Large Scale Sketchbook Week 8 and Conclusions.

It's nearly 4 weeks since the  final session of Large Scale Sketchbook  but with so much going on there hasn't been time to report  on it and record  my thoughts ( tho'  I made sure I wrote up  my notes  in my notebook straight away)  .  At the end of the session I brought my  the sketchbook home , which entailed a taxi from the station it was so heavy. Tomorrow, a couple of  artist friends are coming round to view it so I thought it was about time I wrote about it here!

After Week  7, I'd run out of ideas  about what I wanted to do with work based on the cast courts , mainly  because the subject matter itself didn't inspire.  The night before the final session  I had a brainwave ( or so I thought....) The lines of stairs and curves of the sculpture in contrast to the surrounding architecture  reminded me of the work  I'd done on shells a ( mussels and limpets) in the advanced painting course in  2016. 

 At the time , I concentrated on developing the mussel paintings  set in context of surroundings ( influenced by the work of Paul Nash)  and hadn't done much with the limpets.  I'd been influenced   by the 'Circle' exhibition at Margate Turner Contemporary  , particularly the pile of black discs by Edmund de Waal,  and had drawn and photographed   a stack of limpets , delicately balanced  and carried out  work in Photoshop  combining it with prints of the Fleet  done during   a printmaking course. 

I gave Tony a whole lot of photos of my sketches/photos to photocopy to A3 size  and while I was waiting,  starting several pages  in,  I assembled a pile of limpets  and drew it large scale  using charcoal  ( which gave interesting marks on the previous page).  I then carried out a number of different approaches using photocopies; graphite and rubber; sanguine pen; coloured pencils;  and cutting out holes through several layers. 

 I was enjoying   applying what  I'd learnt  to new material but a lot  of what I produced wasn't really working.  Luckily at that point it was my turn to discuss my work with Tony.  He was a bit  surprised I'd discontinued with what I was doing in previous weeks when it had been going so well  while applauding the idea of using my own material to try out  what I'd learnt from earlier lessons ( "the Ideal Student" !) . 

The main reason the shells weren't working  as well was because they were on the whole  central on the page and retaining identifiable structure of existing images  and therefore weren't so exciting.  The danger with using material we care about  is that you have to work harder as not so inclined to experiment  or try things out . 

Looking back  at the earlier weeks when we'd been working with still life  with random objects

 and to some extent the Cast Courts  where it wouldn't have been my first choice of subject , I was more prepared to experiment, fragment images, as I was  looking at the shapes and lines  rather than the subject matter.  Looking with  Tony at previous  pages ,  the most exciting  were when I'd left a lot of space , repeated ideas over several pages ( copies of copies of copies)  and made good use of the edge of pages rather than placing images centrally. 

He made suggestions on extending marks over drawings and copies  ( including  use of the negative shapes left when cutting out)   and putting objects at the edge of the page.  Also to be even more radical  with my cutting, removing items completely.  

 This was more like it ! 

My final intervention  was to go back to the last spread from the cast courts  and cut out the fine lines of the stairs , and extend the line with graphite.  With the negative shapes from around the limpet stack pasted  in , there  was now a link between the  two areas of subject matter.

We  cleared up early  in order to look at everyone' s sketchbook  briefly ( although it still took an extra hour - I missed my train and had to get a later one) . Well worth it though - they were so diverse in approach and content considering we'd all  begun with the same  subject material!
Didn't  make notes at the time but these stuck in my mind:
- finely folded/pleated  paper ( like tiny steps)
- transparent fabric inserts ( also tracing paper and acetate)
- exploded shapes reassembled, photocopies cut into strips and expanded
- images torn up and collaged back ( in some cases just a few tiny pieces)
- layers  of subtle colour  under cutouts
-  images wrapped around edge of page ( so just see a glimpse)
- foldouts
- extreme cutting ( a fine lace-like network).

 I also have a list  of what I like in my own sketchbook  and ideas for future work.
Finally,  as is usual on City Lit courses, there were suggestions about what courses we might want to do next ( printmaking from the images produced  was one).
In my case , I'd  enrolled and paid for Extended Drawing for Artists  and Makers (EDAM)  that morning.   So a year  of experimenting  lies ahead!  

Journeys with ' the Waste Land' in Margate

What better place to go on the hottest day of the year so far than to the seaside! Last Thursday I headed off to Margate to see the well reviewed exhibition ' Journey with the Waste Land' at Turner Contemporary. I wore my   trousers with zip-off legs and took paddling sandals and towel but alas the  tide was out when I arrived. 

It was a lot busier on the beach when I left to go home , with lots of people already going pink exposing winter flesh for the first time. 

 The exhibition had an interesting approach to curation  being the culmination of a 3 year project of local residents  who chose all the artworks, designed the layout  and wrote the exhibition texts, exploring the significance of TS Eliot's  poem' The Waste Land' through the visual arts . Rather than a catalogue, the gallery guide had quotes from members about why they had chosen particular pieces and at listening points in the exhibition there were recordings of the discussions.   

There was a  wide variety of work on show, often thought provoking, some  uncomfortable  and disturbing.   

There were  2  contrasting pieces by Paul Nash: 'Wire '  and 'The Shore' ( above).  It was wonderful to be re-aquainted  with one of my favourite paintings , having visited it several times in it's home gallery in Leeds and then seeing it again in the  Tate Nash exhibition. It was chosen here for  the parallels between Nash and Eliot visiting Kent  at times of personal crisis.. 

 'Goodwin Sands' by William Lionel Wyllie ( above and detail below), just off the coast near Margate  was chosen in relation to the section of the poem ' Death by Water' . The ancient shipwreck depicted , ancient and rotting, reminded me of  disintegrating  structures of breakwaters.

The sculpture ' Heavy Insect' by William Turnbull also reminded me of breakwaters and  interestingly the quote in the notes was  how it looked like ancient images of boats  and the resemblance to the decaying shipwreck in Wylies painting !

I loved  this photo by Lee Miller 'Portrait of Space, Al Bulwayeb, Nr Siwa, Egypt , 1941 and the discussions  at the listening post about significance of the rectangle ( was it a mirror or not?) added another dimension. 

It was fascination to see some of the collages by John Stezaker in the flesh having seen so many photos of his work in  recent collage class.  In the gallery notes I liked his quotes about collage , that it 'redeems fragments'  and is 'a relationship with the wasteland of everyday experience'. 

One of the gallery spaces was devoted to the actual  text of the poem, including the annotated copies of the research group . One wall was taken  up with 36 collages by Vibeke Tandberg , taking a copy of the Waste Land, cutting out each word individually  and organising them so you could see how many times each word appears, intentionally breaking it down  so that the meaning is lost. I  particularly like the one above which is  composed of sentences from the notes pages of the book.    

 My strategy in exhibitions is  to  go fairly quickly through to the finish then work backwards  more slowly . While I stop and look  in progress , it's often on the return journey that things leap out at me that I hadn't noticed. That was the case with the woodcuts of Christine Baumgartner ( above). The image is clearer from a distance, close- to its' a series of  subtly changing lines. From the notes: " There's an interesting question about the moment at which something takes on a recognisable form, the moment at which nothing becomes something" 

Elsewhere at the Turner  was this large scale installation ' Digestive Cavity' by Yin Xiuzhen made from clothes ( you could climb inside!) 

Outside in the sunshine ' Dutch/Light (for Agneta Block)' by Jyll Bradley  was casting wonderful colourful shadows. Commissioned  by Turner Contemporary and Chatham Historic Dockyards ( where appropriately I'm going sketching tomorrow), it commemorates the 1667 Dutch raid on the Medway which brought to an end the second Anglo-Dutch war. Referencing glasshouse structures, it uses  old timber from former  naval buildings with contemporary 'edge-lit' Plexiglas: orange to symbolise The Netherlands;green for Kent, the 'garden of England'.

More glorious colour on the way home , with the trees on Faversham 'rec' in full blossom and young leaves spouting

Printing the Coast and Ravilious and Co

  It's over a week now since I was 'Printing the Coast' with Alice Fox at Studio 11 in Eastbourne.  I had a fabulous inspiring time , with lots of ideas to take forward.
 On my arrival I was lucky enough to catch a talk by curator Andy Friend of the 'Ravilious and Co' exhibition at the Towner Art Gallery . The accompanying book is lovely  with  prints on high quality paper and an interesting, lively read. The exhibition by Becky Beasley based on one of Ravilous's interiors included some large painted vintage fabrics!

 It's a huge exhibition and I only had time to skim the surface, I was particularly struck by how Ravilious captured sound in ' Cross Channel Shelling'  

Our first day in the studio  we constructed some simple folded 8 page pamphlets of  thick cartridge paper  then headed to the beach , spending an hour ( which went very quickly ) making drawings and beachcombing

Rusty bits of metal were a particular focus ,immovable  larger pieces  on the breakwaters used for making rubbings . For collecting  we hit  the jackpot   under the pier where there was some old  scaffolding parts , Alice had already been out foraging for nails at a place  further along the beach where they burn pallets.

In the afternoon we were setting up rust prints on paper and fabric using tea  ( a process I'd already done with Alice a few years ago at CQ winter school ) . I loved the results on paper, some interesting ones on fabric too but I still have mixed feelings on it as is difficult to stitch.

 5 of us staying  in accommodation  met up for  dinner at 'Harry Ramsdens' . I think I'm done for fish and chips for the year now! Afterwards I spent a while walking along the front to the sounds of the 'Jersey Boys' playing at the bandstand to a packed enthusiastic crowd.

The  second day we headed off at 9.30 ( already very hot) to Cuckmere Haven - definitely a candidate for my list of favourite places.  I didn't get very far along the path  when seeking out shade I came across this windblown hawthorn with a secret path underneath. I took rubbings and attempted to capture the negative spaces between the branches

Then , the  bright violet of thyme in the turf on top of the chalk bank caught my eye  and I managed to find a path to the top, rewarded by the best chalk grassland I've seen since my survey days of Salisbury Plain Training Area 30 years ago. I was in botanical heaven , sitting amongst the smell of thyme watching the bees and butterflies. Not much drawing went on, I was reminded of being on Prawle Point  when  all the six-spot burnet moths were emerging, not much painting got done then either!

The views of the river were spectacular too, little changed since Ravilious painted it.

Sitting in an overgrown bank among longer grasses, I found my favourite , 'quaking grass'  and remembering sketching on Box Hill,  drew the shadows cast on the paper

I never did make it to the beach and the view of 'Seven Sisters'.

I lost track of time and was late back to the car so hadn't collected much in the way of plant material for ecoprinting which was the focus of the afternoon . I have mixed feelings about picking plants, even though I took only what I knew to be very common or weeds.  

For ecoprinting, rather than using mordants, we were wrapping fabrics with rusty bits of metal. Mine weren't very successful but it worked better on paper where we inserted flat bit of metal along with the leaves into our books and these were clamped with rusty bull dog clips!

There were a few issues with the steam not penetrating the pages,  the softer , more absorbent khadi papers  worked better. Alice uses an electric steamer - its' on my list , they're not very expensive.

Our tables and boards were beginning to look very interesting and varied now!

Our 3rd day, even hotter, we headed back to Seven Sisters climbing down the staircase at Birling Gap. Besides drawing on pamphlets , taking rubbings etc , our focus was collecting flat objects for monoprinting (eg feathers,  bits of rope)

It was a treat to use the etching press , the embossed details of the feather were lovely

 Most of the time I was just as happy with inking up a manky bit of  rope and using a roller.  Rather than doing one drawing over a whole opened up pamphlet, at Birling I'd drawn on it  folded and consequently had a wider range of marks and layers (above) . The printing made an interesting addition to my drawings of grass shadows (on  which I'd also carried out some rust printing ( below)

I missed the morning session of the 4th day as I was unwell ( reminder to wash hand thoroughly after handling beach finds!)  so only had time  for a quick catch-up on waxing papers with  soy wax and  different book construction methods before we packed up.

The 'Australian reverse piano hinge' was a revelation - no stitching or glueing involved and once back at the hotel (I was staying another night) I put together 2 books  which I'm very pleased with   

We did quite a few drawing on thick tracing  paper which interacted well with other pages in the book. I particularly liked the drawings below  of the cliff face at Birling where you can  catch glimpses of lines beneath the surface ( and note the anchoring 'pins' used in the binding)

The structures are quite springy  so I made some retaining bands of leftover strips of paper (below)

I'll definitely be  continuing with the idea of   taking out pamphlets out with me when I go sketching and exploring more ways of building up layers of marks. Also writing more ( one of the outcomes too from sketchbook course at City Lit). With  repeat course of ecoprinting with Brunhilde coming up at FoQ I'm  starting to think about collecting and pressing plants and using papers as well as fabrics .

.

In regard to fabrics , Alice asked me whether I would use them in my work. Probably not as I like to hand stitch and I don't like handling the  rusted fabrics. Photos of the lovely marks printed onto  fabrics are an option I've used before for journal quilts.
Having said that,  a lot of the marks reminded me of breakwaters  and along with some fabrics from  previous rust dyeing session  maybe  a piece will come out of it.