Tag Archives: Rhubarb

Tickhill Road Drawings

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I spent the best part of the beginning of the month refining ‘woolgathering’ and intermittently thinking it was finished and that I needed to do more to it. By the end of the month it looked like this, but I’ve decided I need to add another scene and I’ve refined the transitions. Then I move on to the Tickhill Road Drawings.

Acrobats August 4th 2025

I made this drawing after I’d completed the acrobat sculpture and then realised I didn’t really need it for the whole set up.

After about ten days of faffing about I looked out some old sketchbooks to begin a new project.

Tickhill Road Garden sketchbook

These sketches were made around late 2018 early 2019.

Tickhill Road Drawings

Tickhill Road drawings process

Tickhill Road drawings process

They’re all of the Tickhill Road garden and are worked in pairs. The very loose first drawing is mono printed to the other sheet of paper and then both are pinned to the wall to work in tandem.

TR_28/02/2019_[25/08/2025]_one

TR_28/02/2019_[25/08/2025]_two

The pair literally reflect each other but also complement each other but the main reason for mono printing is for the quality it gives to the mark on the paper. In most of these the pair are one on cartridge paper and one, slightly smaller on watercolour paper.

TR_28/02/2019_[25/08/2025]_three

TR_28/02/2019_[25/08/2025]_four

The next phase of this project is to transform some of the Tickhill Road drawings into 3d to recreate the garden on as close to full scale as possible. I’ve started some maquettes without much success.

TR_05/12/18_3dVariation_[27/08/2025]

As well as the sculptures being at this stage difficult to realise some of the drawings are very loose.

TR_05/12/18_[20/08/25]_one

TR_05/12/18_[20/08/25]_two

TR_05/12/18_variationone_[27/08/25]

So this months post is late and less precise than I would like because I’m in that in between state waiting for a project to coalesce. In addition to the earlier sketches in the gif above I’m looking at a sketchbook I made of the two trees at the bus stop near my house.

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The August drawings can be seen here

  • Draw Every Day – August 25
    Draw Every Day – August 25
    Draw Every Day - August 25 Continuing to draw every day, finished Book 23 on 15th August and ...
    See photo »

…and the July images here

  • Draw Every Day – July 25
    Draw Every Day – July 25
    Draw Every Day - July 25 Continuing to draw every day, finished Book 22 on 16th July and ...
    See photo »

There is a link to the previous month’s Gallery on each page.

Or you can go the Galleries page on the top menu

The drawings are posted to  Instagram each day.

Too Much Space

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Too Much Space

Another New Studio

I’m currently torn between the idea of having a strong narrative that is followed through a particular space and the idea of a truly non-narrative space that awaits the visitor to build a story. In a sense like Homo Sapiens Nikolaus Geyrhalter‘s film from 2016 where the earth is seen to be slowly reclaimed by nature. The construction of a story, or do I mean ‘meaning’?, from an experience is something I’d imagine most of us do all the time. I have found that visitors to my virtual environments find it extremely difficult, as if the media itself leaves them demanding to be led.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5450084/

‘Solitary’ 03/01

At the beginning of the month I’d started this drawing while struggling with Unity, so I carried on. First washing then the background over in a filthy grey,

‘Solitary’ 06/01

then building the front tree back out and adding extra branches and twigs.

‘Solitary’ 08/01

Too Much Space

‘Solitary’ 13/01

Adding some lighter hues to the background between the trees and working to create a slight corona effect.

‘Solitary’ 31/01/25

In the end the tree, ‘Solitary’, looks like this and it might be finished.

Flower Painting 2 06/01

I worked over the second flower painting, darkening some of the background and adding depth.

Flowerbed 15/01

As I was still waiting for downloads at various parts of the month I started a new drawing from the flower bed.

Flowerbed 17/01

Flowerbed 20/01

The work is reaching for the multi layered and complex feeling of the overgrown bed while retaining sufficient separation between the plants. Also, hopefully, respecting the qualities of drawing with pastels.

Flowerbed 31/01

Still a lot of work required.

Abandoned Flower painting

Abandoned Flower Painting

Abandoned Flower Painting

I worked on a third square painting from the flower beds but it wouldn’t behave itself, three stages above and below the one I painted out, it’s white now.

Abandoned Flower Painting

Once I got to grips with the HDRP rendering in Unity I started to work through the scenes I wanted to place in ‘Woolgathering’

The first attempt at a meadow.

The second, attempting to get closer to the text of John Clare’s ‘Helpstone Green’

A walk up and down the hill in the second version.

And a very quick run through of the piece as it is at present. I’ve added the red gardens pieces into the mix as well at the back of the original garden. Ultimately there will be more development of that world as I move the sculptures and new ones I building now into the various scenes.

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The January drawings can be seen here

  • Draw Every Day – January 25
    Draw Every Day – January 25
    Draw Every Day - January 25 Continuing to draw every day in Fabriano artist's Journal with ...
    See photo »

…and the December images here

Draw Every Day - December 24 Continuing to draw every day,  i completed book 20 on the 7th December using brush pens and a mixture of black, grey, sepia and sanguine ink, as well as the occasional graphite drawing. i then moved into a Fabriano artist's Journal with coloured pages. On the 25th December I received a set of coloured brush pens from my wife and have used them since. The drawings are made any time from 9:00 am at the breakfast table and occasionally later in the day if I'm away from home. The drawings have been posted since the beginning, 6th May 2020, on instagram https://www.instagram.com/latham_1959 You can see previous months through the galleries page https://www.ian-latham.com/blog/galleries or you can go straight to  November's drawings here -
  • Draw Every Day – November 24
    Draw Every Day – November 24
    Draw Every Day - November 24 Continuing to draw every day in book 20 (a larger sketchbook) ...
    See photo »

There is a link to the previous month’s Gallery on each page.

The drawings are posted to  Instagram each day.

 

Moore’s Law

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Moore’s Law

Another New Studio

Moore's Law

studio 03/07/24 headset no artist

Apparently “Moore’s Law” is dead, and has been since 2016. The result is that programming has to improve in terms of performance if advancements are going to come at all. Programmers need to make processes more efficient so that less power is needed and the machines can do more without getting significantly faster. Not that anyone will notice this as this as software has for a long time been continually updating so that it outstrips machines every few years and becomes, like streamed music or e-books, something you don’t own you only rent.

This is essentially an aside, as I’ve been looking at ways to update some of my projects so that I can finish them without resorting to acts of destruction as the frustrations mount. Every update makes things harder to resolve and seemingly ignores any idea of intuitive iteration instead opting to completely redesign the wheel with every turn.

Moore's Law

studio 03/07/24 artist no headset

studio 03/07/24 artist and headset

studio 03/07/24 artists view

At the start of the month I organised the studio to reflect the intended organisation of the objects in a space accompanying the VR environment.

Since when I’ve been researching galleries and other potential display spaces for the work.

Moore's Law

studio drawing 17/07/24

So when I am in the studio I work on the gardens project VR world or draw. Drawing refocuses me when I get frustrated with the rebuild I’m doing of the gardens project as there are frequent failures and new learning to be done with the software updates.

I found using the paper I protected the floor with when I painted the sculptures gives a good background to draw on.

Moore's Law

maquette drawing 19/07/24

By the end of the month, I’m no further forward with display options, my portable hard drive failed meaning I lost about a weeks work and I’ve dismantled all the sculptures to make more room for new things.

Moore's Law

Studio drawing 26/07/24

Studio from door 31/07/24

Moore's Law

studio towards door 31/07/24

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The July drawings can be seen here

  • Draw Every Day – July 24
    Draw Every Day – July 24
    Draw Every Day - July 24 Continuing to draw every day, finished book 17 on 10th July and ...
    See photo »

…and the June images here

  • Draw Every Day – June 24
    Draw Every Day – June 24
    Draw Every Day - June 24 Continuing to draw every day, in book 17 using brush pens and a ...
    See photo »

There is a link to the previous month’s Gallery on each page.

The drawings are posted to Threads and Instagram each day.