Part 5 Project 1 revisited

I wrote the reflection and decided that I'm not finished with this project so I made some paper scrolls and went back out to a different set of shops with my pens. People didn't hang around so much this time, its no longer bank holiday and the weather was dull and grey.

First a mixed red, blue and white pencil which isn't really bold enough for this exercise.

Then felt tip pens changing colour for each person.

Then switching between a red and black pencil, I didn't spend as long on this one as I was called in to work.

None of the drawings are individually as good as the first session but there is a better sense of the crowd. However they all appear to be present at once so I don't get a feel of passing time. The felt tip pens probably work best because there is a suggestion that maybe the different coloured figures aren't inhabiting the same space at the same time, especially when they overlap.

I wanted to experiment with using colour to suggest the passage of time.

This time I used oil pastel as I was given a set with a good gradation of colours. First using a different coloured pastel for each individual.

Then I drew a row of yellow figures, overlapped them with a row of orange figures then red, purple blue and finally green.

For both of these drawings it was raining so the people didn't hang around for long. The figures are drawn from a mixture of memory and imagination. It was a good exercise for me because I couldn't focus on the individuals or any detail. I concentrated on trying to get a feel of each person. I think that you can tell that I drew the top line first, I've relaxed into the drawing process for the second set of figures and I think that this is the best version yet because the lighter coloured figures look like the ghosts of previous people. Should I have done this in neutral colours? It's a grey day and I'm enjoying the colour but maybe it distracts the viewer?

Following on from this project I went to the Tate Modern and drew the people in the Turbine Hall experiencing Phillipe Parenno's Anywhere. (Sadly still without flying fish)

The earlier sustained practice of drawing moving people has made me more decisive in capturing this small crowd. 

Feedback

The people drawings have a sense of movement and the use of broken line gives a sense of abstraction.
The rainbow effect drawing is less successful because it is predictable but the over-laid coloured figures are better and create a forest of lines and colour.
The animal drawings better than I judged them to be. I felt that they moved less than I would have expected them to and most of the movement was the head. At my tutorial we discussed the way we see figures and how we are programmed to focus on the eyes and mouth, this has been studied in the drawings of young children. My tutor commented that this is a useful tool for composition, exploited by some artists who slightly enlarge the head/eyes when drawing people.
The repetition and the need for rapid mark making encouraged the use of confident lines and gestural drawing. My tutor could see parallels with the continuous line work of Claude Heath. I had studied his work shortly before making these drawings and I suspect that this subconsciously influenced how I approached this project. 

Part 5 - Project 1 - A changing scene

I sat in my car in the car park of some local shops. It's the new years bank holiday so it was quieter than usual but fortunately the bakers was open and attracting a slow but steady flow of customers. I started with a Tombow brush pen.

 Then I changed to a plain felt tip pen.

It took a few drawings to adjust to the different pen. This time I fitted the figures in randomly just trying to get as many as I could on the page.
Finally I used a brush pen, the sort that takes a cartridge of ink. This felt very bold after the other pens. I found that I had to be more precise with my lines.

 It worked a bit better if I drew bigger figures but I think that they lost that feeling of movement.

Straying away from the brief a little there are a few figures that I quite like.

This woman holding her child

The women at top left

The lady in green and the hoodie with the dog

Using photoshop I combined two images. There is an element of passing time where the figures overlap but not as much as I want for this project.

Reviewing the other drawings I think that I was doing better at the start before I got over excited with drawing people. The felt tip pens conveyed the transience of the lines better because I could use them more freely, scribbling lightly or bolder heavy handed marks.
I lost my way towards the right of this drawing.

 but it looses the sense of time passing if I crop it narrower.

I think that this drawing works best.

The different sizes of the people and the fact that they are all heading in different directions help.
Although I enjoyed making this drawing it doesn't seem finished enough to be the final piece and I was too busy capturing people to think about time.

Drawing in my sketchbook I started to think about how many figure models slowly drift as you draw them, it's even worse when you try to draw a sleeping animal which appears to be still but is constantly moving very slowly so you start to feel that you're going slightly mad.
What if, instead of trying to capture a snapshot, I drew exactly what I saw, including the movement in the drawing?

 Like this biro drawing of my dog. 

After a few lines I found that it was easy to get lost between the versions of the drawing. The head may be disproportionally large or maybe, because that was the bit that moved the most, it's just that there are so many different overlaid versions. Apart from the thorax, which was reasonably still, how do I, or the viewer, know if my lines were accurate at the time that they were made?
I repeated the exercise drawing my cat in different coloured Tombow markers to try and keep track of which version I was working on, and to show the development over time.

The markers are becoming dried out which, in the early stages makes them nicely responsive, but now I'm not sure which one is going to work. I don't think that this drawing works as well, the rust coloured lines dominate the drawing.

I did a biro drawing as well which I think works better as all the versions are equally weighted and the viewer can choose which one to see. The cat didn't move much more than his head, although I couldn't really see his feet. I cropped the drawing just to the area of movement.

but I don't think that it makes sense without the body so I prefer the first dog drawing as there are more areas of movement.

Reflection
What were the main challenges in working this way? People came in groups, lots of interesting potential subjects and it was hard to decide who to focus on, then there were gaps when there was no one to draw. I was comfortable and hidden in my car but other cars and street furniture hid some of the action. 

Did you feel comfortable focusing on movement at the expense of a more ‘finished’ effect? 
I thoroughly enjoyed myself but I worry that I turned this into an exercise in self indulgence. The "finished" drawings look more like sketchbook pages which is the sort of art that I like to look at but tutors have commented on the lack of resolution in my work so I don't think that I've made an adequately "finished" piece out of the exercise.

Did you choose the right materials for the job? I am happy working in felt tip and biro. The ink brush pen was challenging and I used it for self development but I didn't feel comfortable using it. I wanted something that wasn't erasable so that it didn't get smudged but I want to think about using several different colours on the same drawing, maybe similar shades which sit well together but highlight the different figures and the timescale.

What would you do differently another time? Find somewhere with a clearer unobstructed view. Work on a longer landscape drawing with figures at the same level. Maybe work from left to right gradually changing the colour? I'm not sure how to get this to work at the moment, dip pens? (messy in a car or public place) coloured pencils?

Assignment 4

Find a place of significance to you to create a site-specific artwork. Responding to features of the site, add a drawn element or select a found drawn element which you’ll extend to express something you find interesting about the site. Relate your art work to your research in your log and synthesise what you’ve learned about installative and environmental art with your own interests. 

Environmental Installations
 - Mostly not in a gallery. Photos to document.
Found Images
 - Visible but not seen. Defined by the environment but may be removed from the environment to inspire paper/canvas based images. Abstract possibilities.
Interactions 
- Made by working with what is already there. Andy Goldsworthy.
Installed
 - Graffiti. Something brought in to interact with what is already there, to change the way that you see what is there.

Louise Bourgeois is sculpture but it is immense so it interacts with the immediate environment.
Emily Kame Kngwarreye translated her world into paintings. Found images removed to paint?

My work for assignment 4:

A place of significance
It's December and it's cold so I'm going to take the easy option and keep close to home for this so I can keep warm. My house is a very significant place to me, and somewhere I know very well. There are several possible options but I started with the fire

 I sprayed one sheet of paper with melted candle wax aiming (not successfully) for flame like shapes.

 For another sheet I heated up the poker and used that to draw flames

 One of the poker marks was like a bird sitting on the stem of a plant.

 Lots of marks with the fire viewed through the paper.

 When I put the hot poker on the wax it ballooned over the paper.

 The marks look like flowers with burnt poker stems.

 I experimented with charcoal marks on the paper to indicate the fireplace but I'm not as keen on this. It's too busy and messy.

 It seemed only appropriate to burn the results.

The burnt paper makes some great shapes

I sponged on some red and yellow gouache 

and added red and yellow ink which makes it a bit brighter.

This is a scan over a black background. I don't think that it works as well. The black is too bold and pulls you into the holes in the page.

This lead me to look for other artists who use fire. I found these intricate patterns made by Donna Ruff. Kate McGwire is a sculptor who uses fire as part of her work such as in this book and this burnt map.
Steve Spazuk uses a mixture of fire and smoke to create very detailed but atmospheric pictures.
Ula Einstein has some fire drawings on paper velum and rice paper.

My next idea was to explore doing something in the area around my back door. It's a shared access way with the house next door and north facing so there's not much clutter. The house was built in 1899 and there are traces of past occupants, the horse shoe on the wall, painted over with modern white textured acrylic which has peeled off in places and been painted over with fresh white leaving islands of texture and seas of smoother wall.
I took some photos and made a montage.

Photography frustrates me so I went out with my sketchbook.

The only thing that I could think of doing was drawing with wool a tree like shape (it's approaching Christmas)

For me, at the moment, this feels like a dead end so I'm moving on.

My other place of significance is the crossroads by my house where they have just installed a bell shaped bollard which looks like it got lost on the way to the docks.

A visual mind map.

The binoculars idea appeals to me the most, the whole big brother, someone is watching you, concept. My idea is to stick a cutout onto the bollard. This will require me to pluck up some courage which I'm not sure that I have but here goes....

There is a lot of information about fly position on the net, I feel a bit like a criminal. I don't want my sticker to stay in place for very long, just enough to, hopefully, make a few people smile and to get some photos for you. It's either wallpaper paste or cornflour glue, both of which will dissolve in the rain. It's only a small piece of paper so it too should rot.

Prototypes....

and a cutout stuck to my plan chest to see if it looks ok. The problem is that the bollard is not a flat surface to stick to but I'm hoping that because the image is small and an irregular shape it will be possible to hold it around the bollard. The other problem is that I don't want to spend lots of time applying it and I only get one chance to maintain the element of surprise which seems integral to the project. The flyposting websites talk of a feeling of adrenaline when the job is done but it's a part of the project which really doesn't appeal to me.

I did a test run on my bin using wallpaper paste.

 It's Christmas Day, not too many people around, it's now or never....

The photos aren't great quality because its getting dark and I was rushing. I need to go out tomorrow when the light is better. In hindsight it's too small, also maybe a bit low on the bollard, its not had time for the glue to dry so back out while it's still quiet....

 My sons preferred the look of it up here.

Better with a hat? I was in such a panic to take the photo that I didn't notice at first that the binoculars were falling off.

 As it's New Year I tried a party hat too. This time I straightened the binoculars before I too the photo.

Reflection
It's too small and the marks aren't bold enough. I simplified the shapes and lines but not enough, a passer by needs to stop and examine it to get the message, most people aren't that observant and don't have enough time, especially at a busy junction. On the plus side, I do feel quite pleased with myself for actually going through with it.

The first piece drawing with the poker was in my view more successful.

The finished piece is, to me, more pleasing but also the methods I used to get there were more experimental. The binoculars is tight little drawing, I didn't learn very much from the execution of the drawing though I think that I gained a lot from the execution of the project.


Reflection on Assignment 4

It has taken me a lot longer than I expected to complete this module and much of that time has been spent thinking and researching because what I have been asked to do is so different from the sort of work that I have done before.

I really enjoyed looking for naturally occurring drawings, I can’t stop, it made me think differently about what a drawing is. Interacting with the environment was a lot harder. It gives you a much greater respect for land artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and Cornelia Konrads. I generally lack confidence in my work and that is exacerbated by trying to create something in public, I don’t like to reveal anything until I have resolved it to my satisfaction, you can’t do that in a public space. It is good to be taken out of my (very small) comfort zone but difficult to allow ideas to develop, the temptation is to play it safe and that doesn’t lead to making an interesting or innovative piece of art.

What I have learnt is that the best ideas are often the simplest. They need to be well executed and clear, ambiguity and vagueness doesn’t work in environmental art, you don’t get very long to attract attention and engage the viewer. The rise in popularity of environmental art may in part be due to its accessibility, both physical (you don’t need to go into a gallery to see it) and academically (many of the ideas can be understood by someone who doesn’t consider themselves to be interested in art)

Because I chose to work in my own home I found Project 3, installation less challenging. I like the final piece with the cut-out mice and I would like to take this idea further, it allows me to engage with a wider audience without risking showing too much of myself, I want my art to speak for itself. I used the same techniques for my final assignment piece. They didn’t work as well as I would have liked because I couldn’t test the cut-outs on the bollard for size and positioning and I didn’t design them simply enough so they are hard to read. Nobody stopped me or challenged me when I was applying the paper to the bollard so I have no excuse for not developing it properly apart from my own cowardice.

I am conflicted between doing planned, controlled, safe work that I like (the cut-outs) and work that is experimental which I don’t always understand. The fire drawing has become something that I am visually pleased with and that grew out of messing around without any clear idea of what I wanted to make. Although it is innovative for me it stops short of having any meaning beyond fire burns paper and controlled fire can make a pretty picture if you add paint. Is it acceptable to retrospectively apply meaning? It could be about cleansing and catharsis, or destruction.