Drawing course, penultimate week

Last week, we did two small drawings - this week and next, we're doing one large drawing - two sheets of paper taped together. The first stage was - using charcoal - to work out our composition, choosing a section of the large, rambling even, still life laid out on the floor.

First attempt, with some adjustments visible

My view of the still life

It wasn't working - rub it out, turn it over
and try again
(sorry about the splodges, it's the "floaters" on the camera sensor)

The easel position gets marked, for repositioning next week

Third attempt at getting the relationships of objects

Teacher helps with marking out the spaces for the box and letter S

Practising - a small version of the S shape

Three hours' work - mostly erasure - with more erasure to come...

This is cheating! But it gives me an objective look - helps with seeing

The diagonal of the mat - which I felt was the element that defined the composition - was throwing me off in the first two attempts, so the third attempt was simply of the objects in relation to each other, with the mat put in afterwards. Next week - finishing that S, enlarging the box, and doing that thing with texture ... textural diffusion ... more open in the front, denser in the back ...

Parting is such sweet sorrow

Two larger pieces, made quite a while ago, have gone to new homes. I'm sad to see them go, but isn't that one of the reasons they were made, in the hope that someone else would like them enough to buy them?

The first, eventually titled "A Rumination of Roses", was made - or rather, started - in Sian Martin's workshop at the first CQ summer school - the year was 2006, and I blogged about it here and here.

 It took another year or so before I finished stitching the background, and then it ended up back in the cupboard. It holds all sorts of good memories for me, and I'm happy to send it out into the world.

The other quilt that sold at the open studio, "Blown Away", was one of my breakthrough pieces, in the sense of working from "an inspiration" in a way that I hadn't done before. It originated in one of the "analyse a painting" challenges on the now-defunct AQL forum (Alternative Quilt List). That was in about 2002; I blogged about the making of this quilt in 2008 (here).

Blown Away is probably one of the most colourful pieces I've made - and it's definitely the work with the smallest pieces! Each leaf is about the size of a fingernail, machine-appliqued onto several sections in a series of layers. Fabrics were chosen for their colours and run the gamut from dyed scrim to metallic silk dupion. Again, it holds happy memories of gathering fabrics, making a small section, realising how it could be developed, making more sections, expanding the colour range, figuring out how to attach the bits and add to the surface -- and of the sense of progress during the making of the piece. From the start there was a kind of certainty that it would become a finished piece - somehow the idea felt right.

Elsewhere at the open studio

Upstairs hallway - photos of gardens and sailing by Tony Wallis

Tony's photos of hieroglyphs and plants behind steamy glass

In the downstairs hall, photos by Mark Tamer

... and a print by Sarah Jarman

More of Mark's photos, including his "foggy weather" series

A roomful of work by Sabi Westoby (sorry about the reflections)

More work by Sabi over the sofa

In the kitchen, a sample of work by everyone,
and browsers of unframed work

The conservatory has a few more surfaces for laying out smaller work

Here's what we said about ourselves:
Sabi Westoby combines paper and textile, paint and stitch, collage and applique, creating works inspired by the natural and man-made worlds. www.sabiwestoby.com
Mark Tamer has a very graphic style, creating simple, stunning photographs that would look great on anyone’s wall. www.marktamer.co.uk
Margaret Cooter paints with fabric and scissors and draws with thread and needles. She also makes sculptural book-objects from various materials. www.margaretcooter.co.uk

Tony Wallis’s photography shows great variety, but his favourite subject is landscape. His experimental style has won him prizes in prestigious competitions. www.tonywallisphotography.com

Open Studio opening

"My room" is upstairs, at the front of the house;
some pieces are in the hallway

The view as you enter; actual studio is on the right

The most recent work - the St Ives memory balls - and some older books

The east wall

The north wall

The west wall

Clay books and "naughty corners" - and tshirts - and a few bits of book art

A table of memory balls - with a chance to wind in your own name

The sewing chest - now supporting books

Small quilts (£35) and "Bon Mots"

"Sew on the Go" and "Binders Keepers"

Recent work and those oh-so-familiar travel bags

The guests arrive ... and (as the sun deigned to shine for a moment) spill into the garden

Intense conversations in the kitchen ...

... and upstairs

Later, a winding party

After the guests have gone, a reflective glass of  wine -
we got it onto the walls, and the people came

Since then, a full day of answering the door, talking about the work, answering questions, being on best behaviour -- and many moments of unexpected interest. All this work is "for" something - something more than the opportunity to make a little money.

The Silent Traveller - Chiang Yee in the British Isles

 'Cows in Derwentwater', 1937, ink on paper,
reproduced in 'The Silent Traveller: A Chinese Artist in Lakeland' (1937)

A video made for a school project by a friend's granddaughter brought Chiang Yee to mind - or rather, it brought to mind a Chinese artist who visited the Lake District in the 1930s and published his drawings, which were very much in the Chinese style - of a very English scene. 

Back briefly to the video, which concerned the work of Australian landscape painter Hans Heysen (1887-1968). He is best known for his depictions of gum trees, capturing them accurately in their context and in the Australian light. Previously, painters had depicted them simply as "trees in the European tradition".

'Going to church in the rain, Wasdale Head', 1937, ink on paper,
reproduced in ‘The Silent Traveller: A Chinese Artist in Lakeland’ (1937)

Travelling artists bring their painting traditions with them - as did Chiang Yee. His best-known book is one of the Silent Traveller series - A Chinese Artist in Lakeland; other volumes include Dublin and Edinburgh. "Silent traveller" because he found that the well-meaning talk of his hosts, pointing out history etc, distracted him from soaking up the scene. That book starts with observations on the universality of man's experience in the environment - yet every individual's way of seeing is unique - though in different parts of the world people are taught to draw/paint in a certain way, which in the oriental tradition includes doing the paintings afterwards, from memory and reflection.

The V&A had an exhibition of some of his work only last year - which I missed! - but there's an article about him in the V&A online journal, including images of his work, some of which are shown here.

 'Umbrellas under Big Ben', Chiang Yee, 1938, ink on paper,
reproduced as plate V in 'The Silent Traveller in London' (1938)

'The castle in the summer haze', Chiang Yee, 1948, ink on paper,
reproduced in 'The Silent Traveller in Edinburgh' (1948)

Fresh landscapes can be seen in deeply-ingrained ways - both seeing and representation are processes of selection and interpretation. In Art and Illusion, comparing "Cows in Derwentwater" with a similar scene painted 100 years before, EH Gombrich raised the question of how much of what we call seeing is conditioned by cultural habits and expectation.

Neighbourhood sensation

Photo is courtesy of my son, who was passing by and joined the crowd that was standing around chatting. The story is that the woman who lived in the house was put in a home, and the house was bought at auction by "some cowboys". They started burning the contents in the brick shed in the back garden - as a result the fire department was called four times, until finally, after paint had been added to the fire to produce black toxic smoke, they told the guys that if they burned any more, they'd come back with the police. So to clear the house, the guys threw the contents - the woman's possessions - into the street, beyond the garden even to the middle of the street, at which point the police came round to tell them to put everything inside the garden.

A talking point for all passers-by, a warning for us all. Could it happen near you?

Poetry Thursday - Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me by Mary Oliver

Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me

Last night
the rain
spoke to me
slowly, saying,
what joy
to come falling
out of the brisk cloud,
to be happy again
in a new way
on the earth!

Mary Oliver (b.1935) has been described as America's best-selling poet. Her poetry is grounded in memories of Ohio and New England, and influenced by Whitman and Thoreau. She is an avid walker and her poetry is filled with imagery from her daily walks near her home in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

I came across the poem - and the photograph - on Steve McCurry's blog, which so well combines words with his images. stevemccurry.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/life-breath-of-half-the-world vividly shows how torrential - and how important - the monsoon rains are to so very many people.

Drawing course, week 7

After a week's break, the drawing session felt as scary - and passed as quickly - as ever.

The task of the day - contrasting drawings, worked on alternately

The view I chose for the "intense" one

The view for the "calm" one - photo taken after starting the drawing.
To get this angle, I had to twist the camera - that should have given me a clue...

Before checking verticals, horizontals and relationships
(using charcoal on both at the moment)

After checking, some things have moved - but not enough
(switching to pencil on the right)

I started adding ink washes on the right - and then the tutor came along
and helped me get the positions right, in both pics

More layers of wash on the right, but not enough time to finish the one on the left

This was definitely a learning experience. Even though the paper was small, it felt rushed to do both drawings, and having a free choice of medium (and being encouraged to emphasise the contrast by choice of medium) was almost too much for me.

Next week, it gets even scarier - we start on a two-week project. Before that, I'll be reviewing what we've worked on so far...