EVERYONE'S WORK - 4th August 2015

Well, this is exciting!  What have you all been up to?


The first to send in was PENNY, with the following :-  "Here are my efforts!  Decided to follow your advice from June and make drawings less finished.  So have not allowed myself to use tone (well almost not!)  
I think that, despite the incredible inaccuracy of the blind drawings, they probably provide a better basis for interesting paintings.  I intend to also follow your advice to try painting from memory of the more detailed drawings that i did at County Hall."

Nr 1. Kids playing in water fountains.

Nr 2. Blind drawing of helter-skelters and voids in building opposite level 4 blue bar.
Shading done after - probably should have left as line.

Nr 4.  Blind drawing looking down from blue bar window.

Nr 3.  View from blue bar.

Nr 5.  Same view as Nr 4 but looking.

Penny, I think these are tremendously exciting, as are your plans to work from memory to some degree.  This may be the first time you've really let go of the fear of 'not having enough' in a drawing - am I right?  

I understand what you say about the patches of dark in drawing no. 2, but all they are are THOUGHTS or possibilities.  You don't have to stick to them.  I think they are important, because they mark down that set of options, to be used or rejected as you see fit later on.  Working from memory, they may well change anyway.  It has good possibilities that drawing.  You may find no. 1 is a bit 'old Penny' - a bit rigid in its options?  No. 3 has a very nice sense of scale and rhythm already, so see what rearrangements happen from memory.

Nos. 4 and 5 have the added problem of perspective.  The obvious view of the ambulance (?) from above etc.  You will need to decide what to do about that.  the others are more flat-on, so don't really present this problem.  It's something Jane wrestles with too, on a regular basis.

In your work stemming from Dr. J's house, you got around the problem by having those overlapping plans.  The perspective was there, but what was in front and what was behind - a good solution.

Really exciting - can't wait to see what you do with them!!

Next, we have JANE , who sent the following :-

 No. 1 - Image of Hungerford Bridge standing on Waterloo Bridge in the howling wind.

Nos. 2 - 5  These images were drawn back in the RFH. Just trying things out. Couldn’t get into colour. Meant to.

Jane no. 1

Jane nos 2 & 5

Jane nos. 3 & 4

This is an old blind drawing I did of Hungerford Bridge.

Thank you Jane - an interesting set.  I get the feeling (and do say if I'm wrong) that you don't quite know what you want from your drawings at the moment?  It is especially interesting to see the older drawing.  You were confidently into using the blind drawing overlaps of planes and shapes.  The drawings done yesterday are more conventional (nothing wrong in that!), in that they all show a more straightforward interpretation of the relative planes and proportions.  There is also an awareness of the use of tone, which again didn't concern you previously.  So......hmm!  I think one question to ask yourself is what you want to do with all the 'open' spaces - the sky; the foreground etc.  Are they going to be 'sky' and 'foreground' or are they going to be component shapes?  Are the paintings going to be blocks of carefully arranged colour (and tones of colours), which have Hungerford Bridge embedded in them, or are they going to be paintings of Hungerford Bridge?  There is a difference.

The most recent experiments you've shown us have a very sophisticated use of colours AND textures/patterns.  You have the imformation for all of these in your drawings, especially in the ones where you've really detailed the wires and criss-crosses of the bridge, and speckles on the beach.  I think you have to follow those options, and see where they take you - do some brave texturing and patterning - that will be quite new for you.  See what happens.

Think about what I have just said to Penny about the perspective, especially with the curve of the river - what do you want to say spacialy??

So may questions Jane, and no answers from me - sorry.  I think you are at one of the moments of being brave and striking out into new territory - always scary, and something where you just have to be brave and carefree (!) , and see what happens.  Good luck!!

Next, we have PAT K., who sent in the following :-  "At the begining  we all said what our intentions for the day included I said I wanted to abstract  from the image -intending to avoid the obvious.

The first three drawings were done in front of the subject-the second three from memory when I returned to the fourth floor in the RFH. I felt these went some way towards achieving this! Perhaps something to concentrate on in the future."

Pat - first 3

Pat - 2nd 3 - from memory

Well done, Pat!  Your first three are very interesting - using various ways to put down what you've seen - line only / line + some colour / lots of colour.  I really like them all - they work very well, each of them, in their particular modes of expression.  It's rare to see a drawing done just in line/tone from you (your no. 2) and I like it.  Maybe it will give you more options later, when you come to work in colour?

Your second set, done away from the subject, are also very interesting.  The thing that is most obvious is that you have dropped back into using just a very limited palette - one or two colours.  This is different from the first set.  Compare espcially with your no.3 in the first set - an image which I find very sensitive and poetic.  It is possible that the arrangement of component shapes is more to your liking in the 'memory' set, but think about what you can achieve with a few more colours, when you come to work these up.  Think of the relative components - colour-wise and tonally, and how they sit beside each other.  Try not to just have the one or two colours which yoiu use everywhere.

This is a very nice set, Pat, and I look forward to seeing what you do with them!

We now have GERALD, who sent in the following :-  "I'm attaching some sketches from yesterday mostly of Hungerford Bridge. Taking in your comment about not being too detailed at the sketch stage, I've tried to do mainly semi-memory images, until page 3, which is from Carsten Holler's exhibit at the Hayward Gallery, when tiredness overtook and I reverted to type!"

Gerald no 3

Gerald no. 2

Gerald no. 1

Gerald, your no. 1 page is a bit faint - sorry - I tried to boost it.  However, it being a line drawing, it will be interesting to see whether that contains enough information for you to play with!  I'm really glad you are trying to break away from 'getting everything in'.  I realise that that's scary for you!  

I really like the beginnings you've got on sheet no. 2.  What you need to see in there is the contrast of the flat areas of tone against the complexity of the more detailed structures. Once you can see it in this manner, rather than being bits of scaffolding (?) against the bridge, then that will give you the freedom to develop those ideas.  Those elements are what will make the eventual painting successful or not, not whether they represent a piece of scaffolding.  Play with the solid blocks.  Make them bigger / smaller PROPORTIONALLY to the other elements, and to the PAPER!  Play with the rhythm of the more complex elements.  

The eventual paintings can still be scaffolding against bridge, but it's how they all relate to each other that, in the end, makes things work or not.

It is also really clear to look at your page no. 3, and to see that the drawing offers little room for manoeuvre (sp?) - great drawing, but it is what it is!

Enjoy playing, Gerald.

Lastly, we have ELIZABETH, with the following :-   "I  did these in order of 3, 2, 1.  The idea being figures against

more abstract shapes in the window. After showing them to the others we
thought that 2 had been overdone outside and I have removed some of the
marks. The last one, 1 is a simple version of 2 as I thought I had put too
much detail in."

Elizabeth 1

Elizabeth 2

Elizabeth 3

      

Well, what a great set!  I love the idea of the outside shapes (the wiggly slide-things) being part of the inside, almost.  No. 3 is fascinating, with the simple line drawing of the figure in the foreground against the complexity behind.

No. 2 IS more detailed, and I don't know what you've taken out, but it works now.  It doesn't quite have the magic of the other two, as it's more 'obvious', but that's OK.  The bit I'm less sure about is the lower 3rd - the floor/feet area.  It doesn't really fit with the rest of it, and maybe is a bit too literal?

I really love the line drawing however. It immediately makes me think of some of Picasso's beautiful and expressive line drawings, or those of Matisse.  The lines fill the page very elegantly, and the whole thing is entrancing.  How to use it though?  What about flatter areas of colour (ie. not tonal like the other two drawings)?  Or even a collage?  

You're back on form, Elizabeth!  Less is more!!

Thank you all, for sending this work in, and for BEING THERE.  It would be such a shame for things to fizzle out.  I hope this has helped you to move on.  The thing that strikes me most is that everyone is being really courageous, and letting go - great!  You could send in any resulting work on the 8th September?  I will look forward to it.

7 JULY 2015

Well, it felt strange not being with you all on Tuesday.  It will take a while to get into our new way of being, especially at quite short notice.  So, we only have two submissions this time, but they're well worth it!

First of all, PAT K. was very quick to send in the following, saying :-
"Comments on work-16th June-Too much information causing visual overloading and repetition. Two or three paintings in each.When divided into smaller sections they work. Work done after 16th 

    No. 1  The fluency is better-It has a fresher feel and I feel is not overworked. Perhaps still a degree of overloading.
    
No. 2   Again overworked but attempt made to reduce  content-review as work in progress.

  No. 3  Simple blocks of colour -again overworked and composition dominated by dark section
I quite like the soft muted colours-again work in progress!

Will continue to address these issues!"

Pat no. 1

Pat no. 2

Pat no. 3

Pat, you've worked really hard on these issues, I can see that!

I like no. 1 very much. It has a freshness and crispness, a fluency, as you say.  That dark shape in the middle is possibly a bit too isolated.  It's not too strong, it's struggling because there isn't enough strength around it to support it. The crispness on the right hand side works hard to try and do this, but it all gets a bit weak tonally at the bottom.  HOWEVER, you have done a really good job of thinking about your separate areas, and the specific colour choices at the bottom are very encouraging.  The main thing that you have regained here is the use of your sparkly whites, which give a brilliance and life to the whole thing.
No. 2 is a bit overworked maybe, as you say.  I like the idea of the small space of clear yellow emerging through everything else.  I also really like the obvious painterliness of the brush strokes - very Ivon Hitchens!  However, make sure you don't use that same flat brush too much - the width of that stroke you've used for the 'windows' is a bit repetitive elsewhere.
No. 3 I actually feel is the most complete in its thinking about the placing of tone AND colour.  As you say, it's maybe a bit overworked and it's lost that freshness, but....your areas of colour and tone make sense.  There is a tendency in the other two for the main 'ground' to be grey, with accents of colour, wheras this one feels like all the sections speak to each other as equal partners.  Even all the neutral, more muted areas are a slightly different mix, giving them a relative 'colour'.

So... all much better!  If you could combine the thinking in no. 3 with the freshness in no. 1, you'll be on your way!  That's your challenge to move forwards.




Then ELIZABETH has contributed the following :- "This is a bit of a mixed bag. I had intended to carry on the theme of windows but felt uninspired by those around me! I feel that I have got to do something that has a hook. "Mary in the garden" is a figure against squares and the nebulas shapes of plants, "Monday evening" is again figures against oblong and squares I and reflections in glass panels, "Time passing" is a square oblongs and triangles against plant form so I suppose I have stuck to a theme. I like the last one best although I have left out a lot and altered things a great deal.  It is a bit tidier than the others!  I will get back to windows.  I have redone my original one that I showed you last time some things in it are better and some worse! "

Elizabeth "Mary in the Garden"

Elizabeth "Monday Evening"

Elizabeth - "Time passing"

Elizabeth, I think the most telling thing, actually, is your description of the paintings.  You are obviously very aware of the abstract possibilities in the compositions, set against the more representational/figurative elements.  That's really great. It creates a dynamic quality of being able to feed off the paintings on several levels, and that adds richness and interest.  Well done.
'Time Passing' has all those elements that we know and love in your work - the pattern-making and clever drawing, along with recognisable elements that invite a sort of dream-like quality. Having said all that, I think 'Mary in the garden' is very lovely in its romantic softness.  The description of the plants is there, but in such a way that it supports the drawing of the figure, and doesn't overwhelm it.  I really like the way the figure has been left black and white, surrounded by gentle colour.
'Monday Evening' is clever, but a bit more muddled.  All the little stabs of dark make it look a bit cluttered, and it doesn't have the refinement of nos. 1 and 3.  All that you say about 'altering' and 'leaving out' in no. 3 would be good to apply to no. 2 a little more.  It is very satisfying once you feel empowered to do this sort of thing.

So, your task moving on is to try and do more of that - less is more.  It doesn't mean that things have to be empty.  They can still have lots of stuff going on,/layers of meaning etc.  But those layers are more elegant.


I believe plans are afoot for some of you to meet up on August 4th and draw - great.
Whether you are part of that gang or not, do please send in some work (via e-mail to me), by the 6th August, and I will put it together.  Anything you've done between now and then will be welcome.

RFH notes - 16 July 2015

These notes are really to just prompt those who were there as to what they should concentrating on next.  Under the new format, I will make these notes very much more specific as a hook to hang your next set of explorations on.

First up was PAT K., who laid out a great spread of work.  The paintings were taken from her drawings looking across the river at Hay's Galleria.  The really good thing that she managed to achieve was to keep the feel of the layers of features in her paintings.  So there was a layer of 'trees' and then a layer of 'building' etc.  This was a development on from the problems she had with trees after the Greenwich Park problem.  However, there was still a tendency to let the layers get overworked, and lose their freshness.  We all commented on the fabulous paint quality Pat can achieve (which we are all very jealous of!), and that seemed to have got a bit lost this time.
My suggestions to move on were to think about whether the distinction between the different layers were clear enough, as if the picture could be 'cut up' into slices/sections.  There needs to only be a few beautiful and well balanced areas of paint, all talking to each other - NOT lots of little bits.  This is why cropping Pat's paintings always works well - because the elements get reduced down to just a few elegant components.

STEPHANIE joined us after a long break, and it was great to see her.  She brought in some fabulous work.  The starting point for her work was blind drawings, and that gave her the freedom to be creative, and rearrange things as she wished, rather than being tied by the reality of the subject.  This showed itself very well in a piece she made, using colour, from 3 different blind drawings from City Hall.  Really very good indeed.  the she showed us a couple of experimental drypoints made on a course.  Again, these were made from a line drawing, and that gave her freedom to put tone and texture where she wanted, rather than where she felt it had to be in 'reality'.  Really good, Stephanie.
Practice doing this transition from the blind drawing into some other form.  Just remember to always have an idea as to what your 'statement' is before starting.

PENNY laid out her immaculate and fascinating drawings - but there was the problem.  the drawings were too complete, and left no room for further development.  She knew that, and we could all see it.  the painting became an exercise in colouring in ideas she'd already worked out in drawing.
So, we compared her work with what Stephanie had done, and thought about the possibilities.  The future lies in either doing the drawings more as simple line drawings, with manipulations to be done away from the subject and in paint.  Also, we talked about maybe working from memory from the very detailed drawings.  The results would be different, and the changes would possibly spur new decisions.
She was also getting very interested in the use of complex colours - layers of colour put on, and scarped off, to get rich combinations of the underpainting.  Much to be experimented with, I think!

The JANE laid out multiple sequence studies from single ideas, where in each one she was playing with colour/tone possibilities.  We discussed the spatial qualities of mixed colours as opposed to pure colours, and how the latter come forward and talk to each other, even though they might be different basic hues.  They were really super sequences, with lots of discoveries in each step.  She had also decided that using the i-Pad had limitations, which I also felt - useful up to a point.  Some of her pieces also included patterned areas, which were a new step and very interesting.
Jane - keep experimenting with colours, pure and mixed, and pattern.  Keep thinking about how all the various elements sit in relation to each other - what comes forwards and what goes back, and how these balance against each other.

GERALD has been such a star recently, and inevitably that high pedestal had to wobble a bit at some point!  The paintings he produced were a bit over-laboured and self-conscious.  He is maybe also suffering a bit of Penny's problem.  The drawings are too complete and perfect, and stand on their own.  So, he needs to finish the drawings less - go back to his experimental mood at the national Maritime Museum.  My question to him was to decide what his colours are doing for him?  What decides the colours he uses, and where he places them?  Think about the visual stepping stones created by the colours.  Don't just 'colour in'!

PAT W.  has had more than most to contend with recently, but she brought in two fabulous pieces.  One was a set of photos of a glass construction she's made, based on a drawing we've seen previously.  Stunning, Pat!  The also brought in a painting/collage piece, combining abstract ideas in a landscape, which also contained some more realistic black-silhouetted pine trees.  So clever.  Just keep on being experimental Pat, whenever you have a moment.  Really super.

Lastly, we had ELIZABETH, who has decided to drop the studies she was doing of more distant figures in motion, and concentrate of closer and more intimate figures - good idea.  Her main themes seem to be figures in some close communication, and another parallel them of views through windows.  Both intimate studies, and something which Elizabeth has a great sensitivity for.  Keep following those two stands Elizabeth, in whatever medium!

Thanks all, for a very stimulating day.  We'll set 7th July as the day on which you can send me any new work for comment.

Invitation accepted

This looks complicated Sarah!  May need some time to get to grips with it. I think Facebook will be easier for most people.

EVERYONE'S WORK - HAY'S GALLERIA etc. 19/05/15

What a cold and miserable day - I was thinking of you all!  Well done for sticking it out.
I've started off with Penny and Elizabeth put together, for reasons which will become clear.

PENNY :-  "Following your comments from last time I decided to spend some of my time trying to do gestural drawings of people that I might be able to incorporate into the paintings.  Very difficult!  Children especially just move too damn fast!  So have taken some snaps on my iPhone to work from as well.  

First drawing is taken sitting outside in the external “amphitheatre” looking at reflections on the outside of the building.  

Second and third drawings are people outside, seen from inside the building sitting on the ramp.

Fourth drawing is sitting on the 2nd floor viewing platform looking at reflections in the building. (Like last time.)"

Penny no. 1

Penny no. 2

Penny no. 3

Penny no. 4

ELIZABETH  :-  "I am sorry   some of these have not scanned very well so I hope you can see them. I started off outdoors but it began to rain so had to go indoors so there are some of the children on the steps and then turned to doing figures in the café. A bit less frustrating than last time and may be able to make something   from   them.  I was going to do charcoal but it seemed a bit too messy for inside."

Elizabeth no. 1

Elizabeth no. 2

Elizabeth no. 3

Elizabeth no. 4

Elizabeth no. 6

Elizabeth no. 5

The reason why I've put Penny and Elizabeth together is (fairly obviously) that they are both looking at figures.  Penny's drawings nos. 2 and 3 show her moving figures, and I like them very much. Penny - you've really thought of the figure as w whole, and felt the differences in weight distribution etc.  there is still a tendency to do lollipop heads, but they are well placed, and work as part of the whole weight-thing. In each of them, we can read the energy of the movement - fast, slow, etc.  Really good.

Elizabeth - thinking about the last session - do you see how Penny has drawn the whole thing?  there was a tendency for you to do legs, then bodies, then heads and so the thing becomes more difficult to capture as an instantaneous thing, and you got very frustrated.  This time, you have your two little moving figures at the bottom of sheet no. 2, and the rest of your studies are more close-up.  I especially like nos. 3, 4, and 5.  They have that touch of yours, that lets us in on intimate conversations, and unguarded moments - you are very good at those!  No. 6 is intriguing with it's people apparently 'floating' behind.  Keep practising the moving figures!

When you work up the more close-up drawings, remember what we said about the spontaneous  quality - don't get too caught up in them being 'real' paintings.

Penny - your other two pieces.... they are very exciting in their composition, with lots of opportunities for extrapolating planes and bits of perspective, and muddling up the sense of space.  Your figures are not as convincing as your sheets of studies, but that's something you can work on.  You need to very carefully place the figures though.  I know they were in those spots, but you need to think of them very much as a rhythm, points of accent across the paper.  The eye is going to go to them first, so maybe you need to think carefully about their tonal qualities (very strongly contrasting at the moment)  I really like the ghostly image of (you?) in no. 4.  Lovely.

This is followed neatly by STEPHANIE, who joined the group after a long absence, and said "Very much a question of warming up after doing no drawing at all for since last summer.  Started off with blind drawing, and then quick looks at people — I was heartened by kind comments from the group, and that these look rather better as snaps."

Stephanie no. 1

Stephanie no. 2

Stephanie no. 3

Stephanie no. 4

Stephanie no. 5

Stephanie no. 6

Stephanie no. 7

Stephanie no. 8

Stephanie no. 9

Stephanie no. 10

Stephanie no. 11

Stephanie no. 12

Stephanie,  it's really tough getting back into it after a break, so well done you.  It's appropriate having you at this point, after the comments I've just offered to Penny and Elizabeth.  The trick with figures is not to think of them as made up of all their component limbs etc.  Penny had this very well sorted, and Elizabeth struggled with it last time especially.  this shows particularly in your no. 6 and no.9.  Interestingly, when you've drawn a group of people (as in no. 2 and no. 10), they are far more convincing.  I think this is because you were looking at their collective shapes more than you were the individuals - and it worked.  No. 2 has a lovely feel to it - the way some are leaning forwards and some leaning back - really nice.  No. 10 is also really good because it is so gestural.  We know it's a group of people, even though that is not spelled out.

Then, your blind drawings are great, especially the view across the river (no. 1) - you've got the essence of those wacky buildings!  How about doing your figures 'blind' - then you forget about their arms etc.  Try doing some off the TV.

JANE had a patchy day, and worked on her ipad again, which is an exciting development.

Jane no. 1

Jane no. 2

These have a very confident feel.  However, they do look a little like architects' visualisations.  It's very difficult.  I think the scale of the ipad screen might have something to do with it?  It's easy for the materials (or, in this case, the technology) to take over, and forget the 'why' of the image you are creating.  I'm not quite sure what you were after.  Was it to do with the pattern/rhythm of all the windows and lines?  Was it blocks of colour/shape?  Was it the extreme perspective?  

Sorry Jane - this sounds negative, but you need to let your tools serve YOU, and not dictate what you end up with.  Have a good think what you can extract from these in the next step, and rein them back in!

PAT K. says "The aim is to simplify the drawings".

Pat K.

Pat, I'll tell you what you've done - - you've made a really good decision to zoom in, and fill the paper with a dense concentration of information, which is really good.  This means that you can see the pattern possibilities, and the deign options, to work from.  The drawings become a sourcebook for you to pluck from - areas of colour, areas of texture, areas of pattern.  The crisscross on the Gherkin, and the rhythm of the windows will all be very valuable.  Think of the trees in the same manner - they are not trees, they are a layer of texture and rhythm, for you to select from.
Really nice.  I think you'll find these much more useful to work from.  I can't wait.