Tag Archives: Construction

More Woolgathering

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More Woolgathering

Another New Studio

Further research around woolgathering led me to looking again at Ivon Hitchens and in particular an exhibition held at the Garden Museum in 2019.

and its companion exhibition ‘Ivon Hitchens: Space through Colour‘ at the Pallant House Gallery in the same year.

The idea that Hitchens had was that space was colour and vice versa and that the paintings he made were essentially reconstructions of the particular space and time in a lyrical fashion. He talked about the visual music he wanted to compose.

There is also the notion that Hitchens, and other English painters at the time were examing Paul Nash‘s questioning as to whether it was possible to be an ‘English’ Modernist. Apparently the answer is no because Modernism is Internationalist.

This resonates for me because Hitchens was very much attached to the woodland he owned and built a house in and worked consistently from throughout his life. The feeling I have is that this landscape source is specific for the individual even if it becomes universal as it reaches out.

This begins to explain the developments I’m making in this current project.

Wool Gathering 2

woolgathering maquette 02/09/2024

After working on the flower drawings and building the maquette I applied some colour to it to see what I’d got. The thing is that the wire is too thin for what I want for the pieces I have in my mind so I ordered some 6mm steel rod.

Woolgathering Maquette

I built four bases from some of the reclaimed MDF and put together a version of the maquette as a small sculpture.

Woolgathering 06/09/2024

More Woolgathering

I then worked up a drawing of the small sculpture ‘Woolgathering [Flowers 2]’ on one of the big sheets intending to use it as the work in progress piece for my PG2 presentation.

In the end I used the ‘red gardens’ VR environment as a more complete and coherent response.

Flowers 8 09/09/2024

I worked the other drawing up to a finished [?] state and collected some more foam from the vast store of it at the studios.

Woolgathering Maquette 09/09/2024

Studio 09/09/2024

The presence of the materials ought to make the building much easier.

More Woolgathering

Woolgathering [Flowers 2] 16/09/2024

I added some pieces into the flowers 2 sculpture and built the ‘tree piece’ over the next couple of weeks.

Woolgathering [Flowers 1] 16/09/2024

Then started the ‘Woolgathering [Flowers 1]’ sculpture, built around a partial cube.

I also stretched some big pieces of paper thus declaring the other two drawings finished.

Woolgathering [Flowers 1] 20/09/2024

The next week I painted the sculpture and added the red flowers.

Woolgathering [Flowers 1] 20/09/2024

More Woolgathering

More Woolgathering

Woolgathering [Flowers 1,2,3,4] 25/09/2024

At the end of September I broke the lethargy and managed to build the ‘Woolgathering [Flowers 3]’ and ‘Woolgathering [Flowers 4]’ sculptures and positioned as I originally intended while I consider painting the new pieces.

I’ve scanned these into Polycam and have worked up blender models ready for 3d and VR.

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The September drawings can be seen here

  • Draw Every Day – September 24
    Draw Every Day – September 24
    Draw Every Day - September 24 Continuing to draw every day, began book 19 on 25th August and ...
    See photo »

…and the August images here

Draw Every Day - August 24 Continuing to draw every day, finished book 18 on 24th August and continued in new book using brush pens and a mixture of black, grey, sepia and sanguine ink. The drawings are made any time from 9:00 am at the breakfast table and occasionally later in the day if I'm away from home. The drawings have been posted since the beginning, 6th May 2020, on instagram https://www.instagram.com/latham_1959 You can see previous months through the galleries page https://www.ian-latham.com/blog/galleries or you can go straight toJuly's drawings here -
  • Draw Every Day – July 24
    Draw Every Day – July 24
    Draw Every Day - July 24 Continuing to draw every day, finished book 17 on 10th July and ...
    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.

 

Moore’s Law

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Moore’s Law

Another New Studio

Moore's Law

studio 03/07/24 headset no artist

Apparently “Moore’s Law” is dead, and has been since 2016. The result is that programming has to improve in terms of performance if advancements are going to come at all. Programmers need to make processes more efficient so that less power is needed and the machines can do more without getting significantly faster. Not that anyone will notice this as this as software has for a long time been continually updating so that it outstrips machines every few years and becomes, like streamed music or e-books, something you don’t own you only rent.

This is essentially an aside, as I’ve been looking at ways to update some of my projects so that I can finish them without resorting to acts of destruction as the frustrations mount. Every update makes things harder to resolve and seemingly ignores any idea of intuitive iteration instead opting to completely redesign the wheel with every turn.

Moore's Law

studio 03/07/24 artist no headset

studio 03/07/24 artist and headset

studio 03/07/24 artists view

At the start of the month I organised the studio to reflect the intended organisation of the objects in a space accompanying the VR environment.

Since when I’ve been researching galleries and other potential display spaces for the work.

Moore's Law

studio drawing 17/07/24

So when I am in the studio I work on the gardens project VR world or draw. Drawing refocuses me when I get frustrated with the rebuild I’m doing of the gardens project as there are frequent failures and new learning to be done with the software updates.

I found using the paper I protected the floor with when I painted the sculptures gives a good background to draw on.

Moore's Law

maquette drawing 19/07/24

By the end of the month, I’m no further forward with display options, my portable hard drive failed meaning I lost about a weeks work and I’ve dismantled all the sculptures to make more room for new things.

Moore's Law

Studio drawing 26/07/24

Studio from door 31/07/24

Moore's Law

studio towards door 31/07/24

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The July drawings can be seen here

  • Draw Every Day – July 24
    Draw Every Day – July 24
    Draw Every Day - July 24 Continuing to draw every day, finished book 17 on 10th July and ...
    See photo »

…and the June images here

  • Draw Every Day – June 24
    Draw Every Day – June 24
    Draw Every Day - June 24 Continuing to draw every day, in book 17 using brush pens and a ...
    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.

Centre Apple Tree

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Centre Apple Tree

Another New Studio

I just completed the Contemporary Art Academy PG1 course with a session where the participants delivered an ‘elevator pitch’ summing up our practice using the insight gained from the course. This is obviously really difficult because it is hard to articulate in the first place and remains hard in the final analysis.

I said something like “My name is Ian Latham and I build mixed reality installations. These involve physical sculptures alongside virtual environments (worlds). I use found and reclaimed materials, branches, scaffold planks, insulation foam etc., to build objects and structures based on my suburban garden. The virtual worlds that work alongside these explore the process of creation using LiDAR scans of the sculptures at various stages of their creation. The juxtaposition of these objects with representations of the garden IRL suggest the process of growth that I’m exploring.”

There were lots of hhms and aahs along the way, a few digressions and an element of self deprecation that was described to me as apologetic. All in all it was a great experience, it’s good to meet a group of peers and discuss the work rather than the life of being an artist.

I made this video for the presentation but in the end didn’t use it as we were trying to present ourselves as if we encountered someone while networking.

 

Centre Apple Tree

Red Garden Six

Since the last post I finished Red Garden Six with the addition of the red tree in the foreground.

Centre Apple Tree

Red Garden Seven 07 06 2024

Red Garden Seven 10 06 2024

I also took Red Garden Seven through two more stages. I’m not entirely convinced by either of them but I am persuaded there is nothing more I can do with either.

Two Red Trees – Pear and Apple 17 06 2024

I continued to work on the “Three Trees version Two” but it morphed into the “Two Red Trees – Pear and Apple” that will sit at the entrance to the virtual exhibition, and the physical one come to that.

Centre Apple Tree

Two Red Trees – Pear and Apple

The exhibition will have “Two Red Trees – Pear and Apple” at or just past the entrance, a new piece “Centre Apple Tree” in the centre of the quincunx and the first version of “Three Red Trees” at the top left and the “Dancing Partners” at top right. The various drawings may be displayed alongside although part of me thinks they’ll be separate.

Two Red Trees – Pear and Apple – Detail

Centre Apple Tree

Centre Apple Tree

Centre Apple Tree

I spent the back end of the month building the new “Centre Apple Tree”

And drawing it.

We had an unusual spell of good weather, for June, as well so I did some drawing in the garden.

Climbing rose 21 06 2024

Garden 26 06 2024

Hydrangea 26 06 2024

 

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The June drawings can be seen here

  • Draw Every Day – June 24
    Draw Every Day – June 24
    Draw Every Day - June 24 Continuing to draw every day, in book 17 using brush pens and a ...
    See photo »

…and the May images here

Draw Every Day - May 24 Continuing to draw every day, finished the 16th sketchbook on the 26th May,  after drawing with a set of watercolour pencils since the 12th April. The 16th sketchbook covered the fourth anniversary of daily drawing, on the 6th, and ends with the 1,481st consecutive drawing. Started book 17 using brush pens and a mixture of black, grey, sepia and sanguine ink. The drawings are made any time from 9:00 am at the breakfast table and occasionally later in the day if I'm away from home. The drawings have been posted since the beginning, 6th May 2020, on instagram https://www.instagram.com/latham_1959 You can see previous months through the galleries page https://www.ian-latham.com/blog/galleries or you can go straight to April's drawings here -
  • Draw Every Day – April 24
    Draw Every Day – April 24
    Draw Every Day - April 24 Continuing to draw every day, finished the 15th sketchbook on the ...
    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.