1:2 Some Sketchbook Images

Having chosen my personal theme, I wanted to get straight into making some sketches as this aspect of the course probably causes me the most anxiety.  Whilst I can draw, I have always hated sketching in public and have a problem drawing in a sketchbook.  Rather than let this become a barrier to starting the course I have decided not to worry about a bound sketchbook and instead take with me pages from various paper pads held by bulldog clips on a wooden drawing board.    

To start me off I completed some simple pencil drawings of shells I have at home.  The shells were picked up during a recent walk at Folkestone and I particularly liked the broken nature of the shells with the holes and rough edges. 

The next weekend I went down to St Margaret's Bay; the sun was out and it was low tide so the rock pools were exposed.  I sat on a bench by the seafront and made a sketch of the cliff edges.  The vegetation here comes right up to the cliff edge and small outbuildings sit on lawns.  At the base of the cliffs rock falls can be seen from the erosion of the cliff face by the sea. 

Over at the rock pools the wind and sun were making fascinating patterns on the surface of the pools.  The surface was flat near the sheltered part of the pool and then mini oval wave patterns were catching the light from the sun.  In the pool the colours were mainly different shades of green from the algae and seaweed but in this particular pool there was a line of vivid blue being reflected and patches of orange and yellow.  I made the pencil sketch below as I had not brought any coloured pencils with me.    

The colours and patterns made by the reflected light and waves played on my mind when I got home so I decided to develop my sketch and produce some coloured images.  For the first drawing I used pastels on a green ground.  Whilst this caught some of the colours and pattens, it did not show the translucent nature of the pools or give an impression of depth. 

I then tried using acrylic inks.  I liked this result better, as it is brighter and gives the impression of the water and reflected light.   

I decided to try to take forward my rock pool images by stylising the shapes more and emphasising the reflective depths of the pools.  I therefore tried cutting quite bold shapes out of coloured tissue paper and sticking it to cellophane to give a shimmering effect.  The photographs did not bring out the boldness of the colours as I tried to catch both the tissue paper and the cellophane.  A happy accident in this picture is the texture created by the drying glue on the tissue and the effect it gives of the wind blowing across the pool.   

I then created another picture, introduced more colour and struck down a thread which had been soaked in a PVA glue/water mix to bring out the water pattern from the original sketch. 

During my next visit to the coast to overcome a creative block, I decided to look at the buildings and pier.  I therefore visited Eastbourne, which has real childhood memories for me of days spent going onto the pier and walking up and down the esplanade.  As a child this was our special place to visit as it was a bit further from home and therefore involved a longer car journey.  We were lucky to have good weather on the day we visited and this is a pencil sketch of the camera obscura building. 

When I got home I went over the sketch with black ink, as I think it really brings out the architectural details of the railings etc. 

I then added some pencil shading to add form.

Until this visit to Eastbourne I had forgot how long and wide the esplanade was and how the buildings at the seaside front were quite grand whilst those on the side streets quite modest.  I had taken some photographs of the buildings and an idea began to form to produce a drawing of a street plan with the building laying horizontial and the perspective wrong.  My initial drawing and the details are below:

   

As I go through the next few weeks I will develop these into a drawing and post the result.

Exhibition: Whitchuch Silk Mill & American Museum

I visited the Whitchurch Silk Mill today.  The mill is the last working silk weaving mill in the UK.  Whilst quite small, it does show the various stages of silk weaving from taking the dyed hanks of silk and winding onto bobbins; then preparing the warp of the fabric from the various colours; before finally weaving the fabric weft on a traditional loom.  The amazing range of vivid silk colours were on show together with examples of the various silk fabrics –
taffetas, twills, organzas, satins, etc.
An exhibition of work by Anna Nowicki was also on show when I visited.  Seven fairy costumes inspired by a MidSummer Nights' Dream were displayed and you could see all the various fabric treatments and surface embellishments.  This included recycled shirts, garden wire covered in stitches, rusted cotton and blue silk, torn t-shirts and hand-dyed cottons.  Downstairs was a small display of Muse wall hangings, which had an appliqued quilt-style surface.
I also visited the American Museum in Bath.  This museum houses a wide range of decorative and folk art including native beadwork and quilts.  You can get quite close to most of the exhibits and see the way most of the pieces are constructed.   I found the log cabin and Amish quilts particularly interesting.  At various points throughout the house the different periods of American home interiors are displayed including the furniture and textiles.  There are a large number of domestic pieces on display such as tablecloths, bed linen, bedspreads and samplers.  The mill and museum are well worth a visit.

1:1 Initial Thoughts

As Coast was going to be my personal research theme, I began by putting down in a spidergram all my initial thoughts and ideas in association with this theme. 

As well as recording some of the obvious ideas generated by my theme Coast, it also helped trigger new and link together different ideas.  As I work through this part of the course I will refer back to the spidergram to look at diiferent themes within the over subject of the coast and hopefully it will help me overcome any creative blocks.   

Exhibition: Tracey Emin

I went to the Tracey Emin exhibition 'She lay down deep beneath the sea' at the Turner Contemporary in Margate today.  This exhibition shows a large range of expressive and free drawings, mainly featuring the reclining female nude.  Most  of the drawings are in blue gouache, which somehow give the drawings a lighter touch and feel.  The truly amazing feature of the drawings are the way lines which trail off in space and do not complete the outline still define the form of the nude.  

The exhibition also has a number of translations of the drawings in embroidery.  Blue satin stitch of various widths on a calico background define the strength of the line in the original drawings.  In some of the embroideries four sheets of calico are joined with blue and red running stitch, giving the images a cross symbol which resemble a flag.  Also included in the exhibition are four tapestries including Rose Virgin, which was my favourite piece.  All four tapestries had a watercolour feel and the originals were painted using quite a muted palette.   

Erotic images by Turner and Rodin are also included in the exhibition and this made me realise how certain subjects in art continually revolve.  

I really enjoyed this exhibition - the seemly quick, sensual, expressive drawings and the realisation on how a direct translation of a drawing into another medium can add another dimension to the image.  The exhibition runs until 23 September and is well worth a visit, detail can be found on www.turnercontemporary.org

1:1 My Personal Research Theme

The first decision I need to make on the course is the subject of my Personal Research Theme.  I have been thinking about this for a few days and ended up making a long list of possible themes.  Of course, what this ended up creating was more confusion and indecision.  I have gone from themes such as nature, animals, urban landscapes, through themes based on design movements, such as art nouveau and ended on more emotional themes, such as loss, isolation, etc. 

Fundamentally I have decided I don't want to pick a theme such as art deco, art nouveau or a particular artist as I feel this would be taking an existing design/art source and just extended it.  Whilst I know this is the basis for a lot of designs, I think I want to go from a primary source.  Whilst the more emotional themes are appealing I also do not want to make things so difficult that I keep hitting a block on sources for my designs.  I have therefore decided to look at a more environmental theme and as I have always had a personal connection to the coast I have decided this will be my personal research theme.  As a child my parents took me to the seaside every weekend (rain or shine), I still visit the coast regularly and even studied the distribution of a crab on the shoreline during the ecology module of my degree. 

I think this theme is also suited to starting off quite broad and then becoming more specific during the research phase.  Things like coastal erosion, pollution, the shoreline, the intertidal zone, people at the seaside, the flora/fauna, waves, etc could all be explored.  It is also ripe for studies in colour, shape, texture, etc. 

Now I have chosen my subject matter, I am really looking forward to get down to work and becoming engrossed in creating designs.