Author: Alan

The journey is on fire

Posted on by Alan

While I’m struggling with “the owl in the lamplight” (see Work in progress) journeys around the M25 at night seemed to become fascinating rather than tedious. After a “show and tell” session with artist friends, the project took on a new direction…..never mind the bird, look at the colours and the shapes, man! The wine helped, obviously.

I’m now working on a series of images (or just one that I’m happy with!) of the motorway’s curves, lamplight, weather and atmosphere, textures and patterns.

M25 northern section, Eastbound
M25 Northern section, Eastbound, Ink, 2011
M25 northern, eastbound orange digital
M25 Northern section,Eastbound, Ink and digital

The first couple of images I produced looked like the whole sky was on fire, which wasn’t ideal, so I went back to black ink only, and played around in Adobe©Photoshop© to experiment a little with colour before attacking another sheet of paper!

The other problem was the rigid, mechanical structure had to be played down so that
the atmosphere and pattern can become the main theme, and again the first couple of attempts show how I struggled a little with that. I’ll be adding images here as
I produce them…

M25 2 Northern, eastbound, Ink. 2011
M25 2 Northern, eastbound, Ink. 2011
M25 1 on fire, ink, 2010
M25 Northern section, Eastbound, ink, 2010
M25 Eastbound, Ink, work in progress sm 2011
M25 Northern section, Eastbound, Ink, 2011 WORK IN PROGRESS

 

A walk in the woods

Posted on by Alan

Sometimes activities and events can reveal something you might otherwise overlook.
My local wood is jointly owned by the Forestry Commission and Essex County Council
and is managed by coppicing. Patches are felled in rotation and some trees left standing
including the odd dead one.

aug 27 09 charcoal sketch
chalkney wood, charcoal sketch

In August 2009 I made a quick charcoal sketch of this lone dead oak newly
exposed in the open, when previously it had been hidden deep in the wood
surrounded by its neighbours. This exposure now reveals clearly how the tree
has twisted and turned over its lifetime stretching for its share of the light.
Now it is home to a family of woodpeckers, and hornets, other wasps and bugs
all buzz around it. Its life as a living tree may be over, but its contribution to the
health of the wood goes on.

I made a couple of large drawings of the tree on consecutive weekends using ink.
The drawing below shows how the trunk has been split as the whole tree has
twisted on its axis, revealed by the peeling bark. I mixed colours on the spot
from bottles and jars and at times felt like some mad scientist in a laboratory.
Techniques including mist spraying of water, so that the ink runs unpredictably,
using clear wax resist and scratching into the paper all helped to add texture
to the drawings.

old oak, evening, coloured inks

split trunk may 20011 ink
twisting split trunk

The hidden beauty in grey

Posted on by Alan

July 2nd 2010: A warm, sticky night. The heavy scent of honeysuckle in the air attracts a pine hawk moth, which can’t resist the light inside and flies indoors through the open patio doors. Conveniently resting on a flat surface, I take the opportunity to do a quick sketch with a biro and make some notes. Letting the moth outside, cupped in my hands, the strength of its flapping wings against my palms was so strong, it felt more like a small bird than an insect!

sketch book moth
Pine hawk moth at rest on my drawing board, quick sketch

 

Next evening, the moth was back, at dusk, just when it is hard to see straight ahead, but the skyline is sharp and the contrast is clear. Flapping then gliding, then flapping again, the moth danced over the honeysuckle in silhouette. A beautiful sight. I decided to make an illustration showing the moth at an exagerated scale in a suburban setting. Using charcoal would emphasise the soft atmosphere of dusk, when all edges seem to merge. The overall effect I was after was that of a period book illustration. After working out the layout of the drawing on a small scale in my sketchbook, I settled on a composition and drew quick studies of each of the main elements, honeysuckle, chimney, tiles.

The picture is all about atmosphere though, so I was careful not to include too much observable detail.

sketchbook_scamp
scamps planning the composition
sketchbook2
gliding effortlessy across the honeysuckle, in silhouette
pine hawk moth, charcoal
Pine hawkmoth, charcoal, 40 x 59 cm

 

Close up, the beautiful irridescent greys and subtle browns of this animal were stunning,
effortlessly gliding acrooss the dusk skyline.  This is the picture of that moment.