Covid19 (eventually)

Covid19 (eventually)

Another New Studio

After the last post I was a bit deflated and when I returned to the studio all I could do was tidy up and finish off the few bits I have on the go.

 

Covid19 (eventually)

Easel 250923

I did some work on the painting on each day I was in.

Covid19 (eventually)

easel 270923

I got as far as this state which needs more detail but is essentially blocked in. I continued with the doncaster platonics app, loading it up to the app store in test mode and contacted the council to tell them it was done. The app can be tested through this website, https://ian-latham.com/doncplatonic/ which has a link to the play store.

The app functions pretty well although the video remains problematic.

roses 280923

As well as the studio I worked on some images at home for greetings cards, and I made these roses which work quite well when cut down.

Then I had a visit to my Mothers in Preston and returned with Covid19. This is the first time I’ve had it at all and it is a pain in the arse. I’ve not been in the studio since the 2nd October when I worked some more on the painting…

easel 021023

The colour balance is improving but it’s still not there.

So that’s October as a write off for now, I’m still testing positive after ten days so we’ll see how long it takes to get back into the saddle.

Drawing

I’ve continued to post on Threads as well as instagram.

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The September drawings can be seen here

and the August images here

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

The drawings are posted to Threads and Instagram each day.

 

An end of frustration?

An end of frustration?

(Another New Studio)

I finished(?) the NHS project after quite a lot of stress and setbacks. It was still completed on time but I had far less time in the studio.

The interruption of the sculpture project has left me a little non-plussed about the direction of my work and how to find ways forward against the pressure of completion. Ideas reach fruition and then need to be rendered physical when the desire or drive to create is spinning off in its own directions. Today I read an article about Michael Raedecker on Artspace where he says

Inspiration can come at the most unusual moments; riding on a bus or reading a book. But most of the time you just have to work for it,” he tells Artspace. “Sitting down, making sketches, browsing in catalogues, looking at images, and letting the intelligence of the work guide the selection.”

Its the obviousness of the statement that woke me up, making begets making, so the only way to know what to make is to make.

Earlier in the week I went to see “The Weight of Words” at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds.

Leaving aside the lack of overall context beyond the the declaration that the, very broad, selection of artists explore the overlap between sculpture and poetry, the exhibition inevitably questions the very nature of what sculpture is. The works in the exhibition are interesting, poignant and thoughtful in all sorts of ways, they are also often flat, digital projections, printed, photographed and less often strictly three dimensional. The lack of context serves to expand the possibilities of the precept at the heart of the overlap between sculpture and poetry and made me wonder where the notion of concrete poetry sits in relation to this selection of work. The website is very good and the exhibition is on until November so I might go again.

An end of frustration?

two apples with shadow

When I did get in I worked on apples drawing, adding strong shadows from the studio window.

An end of frustration?

large rose painted out

I also kept working on the big roses drawing, finally whiting it all out and then adding a drawing of Old English Roses

Old English Roses 120923

Each step of the process has taken more thinking than necessary as I was really disgruntled by the way the lemniscate impinged on everything else I wanted to do.

Old English Roses 120923 addition of red shadows

So after the first drawing I added the red shadows onto the edges of the flowers and then darkened the shadows.

Old English Roses 120923 darkening shadows

The drawing was left for a good few days after this stage.

Old English Roses 150923 white highlights

I had a short window to get back into the space and added some white highlights to the flower heads.

An end of frustration?

Old English Roses 220923 darker shadows

And then thought about using some stronger colours. So I blacked out the shadows and darkened some areas again but it still wasn’t defined enough.

Old English Roses 220923 stronger colours

So on my next visit, the 22nd September with the lemniscate out of the way completely I took some oil paints in to use to give the roses much more body. That’s where we are so far. Finished?

Drawing

I’ve ditched Twitter, one too many Musks, but I’ve started to post on Threads as well as instagram.

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The August drawings can be seen here

and the July images here

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

The drawings are posted to Threads and Instagram each day.

 

Wading Through Mud

Wading Through Mud

(Another New Studio)

This has been a busy couple of weeks since my last post (link to post) with work on the NHS Barnsley project which is progressing but will be the subject of another post when it’s completed.

Distractions aside I continued to work on the large drawing I’d started but didn’t post last time out.

Wading Through Mud

Large Rose 11/08/23

Then (11th August) it looked like this, there evidence of some changes in the centre at the bottom but it doesn’t work, too structured and neither one thing nor the other.

WAding Through Mud

Large Rose 14/08/23

So I decided it needed some stronger blogs at the top right and some on the left and below to draw it together. This is the state of play on 14th August.

Wading Through Mud

Large Rose 18/08/23

I decided to move everything up a bit and strengthen the overall force of the circular composition. This is after the 18th August.

Wading Through Mud

Large Rose 25/08/23

I needed to think about it for a while and I worked on the UKSPF project while I did that but felt like it had no presence so I attacked it with white paint and this is what it looks like on the 25th August. It hasn’t changed since but illustrates how you can work your arse off and things will still go wrong.

So I’ve left that for a while, who knows how long, Howard Hodgkin  used to turn his paintings to the wall for two or more years so I’m not going to be in any hurry.

I have a desire to get much simpler with the physical work – I’m also trying to get back to the world building in VR – so I started to work on a new drawing of apples I have in the studio. I see this as part of a sketchbook with AR elements that will include the birdsnest, and drawings of my Doc Martens and the garden at Tickhill Road.

Wading Through Mud

Two Apples 29/08/23

The first drawing is just the apples on a sheet of white paper and I thought it interesting how the colour balance changed when I added the shadowed wall next to the window.

Wading Through Mud

Two Apples 29/08/23

I’ve completed the UKSPF project bar the publication, the images can be seen in this post “Not Building”  the video is a quick run through of how it works. I might reduce the size of the videos as much as I can.

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The August drawings can be seen here

and the July images here

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

The drawings are posted to Twitter and Instagram each day.