiouser.html

On the whole Bath Fringe wasn’t good or bad, some of the work was interesting but let-down, I feel by a lack of continuity in how the work was presented within venues and between venues. 'Research Matters', an exhibition of performance writing in FAB1 and 'Building Volumes' at Bath Artists Studios being more organised in having the same labels and context for everyone’s work. In a festival of many small exhibitions, 'Photo< >Paint' explored the links between the practices of painting and photography working well as an overall show. However, there were more opportunities that I noticed where it felt work was ‘plonked’ in any available space instead of being placed with reason/intention that left me drawn-to and feeling more pernickety about the quality of work and its presentation than normal. I am critical because I think it matters and am conscious that it remains difficult for a lot of art to be taken seriously and, in turn valued.  I do not think we do ourselves any favours by being complacent in how we present it be it at student level or professional.

 I was left unsure of the identity of the FAB. On one hand it seems to be in favour of being a bit grungy, anti-establishment and celebration of amateur or emerging art whereas on the other it seems like its trying to be an alternative showcase of contemporary art/artists in Bath and the South West? Either way it could be 'sharper', if I was an emerging curator or artist I would want to raise the bar higher and FAB had too many unfilled holes (conceptually as well as literally) or filled holes left unpainted, foam board cut sloppily and work hung/placed seemingly chaotically at times or in need of editing. The design and publicity is good, but the branding and identity of FAB venues is at times wooly and not helped by what, in my view was a really confusing website and street map. Regardless of the quality of the work itself it deserves to be presented properly and can sometimes make all the difference to how that work is seen.  Liverpool Biennial achieves this balance well, between having exciting abandoned spaces met with careful presentation and use of these spaces. Every piece seems it is placed intentionally in that space whether it’s in a white walled gallery or an old sorting-office shoot. Arguably they probably get more money than FAB do in employing help to make this possible, but equally have seen many volunteer led local exhibitions consistently deliver top-quality.

Installed piece by Helen Grant as part of 'Shaping Space' in FAB4 New Bond Street
Work which was installed or hung in relation to/in response to its context. Reminded me of Anna Barriball's work (just a thought).

Highlights from FAB 2014: Artist unknown found board upstairs in the FAB1 on Stall Street.  



What did work for me was alldaybreakfast’s ‘Holy Souls’ (pictured below) in the basement of what, I assume was a former shoe shop on Stall Street. This installation was site-specific and worked with the space using it to create an eerie filmic-like stage set in which the participant could explore and create their own narrative. Sound familiar? It felt very reminiscent of Mike Nelson’s ‘Coral Reef’ (which is the second time I’ve mentioned it on this blog in the last two weeks) where the viewer is disorientated and left to explore a labyrinth of uninhabited rooms. The narrative implied by the objects and lighting left in each of the spaces. In the case of ‘Holy Souls’ we move from a plastic lined waiting room, ala David Lynch into a sort of film noir office complete with lamp and typewriter. The mystery thickens....we follow clues, fragments room to room in what was an immersive and atmospheric experience.

Similarly, Resonance in FAB1 on Stall Street saw artists respond to the underground space of Bath, it's subterranean sounds and darkness to interesting affect. I am not implying that everything which is site-specific is more successful or interesting but it is dangerous to ignore the environment you're exhibiting in all together. Amongst these there were plenty of great ideas too, 'The Charity Shop Appreciation Society' by Rosemary Ashton and Peter Lloyd is sort of fun, sad and kitsch at the same time doing what it says on the tin, rehoming unwanted charity shop art, each piece for under a fiver http://charityshopart.com/. With more humour and a sense of innovative thinking in  Lee Neil's 'The Beards of Bath' a celebration of beards in the form of photographic portraits displayed in shop windows on Walcot street (it does make you spend more time looking in the shop windows there, which is a clever idea for increasing trade).

alldaybreakfast's 'Holy Souls' site specific installation as part of FAB2.

 Perhaps my expectations were too high, I have been harsh in my opinion of Bath Fringe baring in mind this is only covering the Visual arts side of what is also a music/performance based festival. It remains a festival full of good ideas, it's fun and has great potential to grow better. There are a few brilliant things I saw here art wise as I hope I mentioned, photography in 'Nocturne', a drawing machine, some excellent installations and printmaking (particularly at Bath Artists Studios). It is a shame that my overall impression was blighted by the overall feeling of it being a bit bitty, disorganised and lacking polish that drew me to being more excited at my day spent as an urban explorer rather than viewer of art (assuming there's a difference of course!), but I don't think that was what was intended. 

I continue to learn much from seeing art and no doubt will be back for more next year. Of course!

http://www.fringeartsbath.co.uk/

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.