Drawing Tuesday at Tate Britain

 First  impressions on arrival  at Tate Britain yesterday  for ' Drawing Tuesday'  was  of very high levels  of  noise from excited children. They were visiting in groups  to see the Steve McQueen Year 3 Project and take part  in  a range of linked activities. Art works in various galleries had   notes  next to them  to encourage questions   and thought which was great to see.  But  actively encouraging the children to shout and scream   at the top of their voices was overwhelming ,  they could be heard some distance   away, I wish I'd brought earplugs with me !

  Usually  when I visit the  Tate for 'Drawing Tuesday' sessions ,  I either do several  colour  sketches of work that interests me or  more recently,  draw from sculpture.  

 After wandering   for a while around  the ' Walk Through British Art" galleries   concentrating on the 20th Century and contemporary work,   I kept coming back to  this wonderful  wooden sculpture ' Johanaan'  by  Ronald Moody ( interested to see that he too was inspired by work in the British Museum ! ) 

  It was the way he'd  made  use  of the grain of the wood to suggest contours which fascinated  me  and I tried to   capture that using  calligraphy  pens with graphite  over the top  to suggest  the form.

  It reminded me  of some of the drawings of tattooed  figures and masks from the Oceania   exhibition.  After lunch  I came back  and did a larger drawing  of  an ear.

 Some of the paintings  etc that caught my eye : 

 Textile piece by  Alice Channer 

 Deanna Petherbridge 

Vicken Parsons 

 Wilhelmina Barnes- Graham 

 Peter Lanyon 

 Roger Hilton 

Terry Frost 

Ben Nicolson 

Winifred Nicolson 

 Paul Feiler 'Morvah'  

(  looking for an image  of this online  I found the  work below , stunning!) 

Paul Feiler ' Crossed Forms' 

Patrick Heron at Turner Contemporay

Every time I go to Turner Contemporary in Margate I say I should go more often - it's only  half an hour by train from Faversham, it's by the sea , has interesting  free exhibitions and an excellent café. What's not to like! So  I was very happy to join fellow painting friends Hazel , Teddy and Jean  when it was suggested we made a  visit to the Patrick Heron  exhibition for our monthly Thursday meet-up. 

We talked all the way there ( and back) , had a  quick  look round the Cornelia  Parker installation 'Perpetual Canon' ( above ) before an early lunch and coffee to  set ourselves up  

 It was interesting to compare  loose vigorous mark-making with the  stronger, simpler compositions  with their juxtapositions of colour 

These looked deceptively simple but if you looked closer, especially in a raking light , you could see  the intricate brushwork and layering which gave a subtly complex surface. One of the reasons  it's so important to see painting in the flesh rather than just reproductions 

 Another interesting aspect was seeing his early  and later works hung  together 

I particularly liked  his late gouaches , with their soft chalky bleeding edges, repetition of shapes and dark against dark, ( these were framed behind glass so difficult to take photos of). I haven't used them since I was at school , I either use transparent watercolours or acrylics, but seeing these makes me want to experiment with them again. In some he painted using the tube on wet paper ,  with very exciting marks 

This pair of paintings were hung  next to each other  and I can see why. The shapes of the later abstract painting below, echo some of the forms and colours used in  the earlier , more figurative painting of gardens above. Once you got your eye in , you could see he used the same motifs again and again in other works. 

The layers of bleeding colours  in this 'stripe ' painting ' Lux Eterna' are mesmerising , reminding me of Gerhard Richters 'Cage ' paintings with their hidden depths. Also the edges were interesting and  then I found this statement of how important they were to him. 

 I attempted to draw the  colours and composition  of this piece ' Blue Painting Sept 1961"  in my sketchbook. What drew me to it ( apart from it being like indigo!)  was the very subtle variations in colour of blue  with little tonal contrast ( except for the bright orange complimentary colour right on the edge of course!). The balance and tension are masterly. I've   found before how difficult it is to get an accurate colour match for indigo when printing or on the computer. The picture above is my own photo  which I've manipulated in photoshop  as well as I can to get an accurate depiction of what attracted me  . The pictures of the same piece of work  found on the web (below)  while probably more attractive as posters/postcards give a very different impression of the work 

The piece 'Horizontal Painting  with soft black squares 1959' ( above) was  a favourite when I asked which piece we'd take home with us. Unfortunately  under agreements of loan for the painting you couldn't take photos  . Again, you can see big differences in the different versions found on the web 

In general , it was worth the trip and there was a lot to admire, but while I liked it I didn't love  it, it didn't set my heart racing like some of the work by Peter Lanyon or Terry Frost . 

What was exciting  was the children's workshop that was going on while we were there ( it was half term ) ,  building up pictures in coloured acetate that were then  sealed in a laminator. I wanted to have a go but I  would need to take a child with me ! 

 These coloured paddles  used to demonstrate  colour mixing were fantastic, I wanted to take them home with me , I shall have to ask for some in my Xmas stocking! It was appropriate that the installation ' Dutch Light' with Chatham Dockyards    seen on an earlier visit  was still there.  

Freedom in Painting: Black and White ( Preparation and Reading )

 I signed up  for 'Freedom in Painting: Black and White'  at  Creek  Creative  immediately after the excellent course  ' Painting the Novel'  earlier in the year, Ashley is such an excellent tutor. 

As usual I overprepared !  I've been meeting up regularly with fellow artists Hazel and Teddy  ( always  so inspiring )  and in between times we've been  sharing  what we've been up to on Instagram. 

I've long been a fan of Terry Frost  and I can still remember the impact  of seeing  one of his 'Through Blacks' paintings ( above) from 1972-3   at the RA exhibition . With it's collaged semi-circles  and subtle variations, it looked very different when viewed  from the side or full-on, one of those pieces that has to be seen in the flesh to appreciate.  In the catalogue he talked of " while making 'through blacks' I got the experience of seeing the blue side of black, the red side of black and the yellow side of black"  The colours on the left hand side were the one he was mixing from.   There's more about the process and his thoughts on colour perception here. 

Spurred on by the  postcard sized colour mixing exercises that Teddy had done,  I had a go myself  with acrylics on watercolour paper, including  using some of the combinations I love from watercolours . I like to see a hint of the colours that made them when mixing blacks.  

  Above:primaries Azo yellow, Alizarin Crimson and Phalo blue ( with overlayers of white)

Below: Ultramarine with burnt umber/burnt sienna

 One of the bonuses  was that the burnt sienna and ultramarine are transparent ( at least in the Winsor and Newton range I was using) so you get translucent blacks (and a bit of granulation as in watercolours. )

I also had  an extensive trawl through my considerable collection of  art books and catalogues to find  inspiration.  Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham  is one of my favourite artists,  I love  her abstracted  landscapes - you can see the dry stone walls in the painting above. 

Wilhemina Barnes-Graham 

Prunella Clough is another favourite particularly how she renders textures 

Likewise, the textures  and change of scale in Nicolas de Stael ( and love that edge of red )

I could have chosen any painting in the book I have of Anthony Whishaw's work , he uses a lot of black and white , I like the subtle variations in line and mark . 

The subtle, ghost-like layers of paint in work by Ian McKeever ( below) has always appealed ( I used his 'Temple Paintings' as inspiration for my series of Honesty quilts). This time I picked  out pairs of paintings where he'd used black on white and whites on black - get very different effects

 Then I spent a long time looking through the catalogue  from the RA Abstract Expressionism  exhibition -  so many examples to choose from , remembering the huge scale of many of the works : the 'drawings' of Willem de Kooning; the large gestural  brush strokes of Franz Kline; the collage of Conrad Marca-Relli  

Willem de Kooning 

Franz Kline 

Conrad Marca-Relli 

Conrad Marca-Relli 

 On the requirements list  for  the course was  at least 2 canvases and a range of different black  and white paints . As I also needed large quantities of paint  ( including 2 x 500ml of white!) for the David Tress class at Lund Studios    I  put in a  a large  order of supplies! 

We had instructions to paint one of our  canvases  in black paint beforehand. While I was doing  so , I painted some canvas paper I had and experimented  with  transparent mixing white (I've never used it before) . Mixed with  matte or gloss medium it has definate possibilities for glazing rather than using oils. 

  Next - how did the class go!