to be carried out in Module AR7007
I am developing work in three forms: painting, printmaking and sculpture. I base them all on sketches drawn and painted in the field, or from images extracted from video clips.
[N.B.: all images are from 2020.]
[N.B.: all images are from 2020.]
Observation
I used several plein air graphite or charcoal sketches as direct sources for some etchings.
In this period of study, I used oil sketches as colour references for paintings of other views drawn from video stills.
I gather video with little technical care, so have amassed a large collection of mostly unusable material. However, by poring over it all - frame by frame when required - I identify promising motifs for future use. I always develop compositions as drawn plans before painting. (Though I refer to these only rarely once I have established the structure as a loose under-painting).
Most of my sketches are never developed explicitly. Their chief value lies in the looking that they call for.
All these activities will continue to fuel my future work.
I used several plein air graphite or charcoal sketches as direct sources for some etchings.
In this period of study, I used oil sketches as colour references for paintings of other views drawn from video stills.
I gather video with little technical care, so have amassed a large collection of mostly unusable material. However, by poring over it all - frame by frame when required - I identify promising motifs for future use. I always develop compositions as drawn plans before painting. (Though I refer to these only rarely once I have established the structure as a loose under-painting).
Most of my sketches are never developed explicitly. Their chief value lies in the looking that they call for.
All these activities will continue to fuel my future work.
Plein air sketch: graphite and watercolour, 25 x 35 cm
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Plein air sketch: oil on paper 12.5 x 18 cm
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Plein air sketch: graphite and watercolour, 8 x 35 cm
Sketch from video: graphite, 21 x 29 cm
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Plein air sketch: charcoal, 20 x 55 cm
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Painting
I conceived and presented the paintings that I made in previous modules of study as multi-part sequences, ordered by time or geography. I have further developed this approach with my six-part painting, 'Bright Morning Walk', and with a small series of themed paintings depicting the autumn.
A continuing hope is to develop my range of painting techniques. I mean to increase the range of marks available to me. To that end, I made several studies after others' work, plus some mixed media pieces combining drawn marks with loosely painted colour.
I will continue similar activities as I further develop painted works. I will continue experiments in using larger panels, and consider how to use paint in three-dimensions too..
I conceived and presented the paintings that I made in previous modules of study as multi-part sequences, ordered by time or geography. I have further developed this approach with my six-part painting, 'Bright Morning Walk', and with a small series of themed paintings depicting the autumn.
A continuing hope is to develop my range of painting techniques. I mean to increase the range of marks available to me. To that end, I made several studies after others' work, plus some mixed media pieces combining drawn marks with loosely painted colour.
I will continue similar activities as I further develop painted works. I will continue experiments in using larger panels, and consider how to use paint in three-dimensions too..
Early Morning Walk: oil on canvas on six boards, each 21 x 38 cm, work in progress
Oil on paper, 38 x 45 cm
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Oil on paper, 43 x 39 cm
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Mixed media on paper, 28 x 48 cm
Autumn: oil on canvas on board, 46 x 99 cm
Printmaking
The serial presentation of drawings in my small sketchbooks, plus the consecutive views of a well-trodden walk, combined to suggest that I create a simple book of prints. This will gather works with a clear logic and make a pleasing whole of otherwise disparate parts.
I want my prints to capture the liveliness of the outdoor sketches on which they are almost all based. My initial plan to combine a black impression with colour was disappointing. It failed both technically and aesthetically. My solution has been to print each image using a single colour (no black) instead.
After early challenges I have successfully incorporated letterpress text. I will present some prints with text and some without. I will also edition some prints singly.
I have found solutions to most of the practical difficulties involved in this project. The remaining challenge is to find time and opportunity for the considerable work required to complete it.
The serial presentation of drawings in my small sketchbooks, plus the consecutive views of a well-trodden walk, combined to suggest that I create a simple book of prints. This will gather works with a clear logic and make a pleasing whole of otherwise disparate parts.
I want my prints to capture the liveliness of the outdoor sketches on which they are almost all based. My initial plan to combine a black impression with colour was disappointing. It failed both technically and aesthetically. My solution has been to print each image using a single colour (no black) instead.
After early challenges I have successfully incorporated letterpress text. I will present some prints with text and some without. I will also edition some prints singly.
I have found solutions to most of the practical difficulties involved in this project. The remaining challenge is to find time and opportunity for the considerable work required to complete it.
Black ink only, 9 x 26 cm
Black ink over lithographed colour
Concertina book trials, various dimensions
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Black ink over mono-printed colour
Coloured ink, with letterpress text
Concertina book trial, with two prints, each of single colour
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Soft-ground etching: coloured ink on paper, 8.5 x 25 cm
Sculpture
In two dimensions, trees necessarily appear as variously proportioned fan shapes. Their space-filling quality is hard to depict. The forms of my sculptural pieces are an attempt to capture the surprising volume that trees fill.
Over this course of study I have learnt or reinvigorated a wide range of skills. Hand-building in clay, glazing, and slip casting. Plus, recently, mould-making with latex and silicone rubbers, and plaster casting.
I can best describe the privilege of having been able to play like this as nothing more (or less) than plain fun. I have tackled things one step at a time with no preconceived idea about an end product at any stage. I am now poised to make multiple copies of these forms, so am faced with decisions about what to do with them.
I may prepare wax copies from which I can commission bronze casts. More imaginatively, I am conceiving each small plaster copy as a laboriously prepared, three-dimensional canvas on which to apply paint or dry media. I may be able to use marks from my existing vocabulary to create a polychrome sculpture that will complement and enhance my other work.
In two dimensions, trees necessarily appear as variously proportioned fan shapes. Their space-filling quality is hard to depict. The forms of my sculptural pieces are an attempt to capture the surprising volume that trees fill.
Over this course of study I have learnt or reinvigorated a wide range of skills. Hand-building in clay, glazing, and slip casting. Plus, recently, mould-making with latex and silicone rubbers, and plaster casting.
I can best describe the privilege of having been able to play like this as nothing more (or less) than plain fun. I have tackled things one step at a time with no preconceived idea about an end product at any stage. I am now poised to make multiple copies of these forms, so am faced with decisions about what to do with them.
I may prepare wax copies from which I can commission bronze casts. More imaginatively, I am conceiving each small plaster copy as a laboriously prepared, three-dimensional canvas on which to apply paint or dry media. I may be able to use marks from my existing vocabulary to create a polychrome sculpture that will complement and enhance my other work.
Tree forms: glazed clay, largest sphere 10 cm diameter
Mould-making
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Tree form: plaster, each 9 x 12 x 9 cm