Life Drawing 18.10.16

Pen, continuous line

Another month flies by and it's time for Life Drawing again! We had a new (to us) model for this session which is always interesting, there are so many things that affect the atmosphere and dynamics of the session; the model, the number of artists, which artists, how my day has gone. On this occasion I'd had quite a good day, less stressful than usual on a life drawing day and as I was due to go on holiday at the end of the week I was feeling quite upbeat.

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

It was a nice busy session and I was pleased to welcome a new artist and to welcome back an artist who used to be part of the group when we met at Denton Holme. The pool of artists who attend the session has really grown over the past few years which is great and it's always lovely to see people and catch up, it's a very friendly group.

Pen, continuous line

Two pens at once

Left handed drawing

For this session our model wanted a bit of direction which was a good challenge for me as I had to think about what would work for everyone and try and help create poses that would provide interest from all angles. It also got me thinking about what I like to draw, the elements of life drawing that particularly appeal to me. Not surprisingly what I like are twists, folds, curves and poses that hide as well as reveal; all themes that occur throughout my work.

Blind drawing

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

I've had a lot of project work on recently and have been busy working on pieces for my upcoming exhibition so although I've been in my studio a lot I haven't been doing as much drawing. I really felt the impact of this during this session, it took me a long time to get proportions right and I was more hesitant and less confident than when I'm drawing regularly. As I say almost every month: I must get back into daily drawing!

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

Blind, left handed drawing

As always I enjoyed the drawing, I really appreciate the time just to sit and draw. I always come away feeling more energised then when I started and keen to do more.

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

Life Drawing 20.9.16

Pen, continuous line

It always seems to happen that my Life Drawing sessions occur on the most stressful of days. At the time I think this is a very bad thing because having got home from a stressful day at work the last thing I feel like doing is going out again to run a life drawing session. However, I think it's probably not really such a bad thing because it does make me get drawing and I find that by the end of the session I'm restored and calm again.

Blind drawing

Blind drawing

Blind drawing

September's session very much followed this pattern, a stressful time at work and cancellation by the booked model did not put me in the most calm and cheerful state of mind but one of my regular models was able to cover the session and I had a good chat with the artists who came to the session and I got stuck into my drawing and by the end I was feeling positively happy.

Coloured pencil

Coloured pencil

Coloured pencil

One of the good things about starting the session in a grump is that I think that my work isn't going to be very good anyway because of the way I feel so I don't worry too much or try too hard and generally I end up with a set of drawings I'm quite happy with.

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

For this session I didn't put any pressure on myself to try to draw in a particular way or achieve anything in particular. I just allowed myself to relax and draw and this naturally led to me doing a bit of experimenting, including a couple of drawings done with coloured pencils that I'm quite pleased with. I think I will try working this way again and I'd also like to use some water-soluble mediums again as I used to work with water-soluble graphite quite a bit but haven't recently and I think it would be interesting to try again.

Left handed drawing

Left handed drawing

Hopefully the October session will be less stressful but I still hope to take on board what I've learnt from this session and take it further.

C-Art at Prism Arts 2016

Main Studio, C-Art at Prism Arts 2016

Rather unusually I had a relatively quiet summer, I took some time out to focus on my work and really enjoyed being in my studio and getting into my own work. I took part in Carlisle Art Fair which was a great experience for me. I met lots of interesting people, sold some work and enjoyed the whole process. Although I was tired after the show I also felt quite inspired and keen to carry on developing my practice, making it more of a priority.

Nature Climb, 2016
Katie Lock and Maddie Mould

Nature Climb, 2016
Katie Lock and Maddie Mould

Nature Climb, 2016
Katie Lock and Maddie Mould

It therefore came as a bit of a shock to the system when I came to start putting together our Prism Arts exhibition at our Paternoster Row spaces for C-Art 2016! It was one of those times when the phrase 'anything that can go wrong will go wrong' kept popping into my head. However, after a stressful week, a small amount of cursing and a lot of hard work we got the exhibition up and ready for the preview.

Drawings, John Lake, Emerging Artist (Prism Arts Studio Theatre West and Studio Arts)

Triptych, Prism Arts Creative Conversations Group

Triptych (detail,)  Prism Arts Creative Conversations Group

Prism Arts rents our studios and office space from the University of Cumbria in their Business Interaction Centre and because we're in the university's spaces we've been working with them and some of their students to provide exhibition opportunities, including a bursary which went to Katie Lock and Maddie Mould for their beautiful piece 'Nature Climb' which is hung in the stairwell of the building and we also gave our small studio to student Emeli Hartness who has created an intriguing installation based around nursery rhymes and their dark origins.

Prism Arts Studio Arts group 

Prism Arts Studio Arts group 

Prism Arts Studio Arts group 

Prism Arts Studio Arts group 

Several of the groups I work with for Prism Arts have work on show for the exhibition, including my Studio Arts group and the Wednesday Art Group at Carleton Day Centre. I find it both exciting and nerve racking installing work for exhibition, especially other people's work. I know in my head how I want to display things and how I think things should look but of course as in most aspects of real life this rarely happens and I spend a lot of time assessing alternatives.

Carleton Day Centre, Wednesday Art Group

Carleton Day Centre, Wednesday Art Group

Carleton Day Centre, Wednesday Art Group

Carleton Day Centre, Wednesday Art Group

How work is displayed is so important because it has a big impact on how viewers respond to it. I believe the work produced by our participants at Prism Arts is of a very high quality and I want to be able to show how talented these people are and that they can achieve so much more than some people expect. Giving people the opportunity to develop their creative skills allows them to find their own voice and tell their own story, rather than always having others speak for them.

Prism Arts/Tullie House: Picturing Places response work

Prism arts/St. Bede's/ Carlisle Library: Seven Stories project

Last year for C-Art several of Prism Arts artists, including myself, showed work and we had the opportunity to again this year. Earlier in the year we'd chosen the theme 'Flow' as it was nice and vague but would hopefully give a cohesiveness to the show. Not many of us exhibited this year but similarly to last year I was surprised by how well our pieces, all produced independently and without consultation with each other, fitted together beautifully. I love everything about Jan Hick's piece which embodies the theme perfectly.  I chose to show my small textile banner 'Flow: Connect' which is made from hand dyed indigo, beads and feathers and took forever to stitch!

Prism Arts artist: L-R Amanda Mudge, Amanda Mudge, Jan Hicks, Helen Walsh

Jan Hicks: Flow, Helen Walsh Flow: Connect

Flow: Connect

C-Art is on across Cumbria until 25th September with an impressive array of artists exhibiting so if you can I recommend you get out there and follow the yellow signs!

A Walk in the Woods

Memento III, 2016
Twigs, feather, thread, gold paint, red velvet.

As I wrote about in my last blog post, over the past couple of months I have been busy preparing for Carlisle Arts Fair. I've been able to spend some time in my studio making work and I've also had a chance to start playing around with some ideas that have been floating around in my head (and sketchbooks) for a while but which I haven't had chance to develop.

Tatting

Assemblage, detail

Assemblage, detail

One of these ideas involved working with boxes; more specifically making small pieces of work that could be displayed in boxes. I was thinking about artefacts and museum displays and the idea of making something precious simply by putting it in a box, giving it protection and status. Making some pieces exploring these ideas was going to be one of the first things I did in terms of making work for the fair.

Assemblage, 2016
Wooden box, curated objects

Assemblage, detail

I had already amassed a small collection of boxes, including a wooden box with small compartments and a lid with a clear acetate panel and so I started working with these. I curated a collection of small objects and made some small pieces of tatted lace and a cushion for it to sit on. I included several feathers as well as I wanted the boxes to fit in with the rest of my work.

Reliquary, 2016
Found wood, gold paint, fleece, feather, indigo dyed thread

Reliquary, 2016
Found wood, gold paint, fleece, feather, indigo dyed thread

Reliquary, 2016
Found wood, gold paint, fleece, feather, indigo dyed thread

As often happens, however, things didn't go exactly according to plan. I spent a full day working on my box pieces and at the end of it I felt extremely dissatisfied with everything I'd done. It can be very difficult when you've had an idea in your head for a long time and then when you finally get to try it out it doesn't work quite as you'd hoped.

Collected materials

Work in progress

Found feathers

This left me feeling rather grumpy and as Mr. Stitches was also feeling a bit grumpy we decided the best thing to do was to go for a walk. We're very lucky to live in a very beautiful part of the world and we only have to walk for a few minutes before we're out in the countryside. As we walked and talked I felt my mood lift and new ideas started creeping into my brain. I'd been collecting interesting twigs and on this walk I found some beautiful magpie feathers too and as I was walking I started thinking of new ways of working.

Memento I, 206
Twig, indigo dyed thread and fabric, feather

Memento I, detail

Increasingly I've been interested in incorporating natural materials into my work and place (in the sense of location) has been becoming more important too. I wanted to create some pieces of work that were created from the environment and that continued to explore my interest in birds, feathers and the idea of the bird as representative of the human spirit.  I've also been looking into the folklore of various cultures that see birds (and feathers as representative of birds) as surrogates for the human spirit. The druids, for instance, created cloaks of feathers as they believed this would help them channel the bird spirits which would let them get closer to the sky gods and thus be able to transcend earthly bonds.

Memento II, 2016
Twig, feathers, red velvet

Memento II, detail

When I got back to the studio I started working with the twigs and feathers I'd collected as well as threads that I'd dyed naturally. I began to develop a personal vocabulary using these materials (more of this in another post I think) and I'm really excited about how this work could develop.

Memento III, detail

Memento III, detail