sketching from life

'Reflection self portrait' and 'Thinking man on tube'

 One of my more annoying habits is drawing strangers. On the tube is the best time for capturing a 2 minute pose. I was in London over the weekend, never without my sketchbook, ready to whip out on a boring train journey.

'Little girl on tube'

The challenge is always to get the figure down before they realise what I'm doing. You see, tube etiquette entails everyone must sit/stand quietly, look at the floor or shoes only and avoid eye contact at all times. I break this. It's just how I roll. Taking all the stares, discreet concern and frowning in my stride.

'Old man'

These are a few examples from Saturday's outing and previous drawing days.

I find sketching people in a train station or on the bus can be great fun. You never know how long you will be granted that pose, the race is on! This can create quite energetic work with minimal line.

I love to draw the figure. Everyone is so different, yet made up of all the same junk. I've had to really learn to draw what I see, and not just what I think I should see.

'Sit ups'

Capturing light

There is a little deep set window in my bathroom where the sun streams in at the end of the day. Every time the light bounces off a pearl earring or glass bead on my jewellery stand, I think how I MUST capture the moment before it fades.

It was sunny today! That in itself, is magical, here in balmy Britain.

Just wanted to share the romantic, vintage feel of my..uh..bathroom. Ok, so it does make me sound like a fairy, but I hope there are times in your day when you stop for just a moment, stop thinking about your next meeting or what to take out of the freezer for tea, and just appreciate something as overlooked as a ray of light brightening up your rented flat.

Monoprinting

 Tonight I was doing some monoprinting. This process is one of my favourites as its quite quick and produces different results. I like to mix it with other media's like fabric or metals etc.

Its easy to do at home. All you need is a printing roller, a flat surface that you can wash down ( I use a piece of perspex plastic but you can use any non-porous surface), water based ink and some drawing tools. Of couse you can use oil based inks too, but I find cleaning up at the end with white spirit stinks out my house!

Roll out your ink until your roller makes a nice 'hiss' when rolled over the ink. Ink should be thin, not sticky. It will probably look like you need to add more ink, but don't. Conditions are perfect.

Now just play! Experiement. Here I have used a pen so I can see what marks I'm making, but you can use anything. Even smudging with you finger, try experimenting with hard and soft drawing equiptment.

I've printed onto old road maps of London. The ink is only transferred to the areas where pressure was placed on the reverse side. So if writing text, remember you will need to write back to front. This can create an alien handwriting style.

 With Monoprinting in this way, of course the idea is no two prints are ever the same - hence 'mono'. But this is quite nice, I like the spontaneity of it and you can produce many prints from your inked up plate within a short space of time. Its great just for drawing out your ideas, use it for your sketch book pages like Tracey Emin.

Here I have used pigment printed fabric to draw on. On the reverse side I have drawn around the outlines of the print and coloured it in a bit. It creates a different element to the original piece of fabric and I like the contrast between the pigment print and the monoprint.

 If I turn it over you can clearly see my marks made by my biro pen and the right side where the ink has been transferred.

This was originally a drawing I made of a Basilica in Florence, Italy. I put the drawing onto a silkscreen and screenprinted it onto white linen. Here I have placed it onto my inked up plate and rubbed, using my finger, into areas where there should be shadow. The purple is the transferred ink.

 Have fun sketching in a different way. Til next time!

Battle and Hastings

Over the Easter break I had a lovely four days away at the seaside, in Hastings.

 'Oh I do love to be beside the seaside'!

Yes - we sang that the whole time.

I love history and to immerse myself in the past by visiting all the heritage sites of the UK. In Hastings there is of course, Hastings castle and the Smugglers Caves - which was brilliant by the way, highly recommended. Short trip to the village of Battle for the striking Battle Abbey and to walk the fields of the battle itself.

We managed to go first thing in the morning so had the place to ourselves (before all normal people are out of bed). It also gave the sites a completely different feel then when full with tourists, easier to connect with the mystery of what had gone on before us. The morning mist still lingering and dew on the grass.



My main focus when wandering among the ruins was to be on the look out for a secret doorway, hidden locks or small overgrown windows. Collecting more visuals for my work to perhaps put onto a screen to print, taking rubbings, textures and tickets. I keep all the maps and memorable pamphlets from the holiday as I may use them for upcoming pieces inspired by Hastings.

This part of the creative process excites me, not knowing where I am going or what I will come up with. Trying not to over think it and just collecting research for the moment, trusting that an idea will come.

Watch this space!

Freehand stitch

Oh my god, I love freehand stitch. I can quite easily lose a few hours to drawing with my sewing machine. It is so much FUN! All you need is a sewing machine and a darning foot. This circular foot gives you the controlled freedom to stitch any way you want, not just back and forth like your average foot.

Below are a few samples of what I have been playing with. I love working with the figure and sketch people often. Life drawing helps me focus and concentrate on capturing what I really see, not just what I think I should see. Drawing quickly in busy places, such as train stations or shopping centres, can create really dynamic images. These simple stitch drawings at the bottom of the post, are made in this way originally and then transferred, using my friend water soluble fabric again, to transfer the mark making.

This freehand stitch example is done overtop of a screenprint image and mixed with a reverse applique technique - just to complicate things! The stitch gives it a bit more texture and defines the image.

A few of my favourite freehand stitch artists are Poppy Treffry and Hens Teeth. Check out their gorgeous work, I'm sure it will have you plugging in your darning foot in no time!

In the studio..

Yay for full studio day! Today was busy and productive. Set myself the goal of finishing my exhibition piece as its due soon. Am really pleased with how they have turned out. Take a look below at the making and creative process.

 I wanted to add some text to my mixed media canvases using an applique technique. Picking out my favourite textures and colourful fabrics is always a pleasing challenge. There are just too many tempting options! How can a girl choose?!

 Finally, I have the chosen pieces! Using water soluble paper, I mark out the text I want to sew on. This will help me to keep the shape or font I want, and then wash away with warm water to reveal the fabric and stitch.

See - like magic!

Uh..I mean, this is just my sweet sewing skills...

After stitching on the text and removing the water soluble, I trimmed down the fabric to look more like the text it should be. Although, I really like the random look of the pre-trimmed applique. It has a 'found object' appeal I think.

 The final completed pieces! Ready to exhibit next month.