Having completed a three day workshop with Lewis Noble, VP and I decided we needed a refresher to establish what we have achieved and maybe more importantly to find our own ways of using his methods. Norwich is very unlike Derbyshire but we ventured off to along Marriot’s way where the river meets what was the old railway line. Its quiet there, woody and almost ‘rural’, also only a few minutes walk from my studio. We both had different reasons to take Lewis course, mine was to be more comfortable working outside. For some strange reason I’m fine urban sketching but put me in a rural environment and I feel self-conscious? VP wanted to get down and dirty with media as most of her work is digital.
Although this location is not far from my flat or studio, and I have done a project on Norwich’s riverside, I had never sat and worked there, the Riverside project was solely to do with the architecture. It was quiet at this section of the river, maybe too quiet. VP later said how she felt Derbyshire had a drama, particularly when the weather was against us. This in contrast was a lovely sunny morning, and lacked drama. VP said later she thought it was too peaceful and the ‘lazy flowing river’ was potentially soporific. It reminded her of fishing trips and lacked an energy that is necessary to be productive, to tune into the creative zone. Later when we reflected on the location we agreed the mood of the place, and the weather were important factors to consider.
Unlike Derbyshire there was no horizon line, the river was enclosed by trees, there was no strong lines of fields or bushes but we reminded ourselves that we were there to respond rather than recreate. I found interesting shapes in the river, in the reflections and noticed how the surface algae broke them up. The more I looked the more shapes I found and I began to notice how much darker things were in the reflections. Lewis had suggested we looked for darks and lines, and as we were only working in black and white that was fairly straightforward. As VP said later”My visual mind was impressed by the mirror images of the forms, light and sky above the line of the river bank on to the river and the overlay of the algae. I concentrated on making the features and their mirrors and kind of added a bit of texture and drawing over the top but often without looking at the paper while I used my hand”
After an hour and a few sketches we moved along a path and found a clearing, VP went nearer to the river whilst I stayed in the clearing and made sketches of the trees. But I soon got distracted by the plant life and began to make mark making tools from teasels, twigs and found charcoal. I then started to take a few photographs and like VP found they provided shapes and tones our eyes hadnt noticed. “When Sally took a picture, it became blindingly obvious that my observation hadn’t been accurate at all because the tones on the surface of the water seemed much clearer on the photo than I had perceived them to be” Its interesting how the camera could see..could crop, determine, flatten. Whilst being, and mark making on site is paramount using the camera to grab shapes is also useful.
Back in the studio we taped our drawings to the wall. At this stage Lewis would have started to crop and collage but we both decided we liked them as they were. Neither of us do ‘vignette’ drawing, we fill the paper. I enjoyed the cropping and collaging that we did with Lewis, its a good structure to see a piece afresh, to re-invent it and to abstract it, and ultimately to use it for further work. Personally at present I want to find sections within my drawings rather than crop and add to them, I’m aiming for less..for more breathing space, and I’m intrigued by notions of scaling up. Neither of us felt we were being precious with them, but decided it was simply that wanted, for now, to see what we had done to contrast and compare our approaches.
What became immediately clear was the differences in our mark making I seemed to do more sweeping curve gestures whilst VP’s were more angular and edgy. I had more grey tones, VP more blacks. We both felt happier with them than we had whilst working on site. We discussed how the speed of working creates differing marks, sweeps and swipes are quick, small doodles are slower…another difference to bear in mind. The paper also makes a difference, a smoother paper made some marks easier and the blacks retained their strength, on the watercolour paper the inks soaked in but we achieved nice blurring edges and printing off from wet media onto a new sheet gave interesting textures.
We took a break and discussed our self limiting beliefs and prejudices. I have a prejudice towards ‘landscape’ as a genre as I associate it with commercial forces, with audience expectation, with nice, pretty, green etc. All bollocks but it stops me from venturing too far into the genre, preferring to explore a sense of place, to be site responsive rather than specific or topographical. We agreed we need to be kinder to ourselves, to not beat ourselves up so much. Who really cares after all what we do or how we approach it? I want to create work that has meaning for me, and if others come along for the ride and engage thats fine, if they dont thats fine too. We both agreed that the work we had made could not have been made inside or from photos, it was about the place, about being in the place, an authentic response to the site.
Lewis Noble uses his sketches to make collages that he then refers to for larger work. I found some large paper and we created a big piece as a response to elements in the sketches using long sticks, charcoal, ink and squeegees. Again it was interesting to see how different the pieces were. Scaling up is difficult, everything needs to go larger and scaling up textures is a particular challenge. Equally the tendency is often to create lots of small drawings on a large piece rather than seeing the paper as a whole. I soon stopped looking at the smaller sketches and later VP commented “the influence of the small pieces on the wall was subtle as personally I forgot about them but the connections were there and the feel of the work was the same”. On reflection we both agreed that the larger piece would not have been possible without the smaller sketches even if they only indirectly related. I would argue that the process had primed us, made us responsive, loose and confident.
We then discussed what we could do with the remaining time and decided to move into printmaking; to make plates as a response to the sketches. I cut some square viewfinders and we took them for ‘walks’ across our sketches finding interesting textures and exciting compositions. We made five 15cm plates and used pastes, gels and paint to create textures that would hold or reject the ink.
VP has done printmaking but was relatively unfamiliar with the materials we were using, she went with the flow and was pleased when despite working intuitively when we came to pint our plates the following morning both our printed marks reflected those in her sketches, “I couldn’t really visualize the possible prints from the plates and whilst getting involved in the process I forgot the drawings at least consciously. Once we printed some pieces from the plates there still seemed to be a relationship between the new images and the drawings.”
The printmaking was really interesting, the same differences in our marks was apparent, and we both felt we had maintained a flow from sketch to print, especially once we worked on paper that eliminated the white border. I had intended layering my plates but they worked fine singularly and were quite dark, so layering would have lost tone and contrast. (I’ll post images soon!)
Having worked solely in monochrome it seemed an idea opportunity to work in colour with the prints. My self limiting beliefs include issues with colour. I have a good sense of colour, have an in-depth knowledge of colour theory, and can mix any colour, but I am reluctant to venture out of my comfort zone of browns, greys, rust and the occasional indigo or teal but I am determined to move forwards. I am finding with printmaking I can be be freer, it seems to matter less on a piece of paper and my theory of the plate taking responsibility means if it doesnt work I am not to blame! As a result I used some reds and greens on my prints. I feel I need to reflect more on colour and how and when to use what colours, and the significance of colours. But that is a future post, we had tidying up to finish and lunch to enjoy.
Walking VP back to the station we discussed our adventures and how much we had each got out of the process of working together. I know now I want to continue working outside but need to look more, find the shapes and tones that the camera finds. Considering colour I think choosing those colours I encounter in a place will be the most significant and meaningful way of incorporating more colour into my work. I enjoyed working alongside an artist with whom I have a common language, a similar aesthetic understanding and who is also searching for their voice. I feel privileged to have had the time with her.
Update; These are a few of the many prints I made. After VP had gone I realised what a fantastic workshop this would make…from expressive markmaking to selecting sections to creating prints. So here it is! It’s in January so we won’t be going outside but still plenty of creative potential! Pushing Printmaking