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From Michelangelo's Heroic Captive and Battle of the Centaurs.
In my drawing class, we have been focusing on using blocks of light and dark to build the shape of our subject. We've used charcoal and pastel, but today we were using one of my favourite tools - the gel pen. Using pens of different thicknesses, and again working from an upside down picture to battle our preconceptions, we tried to build up the tone using parallel lines, curved and straight, and cross-hatching.
This is a collection of scenes along the shore. Not quite landscapes and not quite seascapes, I decided that they needed something else. 'Shoreline' seemed to have the right resonance. I'm trying not to qualify them; I'm not 100% happy with them, but the point was to draw and draw and draw.
I'm from Nova Scotia. I've never lived there, something tells me I'm from there. Some things tell me...
...my childhood memories of long summers and long summer days all took place there. Exploring the woods, scrambling over rocks, campfires on the beach, sleepovers with cousins...
...the personal landmarks of both my parents. Mum walked to school through there. Dad remembers the boat shed that stood just there. I know a story about my great-grandfather 'adjusting' that bit of the house...
...the way my heart feels when my eyes rest on the landscape...
...the ocean sounds like home...
So I set my theme for the project as 'down home - observations and evidence'. The altered concertina file in my last post contained 7 sections: journals, shoreline, details, texture, palette, craft, totems. Today I'll share the journals.
Above: A journal of this summer's trip - I was taught this journal structure by LK Ludwig at Artfest 2007. I think it makes such a beautiful book and it allows you to work very freely and intuitively on your pages, bringing together artwork, photography and collected stuff.
Below: A dreamy nostalgic reminiscing in the form of an accordian book of childhood memories and indistinct photos transferred from inkjet print to acrylic paint.
