Drawing Tuesday: Coral and RA Abstract Expressionism

  Drawing Tuesday this week   was at the Natural History  Museum , an afternoon session to try and avoid the hordes of school groups. It was still pretty busy though  and 3 of us found a quieter spot at the end of a corridor   and drew an enormous coral . It was very easy to get lost in the folds  but it was very rewarding to see it gradually take shape on the paper.  I used just a 4B pencil but wished I'd left  more areas undetailed like the drawing of the vase at the British  Museum.  I did  a quick sketch  ( below)  of some of the texture- so  much inspiration for stitch!

In the morning I went to the Abstract Expressionism  exhibition at the RA. Absolutely fantastic and worth the steep entrance fee  to see work on such a grand scale -  photos just don't do them justice . I didn't pick up an audio guide as I wanted to discover them for myself and walked quickly through the whole exhibition before zoning in on what grabbed my attention and why.  I made lots of notes and have ordered  the catalogue .  Meanwhile , do look at the teachers resources ( primary and secondary ) for the exhibition , so many good ideas. There were quite a few school groups  there - it was interesting to contrast their behaviour in different galleries - they were  lively  observing the Jackson Pollock and   calm and meditative   in the Rothko room, (  I could have spend all day there)  

Among the artists whose work I already knew there were several new to me, the one that intrigued me most  in terms of techniques to try was the collage work of Conrad Marca-Relli.

I wonder what the term is for artistic indigestion?! I've seen so much wonderful art and exhibitions over the last few weeks , I'm having difficultly concentrating, my head is so full of ideas I don't know where to start

Dublin in 8 Photos

I know how she feels!!
I'm finally catching up with some sleep after very early flight to Dublin on Friday and very late return on Tuesday followed by more cauliflower cloning training.
I was collected from the airport in Dublin and taken to Malahide for 2nd breakfast (Hobbit style) having had my first at 5am! Great to catch up with Noeleen, Emer and Christine - thanks to contacts had a privileged peak in the private areas of the gardens at Malahide Castle with their amazing collection of Australasian plants - a lot that wouldn't survive in the UK

I couldn't resist these rusty fences! Then off to Kinsealy for a very useful look around the lab and finally to Glasnevin Botanic Gardens which was the venue for the conference.
I had a bit of time to look around Dublin, visiting Hugh Lane Art Gallery - discovering artists new to me like Louis le Brocquy (more in another post) . Even though I'm not a big fan of Francis Bacon's work, the reconstruction of his studio and the description and records of the painstaking work involved was absolutely fascinating as were the insights into his working methods.
After lunch in the deli at Avoca I made my way to the National Museum of Archeology, snapping doors as I went( although they're not crumbly enough for my taste!). So many items had been preserved in bogs (including textiles) - the prehistoric gold, found in hoards was jaw-dropping, a similar experience to seeing the masks from Mycenae. Photos were, understandably, not allowed but I didn't think they'd mind me taking a picture of the stairs.
After a brief visit to the Irish Museum of Modern Art ( spending some time with a lovely couple of Rothkos, part of an exhibition linked to composer Morton Feldman) , it was time to switch to botanical congress mode.
The conference was opened by the Taoiseach (equivalent of prime minister) and we had a reception in the Castle state apartments( I would have been a bit worried about red wine on the beautiful carpets! )
I'd had to change my flight as the session I was speaking in was moved. Just time to give my presentation and head home.
PS - Best meal I had was at the Mermaid Cafe with free entertainment observing what was going on at the stage door of Olympia Theatre nearby.

In the style of Rothko

Best evening class yet- a lesson in use of colour and easy abstraction , sort of Rothko-esque meets MondrianWe started off with a sheet of newspaper (Evening Standard in this case) and then placed a piece of tracing paper over it and drew round some of the blocks of text, banners or pictures. Not the same bit of newspaper shown here but you get the picture. Then we transferred the traced image onto watercolour paper by scribbling with pencil on the back of the shapes of the tracing paper and then tracing over the shapes again from the front - I can't think how many years it it since I did that!
Meanwhile using acrylics in primary colours we painted over the newspaper page itself. I rather like how the text and ghosts of images show through the paint ( some people who had the sudoko or crossword pages had some interesting results) Then picking out the areas liked/disliked and using in my case a more restricted colour palette, painted on the watercolour paper with the transfered shapes, thinking about layers and quality of paint and brushstrokes The results were so varied - some people had picked out tiny little squares (and were then cursing at the amount of tracing involved!) , some had concentrated on large blocks but all were based on the newspaper layouts . It was a great way to produce abstraction fairly painlessly and in a restricted time frame . Worth further exploration.
We have a break next week as our tutor has been nominated for a teaching award but then we have 2 weeks to work on our own project - what to choose?!!

Rothko at Tate Modern: Seagram Series

I'm still thinking about the exhibition we went to yesterday at Tate Modern of the late paintings of Mark Rothko. The highlight was the Seagram Murals, 14 of them from several museum shown together for the first time as a series. Since the 1980's I've visited them regularly when they were at what is now Tate Britain and in their newer (darker) room at Tate Modern. In their apparent simplicity, they are pieces for contemplation and meditation. The displays of sketches and explanations on the techniques used to construct them , as revealed by 2 years painstaking work by conservators, added rather than detracted from their mystery.

I bought a catalogue but was a bit frustrated that they didn't have some detailed photos in close-up besides those of the whole canvases ( which are huge) For instance this one pictured above ( Untitled 1958) has the most amazing brush work, feathered edges floating on the background maroon surface. For once , quick drawings in my sketchbook were useless, I had to describe in words the different textures and colour shifts: variations in transparency;hard and soft edges. In 'Red on Maroon Section 2' (above) the colour differences are very subdued, a shift between matt and gloss (more obvious viewed at an angle)

I was rather taken with the sketches executed on paper for this series. You can see the texture of the watercolour paper in the red paint of this study 'Untitled,(study for Seagram Mural) 1958-9', less visible under the thicker grey-red gouache.

These tiny studies are charming-exploring the qualities of transparency in watercolour instead of oils. What is so special about the huge canvases is that some of that immediacy is captured.

I wasn't so grabbed by the 'Black-form', 'brown and grey' and 'Black and grey' series ( although I enjoyed the vigorous brushwork exhibited in the latter). I love my colour too much and those reds and maroons speak to me ( we realised when we got home that the living room walls and sofa are shades of 'Rothko Red'!) Having said that, I was interested in the studies for 'Black-form' pieces carried out in graphite on black paper - another example of the variation in matt v shiny rather than in hue. I don't think they photograph easily ( the example above looks like it was done with white ), so scribbling in my sketchbook and on the cover of the room guide gave a better idea.

This exhibition made me think once again of the work of Ian McKeever ( quoted in the 'Tateshot' videoclip on Rothko) whose paintings use different shapes but share some of the same qualities of translucency and layers.
A lot of food for thought. In the December issue of Artists and Illustrators there were some tips on having a go at painting colour fields: swapping primer for glue; keeping layers thin; building up areas of differing density; varying degrees of matt and gloss; mixing things up.

What colour shall I go for in my experiments? And will acrylics work or will I have to return at last to oil paints?