More of the usual about drawing......

These are some drawings I’ve been working on this week. I love drawing and the way it allows you to really explore a subject. For me, the process of making drawings like these, worked on over some time, where things are erased, repositioned, built up, are very different to the paintings I make which are executed quickly. Making these drawings this way allows me to make the paintings that way. These are made from photographs taken, which I’ve now embraced more as a way to generate ideas and record reference material. I acknowledge that very little of the work I have made in the last couple of years could have been made without a camera. 

 

Still, I could never work straight from a photograph to a painting- I need to explore the image using the hand and eye, through mark-making, in an attempt to think about the formal elements more as a way of reaching the essence of the subject or image. I hope that doesn’t sound too fanciful… I’m hoping to develop these drawings into paintings in the next week or so. 

I also still love being directly in front of a subject to make observational drawings, and responding directly to the subject in the moment. This is more akin to how I make my paintings. It is very exciting and I get a real kick out of it (well, you find ‘em where you can!). These are some i-pad paintings I made in this way on a recent holiday to Wales.

  The light can change so quickly in front of your eyes that it is a real chase to capture something and make creative decisions using the digital paint, but the i-pad is a great tool for this. I was thinking today about the possibilities of exploring some of landscape under the M5 in the daytime, moving out of the nocturnes.

I was very touched to receive these groovy cufflinks from an A level Art student, Nilupa, yesterday as a ‘thank you teacher’ gift. It came with a funny card gently poking fun at the language and terminology I use in the classroom when I teach.

 I’m off to a wedding next week which gives me an excuse to wear them. All I need now is a shirt.