Florence 1

I took the little Florence sketch from the Staffordshire figurine in the Fitzwilliam and made 3 woodblocks to correspond with the 3 main tones and printed them… many times, just as an experiment.

 

The results were very interesting. Nothing wonderful but enough to make me think this is a good way to work.

    

Some of the overprinted details are lovely and unexpected.The different colours and weights of colour change both the atmosphere of the image and her “look”.

I also made a little watercolour of the figure, just to get to know her better. I have a weakness for china figurines. Strange smooth shiny little people, often “idealised” versions of real people or classical figures, in pastel colours often with painted features that do not quite follow the contours of the model.  Nice! More character and much more real in a way. Sometimes, people whose makeup has gone askew, look just like this!

I had a look at the real Florence Nightingale, who looked nothing like her china portrayal. The moon faced ideal of gentle Victorian beauty she was not, but a handsome, and uncompromising looking lady.

Colour Sketches from the Wood

Some small sketches from the wood to make some colour notes as the weather changes. They will help so much for printmaking. I start with a pen sketch just quickly getting down some main lines and lights and darks and then follow up with the colour notes.

I have wanted to do this for some time dithering about what paint etc as I need a quick drying paint for working outside. In the end I used gouche. Gouache is still my go to paint for these quick colour notes. I love its thick slightly chalky texture.

Its a small square sketchbook 5.5 inches square 14 x14 cmss

There are 60 pages.. I hope to fill them all.

Back to The Spinney

While working on other projects and having a bit of a holiday in Bilbao ( very nice) I continue to cycle up through the fragment of ancient woodland that is Savages Spinney. Heavy leafy branches now arch over the path which is patterned with the slanting rays of sunshine and dappled shadows. 

I hope to be working on some bigger prints next week and so yesterday I decided to do some more sketches from my favourite spot for some reference material to work from.

There is a particular tree on the path which often catches the light. This little sketch to record the basic shapes and the lights and darks.

My sketch by a fallen tree in my favourite spot.

Then more, to simplify things and look for shapes and ideas, making a rough record of what I am seeing now, in summer. It is so much busier and complicated,  so different from the stark tree shapes of the winter I had sketched before in November.

This one above just line and a few details then the following sketches with more tone, to record the dappled light, the path, butterflies, branches knitted together with lichen, seed pods, spotted leaves, bees and leaf canopies, puddles and the water of the reservoir etc etc.  I made written notes about sounds and wildlife as well as notes of shapes that I might add.
There is nothing like working on site. You can eliminate so much of the muddle and focus just on what you want.

A4 Sketchbook pages, pen and brush and inks.

 

The more abstract the sketches become the more possibilities present themselves and the more they represent to me the essence of what I see in the wood. I hope to get some small paintings done later this week to explore some of these in colour.

It will be very interesting to see how these carry forward into prints!

April Sketchbook: Days 8 to 14

Continuing April sketches to record what is happening up in the wood.  Lots going on out there now. I have started noting the Latin names now, which are often illuminating and explain much.

8th April: A neat little fly that I see everywhere. It is elegant and attractive with spotty transparent wings. Hence its Latin name Syvicola fenestris otherwise known as the window gnat. Like most flies it has some grubby habits but is very pretty non the less.

9th April: Shepherds purse, Capsella bursa pastoris, from scrubland.( more heart shaped seeds ). The pretty silver backed silverweed leaf, Argentina anserina, and a sprig of already flowering cow parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris.

10th April: Pussy willow aka goat willow, Salix caprea, catkins and stems.

11th April: A page of yellows. Pretty greeny yellow of the celandine, Ficaria verna, which opens and closes with the sun. Delicate pale yellow of primrose, Primula vulgaris, with a darker flash near the base of the petal, buttery yellow of dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, and the daisy, Bellis perennis, centre. The gorgeous marsh marigold, Caltha palustris, and my phone, Objectus irritatus, which was on my desk at the time.

12th April: Sadly not all bees make it.  I found a little early bumblebee, Bombus pratorum queen on the track. Shame. They are so very attractive, with silky long hair and that slightly blunt ended ginger rump. Another small grey and white female mallard feather, Anas platyrhynchos, from the execution scene. And a tiny creeping weed, the ivy leaved speedwell, Veronica hederefolia, whose flowers and leaves are neatly arranged opposite each other all the way up the stem.

13th April: At the top a sturdy ash twig, Fraxinus, with its black leaf buds and contrasting little fluffy spray of flowers which have red tips. You can see old “keys” still hanging onto some of the trees. A little group on the right. I have never noticed these flowers before. Here they are sprouting either side of the leaf bud, looking like mad sort of ears.

14th April: Below two more willow catkins from the grey willow, Salix cinerarea, on the left and the elegant arching crack willow, Salix fragilis, on the right.

All sketches in A4 32 page sketchbook. I shall be in the middle soon.. hurahhh!

Sketch Book : More of Franklins pigs…

Gathering My Materials

This week has been one of research; people, plants, shapes, colours, design possibilities, words and thoughts. I regard “materials” as visual knowledge as well as factual knowledge. The sketches are the only way I can really work out what it is I want to do. Sometimes (often) I would rather go and eat cake than start this stage, but once I do get started it’s not so bad.

In this story of the Hortus I have a fascinating cast of characters and I need to get to know them, so I have one notebook for the plants and one for the people.
The first plant I am looking at is Datura stramonium, the awful Thornapple with its dangerous beauty and powerful narcotic effects. I will be having a much closer look at all of the plants as I continue the research but for now it’s just a double page spread for each one, just to get an overview.

And some seed/pod sketches. I am not so interested in the real thing as in their design possibilities.

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And then some pages of pencil figure sketches, in order to discover what I want my people to look like.  Slowly, I know, they will take shape. Through the drawing and redrawing my personal set of characters will emerge and I will get to know who they are.

They certainly won’t all be good. :)

December Bumble Bees

Today was mild-ish and weakly sunny and the sweet smelling winter honeysuckle by the kitchen window is in bloom. It seems too early… and it seems way too early (or too late) for little worker bumblebees to be collecting pollen. But there they were. But the winter honeysuckle is a real star of a bee plant and if I cut it back it will flower again. The bees are very small so I am not sure if they are terrestris or lucorum workers. Just a hint of yellow after the last black stripe makes me think perhaps terrestris… but so tiny!!

and here they are together…

I hope these little bees are close by and have a well protected nest and that winter is kind to them.

Beekeepers Ancient and Modern

Also, to accompany these, a few sketches of beekeepers, ancient and modern. I am considering adding some figures to my current bee charm project and have been working out what I might include. Some are based on old manuscript drawings and some are modern beekeepers and of course there is a bear, which I changed a bit ..

The figures are all engaged in varying bee keeping activities from evasive action, banging pots to quell a swarm, catching a swarm, general hive work and cutting the comb. The most sinister are Pieter Bruegel’s three faceless hooded figures with their circular wicker face masks ( Pic 4) Wonderful…

Where there is honey, there is bound to be a bear.