Brief

Trying really hard to work on an old self portrait ! It just wasn’t happening

Whilst working with Derwent Graphite XL sticks and experimenting with shape and forms inspired by trees I had a discussion about wanting to see an image within my abstract forms. We talked about Pareidolia and then discussed Graham Sutherland who I had never heard of before. This conversation came about because of my drawings and wanting to find shapes, faces or human figures within my work. It is interesting what we talk about whilst working.

Working on my sketch book.

Last winter I took photographs from the landscape in the Lake District, using Trees, moss and dry stone walls as inspiration for form and patterns.

I used these photographs whilst on a one day workshop at the Lund Galleries in Easingwold with Debbie Loane this October.

An inspirational setting and a good opportunity to get back to the idea of working freely and quickly on paper and making our own sketch books.

Research and Development

My overall mark was 62%. That is just within a Merit so I am relived and very happy with that. In my minds eye I feel I could have done much better but my organisation and technical ability has let down. I feel I have come a long way but I can go much further and I just hope I can organise myself in a more professional and consistent manner.

Practice in Context

My overall mark was 65% again within a Merit. I am very happy with that too. I struggled with importing photographs into my essay from my phone and aligning them with the text. This took up so much of my time. I eventually managed so next time I won’t have to worry so much.

Using mainly white, Payne’s grey, yellow ochre and Indian red. it’s very easy to use too much colour. Scraping off the colour and adding white as I think it’s too dark. I have received in the post the 1976 catalogue from the exhibition at the Royal Academy, it’s a second hand book and at £8 I think it’s a bargain. I also got L.S.Lowry 1987 Phaidon, again second hand and really cheap although a lot of the reproduction photographs are in black and white which is a shame.

I must go to Salford when it reopens. I’ve gone online and started the virtual tour. You can get really close up to the paintings and see how thick the paint is.

As a lover of Lowry I want to experiment and paint two simple compositions based around his drawings.

I studied L.S.Lowry at university and as part of a project we had to reproduce one of his drawings.

Now many years later I find myself doing something similar.

I am now in the process of painting my own simplistic impression and emotional response to a drawing and with Lowry in mind while I paint and experiment.

I can’t wait to see what happens.