Tea(pot) for Two #14: Tea Painting #3

Coloured pencil, graphite, watercolour & tea/30x20cm

This drawing, featuring a depiction of the small, delicate bone china teapot found on a charity stall during a recent trip to Ludlow (& represented using the medium of tea on the very day, as blogged), was colour-washed using two media: watercolour to represent the subtle shadows and reflections playing over the mutable surface of the white glaze of the teapot, & also, over the remainder of the picture plane, tea – again, attempting an integrity of adherence to all things tea & the use of in the realization of the artwork. ‘ArtTeaOlogy’ is the name.

Various types of brewed liquid tea were utilized in the process (including pale white and green, orangey Assam and Darjeeling and the rich browns of other black teas), each having their own particular hue, built up in numerous layers to create the range of tones that constitute the ground of the wooden board and table surface upon which the ceramic object sits, and also those areas of the wall behind that are not covered by the squared-up sheet of paper that acts as a measuring device and proportional guide.

Tea (Sub) for Two #13: Tea painting #2

coloured pencil, graphite, watercolour & tea/30x20cm

This drawing features the groovy little ‘retromanic’, iconic 'Tea Sub' making another appearance, this time not floating in a white space but anchored to & within the representational spatial environment of the still life 'arena' as observed.

The painting is colour-washed with watercolour for the vivid yellow(s) of the Tea Sub and various types and layers of brewed liquid tea to represent the hues and tones of the wooden board and table surface upon which the object sits, thus, in using tea as a medium in the realization of the artwork, establishing a fundamental link to the 'ArtTeaOlogy' ethos.

Tea(pot) for Two #12: Tea Painting #1

graphite, coloured pencil, watercolour & tea/30x20cm

This drawing, featuring the oft-studied small Japanese teapot observed in the company of a pair of cups from its matching set (as it was, indeed, on a sequence of occasions almost 5 years ago, from the beginning of September 2007, when I began drawing again as a regular discipline & blogging the results of the process: please scroll down to the bottom of the archive page for evidence), was colour-washed using two media: watercolour to represent the pale blue-grey of the pot & the glaze covering part of the cups, & also, over the remainder of the picture plane, tea: as one of the essential accompaniments to the drawing process, it seems most appropriate that tea should form part of the artwork itself, integral as it is to the ‘ArtTeaOlogical’ philosophy being pursued.

Various types of brewed liquid tea were utilized in the process (including pale green, orangey Assam and the rich browns of black teas), each having their own particular hue, built up in numerous layers to create the range of tones that constitute the ground of the wooden board and table surface upon which the ceramic objects sit, and also those areas of the wall behind that are not covered by the squared-up sheet of paper that acts as a measuring device and proportional guide, in something of an on-going homage to Euan Uglow.

'ArtTeaOlogy' Goes Live

The Opposite of Tomato is today able to announce the opening, via Etsy, of 'ArtTeaOlogy' the online store: happy shopping.

Tea(pot) for Two #11

coloured pencil, graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

This drawing expands the formal repertoire of the summer’s teapot series by incorporating a representative description of the spatial environment in which the object is situated for observation, including the close-toned & similarly-hued horizontal planes of the circular wooden board & table top, which contrast nicely with the pale grey & blue of the crackle-glazed teapot, & the vertical plane of the wall behind that delimits the recessive depth of the space, upon which has been tacked a squared-up sheet of paper that acts as a form of measuring device to aid the drawing of the object(s).

Such a formal device owes something of a debt of influence & inspiration to the work of Euan Uglow, of course, an artist much admired here at TOoT as regular readers might be aware, whose measured approach was a significant feature of his ever-compelling practice.

Frequent recourse is made to the essential 'Euan Uglow: the Complete Paintings’ in the interests of visual research & here, in a scene from the studio, we see Pickle the cat in close proximity to the very volume: she may appear to be sleeping, as is often her wont, but one prefers to imagine that she is instead engaged in Zen-like contemplation of art...

Catching Up With Vic

An invitation to Telford’s Warehouse in Chester to attend a celebration last night in honour of the venerable Mr Williamcheese’s upcoming ‘significant number’ birthday offered the opportunity also to witness & greatly enjoy a live performance by Vic Godard & Subway Sect, a band I’d previously seen & heard way back in the day some rather incredible-to-consider (with a slight shudder) 31 years ago, sandwiched, miscast then most inappropriately between the gothic melodramas of The Birthday Party & Bauhaus at the Royal Court in Liverpool (as mentioned here in the recesses of the archive).

On this particular occasion, Vic & cohorts were able to entertain, in a more intimate setting, a small but more appreciative audience with a selection of tunes from a career-spanning repertoire (dating thus from circa 1976) of Northern Soul-inflected yet angular, detouring post-punk toe-tappers – scratchy, trebly guitars, cheesy organ, sometimes off-key vocals & all - & a splendid job they made of it too, cooking up a rare old storm in suitably idiosyncratic fashion.
I must admit to finding such a sound enduringly charming & ‘homely’, it’s a place I know – am, indeed, ‘from’ - & have an abiding affection for, & Vic Godard & Subway Sect’s sheer persistence in ploughing their own particular furrow is to be much admired.
Inspired to research Simon Reynolds' essential ‘Rip It Up’, it was a pleasure to read again too the author’s & Vic’s words on the subject of his artistic philosophy, his influences, his commitment to his cause, his anti-star stance: it’s all good stuff, & thanks for a great gig & respect are due.

Update: September 12th 2012

After the fact, a drawing has been processed, re-mediated from a print of a photographic image of Vic Godard performing live, with accompanying text here:

coloured pencil & putty eraser/20x30cm

Tea for Two #10 (Tea Sub) (Revisited)

graphite & watercolour/30x20cm

This latest drawing in the tea-themed ‘ArtTeaOlogical’ summer series depicts, through the process, another item of tea paraphernalia &, in so doing, revisits a subject already explored in very similar fashion on an occasion during November of last year, thus, it might reasonably be said, adding another layer to the ‘retromania’ already embodied in the object itself.

Whatever, the Beatles-inspired yellow submarine ‘Tea Sub’ infuser is again represented in the manner it suggests, liberated from its actual spatial environment as observed, resting upon a horizontal plane, and instead floating in and navigating a pure white space, somehow more romantic as befits the imaginative subject matter.

Tea for Two #9 (Tea Temples)

coloured pencil & putty eraser/30x20cm

This drawing – the latest in the summer’s tea-themed series in the interests of ‘ArtTeaOlogy’ - depicts a scattered arrangement of another item of tea paraphernalia (indeed, an essential one) in the form of teapigs' 'tea temples', which seems a most appropriately reverent name for receptacles containing the precious tea leaves themselves.

The 'temples' are pyramid-shaped bags of a silky mesh material that allows a slightly misty view of the tea within, in this case a selection of three types - (from left to right) chamomile flowers, rooibos and popcorn tea - all of which were brewed and enjoyed before collecting the used, re-dried bags for the purposes of studying & drawing, attempting in the process of doing so to capture the essence of the fine, delicate objects as observed, and represented within a contemplative pure, white space.