So here it is again… and I do like the close-up simplicity. Over the last 10 months I’ve been looking with open eyes for the first time at the view of trees from my flat; crazy that I have never thought about exploring the changing seasons before now. Spots have been in front of my eyes big time… new bud spots, new leaf spots, cherry blossom spots, hawthorn blossom spots, autumn leaf spots and winter raindrop spots. This is Autumn. Winter is in the works!
Les Coquelicots! It’s a wonderfully lively word for these crazily red, powerful but delicate miracles of nature.
]]>
Letting loose on Fenchurch Street Station, London. Wanted to try to express the mood of the place which seemed so much more vibrant than my observational drawing showed. After scanning the second acrylic sketch I manipulated it a little in Photoshop.
Fenchurch Street Station, London. Built on what is thought to be the site of a Roman fort, it was the first railway station to be built in the City. The origins of Fenchurch Street station lie in the London and Blackwall Railway which was masterminded by Robert Stephenson and began operating in 1840. At first, the line was short, with stations based at Shadwell, Stepney, Millwall and the Isle of Dogs, the route was essentially created to serve London’s then sprawling dockyards. Now it’s a commuter station serving Essex mainly. I drew the station several times over the course of a few months and never quite got it ‘right’; it was only when I sat there longer than usual (warmer days) I realised it only really comes alive at 5.30 when City workers rush home. I added them to the drawing and suddenly it came alive!
Watercolour and ink on Arches ‘rough’ watercolour paper.
On a totally different note to my London station drawings: in November I was sent a bouquet of beautiful flowers full of the most sumptuous summer colours that immediately took me back to the light, warmth and sunshine of the Mediterranean. I was so happy to receive it that I took a photo every day as it bloomed still further. Last week I decided to paint it and play with it, imagining it as a textile print for happy summer frocks. This is one colour-way. There are others but I can’t get them to stay in the right place on the blog!!
St Pancras Station, London. This was the original, main entrance to the railway station when it was built and opened in 1873. Now it leads to the Eurostar platforms as well as to the deluxe St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. One, no two very cold December days I sat and really explored the facade of this extraordinary piece of architecture. Doing so took me back to the days when my children were small and we used to put a pin on a page in the A-Z of London (without looking) then head off to explore that area on foot. I was reminded just how much we miss seeing by racing around in cars and buses. The detail in Victorian architecture can be breathtaking as here. And it is in this detail that we see the richness of the human touch, passion and care. Watercolour, pen and ink on that gorgeous ‘rough’ Arches watercolour paper.
After a summer of being outdoors most of the time the November lockdown brought a different way of wanting to draw. I wanted to simply draw what I see; I wanted to observe buildings and everyday life a little more closely, and give myself the time to see quiet things more clearly. I decided to take a look at London’s stations. Three times I returned to the same spot with my fold-up stool till I felt I had enough to finalise the drawing at home. And each time several people would stop and very politely ask about what I was drawing then tell me a little bit about themselves or the station. Drawing is a great way to meet people I would otherwise never get the chance to speak to. I’ve found this in China, India, Australia – wherever I go, people the world over love to see drawing. This drawing is watercolour and ink, done on the most beautifully helpful ‘rough’ Aquarelle Arches watercolour paper. The strong black of the trees on the left of the drawing (see above) tugged at the eye; I reduced them to a wash, resolving the problem.
The work on the left comes from a place of ‘letting go’ of what I was working on using the image of the garden in Seville. Up till now, in my personal work – I have loved black or very dark colours as a very graphic statement, overlaying blocks of colour, allowing only tiny sections or scratches to push through. I unconsciously used a white brush (in Photoshop) to draw on top of an existing scanned acrylic Seville image and am surprised by the result. It feels like a ‘pushing-aside’ of darkness.
Spraying the white line with a colour I realised it reminded me of the light shining through a stained glass window at the Alhambra so I used the colours of that to finish the piece. A friend who reads Arabic tells me that at first glance it looks like Arabic writing and I suppose it could be my way of attempting to capture the visual beauty of that calligraphy and what I see, although what I was consciously doing was drawing the garden. More than anything, it feels like the joy of light.
]]>
Reaching the finished illustration/painting of the garden in the Alhambra (that is now on the travel pages of my website) involved a great deal of visual exploration and frustration, trying different materials and techniques, pushing to try to find a way of expressing the light and shadow, space, the intense colours, textures. Left and above are five experiments, the one on the top left shows some frustration… perhaps all showing some frustration. The image above feels like it’s getting somewhere. This is just a selection of many. Materials include acrylic, ink, gouache, pastel, sweat.
More explorations in progress towards textile. More in a few days.
]]>
This began as an exercise in taking the sketchbook exploration (last page of sketchbook section) further – loosening up! I used a flat acrylic brush, loaded it with a watery mix of blue/black acrylic and danced across the surface of an A2 heavy cartridge paper, twisting and turning the brush. When dry I took a soft, round watercolour brush and repeated the dance.
Then I made a repeat pattern which is always surprising. In this case I want to loosen it up, give it more air. But before doing that I decided to see what I could do with Photoshop tools and came up with the image on the right that seems to be more 3-dimensional. When my textile class (I’m learning) restarts in the autumn I’m going to try devoré – a process whereby the chemical paste silkscreened onto the appropriate fabric will ‘eat away’ what you see here as the top blue layer.
