A morning at King's Place

Meeting up with Art in the Park (Islington Art Society) to do some drawing ... but first I had to have a big cup of coffee ... and a long sit&think ...

... time for noticing things, like the colour schemes within the building, reflections, the patterns made by shapes and by the movements of people ...

and for a look around the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize exhibition (till 9 October). All works are online here. The first picture I saw used textile, which was surprising and passed my "why textile" text -

Emily Tull, Fragility #1, 2009; Needle painting

Nearby was this oil pastel, which intrigued me through its conjectural story telling (and passed my "are those words really necessary" test) -

Julia Thompson, Hark the Herald Angel.. Yew Tree Room Series no. 2

Another that gave rise to possible stories - and the use of figures on the jacket linked up nicely with a jacket in the Alexander McQueen exhibition with strategically placed faces from a medieval painting -

Peter Laraze, Self-Portrait as Saint Prince, 2004

A few paintings depicted groups of figures - which is the "self" being portrayed here? The one reflected in the glass covering the picture on the back wall, perhaps?

George Lloyd-Jones, During Canasta, 2015

One of the winners of a purchase prize - a linocut, hurrah -

Paul Bloomer, Self-Portrait in Shetland

Mostly the "just my head" works appealed to me less than the iconographic ones with all their included objects, but this one was painted on an antique linen sheet with known associations -

Liz Rideal, Marie Elisabeth Rideal (1954-)/Marthe Callet (Nee Bailleul,1897-1993), 2015

 My photo of this large conte and ink work loses the wonderful details -

Freya Pocklington, After Frida, 2014

 Finally, out into the air - before the arrival of lunch crowds - to join the other sketchers

 My subject: some of the narrowboats. Medium: water-soluble neopastel -

 Plenty of materials were in use. Most people seem to be painters, doing preparatory work for a "proper" painting -

On the way home, a quick look at "Sculptor's Drawings" at Pangolin Gallery (till 15 August; all works are online here) -

 And the discovery of a farmer's market at King's Cross station forecourt. Brilliant.

The big cheese!

Wonderful breads ... and more

Friday miscellany

The wardrobe doors open to reveal clothes on hangers, then the whole thing folds into a card

Jolly beach umbrellas, part of a Bond Street jewellery display

Exhibition "curated by Tony Cragg" at BlainSouthern -

Matthias Lanfer  manipulates industrial materials using cutting edge processes

Gereon Lepper, Der Apparat fast unbewegt
The fans switch on every 8 minutes, and the wire cage trembles, but nothing else moves

Andreas Schmitten, Basic Distinct
Minimalist forms, colours derived from Pop Art, fluoresent lighting, dull or reflective surfaces

The fabric in Schmitten's work brought up the "why fabric" question - what qualities of cloth make it the right medium to choose. Later the question came up again, or perhaps partly answered itself, in this shrouding of a shop being renovated -

Back at home, the zinnias in my garden continue to delight -

Poetry Thursday - The Right Word by Imtiaz Dharker

(via)

The right word

 

 

Outside the door,
lurking in the shadows,
is a terrorist.

Is that the wrong description?
Outside that door,
taking shelter in the shadows,
is a freedom fighter.

I haven't got this right .
Outside, waiting in the shadows,
is a hostile militant.

Are words no more
than waving, wavering flags?
Outside your door,
watchful in the shadows,
is a guerrilla warrior.

God help me.
Outside, defying every shadow,
stands a martyr.
I saw his face.

No words can help me now.
Just outside the door,
lost in shadows,
is a child who looks like mine.

One word for you.
Outside my door,
his hand too steady,
his eyes too hard
is a boy who looks like your son, too.

I open the door.
Come in, I say.
Come in and eat with us.

The child steps in
and carefully, at my door,
takes off his shoes.

       - Imtiaz Dharker

(via the poet's website)

See the poem being performed at bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0110cs6

For those with access to BBC iplayer, Imtiaz chooses her desert island disks and talks about her life here. She grew up in a Lahori household in Glasgow and now divides her time between India, Wales and London.

"When I start making a line on a piece of paper, I don't know if it will become a drawing or a poem" - see some of her drawings here.

Ceramics, day 1 (of 3)

Three Sundays to indulge in slip-dipping ... as long as I can make enough textile tubes during the week.

Out of nowhere came the idea for a bias tube - would the springyness of the fabric hold up against the weight of the slip? These were ready for the first session, some quite tiny, the largest about 7" high -

Most have metallic thread or fabric stitched on. Another factor to get right is the balance of dark areas against the white of the porcelain.

The "before" photos - once they are fired, I intend to do a "before and after" sequence -

Left, the bias is double-wrapped; right, sewn together to make a simpler tube

Metal threads woven into springy silk

Synthetic organza with machine-sewn tucks

Right, "plastic" metal threads woven into the fabric - the grid is useful for nice neat patterns

Stitching on the wild side - and the threads to hold the tubes during dipping are in place

And now for the "during" photos - the process - should you wish to try this at home.

Dipping - the larger tubes tend to crinkle up around the top -

 Dripping, suspended from sticks -

 and from a tripod made of chopsticks -

 The wire contraption is to hold the top open during dipping and dripping. It sort of worked.

The double layer will be interesting ... will the slip permeate all layers of fabric, or will it form thin sheets that crumble? Until I know, I won't be making more like this -

 The day's dippings, set onto bases (most of them) and resting on molochite for eventual firing -

 These few need to dry out properly before going into the kiln -

The task for the week is to make at least a dozen more of the bias tubes, and some heat-set organza ones. Fingers crossed that the ones in the tray actually do get fired, so that I can see what works and what doesn't, in terms of making more textile tubes for the final session in this (very!) short course. 

(This post is linked to Off the Wall Fridays.)

Drawing Tuesday - African gallery, British Museum

It wasn't my plan to draw all these masquerade head dresses - just one or two, with their shadows. It became a matter of getting a clear sightline.

At this point most of the struggle was over, and it only remained to make a few adjustments and fill in the details.

"The Bijogo [of Guinea-Bissau] divide males into different age-grades, each with masks appropriate to its character. Young boys may dress as calves and fish but older uninitiated youths assume the form of dangerous and uncontrolled beasts such as sharks, wild bulls, and - as here - sawfish. Their dances are exuberant and aggressive and are expressive of their own undomesticated nature."

To fill in a few minutes, blind drawings of other head-dresses -

 Objects that other people were looking at -

... and some of the drawings -

Michelle's sculptural pot, Woyo people, Congo

Janet's terracotta head, Benin

Pat's  colourful carving

Cathy's  wooden figures, Azande people, Sudan