Weekend away

Goodbye London

Passing Painswick churchyard

In a Painswick Garden

House hunting -

Walking near Stroud -

 Some lovely gardens in or near Cheltenham -

 Cotswold countryside -

Goodbye for now -

Drawing Tuesday - crumpled paper (or fabric)

It's always helpful to do a little "research" on the topic, and fortunately I found a short video which showed a drawing taking shape. I tried to follow that method. In an intense hour, I looked and looked and looked - and shaded, shaded, shaded. Every change in one area needed adjustment across the entire item. I wanted to bring out the highlights and the areas of reflected light and make the drawing bold, but always felt it was already too bold!

Done - on a sketchbook page crinkled by a watercolour on the other side

An earlier version

I was sitting near a window as the sun sometimes went behind clouds. As the light changed, different types of shadow came and went, giving yet more aspects to pay attention to.

From Jackie - This was absorbing  and challenging especially since the paper kept blowing about on the garden table

From Sue B - my 2 hour sketch of crumpled paper using HB and 4B…a good exercise for really looking at shadows and angles!

From Judith - Yesterday painted the fabric then wondered about paper and squares. Not sure if it makes the drawing easier or not!

From Sue S -  my study of a crumpled napkin. Those stripes gave me quite a challenge! Perhaps a plain white would’ve been easier!! 

From  Carol - Much respect to those of you who have included text and pattern in your crumpled fabric/paper – I was not so brave but enjoyed the folds.

From Richard - Only found time for one quick pencil sketch today. So lucky that my sketches look better when photographed!

From Janet B - After my first two crumpled pieces kept moving in the wind and eventually blew away, I resorted to a pencil case paperweight. 

From Joyce -  I really enjoyed getting absorbed in such a simple(?) subject, nothing else to distract.

From Janet K - From the archives. A still life exercise at Morley College. Ah, the days when we went to painting and drawing classes.

From Hazel - Here's my drawing of crumpled paper using biro and watercolour. Some beautiful, reflected shadows and light. Very hard to capture the subtlety of it. Enjoyed trying though! 

From Ann - Crumpled fabric over a chair from a few weeks ago. An enjoyable theme!

From Gill - Made a study with a graphite stick then another with ink and a brush (after I finished eating the sponge fingers from this packaging)

Drawing Tuesday - collage

I got bogged down in the research for this topic - instagram is full of collage images! Also I started looking analytically at the collages I'd made in the past, distant and recent - what would I do differently now, why does this particular one and not that other one get my attention, what's the problem with the composition in this one or the colour in that one, etc etc. 

And then "something came up" on the Tuesday, so I'll post a few of the old items I examined, just for the record.

Page from a book that hasn't been sewn, 2015

Typography (and tracings)

My favourites from a daily-postcard project during a time of long hours at work, in the 2000s; doing a little art every morning kept me sane

Some of the other fabric collages - not brilliant, but it's all about process

Instant photocollage, moving scraps around on my work surface

A favourite, cut through the pages of a magazine, 2012 maybe

From Carol -  these I did on a camping holiday using things around from the heathland – it was always a pleasure to slow down and appreciate the nature around.

From Najlaa -  here is my yellow collage.

From Janet K - a collage from some time ago. Happy memories of the cottage we rent every few years on Lake Mississippi in Ontario

From Joyce - Collage reminds me of Lee Krasner’s exhibition last year at the Barbican. I looked at the photos I had taken and some reminded me of the forest of Sunflowers we have in the garden that my husband planted from seed, they’re taking over! So I made a few sketches and then created this from various papers and card I have collected over the years

From Sue M -   works in progress

From Sylvia - three little collages from today

From Mags -   I had constructed textured backgrounds for painting from torn pages of 'Metro' with white acrylic over the top ( https://magsramsay.blogspot.com/2017/11/contemporary-painting-studio-week-7.html).
I still have some of the prepared surfaces so when I was invited to submit a map for LivingMaps project ' Dreaming a Post-Covid World' (https://www.livingmaps.org/mapping-the-pandemic) I used one of these with with collaged and deconstructed photos of my bike , altered in Photoshop

From Hazel - my collage is made from photocopies of my drawings - old and new. I enjoyed using torn edges against cut edges to make my image.

From Sue S - here’s my collage of colourful trimmings after a rustle in my coloured papers. Might work it into a formal piece . . .

From Judith - Some figures from life drawings and then a portrait. I have in the past wondered about trying a portrait using newspaper. Never again! I wanted someone very recognisable so apologies for that!

From Janet B - What’s with the teapot? No don’t even try to answer.