Inside my sketchbook - free to invent

Over the summer I have revisited places that I know really well and I have drawn and redrawn them a number of times. Sometimes this is quite meditative, its usually relaxing, and often provides surprisingly varied results.

 By standing in a different place, or drawing at a different time of the day the place can appear quite different.

Taking a different starting point or looking at the place with a different focus can also lead to an interesting drawing.

I had pondered on this process, and then heard a talk given at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath on Henry Moore. The speaker quoted Moore:

"The vital thing for an artist is to have a subject that allows him to try out all kinds of formal ideas - things that he doesn't yet know about for certain but wants to experiment with ... within the subject that you've done a dozen times before you are free to invent a completely new form or idea."

 

What a wonderful justification, and how true. I can now enjoy going back to certain places time after time knowing that when I am there I am 'free to invent'

Weather beaten track

I've been working on keeping things loose as the scale of the print develops. Working from photographs can impose too much detail, so this print is made by working only from sketches completed on location.

There's something immensely satisfying in seeing a number of prints lined up

 - the magic of multiples 

 

'Weather beaten track' etching 40 x 20cm

 

I made my sketches of this track back in March when the weather was changeable. This section is quite exposed and I got hailed on one day as I sat there, and then caught a snow flurry the next time I drew. It was always late in the day as I took the dog for his afternoon walk and it seemed a bleak place. Hence the blackness of the trees in the distance, the rough bare track and the title of the etching.

Charcoal puddles

When I previously posted about the fascinating puddles that I found in a local lane I decided to rework a similar view to see if I could get closer to my ideal of this place. I also wanted to deal with the foreground more effectively.

 

I was much happier with this reworking, the looser foreground brings the viewer into the image and I feel happier with the contrast of tonal values between foreground and background.

Cropping images makes for interesting results, this brings the focal point to the centre, and visually gives us more background. So should I tear the original down, or use the crop as a starting point for an etching?

New shoots

An update on a man initiated/natural process which has fascinated me -
The 2000 year old coppiced lime tree at Westonbirt Arboretum has begun to show very positive signs of life again. It seemed as though the cutting back of this tree last year was done with an edge of nervousness, but here it is bursting forth with luscious lime green shoots:

 

The tree is now a number of small offshoots from the original trunk, sprouting into what look like shrubs, protected at the moment from the deer that roam the arboretum. Rising amongst these shoots is the land sculpture to celebrate the coppicing.

 

 

 

 

where did I get to?

A philosophical as well as a rhetorical question maybe!

It's been a busy summer including a wedding in the family, a truly fabulous occasion, and we've squeezed in a brilliantly relaxing holiday. Now its back to work time...

...and where did I get to? This week has been about finishing things off and tying loose ends.

'winding steps' etching  9 x 9cm

This mini print was almost finished, just needed the spit bite and here it is, printed, ready for a frame. It's good to back in the print room

Charcoal - fascinating puddles

When the weather was very wet, not so long ago, I took loads of photos and made sketches. I found the shapes and light changes created by the puddles fascinating. Drawing them took some thinking through... but I am now getting happier with some scaled up charcoal versions.

Here's a starting point

Good distance, pleased with the soft trees and hedgerows in the distance, but how much detail to put in the foreground?

 Oh, oh! this is too much, the grass has turned into a heavy block, dragging the image in weird directions.

Puddles, Steps Lane 2 charcoal 70 x 35cm

Much better - balance is restored, I love the flexibility of charcoal, being able to draw it in, and then take it out again.

Ancient lime reborn

Back in December I posted the coppicing of the 2000 year old lime at Westonbirt  (link here)
Since then the coppiced stems have spent a couple of months waiting for environmental sculptor Richard Harris to transform them. The results a couple of months after completion are beautiful. Westonbirt and Harris have created a sublime place; peaceful and contemplatory on the inside, full of vigour and promise on the outside. The branches stretch to the sky, their twigs reaching for the light.

The narrow entrance enhances the feeling of solitude inside the sculpture, and the outside sounds feel closed off.

The signs of new growth are clearly visible on the structure of the sculpture and on the old stumps. It will be beautiful to watch this sculpture grow with its surroundings.