vendredi 22 juillet 2005

Honesty Leaves Negative ideas... The idea of establishing an art blog is not without trepidation... I've never written about art before... I read some history of classic Italian Renaissance art whilst at school... modern Pop art slightly more intently at college... and only sporadically since then during the past 40 years. The interest must have always been lurking, however, because I've bought around 300 art books, catalogues and journals on movements from French Impressionism to Modern Post-War British. But, I have to say that the latter does not include references to works such as sharks in tanks (Damien Hirst), unmade beds (Tracy Emin), or lights being switched on and off in empty rooms (haven't a clue who duped the public with that) - "installations" are not my scene - although I took part in probably the first British "Happening" hosted by the late Adrian Henri. Nah, I prefer to recognise art as being made by the artist's hand with tools and materials that are tactile and recognised for what they are. Today's illustration is from my college portfolio... and as the presenters of B.B.C. television's "Blue Peter" children's programme would say, "Here's one I did earlier." It's a continuation of of my previous art blog theme and again shows the "negative" way in which we were also taught to see, draw and paint subject matter from time to time in the studio. Again the subject is a plant... although the blank shapes are not obviously of the Honesty Viola lunaris... which was know as the "satin flower" in days gone by from the opalescent film covering the distinctive seed pods. My alternate choice of viewing angle on top of the subject disguises the distinctively shaped seed heads to a certain extent. If viewers can recognise the darker circle in the centre background representative of a dark glass wine bottle seen from above, then you can understand why the seed heads are not as normally seen in clusters on a branch. The original, drawn in 1965, measures 18x14 inches (46x36 cms) on a fairly smooth medium-weight cartridge paper. From my earliest days at college I bought, then inherited, and have since added to, a glorious selection of Talens' "Rembrandt" Soft Pastels which are made in a wide and professional range of colours... their web site states 203 colours but my mind thinks there were many more in the display drawers of the art shop opposite the Regional College of Art in Manchester where I studied. Still, whatever colour or mixed shade you are looking for, it's there... with 42 pure colours (full tones), 40 intermediate shades going towards black and 121 intermediate shades going towards white. I suppose looking at those pastels as an impoverished student was similar to a hungry child with no pocket money and his nose pressed to a sweet shop window... wanting but not having! I used a mixture of different tints and shades of Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna for the background after an initial drawing of the outlines using Permanent Deep Green and Gold Ochre. In a way it hardly matters what colours were used... but you may find that a personal palette of colours evolves which you use more and more for subjects that don't feature those colours naturally... and you also look for subjects (maybe subconsciously) which you wouldn't normally regard as being "material" for your art but which attract you because they have those colours. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about at this stage (it's only Day 2 of my Art writing) but I'm trying to find out... and not wipe out completely the time and effort I put in 40+ years ago... and the time and effort that my teachers put in too... sculptor Bert Roberts at Chorlton Grammar School, then dear Miss Hopwell in the pre-Dip year at art college to mention but two... and of course there was Adrian Henri who came briefly into my life three times over a fifteen year period... There's much to talk about... but only if I can also rediscover techniques using the art materials I still have to hand... words are no good by themselves... I have to have visual proof to show. 9:07:00 PM    comment []