Tag Archives: Rhubarb

Too Much Space

Posted on by
Reply

Too Much Space

Another New Studio

I’m currently torn between the idea of having a strong narrative that is followed through a particular space and the idea of a truly non-narrative space that awaits the visitor to build a story. In a sense like Homo Sapiens Nikolaus Geyrhalter‘s film from 2016 where the earth is seen to be slowly reclaimed by nature. The construction of a story, or do I mean ‘meaning’?, from an experience is something I’d imagine most of us do all the time. I have found that visitors to my virtual environments find it extremely difficult, as if the media itself leaves them demanding to be led.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5450084/

‘Solitary’ 03/01

At the beginning of the month I’d started this drawing while struggling with Unity, so I carried on. First washing then the background over in a filthy grey,

‘Solitary’ 06/01

then building the front tree back out and adding extra branches and twigs.

‘Solitary’ 08/01

Too Much Space

‘Solitary’ 13/01

Adding some lighter hues to the background between the trees and working to create a slight corona effect.

‘Solitary’ 31/01/25

In the end the tree, ‘Solitary’, looks like this and it might be finished.

Flower Painting 2 06/01

I worked over the second flower painting, darkening some of the background and adding depth.

Flowerbed 15/01

As I was still waiting for downloads at various parts of the month I started a new drawing from the flower bed.

Flowerbed 17/01

Flowerbed 20/01

The work is reaching for the multi layered and complex feeling of the overgrown bed while retaining sufficient separation between the plants. Also, hopefully, respecting the qualities of drawing with pastels.

Flowerbed 31/01

Still a lot of work required.

Abandoned Flower painting

Abandoned Flower Painting

Abandoned Flower Painting

I worked on a third square painting from the flower beds but it wouldn’t behave itself, three stages above and below the one I painted out, it’s white now.

Abandoned Flower Painting

Once I got to grips with the HDRP rendering in Unity I started to work through the scenes I wanted to place in ‘Woolgathering’

The first attempt at a meadow.

The second, attempting to get closer to the text of John Clare’s ‘Helpstone Green’

A walk up and down the hill in the second version.

And a very quick run through of the piece as it is at present. I’ve added the red gardens pieces into the mix as well at the back of the original garden. Ultimately there will be more development of that world as I move the sculptures and new ones I building now into the various scenes.

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The January drawings can be seen here

  • Draw Every Day – January 25
    Draw Every Day – January 25
    Draw Every Day - January 25 Continuing to draw every day in Fabriano artist's Journal with ...
    See photo »

…and the December images here

Draw Every Day - December 24 Continuing to draw every day,  i completed book 20 on the 7th December using brush pens and a mixture of black, grey, sepia and sanguine ink, as well as the occasional graphite drawing. i then moved into a Fabriano artist's Journal with coloured pages. On the 25th December I received a set of coloured brush pens from my wife and have used them since. 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  November's drawings here -
  • Draw Every Day – November 24
    Draw Every Day – November 24
    Draw Every Day - November 24 Continuing to draw every day in book 20 (a larger sketchbook) ...
    See photo »

There is a link to the previous month’s Gallery on each page.

The drawings are posted to  Instagram each day.

 

Moore’s Law

Posted on by
Reply

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.

Wading Through Mud

Posted on by
Reply

Wading Through Mud

(Another New Studio)

This has been a busy couple of weeks since my last post (link to post) with work on the NHS Barnsley project which is progressing but will be the subject of another post when it’s completed.

Distractions aside I continued to work on the large drawing I’d started but didn’t post last time out.

Wading Through Mud

Large Rose 11/08/23

Then (11th August) it looked like this, there evidence of some changes in the centre at the bottom but it doesn’t work, too structured and neither one thing nor the other.

WAding Through Mud

Large Rose 14/08/23

So I decided it needed some stronger blogs at the top right and some on the left and below to draw it together. This is the state of play on 14th August.

Wading Through Mud

Large Rose 18/08/23

I decided to move everything up a bit and strengthen the overall force of the circular composition. This is after the 18th August.

Wading Through Mud

Large Rose 25/08/23

I needed to think about it for a while and I worked on the UKSPF project while I did that but felt like it had no presence so I attacked it with white paint and this is what it looks like on the 25th August. It hasn’t changed since but illustrates how you can work your arse off and things will still go wrong.

So I’ve left that for a while, who knows how long, Howard Hodgkin  used to turn his paintings to the wall for two or more years so I’m not going to be in any hurry.

I have a desire to get much simpler with the physical work – I’m also trying to get back to the world building in VR – so I started to work on a new drawing of apples I have in the studio. I see this as part of a sketchbook with AR elements that will include the birdsnest, and drawings of my Doc Martens and the garden at Tickhill Road.

Wading Through Mud

Two Apples 29/08/23

The first drawing is just the apples on a sheet of white paper and I thought it interesting how the colour balance changed when I added the shadowed wall next to the window.

Wading Through Mud

Two Apples 29/08/23

I’ve completed the UKSPF project bar the publication, the images can be seen in this post “Not Building”  the video is a quick run through of how it works. I might reduce the size of the videos as much as I can.

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The August drawings can be seen here

  • Draw Every Day – August 23
    Draw Every Day – August 23
    Draw 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 23
    Draw Every Day – July 23
    Draw 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 Twitter and Instagram each day.