Day Five: Sugar Factory/Rum Distillery - a window to its soul

The old sugar factory/rum distillery...this informed some of my work last year and it is a very special place to be and draw. The life that this location use to have, lost to time and ruin. By sitting and looking, thinking and watching, scribing this place to a page, it's a very magical experience. 

I spent a while walking around the grounds before finding my spot to sit and draw. I chose this specific view as it seemed to hold everything I had been exploring on this trip so far: colour, surface, texture, windows, layers, framing and moment. By taking what was into what is I have given energy back to this static standing mass of brick and bone. I like that this image looks magestic, cathedral like in its stance. The colour too is so vidid and alive.

Exploring further patterns that can be found in the makeup of the building I kept coming back to all of its many windows... Could this be something to explore in my work this coming year...?

The setting of the factory is quite fantastic, how its architectural mass sits against the undulating hills, the composition was just crying to be interpreted in my sketchbook...

During the tutorial we talked about the reinterpretation of drawings through collage and other media. 

Drawing is an act of transformation, so transform it again through additional drawing!  

Day Four: Malaga

Today we went Malaga. There were some great exhibitions on and it was a good day for photographs and drawing.

The Alcazabar was my favourite location of the day last time and it didn't disappoint on a second visit! It is a most beautiful place - I love all that moorish styling and with a new found mode of 'useful drawing' I had a great day!

Here are my 'surface patterns' from the day:

And a more painterly psychedelic study:

There was an exhibition by Subodh Gupta: The Imaginary Order of things at the Contemporary Art Gallery which was excellent. My favourite pieces from the show ticked the texture box that I have been collecting:

The window holes invited you into another world: 

There were other sculptures playing with mirrors/concealment:

The 'combine' sculptures were my most favourite:

Along with the simplistic vessel forms:

The composition

And the layering

I mean look at it - wow!

That's some more details to add to my list then...hanging, fixing, rope and thread

We discussed relief painting in ceramics during the tutorial and ideas behind installation. I think this is the area I want to explore with my work. Although I would like to try lots of other materials, I can save some of that for later. Having enjoyed working with ceramics over the past few years I would like to challenge my current uses of it and perhaps incorporate more drawing... a good day though, on lots of levels, it's off to the sugar factory tomorrow - yippee!

Day Two: Comares

We visited the village of Comares today and travelled along a winding dirt track to get there. As we drove along we stumbled across this ruin of a farmhouse: 

It was the perfect spot for a mark-making explore!

I used some of the ideas from the trip last year...taking the colours that were around (and that I'd seen the day before) and translated those into the darker interiors of the ruin. So considering composition I looked at this crumbling roof:

and explored colour, line and texture:

Here is another abstracted pattern taking in the shape and colour of the prickly pears and weed like flowers growing amidst the ruin, it's looking a little angie lewin!:

Then we travelled on to the village. Stopping for lunch at this beautiful hillside, just look at that blue!:

There was plenty to photograph and compose along the way:

I have found that my photographs have improved since going on these drawing trips. They have enabled my eyes to see better, select better and 'draw' better with the camera....

We then stopped and spent some time drawing the rooftops. I continued exploring line:

But felt this one to work better, the suggestion of shape over specified line makes it a much stronger image and exploration:

I explored colour a bit more:

 And different media when we got back to the house, here is a mixed composition of conte crayon, pen and watercolour:

In tutorial we explored ideas behind creating form. Can you find shapes and 3D forms in your drawings? Is this almost a reverse type of layering? Abstracting shapes and forms to inform further alterations, through scale, stitch and other media? This really got me thinking about what I want to develop over this next year...

Drawing in Spain: Round 2!

It was my second time Drawing In Spain this summer and it was just as good as my first! Having been to Gdansk at the beginning of the summer too, this felt like the perfect close.

Visiting familiar places but with a heightened appreciation for drawing, here begins my journey... Day 1: Cutar

Settling into the village, we had a walk round to find some things to draw. I had a few unsuccessful drawings but started finding my way as I got to this one:

I'm not a huge fan of it, but there are some interesting things going on. The heavy line vs painterly abstraction and the attention to the hillside landscape. I started to explore this a bit more:

The pattern and colour that is coming out here is interesting. The changing combinations of large, small, dark and light, and circles, again, are playing a key part. 

At our tutorial in the evening we talked about making 'useful drawing' over 'picture making'. I think this is exactly what I've been battling with. Having produced a lot of drawings over the summer but not really knowing what to 'do' with them, the idea of really thinking about how to use what you are going to translate, really opens up your ability to create work. 

I took this on and started really thinking about what I wanted to get out of this last year at uni...What is it that I am enjoying drawing? What are my 'pictures' telling me? This was the perfect time to be away and being objective about my work - yippeee, so glad I'm here! 

Is there a problem with pattern?

During my travels this summer I've tried to keep a sketchbook with me. Whilst away in France I had the view of the Beaujolais Hills and started abstracting pattern and line:

The houses sprawling across the valley

and a compositional train journey, capturing elements of the landscape as I passed through

Flattening the landscape seemed to come naturally, absorbing what was in front of me and translating this into line. It feels very graphical, which has its own quality, yet feels removed from what I might want to achieve in 3-dimensional form. Time for experiments, when I get back in the workshops and studio, but for the time being I am enjoying, paper, line and pen.

Gdansk: it brought out the pattern in me!

Just got back from another great trip with Martyn...this time we were Drawing in Gdansk! It's a beautiful Polish city with lots of history and, as with my trip to Spain last year, this has fallen at the perfect time - I'm finished for the summer - yay! :)

View of Gdańsk's Old Town from the Motława river.

Here are my drawings from the week (a much shorter one than Spain...) and I must say - I'm surprised by all the pattern that's come out! I'll be honest, it's completely thrown me for where I should take my work next year (that dreaded 2d or 3d question...grrr!) but that's what this last big summer break is all about...stepping back and assessing what's worked best these past 2 years!

So, the journey: 

Day One....

After wandering around the shipyards, taking lots of photos and stopping for a very curious coffee at the ship builders cafe, this arrangement spoke to me out of the window:

an abstraction of the shapes of the rust on an old shipping container!

After walking back to the old town we set ourselves up at a cafe facing the water:
 

I was more literal in this record of the mill...

...then a little more abstract about the cabin on top of a boat!

What's going on? So many styles!!??

Leigh and I parked up at another cafe

where these guys were playing in the square!

The main square is laden with groups of colourful tourists.
The jazz music seem to fit so well as their backdrop, I just had to record it over the top!

Tutorial was interesting that evening....lots of styles to choose from! I questioned my  drawings as being very separate beings to my 3D work...how could I combine the two??? 

hmmmmmmmmm?

Day Two....

We had a life-drawing session scheduled at the local art school in the afternoon so in the morning it was soaking up the city:

view of the Town Hall, with a beautiful blue sky!

abstractions of the crowds and picking out separate colours.
I'd like to layer up more of these - from different locations maybe....?

And in the afternoon a collaborative drawing session! The task: team up with a student from the Polish school and work into each other's drawing. 45 mins on your 1st drawing, swap to your partners drawing, 45mins, add your own style to the drawing. Go back to your original drawing - what problems now lay for you, 30 mins, close.

I was teamed up with Igor, who uses spray paint as his medium! Not only that but the students worked * REALLY BIG * - their easels are the size of doors - no joke!! This was of course a challenge enough in itself, then to contend with a medium you have never used and work into it - * s c a r y * exciting and liberating too though - really great exercise!!!

I forgot to take a picture of my original drawing but here is Igor's, just after I've added some marks:

It was great watching him work, the technique - amazing! It feels like a Francis Bacon this drawing -  I love it!!!

Now my drawing, with Igor's addition and mine again on top! A vast improvement from the original underneath - yep - he sprayed all over my original drawing!? I was very happy about that though because I hated it!!!

Over both drawings, there were some elements that worked better than others - 

these are my favourite bits:

We held a tutorial afterwards with some of the Polish students - this was interesting to gain their perspective on our work. It was suggested that my style was more painterly (fine art) than design (which sent my head off in a spin again - of course!) Appreciated the comments though and am parking them for now as I digest what's going on!!!

Day Three...

It was Polish bank holiday and a special procession took place in the city. Whilst waiting for it to start we had a coffee and I drew some tall buildings...

the procession got underway with lots of national dress

Afterwards we head over to Westerplatte (by Pirate Ship of all things!) and set up camp by the monument. The view was of windows, ships and cranes. I abstracted and assembled again:

primary coloured boat

marks and cranes and windows and colour

So as you can see, lots of pattern happening in my sketchbook! I'm enjoying it, just not that sure what to 'do' with it? Screen-printing maybe - but on to what? My feedback on last term was asking for more design work so maybe I'll start there....?

Well, from now until I go back to Spain (September) I have a lot of time to think about what I want to be doing next year. I've my dissertation to get stuck into (thinking installation ceramics as a subject), family to visit (France) and a mess of a studio to sort through! (eeek! it's a total tip!) Hopefully though some sense will come out of it all? In the meantime, it's back for a couple of days then off again! This time to London, for work experience!

To close however, Gdansk was brilliant - I will definitely be going back!