Drawing Tuesday: Museum of London

 A successful day out  along the Northern Line: dropping off my Fine Art Quilt Masters entry to Upper Street Events ( Angel) then onto Museum of London ( Moorgate) for 'Drawing Tuesday' then finishing up at Intaglio Printmaker ( Borough) before heading back to St Pancras.   

  I very  rarely make it past the Neolithic section, I just the love the marks, the evidence of the hand of the maker, in the pots and vessels  and knapped flints and tools.  This time was no different and with lots of sketching stools available  found a well lit  display case  with both.  What made it even more special was that they were collected  from the Thames close to where I used to live.

I attempted the vessels first, the very aspect that I like in their irregularities and roughness making them very difficult to draw properly - still not right  despite several goes.  I kept getting distracted by the different marks in the flint dagger so moved on to trying to capture those in different hardnesses of graphite ( and use of my  Tombow eraser , one of my favourite tools).  It was fascinating to really  look through drawing,  I must get back to recording my 'small treasures'  ( I've added rather more to my collection...)

After lunch with the usual wide-ranging discussions and  seeing what other people  had drawn I headed off to Intaglio Printmaker in Southwark ( a week later than the others!)  to stock up on Japanese woodblock printing items . The most expensive item apart from tools I'd already bought for course was the sharpening stone. Though the watercolour paints I've collected over the years must run into £££.

Prints, Vessels and Waves

Before my last  Advanced Painting  class on Friday , I went to the prints exhibition  room 90 at the British Museum to see 'Touch:Works on paper' by Maggi Hambling.  But I got distracted by the  selection of works  in the display area to the right:

'Modern Design and Graphics: Objects and Prints from Post-War Europe'

A small display of objects and prints, highlighting the relationship between three-dimensional objects and two-dimensional objects.

 My favourite was by Swedish artist  Philip von Schantz , a watercolour 'Towards Arholma'  where the curved vessels merge with the water and sky. Having actual vessels displayed alongside was inspired . I found other examples of his work online like the one below

 Other pairings was this linocut of sails  by Jurleif Uthaug  with wooden vessels  ( above)  and the lithograph of a woman hanging out washing  by  Jurgen von Konow  with an engraved glass vase  (below)

 I was a bit short of time so didn't note down the makers of the print and woven baskets above or the glass vessels  displayed with the Morandi etchings ( rather a contrast to the dusty  bottles they were drawn from!!)

The drawings that Maggi Hambling made of   close family and friends on their deathbeds (or in  her coffin in the case of her mother) are  very moving but it is her studies  of waves  that I  find compelling in capturing their force and energy.