Digging in the Dirt

Yesterday, I got out my old degree portfolio as I had been worried that it had been damaged by a little flood damage in the garage as I had run out of space to keep these previous drawings and prints safely. Inside the portfolio was five sketch books that go back into my early days, the sketch book for Deep Root Down. When I went to Exmoor in my second year at art college. Little did I know that this visit would provide me with the materials for my litho prints in the third year.

These litho print gave me the confidence to use use print making and still I would have liked to have a few more years, if I had made it to postgrad to work further. Also one of my prints got me to win a competition and have the print exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts for the Stowells sponsored show. Little did I know that my involvement would take me.

Digging out these sketch books was in some ways walking over my grave as it was work that had been done some time ago, a long time ago and I could see the faults in it. Yet, within those sketches, I knew there was something that I could take away from it. One of my tutors told me that sometimes you don't need to go from A to B to C, but you can leap ahead and this is how I look at these sketches. I have leaped ahead both mentally as well as artistically. There is the thread that links all of this work up from the future to the present and back to the past.

Seeing all the pictures that I had worked on and there were other sketch books that I had thrown away as there is only so many you can keep over the years. Looking at these pieces, I begin to wonder if I have kept the right ones? Some of these sketches did become proper prints and have survived. The portfolio was not damaged and so I can let it go. Yet deep in side it is still a part of me.

Back to Unkown Seas

I have finished my 'old' sketch book. It has only taken some 3 years to do. Originally began when on holiday in Dorset, next another holiday in Brittany and then continuously, when I was at work, I would try and go out at lunch for a break to find something to draw. Usually, I would be looking for a landscape or a certain tree or shapes to draw.

Each sketch would aim to be about 1/2 hour or shorter. So there could not be any messing around. My original thought was to restrict myself to now using black and just use colour felts to put down it down.

Yet I now find that in working through previous and this latest sketch book that I have begun to change. I went back to using rotring nibs and drawing intricate architectural pictures, something that I would not normally considered. Gradually, people have crept in, but not as good as I would like, possibly down to the speed and use of pens. My preference is for a slow and steady buildup of an image. Going back to buildings is easy as they are static, the colour might change slightly, but essentially it is there.

Another surprise was the discovery of a liking for drawing the horses at the nearby stables. Maybe the idea had been buried for some while living so close and just being close with some spare time. I sat and drew. It was step into the unknown.

This is why when you start a new sketch book is scary. As this is new page literally, I want it to be a perfect, but I know that it is now always going to be true. Earlier in my life, the way I found to get the trap of having to have the perfect notebook was to use loose leaf files, so you could take out what you don't want, but I missed the feel, shape of having a 'solid board case' as it gives you some stability, when working.

The other technique was deciding to paper over the piece I didn't like and give you an new page. It has the benefit that it would create layers of contrasting depth, so you could 'cut' into the paper below by working the paper with an eraser.

When I know that I getting close to finishing a sketch book, I am already on the look out for a new one that I can use. The book itself has to be plain with good paper - a smooth cartridge, usually calendared or with a small layer of coating is used for the felt pens, but I do have some standard uncoated cartridge for pencils and other media. I like to use mixed media, I have to be careful not to use pens that will bleed into the paper or sink through to the image below.

With each sketch book you are hoping that it will be perfect and my just pulling a mark in it. You are committing yourself to new ideas and thoughts waiting out in the unknown to be discovered.

Off the Tracks

I was out walking nearby to where I live and have been determined to finish off my current sketch book as there are only a few empty pages left. Then I will be left with prospect of starting a new sketch book, always a terrifying as it is a blank book and I would like every image to be a knockout; which I know can't happen every time.

In the past, I have now worked away round this situation, but there is still a thrill and a worrying in starting a new book. The picture I wanted to draw is shown above and I had attended to repeat with a drawing tomorrow in the same place or move further along the track. I always think of Sutherland's Entrance to Lane, when I look up a track or a covered road.

As I was drawing, several horse riders passed me as they use the track. It is safer than walking on the road with cars passing by. Whilst I looked on, I noticed in the field opposite, a rather gorgeous tawny horse. I had been thinking about getting my daughters to go and draw their horses as it is good practice, besides their interest in horses. Nothing had happened, so with some spare time, I decided to give it a go.

Limiting myself to orange and dark brown pens as this was going to be fast. The lighter colour to give a highlight and then filling in with the brown. I found the drawings exciting as the horse moved slowly, so I was able to do the following sketches.


Then as I sketched I remember Henry Moore's Sheep Sketch book and use a similar technique to draw the anatomy of this horse. Moore used a biro bic pen and this is where my use of this cheap throwaway pen without a top. That gives a lovely black line with just the right thickness. Now I am interested in doing some more sketches and will be consulting with Stubbs and Degas for ideas. Might mean a trip up to Epsom race track on a racing day.

Awakening the Seed 1.0

Second image being worked on in Artrage, just to see what would happen. Neither good or bad, but I am finding how to use the layers and then various types of pencils, chalks and pens. The sky is OK, but originally I was thinking of just drawing in pencil and a very dark colour to see how I would cope. I found the shift of colour awkward , but now realise that the tint/shade should be moved by the colour wheel.

Grandville

Grandville is the latest graphic novel by Bryan Talbot. An anamorphic steam punk graphic novel, looking like a grittier Rupert the Bear with a twist of Tarantino. What interested me was the way how youtube has been used to create its own trailer. Reminded me of the early TV animation of Noggin the Nog or Jackanory by focusing on a part of an image and then changing the camera angles.

It is cross-fertilising of media, also Marvel comics are using a similar technique called Digi-comics for new tales of Spidewoman. Is this a new media being created due to technology being available and accessible to all?

Up, Up and Away

I have recently discovered that my postcard for A Book About Death has been acquired for the collection of the Museum Of Modern Art in New York. A copy of the book is being exhibited at another show by the Mobius Group.

I am staggered how this exhibition has developed a life of its own. From just following a little link on the blogging links, I have achieved something that I never would of dreamed of. It has given me heart in making my own work. As I work in some thing of a vacuum on my own, in my room working and sending messages out into unknown seas.

It has made me very happy in getting my work seen, but using some of the skills that I should be using to keep me in the printing and graphics industry.