Drawing Tuesday: Irons at the Science Museum ( plus V&A Exhbitions)

Drawing Tuesday   this week was at the Science Museum - very busy and noisy with families ( tho marginally quieter than when there are school groups), slightly less  frantic  in the ' Secret Life of the Home' gallery in the basement. It's a treasure trove of  household appliances, ancient and modern.  I tore myself away from the sewing machines  to find something a bit easier to draw  and found another  textile related display  dear to our hearts - irons !

 It was interesting to see the innards  of a steam iron  and see the early models of the electric iron ( my mum had one identical to the canary yellow one  below) 

 I was initially tempted by the idea of drawing the damage done to synthetic fabrics with a hot iron  ( above) but settled for the range of old metal flat irons 

The 'goffering iron ' looked  quite space age . It was made to shape ruffs and frills  with a hot metal poker placed  in the iron to heat it up. 

 With lots of rubbing out and   redrawing in 2h and 2b pencils  it was a relief to finish off  with a quick sketch  of box irons using a 6b graphite stick ! 

 After catching up with the others in the cafe and revived  by lunch I headed  over to the other side of  Exhibition  Road, to the V&A .  Using my Museums Association   membership  card I got into the  Frida  Kahlo  exhibition ( despite   all tickets being sold out)  and then 'Fashioned from Nature'.   I'm not sure  that I would have paid  to see the Frida Kahlo exhibition ( I tend to agree with the reviews) but as I'm coincidentally re-reading ' The Lacuna' by Barbara Kingsolver, it was fascinating to see the early photos and short  film clips including one  with Trotsky. 

It also brought back fond memories  of  going to Mexico for work   in 1997. I taught an orchid growing workshop in Puebla  then  had a few days in Mexico City gracefully hosted by Robert Bye and Edelmira Linares . ( contributers to the  book associated  with 'Frida Kahlo's Garden' . Now that's an exhibition I wished I'd seen) .   Besides the usual museums and galleries , Edelmira ( who's an ethnobotanist)  took me to some fascinating craft places. 

 More to my taste was the 'Fashioned from  Nature' exhibition  - so much  exquisitely  stitched  clothing and a fascinating glimpse into materials  and methods both used in the past and new innovations. Being  a textile exhibition with many fragile pieces, light levels were low  so photography was a bit  limited. I was rather struck by the Gucci handbag inspired by stag beetles ( noble beasts!)  and the darned clothing  ' Visible History'  by designer John Alexander Skelton. 

  Finally, I  had  a quick look at the gallery showing the finalists of the 'Jameel Prize 5' . I was particularly struck by the woven details in the  work by Hala Kaiksow ( below)

  I wonder whether those folds involved  a goffering iron?!

Drawing Tuesday: Large Scale Sketchbook Homework

I was up in Yorkshire when the Large Scale Sketchbook  course had their site visit  to the V&A   cast courts   but as its an essential part of gathering information  to be developed later , I made sure I went at the earliest opportunity. I've been  a few times before , mainly interested in the exhibits in room 46a (including Trajan's Column)  which is currently closed for renovations (although you can see glimpses of them shrouded from the sculpture room )   At least it was  relatively peaceful  given it was half term , with lots of sketching stools available, 2 people already hard at work on intricate detailed drawings  and  a helpful steward/guide

My heart sank rather at all the figurative busts and statues, not my thing at all, but as instructed I made a number of brief sketches  and notes of things that interested me , mainly of the different depictions of folds in cloth of the  various virgin and child reliefs. 

I then went via the sculpture galleries to the Cafe for an early lunch to cogitate on what I might draw in greater depth.  On the walk back, I was struck by how much more I preferred the rough, raw,  back of this terracotta sculpture , the 'unconscious side', but then I do have 'previous' in this regard, drawing the backs of Greek sculptures at the BM ! 

 Initially attracted by the curves of his helmet, I ended up drawing the rear view of these 2 busts: 'Bart and Massa" and is often the case, the more I drew, the more I saw. 

As I used the surrounding architecture  and larger sculptures as references for measuring proportions, the more I got interested in how the lines and forms of the  busts   were echoed in the shapes around them. 

I drew 'Bart' from different angles and viewpoints  until I realised I was not looking anymore  but repeating myself  ( and distracted  by the spectacular thunderstorms overhead-  the cast courts have glass roofs) 

Only then, as per instructions,  did I start taking photos. I'll be missing the  next session too as Ian has a hospital appointment  so I've started playing around in Photoshop to simplify the structures so that hopefully I'll have lots of material to play with in  week 5 of the course. Already I can see so much potential in what initially seemed a pretty uninteresting subject.  

 After such a lovely day out, I had a horrendous  journey home. I got to St Pancras  after 3, in time for the 15.25  train, to find that trains had been cancelled and or delayed due to bad weather and lightening strikes . Stood for 2 hours on the platform, Ian joining me for supposed 16.25, couldn't physically get on the train when it arrived , thrown off the second as all trains from St Pancras cancelled due to trespasser on line at Ebbsfleet.  As it was now after 6pm  we went for  a meal ( and glass of wine) at Pizza Express  before heading off to Victoria station where train only 45 minutes late . Arrived home at 10pm, still recovering, at least Ian was working from home today!  I did have my train stitching with me but funnily enough none was done!

Large Scale Sketchbook: week 1

Yesterday was the first session of ' Large Scale Sketchbook'  with Tony Hull  at City Lit . I got a lot out of ' Reading the Paint Surface' I did with him a couple of years ago and the Contemporary Drawing Sketchbook course  with Amanda Knight  so it seemed the logical next step particularly as 'scaling up' is something I want to tackle. 

From experiences of others who'd done the course before I was expecting an A3 softback sketchbook  but the course should really be called  Very Large Scale Sketchbook  as we were given a  Seawhite A2 wire-o hardback! 

 We were all seated around a big table ( with extra tables added to extend it when we opened our sketchbooks)  which was a lovely way of starting. After  introductions , a still life was set up  in the centre of the table of some of the usual random selection of objects: bottles, tools, a teapot, a  large metal 'P' (above); a creepy looking doll.  Starting several pages into our sketchbooks we then  drew with charcoal  over a double page  A1 spread ( bit tricky with the wire in the middle). Lots of rubbings out which  gives a lot of lovely ghostly marks then  measuring, trying to make it a more accurate drawing.   

We then made up a very light ink wash and painted all the darkest areas with it, letting it dry during a teabreak  while we filled in the  admin forms. 

On our return we turned our sketchbooks upside down so more aware of shapes rather than objects  and started  cutting into the pages with a  Stanley knife

Initially the shapes cut out were glued  to the page beneath so that superficially the upper page still looked the same but then we became braver and stuck pieces on different places/pages. 

Every so often we  walked round the table to see what other people were doing - considering it was the same materials and objects being drawn , the approaches used were very different and  inspired by others  we started  cutting right through the pages, creating flaps  and holes. 

Finally we did a tour around the table again , opening and closing folds , revealing different combinations , before putting them away in a drawer until next week ( they're definately not very portable...)

So many possibilities  and ways of looking in just 3 hours! We have another session of exploration  next week  before the site visit to V&A Cast Courts in week 3. Unfortunately I'll be away for that  so will have to make a visit  under my own steam. My current sketchbooks ( A5 and A4) suddenly seem very small.

Drawing Tuesday ( and Thursday) : V&A 20th Century and Iron Wharf

 I  went drawing with friends   twice last week  - very different venues  but   both shared the  same  characteristics  of sketching in company and  just as important, wide ranging discussions over lunch in a congenial café !
On Tuesday there were 7 of us drawing in the V&A 20th century  design galleries ( finding your way there and to the members room afterwards even more perplexing than usual  with building work closures!)
 I  drew   Ron Arad chair ' Soft little heavy' in blue biro then attempted to capture the contrasting textures of a  'mobius' basket and pewter bowl in graphite.

 On Thursday I met up with Hazel   at Standard Quay in Faversham  and introduced her to the delights of Iron Wharf.  I've taken loads of photos and keep meaning to go drawing there  but having company gave me the push to actually do so. So  many boats in different states of crumbliness, it's very hard to  choose and settle down to draw. I'll be back soon with  bigger sheets of paper and my paints.