ash lines

stepping stones

Its hard to articulate why I make work; I do it instinctively - so there's something in the FEEL of doing it. I think while I am preparing the surface, in recent pieces that's painting board,with gesso (or even a step before that, mixing gesso from chalk powder). Then sanding it back looking and feeling for a lead into how the piece is going to progress all the time semi-concious of recent drawing trips and body memory of repeated drawings and movements, I develop a relationship with the surface. 

This also feeds directly into performance/movement drawing - feeling a rhythm and being aware or knowing what will come next by letting the body move only in the moment. Some decisions are concious and these are fed by accumulated knowledge or preference.

I leave a space for interpretation; I make a suggestion - I can't say exactly what the images are as they are an amalgamation of choices and influences throughout the process of building up marks. Influences such as music, mood, location, experience, temperature, a line that repeats, a curve that fits.

So I paint then sand back. The surface and I are now familiar with each other - we have built a relationship. Sometimes the surface dictates a line and I follow its lead, or I make the first move and the surface responds. what follows is the struggle which concerns the image coming forth the desire to control and restrict it. This tension is what makes work sing. 

To manage this dialogue I work on 2 or 3 pieces at a time, allowing unworkable elements to co-exist with more successful ones I like the sense of progression there is always something to move from and onto; like stepping stones I leap across one to the other. 

Art after the drapes

Having spent the morning drawing drapes at the Beacon, Hastings I took advantage of the bright sunlight plus the fact i still had all my drawing gear with me and drove on up to the country park near Fairlight. It's interesting to note that in my drawings during the still life session of drapes there was an unmistakable presence of what can only be described as landscape. 

This is actually very exciting as it demonstrates I that I now approach subjects in a way that is unquestionably my own language - I have talked about having a visual language of marks and lines before but sometimes the penny drops right down into the slot and I take a significant step forwards. Trying to decipher what drawing is about is sometimes ruined by over analysing but occasionally there are moments of clarity in what is for me an intuitive and almost unconscious process that I am trying to understand better.

Here are the rest of the sketches from Hastings looking over to Dungeness power station. A mixture of charcoal, compressed and home made, black pastel, graphite and chalk. 

Charcoal burning

Making charcoal in Heathfield - an experiment to find the biggest bit of wood I can successfully charcoal, results so far have been mixed. The biggest log of ash we used splintered into big chunks but doesn't make a very good mark. I think the Alder and Pussy willow are better mark makers. I have tried all sorts of wood to see which works better though its almost impossible to remember or recognise which is which after its burned! 

About my drawing practise

Why do I draw? 

To immerse myself in another world. To connect with something beyond which is bigger than self. To see differently and to see beyond the expected, to allow the unexpected to emerge. 

The physical process of drawing is integral to my work, I work from live subject matter. I work intuitively. Surface becomes integral to the work. 

There is an intellectual process in the making of the work and also in the appreciation of it. 

Stepping up to the line, finding the curve.

Drawing...

Gesso chalk charcoal ink board sand paper wire wool water ash 

Perception of edges, contrast, relationships, space and the whole. 

Drawing becomes part of you like a boot; strong, moulded to your own shape, full of story and layers of history. It captures more than a moment more like a lifetime of mark, stroke, scratch, rub and surface.  A tentative line can gently meander only to be juxtaposed with solidity.

Holiday drawings 2013. Eweleaze beach. 

The rough and the smooth

Recent work from Blow, my studio on the south coast. 

Getting all my work out to select pieces from the last 6 months is a long and involved task for me, it involves clearing enough space in the flat occupied by 3 young boys, 1old boy and all their toys. Then laying it all out and grouping it into pieces that work together. This is the second time since January and not the last. I find it really hard but extremely useful to move forward every now and again. I will need to do this again in a few weeks to get work ready for my exhibition at www.blackShed.co.uk in August/September and then later in preparation for www.coastalcurrents.co.uk in September. 

I decided to give my studio a name, 'Blow' is after my favourite artist Sandra Blow, it also reminds me of the frequent wind we get here right on the coast. http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/sandra-blow. Checking her out on the web I just found this trip round her studio...she has a few more chairs than I do...

► 2:59► 2:59

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAiPKBOk8As

I think she said once she didn't have the luxury of a family and her painting, for her it was one or the other. My guess is every woman artist would empathise with that.