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.  

Inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe at Tate Modern

 Part of  my reasoning  behind doing  an afternoon painting course  in London  was that I could either take advantage of cheaper  train fares ( which I did for the first week  , going to British Museum for lunch in the members room ) or I could fit in a visit to a gallery in the morning.   So last Friday I managed to fit in a visit to Tate Modern to catch the Georgia O'Keeffe  exhibition  before it closed. 

I've always  had a soft spot for her flower paintings partly because they weren't the accurate botanical illustrations I was surrounded by  but nevertheless showing their essence. Name drop alert : when they were filming 'The Private Life of Plants' in the lab I worked in  ( I set up some of the plants they used for time-lapse shots in episode 5 ), David Attenborough had an enormous book of her paintings which they were consulting to work out interesting close-up shots.  

But this exhibition  revealed so much more. I filled pages in my sketchbook with  quick drawings to  analyse what in particular interested me about certain paintings and drawings. There's nothing like seeing them in the flesh to see the subtlety of her marks,  particularly the quality of line.

Having got all my  old sketchbooks, paintings ( mainly watercolours)  and drawings out of storage, I've been looking at them  with a fresh eye. I've shared a few here , not because they're  great paintings  but because I realise they have some of the qualities I picked up on in the exhibition and  am working on some ideas to take further .  

G O'K   East River from the Shelton No 6

G O'K Oak Leaves Pink and Grey

In the inspirational classes  with Sandra Beccarelli  in Brentford, we looked  at Georgia O'Keeffe's leaf paintings   in interpreting Autumn colour  in watercolour ( definitely an exercise I will be repeating soon )

G O'K Blue II

G O'K  New York -Night Madison Avenue

I loved these  aerial view abstracts,  from both early and later years  but sharing some of the same characteristics of space, light and line. They remind me a bit of the Peter Lanyon's Glider Paintings ( hardly surprising in the top one which was inspired by flights  and the view from planes)

G O'K Drawing III

  When I went on painting courses  at FSC Nettlecombe  in the 1990's , I frequently drew and painted the remnants of trees in the grounds, liking how the  twisted  and broken branches   framed glimpses of the landscape beyond.   I don't  think I'd seen these tree pieces by Georgia O'Keeffe  before  but I particularly like how the  thickness of the lines vary, almost disappearing into the surroundings with strong, almost dominating use of negative space.

G O'K Autumn Trees- The Maple

G 0'K Clam and Mussel

G O'K Shell no 2

  When I was sketching mussels on the train going into London, I had no idea that  she had painted quite a  few shell compositions !  Again it's given me lots of ideas to scale up my sketches.

Tomorrow it's Paul Nash at Tate Britain!