An end of frustration?
(Another New Studio)
I finished(?) the NHS project after quite a lot of stress and setbacks. It was still completed on time but I had far less time in the studio.
The interruption of the sculpture project has left me a little non-plussed about the direction of my work and how to find ways forward against the pressure of completion. Ideas reach fruition and then need to be rendered physical when the desire or drive to create is spinning off in its own directions. Today I read an article about Michael Raedecker on Artspace where he says
“Inspiration can come at the most unusual moments; riding on a bus or reading a book. But most of the time you just have to work for it,” he tells Artspace. “Sitting down, making sketches, browsing in catalogues, looking at images, and letting the intelligence of the work guide the selection.”
Its the obviousness of the statement that woke me up, making begets making, so the only way to know what to make is to make.
Earlier in the week I went to see “The Weight of Words” at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds.
Leaving aside the lack of overall context beyond the the declaration that the, very broad, selection of artists explore the overlap between sculpture and poetry, the exhibition inevitably questions the very nature of what sculpture is. The works in the exhibition are interesting, poignant and thoughtful in all sorts of ways, they are also often flat, digital projections, printed, photographed and less often strictly three dimensional. The lack of context serves to expand the possibilities of the precept at the heart of the overlap between sculpture and poetry and made me wonder where the notion of concrete poetry sits in relation to this selection of work. The website is very good and the exhibition is on until November so I might go again.
When I did get in I worked on apples drawing, adding strong shadows from the studio window.
I also kept working on the big roses drawing, finally whiting it all out and then adding a drawing of Old English Roses
Each step of the process has taken more thinking than necessary as I was really disgruntled by the way the lemniscate impinged on everything else I wanted to do.
So after the first drawing I added the red shadows onto the edges of the flowers and then darkened the shadows.
The drawing was left for a good few days after this stage.
I had a short window to get back into the space and added some white highlights to the flower heads.
And then thought about using some stronger colours. So I blacked out the shadows and darkened some areas again but it still wasn’t defined enough.
So on my next visit, the 22nd September with the lemniscate out of the way completely I took some oil paints in to use to give the roses much more body. That’s where we are so far. Finished?
Drawing
I’ve ditched Twitter, one too many Musks, but I’ve started to post on Threads as well as instagram.
I’ve continued to draw every day;
The August drawings can be seen here
-
Draw Every Day – August 23Draw Every Day - August 23 Continuing to draw every day, in a new sketchbook using sketching ...See photo »
…and the July images here
-
Draw Every Day – July 23Draw Every Day - July 23 Continuing to draw every day, in a new sketchbook using sketching ...See photo »
There is a link to the previous month’s Gallery on each page.
The drawings are posted to Threads and Instagram each day.