LOOKING BACK: How do I choose two?
My First Selection of Favourite Drawings/Paintings.
Figures 1 – 5 (below). I created some of my favourite painterly marks by selecting the verbs: SHIFT, SLIDE, LIFT and PUSH. The Abstract Expressionist artist Gerhard Richter uses a technique of pushing paint with a squeegee. With my own invented tool I made up my own marks (e.g., thin vertical rectangular prism 3D effects, hot mud pool bubbles and criss-cross linear marks). In the past, I have created my own version of Drip and Splatter paintings, so I found it easy to make links to Jackson Pollock, by splattering and flicking paint everywhere! 🤪
Development Process of Figure 1. (Close-up) ‘BLACK, WHITE’ Painting.
(Verbs: Arrange, Rearrange, Streak, Stretch, Sling, Flick, Drip and Dribble).
Development Process of Figure 1. (Close-up) ‘BLACK, WHITE’ Painting.
(Verbs: Zig-zag, Criss-cross, Shift, Slice, Splatter, Spray, Sink, Climb, Fall, Transform.)
Close up of Figure 1. ‘BLACK, WHITE’ Painting.
Close up of Figure 1: ‘BLACK, WHITE’ Painting.
Figure 6. ‘Red River’. Acrylic Paint on Canvas. 2021. VERBS: MIX and MERGE, CURL and CURVE, LIFT and SINK.
Figures 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. (below) VERBS: MIX and MERGE, CURL and CURVE, LIFT and SINK.
Figure 10. Development Process of Figure 6. (Close-up). Fortunately I photographed this beautiful mark, 😀 but unfortunately I covered it up under layers of paint. 🤪 Sometimes, in the heat of creating an artwork, it is difficult to know when to conclude, or in this case: how to keep a mark you like.
Figure 14. ‘ Gold Line‘ Arum Lily Abstraction. Pastel and Charcoal. After creating quick charcoal sketches of lily flowers that were inspired by Man Ray’s photograph of Arum lilies, this pastel below was my first during the brief, and my favourite. From this drawing I developed a painting, yet I preferred the simplicity of this pastel’s delicate and soft linear quality above my painted work, which remains unfinished.
(Development Process: Arum Lily Photograph to Charcoal Sketch to Pastel Drawing)
Figures 15, 16. My favourite pastels (below) from my selected Fabric inspiration: (Designer Iris van Herpen’s dance costume material). I tried to capture both the fluidity of the material’s movement (the costume shifting as the dancer moved), and the inspirational patterns and colours of blue, purple, pink and gold.
Figure 17. ‘Headless Forest’, Pastel, Ink. 2021.
(Development Process: Renoir Painting to Figurative Pastel Drawings to this Abstracted Pastel Drawing) This is one of my favourite drawing developments because of the dark, mysterious subject and atmosphere. My pastel and ink drawing was inspired by a pre-1900 painting by Renoir. In particular, I like how I have invented a narrative. As I drew, I imagined an encircling abstract cape forest, richly coloured in navy blue. A shadowy figure in an 1890’s style dress with a dainty glove detail, appears from the cape forest with no head, and perhaps no torso, yet still stands in an upright pose.
(Development Process: Renoir Painting to Figurative Pastel Drawings to this Abstracted Pastel Drawing)
Figure 18. ‘Spinning Scarf Tie’, Charcoal Sketch.
(Development Process: Vogue Photograph to Digital Art to Pencil Sketch and Charcoal Sketches) This wee charcoal mark (below) is one of my favourite progression sketches, appealing because I was really ‘In the Moment!’ That day, I started drawing in pencil a figurative version of the model Jean Patchett in Irving Penn’s striking and inspirational photograph for Vogue. Changing to a charcoal stick gave me more freedom. Suddenly, I was abstracting and scribbling Jean Patchett and her outfit in a quick flurry of movement, moving around the page with a huge amount of speed. Using verbs: smear, swipe, push, twist and twirl, I found a creative energy and spirit smudging my charcoal stick in a circular motion on the A4 cartridge paper, and loving every minute.
The mark is small, insignificant, and nothing special. Yet some images or concepts reoccur, persistently popping into your head, and this is one of them. Therefore, it must mean something to me. An abstract expressionist representation of Jean Patchett’s windblown tie scarf, it reminds me of a turning Tumbleweed, or a spinning Catherine Wheel fire cracker.
(Development Process: Vogue Photograph to Digital Art to Pencil Sketch and Charcoal Sketches)
Figure 19. ‘INTERSTELLAR’ ‘RED SPLAT GONE BLACK‘ This painting began its life as the verb: Splat in dark blood red, but after experiencing many action words on top of it, the red splat turned black via digital manipulation, and died in space. Interstellar is a rogue planet, and it drifts in space alone between chaotic worlds. After photographing my Red Splat painting, I painted over it with another painting titled: ‘Red River’, above, because the mauve background colour didn’t appeal. I am very happy with these colours, and the overall composition now, plus I had enormous fun making this painting, both physically and then altering the colour digitally.
