16.05.21. Workbook Graphite Drawing: Deconstructed Map.
I am interested in Landscape art, the environment, geology and maps. Therefore, I used this New Zealand topographical map (below) as a background base to start my figurative animal collage, following on from my Palimpsest animal envisaged abstract collages.
When creating my collage, I not only cut around the map’s edges, but also deconstructed it along the inner lines, as I was focusing on the visual art element of line. The reason for this was that I imagined the earth, thus map breaking apart like in an earthquake.
In my workbook I drew the above map, repeating the cut out shapes using just a pencil. I extended my Palimpsest journey into another direction by creating a graphite drawing (see below).
My graphite landscape is a three-dimensional drawing of tonal depth with dark and light chiaroscuro effects up and down the mountain ranges. A soft, gradual change of tone from dark to light across the whole picture plane is demonstrated from the top left diagonal to the lower right diagonal. By drawing the positive landforms and leaving the negative sea shapes blank to represent an earthquake’s breakages, I have also displayed contrast (a principal of design).
The difference between my drawing and my found map is that I drew linear rising landforms, because I wished to convert the map into a landscape from a bird’s eye view. In my above drawing there are no mapping grids. Separating the square grids and drawing the map lines became my next Palimpsest step in this drawing investigation (see below).
Instead of enlarging, I then thought I could miniaturize my map by drawing the landscape parts and my invented square shapes onto an A4 mathematical gridded paper. I could further extend this drawing by separating the square grids, and rearranging them in different alignments, angles and directions to make a more abstracted artwork.
I find drawing very enjoyable, and I realised my map idea could provide endless possibilities to make marks. For example, if this abstracted map grid became a coloured paper/card collage or a coloured print, the introduction of colour would create new patterns, lines and shapes. I had already created new shapes such as triangles within my gridded squares (above), and then I extended the squares to rectangles (as above), and thus my drawing was becoming unrecognisable from the original map (a Palimpsest concept).
Next Palimpsest Step: 20.05.21. Return to the Printmaking Lab to continue to explore coloured mono prints. (Revisit my above design – rectangular and triangular colour shapes).
Palimpsest Change: My SUBJECT MATTER continues to change… from plant matter to animal and organic matter such as SEASHELLS.
After creating tonal three-dimensional SEASHELL DRAWINGS (see above and below), I used scissors and glue to handmade SEASHELL COLLAGES with transparent papers and photocopies, and then I invented SEASHELL DIGITAL COLLAGES using my handmade collages.
