July Digest(ed) #1: Drawing

Catching up with developments over the past month, &, to begin, (re)presenting evidence of a recent return to the practice of drawing, which has inexplicably - other than the lack of a proper project being engaged in, as has been a significant motivationally sustaining force over the last few years - & unexpectedly become becalmed since relocation.
The writing has also, it might be admitted, been somewhat blocked too, even whilst instances of visual encouragement &/or inspiration continue to occur, albeit in different forms than previously (obsessively chronicled), perhaps.

Notwithstanding, firstly here is a watercolour drawing of a still life composition that has something of an antecedent in a photograph of a 'found' arrangement of the particular book & another pair of sunglasses as blogged previously. Alas, that pair of shades suffered an irreparable breakage, only to be replaced by those of a design that proved much more in keeping with those of an 'aviator' style as depicted on the cover of Simon Reynolds' 'Retromania' (a compelling read), which suggested a more actively contemplative study might be processed, employing further layers through the tinted transparent lenses of the sunglasses, hence:


graphite & watercolour/30x20cm

[Soundtrack: the appropriately oft-retro stylings of The Lilac Time's 'Compendium: The Fontana Trinity' collection, another recent investment, as was the band's eponymous debut album, an especial, enduring delight with which to be gladly reacquainted]

Prior to such an exercise, an afternoon sat out on the patio, accompanied by pencils & sketchbook, had resulted in the following drawing, of the scene in the back garden, unusually concentrating specifically on the noticably linear aspects of the rotary clothes line & the strips of wood comprising the fencing panels around the perimeter:


graphite & coloured pencil/20x30cm

such a vision being inspired by an earlier browse through a physical copy of the 2001 Jerwood Drawing Prize catalogue where this most intriguing prizewinning drawing by Lisa Cathro was encountered.
The utilisation of the yellow coloured pencil was an attempt to achieve some form of visual 'vibration', a tonal 'singing' or 'humming', against the white of the paper ground.

Subsequently, & more obviously relating to the Cathro image, concentration-through-the-drawing-process was focussed upon the abstracted form of the network of lines of the rotary clothes line observed through & across each other, free-floating in some notional, suggested three-dimensional space:


graphite/20x30cm

In both drawings, the challenge was to follow the lines of cord with eye & pencil (not without difficulty where they overlap & merge visually) in the interests of some degree of resolution of form.

Such linear structures seem to be something of a theme in these (new) parts, too, given the form & design of the rather fab 'n' groovy 'Spirograph' light shade/fitting in which A & I have invested as an aspect of our domestic style drive...