The Opposite of Tomato

Revealing Detail...

2012-01-23T21:31:00.005Z

Presenting today not the full scope of a drawing but, rather, a still-life detail of, specifically the customary late evening unwinding glass of wine (that one could get through the day without, but why would one want to?) – not usually an accompaniment to the drawing process, what with the emphasis being on the maintenance of keenness of faculties, rigour of focus & all, & perhaps there’s a certain looseness in the representation of, but, for once, that might not necessarily be a bad thing (& it’s more the consequence of observing & mark making in subdued ‘mood’ lighting conditions, anyway): whatever, this small corner of the drawing appears the most satisfying in the context of the whole.

graphite & putty eraser/(detail) 9x6cm

The ‘bigger picture’, as it were (v topical re. the Hockney exhibition at the RA), is still in the process of being considered for full revelation.

Another Technical Hitch

2012-01-16T23:06:00.010Z

Another drawing made with the digital pen, on this occasion an original creation after the sequence of tracings of existing artists' drawings, &, alas, another technical hitch resulting in the failure to record the drawing in anything other than its physical form: not user error this time, in forgetting to switch the receiver on, but rather, for whatever reason, the process wasn’t registered by the device.

biro/30x20cm

The drawing as it exists, then, in its state of splendid isolation, is a biro interpretation based loosely on a general combination of aspects of that collection of photographs taken of the instance of ‘double black lines’ road markings found amongst the back streets of Chester in September of last year (already), using the tool to employ a broad & intensive mark-making approach to the familiar subject matter, constructing an active & substantial (although not necessarily as satisfactorily a subtly-modulated) tonal surface with & from such means.

Early One Morning, Revisited

2012-01-15T21:36:00.005Z

Another view of the field, with goalposts, beyond the perimeter of the back garden fence, previously photographed on an occasion during the latter part of last year when shrouded in mist, this morning to be seen, in the pale early daylight, displaying the effects of a couple of days’ & nights’ hard frost, settled upon the surface of all, quiet & still, both romantic & melancholy at the same time, again evoking reminders of the paintings of George Shaw, the goalposts providing signifiers of human life & activity that remains absent from the picture.

It has subsequently occurred to me that perhaps the photographs should be taken from the opposite end of the field, thus looking towards the rear of the short terrace of houses, incorporating evidence of such standard domestic architecture into the composition, for a more authentically ‘Shavian’ scene, although the picture as it exists certainly carries echoes of the artist's work.

Drawing Inspiration...

2012-01-11T21:13:00.016Z

Today brought the rather exciting discovery, via a roundabout internet route, of the drawings of Jim Savage, or at least a couple of examples of, which prove to be not nearly enough but so much better than none at all.

As can be observed from the two landscape studies below, the whole surface of Savage’s drawings are scored with & activated by an all-over network of lines that then come to coalesce in details of the topography of the specific locations represented, establishing a continuous dialogue between recessional pictorial space & the material fact of the picture plane, which one is returned to by virtue of the mesh that covers it. There’s a wonderful luminosity present too, glowing lambently from the notional horizon through the surface haze.

Jim Savage 'Rough Ground' 1998
Pencil on paper/82 x 116 cm
[image from The Occasional Press]

Jim Savage 'Rough Ground'
[image from Limerick City Gallery of Art]

(Not) Going Digital...

2012-01-10T10:14:00.013Z

Continuing the nascent project of drawing with the new digital pen, the method thus far being the tracing of existing drawings, being guided by the mark-making process of a selection of the enduring favourite artists, & on this occasion using Van Gogh & his distinctive style as the template for such endeavour.

As one follows in the mark-makings of the artist, one is struck by the intensity of the realisation of his vision before & amidst the motif, the obsessive recording of sensations as enshrined in the drawing, with its dynamic all-over surface, so vividly communicated, &, in turn, just how mechanical & removed a process is the tracing, for all the degree of concentrated looking & physical activity required.

Furthermore, the biro inevitably lacks the variety & subtlety of mark-making potential of the range of tools & media used by Van Gogh, his ink pens & pencils, for all that one attempts to be sympathetic to & empathetic with the source image: involved in the drawing process, viewing the reproduction from which one is working, one is unaware, through the accumulating haze of marks made upon the surface of the not-wholly-transparent tracing paper, through which one struggles to see, just how far distanced one is & increasingly becomes until a comparison is made.

Vincent Van Gogh 'Cottage' 1888
pencil, reed pen & pen, with brown & black ink on paper/61x49cm

copy after Van Gogh 'Cottage Garden'
biro on tracing paper/30x20cm

At this point in proceedings, it’s customary to present the digital version of the drawing (process) as recorded by the clip-on receiver & uploaded to the computer: alas, on this occasion, someone forgot to remember to switch the receiver on, thus no record was made/saved of the drawing as it happened, & thus there’s no digital drawing to subsequently convert into text, so we’re left with just the handmade biro tracing of the process.

Going Digital #4

2012-01-07T10:37:00.025Z

Today the opposite of tomato is In Pursuit of Your Happiness

Another in the sequence of digital pen tracings, exploring the mark-making potential of the new instrument, on this occasion using Jasper Johns & one of his ‘Flag’ drawings as a guide, as inevitable a circumstance as it might be possible to imagine around these parts, given my abiding attachment to the artist.

Jasper Johns 'Flag' 1958
Pencil and graphite wash on paper/30x22cm

The example chosen from which to work is drawn more loosely & displays much less dense mark-making than others of Johns’ flags, consequently being lighter in tone & feel, seeming more appropriate to the purposes of the particular exercise (although, for future reference, it might also be worth considering one of the more densely-processed drawings as a template). The image displays a suitable range of mark-making to explore the versatility of the digital pen, although of course, again, the biro lacks the subtlety of the pencil(s) used by Johns, in conjunction with washes of graphite, an additional ‘textural’ feature I felt it might be possible to replicate with recourse to certain functions of the software program accompanying the pen & its digital receiver, in the interests of developing the drawing at the computer stage in this particular instance, given that such possibility exists.

The initial biro drawing, then, is a tracing of a reproduction (in the essential ‘Gray’ volume) of Johns’ drawing, this copy’s exactitude being compromised by the less-than-complete-transparency of the tracing paper & then the further obscurity created by the accumulation of marks made upon its surface in the transcription process – all things taken into account, significant loss & difference occurs in translation, which process is then extended & intensified in the uploading to the computer & digitizing of the pen drawing, as can be observed.

copy after Jasper Johns 'Flag'
biro on tracing paper/30x20cm

The brush feature of the software program, although extending the range of mark-making, offer little in the way of subtlety, of transparency of application, in addition to its tendency to regularize the difference of the marks (that might be) made by the biro, & bears all the appearance of a drawing made with a fibre-tipped pen without necessarily replicating even the flow of such an instrument: it all adds up to a pretty crude approximation, although not without its own distinctive qualities, & it’s interesting to observe the manner in which the receiver reads the handmade marks of the pen, which is an impressive enough concept in itself.

digital translation of biro drawing after Jasper Johns 'Flag'

Bringing proceedings to a close in the now usual manner, as the final stage of the process, the digital image is then converted to a text document, the software program making its own sense of the marks made & recorded. Although beginning with the now familiar flurry of uppercase Es amongst other stock characters, on this occasion more recognizable words occur than has previously been the case, perhaps because the marks made more closely approximate the flow & rhythms of handwriting. Whatever, it’s possible to isolate the random selection of words ‘pains’, ‘thistledown’, ’trespass’, ‘annatto’, ‘Wheaten’ & ‘Eastward’, in addition to the rather grand name 'Rathfarnham' & what appear to be the formats of URLs & email addresses: one wonders if, in particular, ‘trespass’ is some form of comment upon & coded warning against the appropriation of the work of artists for one’s own exploratory ends, as has been the nature of this project thus far..!

MEEFIEIHHFFPFIEFHEHEMEEEFM@EE.ME H*05*E*a
hhnhynnatiaaatdntesefwsawaaddfaodomaaae@hffemate.hm pains
trespass'nIi*t¥ginn→*aiohagh thistledown Rathfarnham. paawehasaataefkfohytegaefaiitmoeggdddaadha@tmmb.ad
annatto
fagytmhafetamaetetkiaaawtor.h@ammttdaataabrwesattatathahftaitayaahawa.nl
Ahtr*estn*fefFEfaeEmhp•*EAetwTATT*nEp# Wheaten. t*d*e*a m*E*a*t=A*a*a-805777ttmz@Hotmail.org ataman t*#dthAErn*kxMfhtMMAtahEEhAE Eastward ftagfthaxan-aaaantnaaaananttt@tak.th
ihhaahhhfkehkuadtoseaatadwma@apptottmfhd.ax and

Going Digital #3

2012-01-05T21:43:00.017Z

Continuing the experiment of drawing with the new digital pen, & returning to Cézanne as the source from which to trace an image for the purposes of mark-making, on this occasion one of the artist’s landscape studies, in his recognizable technique of exploratory lines & tonal ‘hatching’.
Again, as (noted) with the two previous examples, degrees of loss (of detail & subtlety) & difference are clearly discernible between the reproduction of the original Cézanne pencil drawing, the biro tracing & the digital reading/processing of the tracing, each media displaying their own distinct(ive) qualities.

Cézanne 'Landscape with Trees' c.1885-87
pencil on paper/12x21cm

tracing after Cézanne 'Landscape with Trees'
biro on tracing paper/30x20cm

digital reading of tracing after Cézanne 'Landscape with Trees'

As has become the usual final stage of the process, we also present the digital image as converted to text, again the drawn marks intriguingly translated into a sequence of what has become the norm of uppercase Es, hash & Yen symbols with a scattering of asterisks thrown in & also, rather bizarrely, the words ‘feed’ &, rather bizarrely, ‘tonsillitis!’ (sic) – that exclamation mark is not necessarily a surprise under such circumstances…

r*e*E'€eET#Ei*EEEEIE*EF##*a*±h-g T t*p*p*H *¥EFFt€EE#r***Eh⇐EE±*wksie÷ph*F feed
ankgegpe##EEEEEEtE*<=*¥E¥eztfaeeI¥tf¥atµ
- #EEaeayµµkie±E÷I¥£¥s±±¥¥fkedtfett do I f=a*m*j--714 I=I tonsillitis!ttttttttttf EEEEEEEEEEEIEEEIE.IEF±ttttte
-* rMMMn=I_Mmm+->. t*H
-

Going Digital #2

2012-01-03T23:26:00.029Z

A second drawing made with the new digital pen, again a tracing based upon an artist’s drawing acting as a guide in the interests of exploring the instrument’s mark-making potential. After beginning with Cezanne, we now draw upon Giacometti as the template, given his distinctive mode of mark-making, & his drawing transcribed from Cezanne’s portrait of Victor Choquet, an appropriate coincidence with a mind to continuity & dialogue: Giacometti, indeed, made a number of studies from Cezanne’s drawings & paintings, over the course of many years (dating from the 1920s onwards), exploring a range of styles in the process of doing so.

tracing after Giacometti, biro on tracing paper, 30x20cm

As with the previous example, the tracing necessarily loses something in translation, as the semi-transparency of the paper & the subsequent marks upon it serve to obscure some of the subtleties & details of the source image: this, of course, can be regarded as a good thing as it allows the new drawing to become a thing in & of itself, at a distance from the reproduction of the original (in the volume ‘Cezanne & Giacometti: Paths of Doubt’).
The physical fact of the use of different media – organic, responsive graphite pencil for the original, the machine of the less subtle & versatile biro for the tracing – also emphasizes such distance & difference, which the digital reading of the pen drawing, as processed digitally, then intensifies.

Again, it’s a fascinating process to trace an artist’s hand & moves, in this instance trying to replicate Giacometti’s explorations at arriving at some degree of resolution to the problem of achieving the form of the image he was studying & using as his model, charting a course through the labyrinth of gestures, the flow of constant revisions, the gradual honings & homings-in, as recorded by his pencil & evidenced below.

Alberto Giacometti 'After Cezanne: Portrait of Victor Choquet' c.1950
pencil on paper/30x31cm

As before, the digital version of the the biro pen drawing as read by the receiver & subsequently uploaded to the computer displays quite differently from the marks as made upon the sheet of tracing paper, appearing distinctively much in the manner of a drawing made with a fibre tipped pen, broader again in its communication of lack of variation of touch.

Finally, the digital image as converted into a text via a Word document, with perhaps not as many looped characters as might be expected to appear, apart from a smattering of lowercase t's, instead again favouring uppercase Es & Yen symbols: no meaning, of whats, hows or whys, seems to be discernible!

ftItTeFeEEeEEEEIiEtFEFf¥tEytIfIh¥Ei¥¥tItTEt*t¥tItIE¥FttttiTIPh¥ypMgP
testate'ttttt¥tttt*i¥EIIgoIt¥t*oei¥ttd*t
tha¥#¥e##*

Going Digital

2012-01-02T21:52:00.043Z

A new year &, with it, a new tool with which, amongst other things, to make marks & drawings; sourced, researched & then kindly presented by A during the course of the recent festivities.
The thing itself is Staedtler’s ‘Digital Pen’ which, essentially, functions in the manner of an ordinary ballpoint pen, allowing the user to make handwritten ink notes or sketches, but is also capable of saving such results in digital form via the device of a receiver & its related software program(s) which enables them to be uploaded to a computer for saving, further processing or even conversion to text in the form of a Word document. Even as one becomes more & more familiar with technology, still some developments can appear somewhat remarkable, & the existence of such an instrument & its functionality seems to fall into this category: the fact that the software can recognize one’s scrawl & endeavour to read it before then converting it to neat, legible, typefaced text is rather impressive.
Such is not necessarily the main purpose to which the pen has been applied thus far, however, & here TooT (re)presents evidence of the first purposeful drawing endeavour for which it has been used.

By way of brief explanation, in the interests of embarking upon a mark-making exercise, whilst considering artists’ drawings & also coincidentally engaged in reading the essays contained with the Jasper Johns ‘Gray’ catalogue, with that book’s tracing paper dust jacket (photographically illustrated here), it was decided to make tracings of a few chosen drawings that offered particular mark-making potential in the copying of or ‘being guided by’, with the aim of an exploration of the digital pen’s capabilities.
In a sense, that ‘guiding’ actually is the case, as, once one begins the tracing process, the combination of the made marks upon the surface, & anyway the not-wholly-transparent nature, of the tracing paper, where some of the subtleties of what lies beneath might become somewhat compromised, interferes with & precludes a properly clear reading of the original image, thus one is drawing an approximation of a representation, all with an instrument of a different nature to that used to make the original drawing, should that prove not to have been a biro.

Accordingly, the first drawing chosen to serve a model for the digital pen experimentation was a Cezanne self-portrait from circa 1880, itself made with graphite on paper, as it appears reproduced in the book ‘Cezanne by Himself’: represented firstly is the original tracing/drawing of (an interesting & attractive double-sided object in itself).

copy of Cezanne 'Self-Portrait', biro on tracing paper, 30x20cm

As anyone who has have drawn with a biro might appreciate, the pen, whilst it offers a certain range of mark-making potential, in terms of weight of application, is by no means capable of the variety & subtleties of a pencil, thus the resulting physical drawing is quite different in nature to the source image for all that it is intended to be a reasonably faithful copy of the essential form & its constituent marks: a comparison with a reproduction of the original Cezanne drawing might illustrate this.

Cezanne 'Self-Portrait' c.1880
pencil/30x25cm

Then, the pen drawing in digital form, as read & stored by the receiver & uploaded to the computer. A certain difference of appearance is discernible, & slight loss of detail & subtlety might be observed as having been lost in translation from the original drawing, distancing us further from the Cezanne self-portrait from which the proceedings were sourced.

Finally, & taking us rather some distance from the original Cezanne drawing upon which this particular endeavour is based, we present the digital drawing as converted, experimentally, to text, its marks translated into letters & other symbolic characters: a curious reading, to be sure, & whatever could it mean, in the manner of ‘how’ it does, considering that the text is presented in a format that bears no formal relation to the composition of the drawn image...? It’s intriguing, for instance, that such a reading begins with the word ‘jammy’ (?!) but then chooses to offer nothing other than a flurry of information of which no linguistic sense can be made, other than, perhaps, something of a penchant for E’s & Yen, which we’re sorted for, obviously, in addition to hashes & asterixes, which symbolic transpositions from the original marks & hatchings might be regarded as being understandable.

jammy
#E### i*a*t
FEEK ***#FEE¥*t*
t*A*g*j tIE¥⇐**EEE*II¥y
t*f*E*e.*E*EIEE÷eftIIiIItt
#E**i¥#gg*'EIyF#tth
y*x *EE#E**iIt#EI¥E¥k¥#¥*gn§t,
tpgfFfyy**¥¥#

Snappy New Year

2012-01-02T15:20:00.016Z

A New Years’ break in a favoured haunt in Conwy allowed the opportunity to wander around the town with A & this very lunchtime capture for posterity an image of a previously-encountered & favourite example of signage, with which it’s always a pleasure to be reacquainted, that hand-drawn effort advertising the premises where the Conwy Camera Club convenes.

There’s just something rather endearing about the exaggerated gap between the ‘m’ & the ‘e’ of the rendering of the word ‘camera’, created by the modular nature of the sign’s construction.

Also to be observed during the course of the perambulations, considering things modular, were a couple of fine examples of chequered design, the first, in relief, upon the cast iron dividers to be found between paving slabs, themselves displaying textural incident,

& then another, with added time-worn scratched detail upon its surface, forming a deep wooden windowsill at a barber’s shop.

New Favourite Book

2011-12-06T18:29:00.005Z

Possibly ever.

Today, TOoT celebrates the recent arrival at headquarters of the most handsome volume (‘1’ indeed) of David Batchelor’s ‘Found Monochromes’, comprising a collection of 250 photographs of examples of such from the artist’s on-going (since 1997) documentary project of these finds, of blank white signs & faded notices, or the reverse planes of, encountered in, primarily, London but also other cities in Britain & around the globe, & one in Church Stretton, the streets of which A & I pottered during a recent restorative stay nearby, also taking in other delights of Shropshire.

As one might appreciate from the sample image pages below, the book constitutes a fascinating record of these occurrences of ephemeral presences/’voids’ in the visual field, ranging in scale from small sheets of paper to billboard-sized, in the fabric of the urban environment which surrounds them in many of its aspects – its architecture & the patina acquired (including graffiti); the details, the doors & windows of these buildings & establishments; its fences, barriers & divisions; its temporary construction sites; its forgotten, forlorn corners; its proliferation of signage & printed notices &, again, more impromptu instances of visual language such as graffiti.
One of course refers to the tradition of the white monochrome in modernist painting & particularly, those of Robert Ryman, & his attention also to fastenings, in the pursuit of the object & spatial environmental nature of his work, visible as a feature of a number of the monochromes photographed by Batchelor, fixed variously by selloptape, parcel tape, string, tacks, blu-tack & other means, all adding to the interest of any given image.
In each example, the white monochromes create a pause in the midst of the environment in which they are found, a still, mute point (or, otherwise, no more than a faint whisper where evidence of faded former content might be discerned through scrutiny) in the visual ‘noise’ around them, a blank canvas to be enjoyed for its purity or, perhaps if one might be so inclined, to be subjectively projected upon or a narrative ascribed to.

From such apparently simple means can a body of work of richly rewarding complexity be accumulated & constructed.

The subject of found monochromes is, of course, one that was until recently, in the form of the ‘double black lines’ markings upon the tarmac roads of a particular North Wales town, documented originally for themselves & latterly with the addition of ‘roadkill’ cans, an active aspect of the content here at TOoT & remains dear to the heart, being by no means abandoned or consigned to history – indeed, as a recent find of another occurrence of such a phenomenon amongst the streets of Chester illustrated.

Interesting to note that mention of Batchelor’s project originally came to my intrigued attention, almost a couple of years ago now, courtesy of the estimable Jazz Green & her excellent online artist’s journal: how good it is to finally have extensive tangible evidence of the ‘Found Mononchromes’, collected together in handy book form, to be studied at leisure.

A Twist of Pepper

2011-11-29T23:40:00.011Z

Today the opposite of tomato is In Trance as Mission

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour & paper collage/30x20cm

Re-presenting today the expanded version/composition of a drawing processed recently with the intention of providing such a foundation, for, whilst it seemed appropriate for the yellow submarine to exist in a void, the ‘Sergeant Pepper(mill)’ figure, when considering the original inspiration for its existence, suggested it should more properly be situated within the presence of an accompanying cast of the type proposed by the members of The Beatles upon designer Peter Blake’s prompting, of his vision – their ideal audience assembled for a performance of the fictional Lonely Hearts Club Band, comprising, for the most part, a selection of various cultural heroes.

Accordingly, after a little light pictorial research & cutting out of the results (appropriately, given that the models for the Sgt Pepper LP sleeve design were life-size cardboard cut-outs of the band’s ‘heroes’, &, perhaps, a form of linear ‘drawing’ itself?), TOoT has assembled a small selection of admired personages & characters from the world of culture – oft-mentioned influences from the visual arts (i.e, more specifically, painters), favoured musical accompaniment as featuring on the habitual ‘soundtracks’, authors & more, including Peter Blake & his collaborative partner Jann Haworth - to contextualize our ‘Sgt Pepper’ in the manner of the original(s) & collaged these into place upon the page, composed within the picture plane, whose essential flatness they share & intensify even as they contribute to the creation of a subtle three-dimensional relief as is inherent to the medium.
The accompanying cast thus constitutes but a small number of those who might have been considered for inclusion in such a gallery, edited down to fit within the constraints of the picture plane, but with possibilities, perhaps, for further expansion…

Soundtrack:

Simple Minds 'Sons and Fascination' & 'Sister Feelings Call'

In keeping with the music accompanying the original drawing & watercolouring sessions of the Sgt Peppermill, the soundtrack to the collaging process featured not the album itself or even The Beatles at all but, rather, another delve into the post-punk past & a blast of some real nostalgia, of a surprising nature.
Somehow, I’d never imagined finding myself actively listening to the music of Simple Minds again, or desiring to, but for whatever reason the memory does such things, the song ‘In Trance as Mission’ came to mind recently & lodged itself there until it simply had to be heard: cue a quest to acquire the album the track opens, ‘Sons and Fascination’, & its companion ‘Sister Feelings Call’, duly achieved, & con- & subsequently a most pleasurable reacquaintance with what sound a fine pair of recordings, fresh & compelling in form & content, their manifest influences (shared by a number of peers) assimilated into the creation of something distinct(ly ‘modern’ in its aesthetic) &, seemingly, of an enduring quality, a melding of many layers of the electric & electronic built upon insistent rhythms, sometimes of a certain (comparative) ‘danceability’ that would then, at the time of the albums’ release, back in 1981, have placed the Minds somewhere at the forefront of the tendency towards - before the still-embryonic New Order, for instance, had embraced such a development - expanding beyond the angular nature of the sound of much post-punk.
‘In Trance as Mission’ itself, the welcome catalyst, is a lovely softly buzzing, shimmering, gliding dreamscape of a track, & many a sonic treat is supplied over the course of the diversity of the twin albums: it’s good stuff, frozen in a time if not place between Joy Division & the advent of The Smiths, a subtle broadening of the musical palette then & deserving of preservation within now, having unexpectedly gained re-admittance.

The Comice Are Here (Again)...

2011-11-23T22:56:00.008Z

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm

A second drawing of the pair of ‘Comice’ pears, with, on this occasion, something of a departure in terms of composition, with the concentration not upon proximity of arrangement in the interests of establishing a positive ‘charge’ of energy in the narrow visible space between the objects but, rather, in acting upon a phenomenon noticed & suggested by newly- & delightfully blogging A (to whom thanks are thus due), contemplating that something similar occurring within the area(s) of shadow cast by the objects as they were illuminated, as previously, from both the left & from behind by the fluctuating glow from the television screen.

Get Back to Where You Once Belong(ed)...

2011-11-22T08:30:00.015Z

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm

Familiar subject matter here at TOoT in the (voluptuous) form of a pair of pears, on this occasion much larger objects, of the ‘Comice’ variety, than the recently represented examples of miniature fruits found locally: given this, the objects are drawn sight-size, from a distance of about 3 feet, rather than to life scale as is the habitual practice, in order to compose them in more appropriate, comfortable relation to the physical limits of the A4 picture plane.
As has become recent environmental habit, the objects are lit from both the left & from behind, by the ebb & flow of the glow of the television screen, creating a particular blend of fugitive illumination that plays on both the objects & with the nature of the cast shadows.

There is a certain poignancy to, & historical significance in, the depiction of ‘Comice’ pears in particular, as fruits of this variety provided the objects of study for the very first pear drawings I made, the initial examples of what subsequently developed into a substantial series of tonal studies, in charcoal, during my Cheltenham undergraduate days, one of which is presented below:

This image has, in fact, already featured on the blog, back in the day, in the context of the presentation of a watercolour of another group of pears, where it was supported by a text that, part of which at least, still relevant, it seems appropriate to now recycle (with a few additions):

"[a drawing…] which seems to illustrate a much deeper level of engagement with the subject & (encourage a) more profound aesthetic experience altogether. The drawing (was processed upon) gorgeous, heavyweight Fabriano ‘Rosaspina’ paper, intended for printmaking but wonderfully receptive as a support for charcoal too, the surface of which breaks down easily to allow access to an underlying soft, crumbly texture perfect for retaining the marks of the drawing(’s) process, a record of its making and revisions (the drawing in question, like many of its contemporary fellows, was heavily worked over a period of time, a number of sessions), (an accumulation of marks &) layers of memory fixed in physical form, the scoring of the surface echoing that occurring on the pears with the passage of time, becoming a particular physical aspect of the drawing-as-an-object (as opposed to it being ‘merely’, flatly two-dimensional) and incidentally giving the drawing something of the appearance of an aged photograph, transparency or grainy film still".

Just Milling Around...

2011-11-20T23:16:00.012Z

After the yellow submarine tea infuser drawn & blogged immediately previously comes another example of a watercolour drawing of Beatles-related subject/object matter in the form of the rather fetching ‘Sergeant’ peppermill, another recently invested-in must-have addition to the kitchen & home for the retromaniacally-inclined…

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour/20x30cm

Such a study might find contextual company in the form of Euan Uglow’s painting of a Homepride ‘Flour Man’ figure, itself another retro icon to those of us able to recall such a marketing device, what might appear a humorous aside but still subject, as is obvious, to the same measured rigour of scrutiny & representation as any of the artist’s other source matter, as might be expected, & also claimed of & for the peppermill too.

Soundtrack:

Dome '1 & 2' & '3 & 4'
Wire ‘The A List’
Hanne Hukkelberg ‘Rykestrasse 68’

Not necessarily the expected soundtrack (although there’s a hopefully-still-playable cassette tape of a wonderful ’20 Years Ago’ anniversary of the Sgt Pepper album’s release Radio One documentary broadcast I’d love to listen to again, considering) but, rather, another blast of retromania, & an altogether more obscure corner of, with the delights of the collected works of Gilbert & Lewis’s Wire-offshoot Dome, none of which was ever previously owned but the memory of one track – ‘Ritual View’ from volume 2, with its snuffily-nasal ‘chorus’ – had endured from a hearing on a dim-&-distant John Peel show: a treat it is to be reunited with, at last, & now in tangible form, along with some other rather good stuff contained within the layers & labyrinths of sonic textures & explorations. By one of those quirks of memory, & the unreliability of, I had somehow conflated the recollection of ‘Ritual View’ with that of Dome-collaborator AC Marias’ ‘Drop’, reacquainted with & mentioned in these parts recently, where its separateness became apparent, so it’s been an especial mission to locate & establish the certainty of the facts of ‘Ritual View’, which have, it transpires, not disappointed: not least, the lyrics at one point make reference to "graphite marks", which is rather appropriate under the circumstances.
In the interests of verity, it should be stated that Dome were listened to earlier in the week, whilst completing a couple of job application forms: the Wire compilation & the enchanting world of Hanne H’s ‘Rykestrasse 68', too-long unvisited, actually accompanied the two sessions of the drawing process.

Blue Sky Thinking...

2011-11-12T19:04:00.025Z

Today the opposite of tomato is turning off your mind, relaxing & floating downstream...

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour/20x30cm

The subject/object matter of the latest drawing to be processed & (re)presented is the rather groovy 'Tea Sub' infuser, something the existence of which was initially brought to my attention last year by A (to whom this drawing especially is dedicated) & most kindly presented recently. In addition to its irresistible aesthetic properties & pop art, retro desirability, it is of course, to leaf tea aficionados such as ourselves, a practical, functional necessity.

In a departure from the habitual mode of representation of such still life objects, faithful to appearances & generally to immediate environmental context, the nature of the little sub, from source, suggested it should be depicted freed from its actual gravitational relation to the horizontal plane upon which it rested in the process of being observed & drawn &, rather, presented imaginatively, as floating, in this instance within the limits of void of the white sheet of A4-sized paper - which might in turn infer something on a much larger, infinite scale - navigating its exploratory passage across.

Prior to the drawing experience, there occurred a moment of visual serendipity as, sitting in bed enjoying a leisurely start to the day, a cup of tea & a little light research, I browsed through the rather attractive illustrated survey volume 'British Artists at Work' & encountered one of the pages featuring representations of the work of Ian Davenport, including some unfamiliar examples of arrangements of small circles in addition to the known compositions of larger-scale poured coloured lines, both of which related rather nicely to the designs on either side of our fab-groovy duvet cover, suitably psychedelic-Sixties...

Soundtrack:

The Beatles 'Revolver'
She & Him 'Volume Two'

Inevitably, the observation of such an object as a yellow submarine led to ‘Revolver’ being given a spin to accompany the drawing process: the sequencing of the track-listing is genius, from the lovely ballad ‘Here, There and Everywhere’ to that singalong favourite itself then to the harsh electric jangle of ‘She Said, She Said’.

P(e)aring Down More Closely

2011-11-08T22:48:00.014Z

A slight repositioning of the previously-drawn pair of miniature pears, in closer proximity in the endeavour to create that positive 'charge' in the narrow visual space between, again processing the drawing as the objects are observed in the here-&-now, with some edges indistinct &/or ambiguous viewed against the horizontal plane upon which the pears rest & in the fugitive light conditions of the from-rear flicker of the television screen, which also produces occasional flares of highlights.

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm

P(e)aring Down

2011-11-07T22:13:00.027Z

Paring down the number of found objects to a pair of pears in this latest composition, observed as before illuminated artifically from the left & from behind by the glow from the television screen, with a further source diffusing light from left-front, creating subtle highlights upon the fruits' surfaces.
Again, edges become lost to sight against the horizontal plane upon which the objects sit, & areas of shadow as cast, & the process of the drawing attempts to take account of such...

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm

Soundtrack:

AC Marias early singles & 'One of Our Girls (Has Gone Missing)'

Another blast from the musical past with a compiled selection of the recordings of another artist discovered via the the auspices of the John Peel radio show, being a collaborator with such members of Wire as were involved in offshoot projects such as Dome, the mimimalist aesthetic of which/whom informs the ethereal sound of AC Marias: 'Drop' remains an hypnotic delight, as do tracks from the album, particularly one such as 'Just Talk', with its repetitive, looped rhythm, ideal accompaniment to the concentrated, actively-meditative drawing process.

The Writing on the Road...

2011-11-06T22:49:00.010Z

Another sunny Sunday afternoon stroll around the locality, again in the excellent company of A, part of the journey alongside the main road, its surface decorated at intervals with coloured zones signifying bus stopping areas, within & whereupon one of which was found an example of the familiar flattened, reformed, aluminium can ‘roadkill’, thus photographically documented in the interests of the ongoing project recording such findings.
In this particular instance, the position of the object in relation to certain striking & significant features such as the painted lettering on the road, & the desire & endeavour to include these within the composition, led to the picture frame being rotated from the habitual horizontal ‘landscape’ to portrait format.

Once again, processes of surface erosion & deterioration, resulting in a form of craquelure upon/within the lower yellow line & the revelation of patches of the original tarmac surface beneath the subsequent overlays, provide both a physical texture to the scene as experienced & a visual texture to the picture plane as represented/reproduced, in the manner, it might be suggested, of the techniques & traditions of painting in oils or acrylics, with accumulations of layers, marks & scrapings-back contributing to the creation of the pictorial surface & its formal design: the embedded still life object of course adds to the overall ‘art’ credentials...

The Aesthetics of an Afternoon Tea

2011-11-05T19:30:00.005Z

An afternoon trip into town with A, each for the purposes of haircutting (successfully accomplished), then a potter & a little light shopping, punctuated by the desire for tea, taken & presented in the pleasing-to-the-eye arrangement thus photographically represented.
The personal choice was for a pot of Darjeeling, the liquid a rather fetching & welcoming amber in the cup & the leaves a most aesthetic melánge of green & browns in the pot, most fitting for the season…

[untitled]

2011-11-03T22:17:00.003Z

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm

Another drawing of an arrangement of a selection of the recently found-&-collected miniature pears, illuminated by artificial means, from the left by the wall light & from behind, to varying fugitive degrees as the picture on the screen changes, by the television, edges lost against the pale tones of horizonatal plane upon which they rest.

Early One Morning (II)

2011-11-01T22:55:00.010Z

Still pre-breakfast, the early autumnal morning light proved sufficient to process a drawing of another pair of the found miniature pears, as observed, edges lost against & merging with the ground of the horizontal plane on which they were composed.

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm

Early One Morning (I)

2011-11-01T18:04:00.012Z

Rising nice & early with the thought of perhaps indulging in a little light drawing before being required to fulfil the temporal demands of the day job, the visual day began immediately upon opening the window blinds, to be greeted by the sight beyond the limits of the back garden, of a patch of mist floating over an area of the playing field & enveloping the goalposts situated there. Both eerie & romantic in its way, with the inclusion of the wood panel garden fence in the photographic picture, suitably mossily patinated in itself, there seemed something also of the melancholy aesthetic of George Shaw (soon to be exhibiting in a must-see retrospective at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in his home town of Coventry, images & memories of the familiar haunts of which provide the grist to his creative mill, of course) in such a scene, unpopulated, autumnally damp & somewhat forlorn as it appeared & felt in the uncertain light of the dawning day.

One could/can sense the sounds of the Moon Wiring Club, both comforting but disconcerting, creeping in from the woods, on the mist…

Pears With a Twist of Psychocandy...

2011-10-31T22:54:00.019Z

Today the opposite of tomato is just like honey

Presenting a drawing that both returns to an occasional theme of late last year & earlier this in that it contains a certain narrative element, although in this particular instance this pertains more to the process of its making than, necessarily, to the composition of still objects whilst, breaking new ground, consequently includes a visual signifier of what proved to form part of the soundtrack to depicted within the limits of the picture plane.

The story goes: inspired by the inclusion of the Jesus & Mary Chain’s ‘Just Like Honey’ as the soundtrack to the closing scenes of ‘Lost in Translation’, watched again on Saturday evening, the vinyl copy of the ‘Psychocandy’ album containing & opening with, indeed, the said music, thought/hoped to have been retained within those examples of the LP collection that survived the extensive cull of yore, was gladly found there amongst & extracted for such purposes as appreciating the very fact of its physical existence & with the intention of soon indulging in the pleasure of playing & listening to this original artefact, in its glorious entirety beyond ‘Just Like Honey’.
Subsequently, the drawing process began, focussed solely on representing the composition of miniature pears on the horizontal plane in the foreground, the LP sleeve propped face-on behind, in eyeline & there as part of the ambient visual ‘noise’ but unconsidered for inclusion within the picture plane. Until such time, that is, that A made the suggestion that such might make an interesting addition to & juxtaposition within the composition, duly considered, appraised favourably & acted upon as the process developed, with the result thus, incorporating an element of text & design, & adding a vertical 'stop' to the suggestion of horizontal recession beyond the objects which might then draw the eye to the essential flatness of the surface of the picture plane:

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm

Soundtrack:

Jesus & Mary Chain 'Psychocandy'
1000 Violins 2 x John Peel sessions

Not just a welcome fix of ‘Psychocandy’, inevitably, the electric crackle & fizz of which is enhanced by the vinyl experience, but more analogue listening with a further exploration of the cassettes of Peel sessions archives & a most enjoyable re-acquaintance with the tuneful delights & wonderful titles of 1000 Violins: excellent stuff.

Still Grounded...

2011-10-17T19:14:00.028Z

A sunny afternoon constitutional presented the opportunity for a couple of encounters with flattened 'roadkill' aluminium cans found nestling, firstly, nearby & then within designated 'bus stop' areas upon the road surface, photographically documented for posterity & the continuation of the project recording such findings of 'roadkill' amidst the particularities of the still newishly local environs.

As previously, the coloured paint & tarmac of the bus stop bays, laid upon the original tarmac road surface - which is revealed where deterioration & erosion of such applications has occurred, extensively in places - adds both compositional & textural incident upon & to the ground of the 'still life' arrangement as found. Also, in these particular examples, there is the presence of strong vertical & horizontal linear structure, with these lines, running parallel to as they do, asserting the edges, the limitations, of the picture plane, in best modernist tradition.

An Increase in Productivity

2011-10-16T19:22:00.020Z

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm

With the finishing touches applied to the preceding example, a second drawing was able to be processed during the course of this afternoon as it faded, representing - as observed, edges indistinct against the tone of the ground of the horizontal plane upon which they were arranged - a selection of found miniature pear-like fruits, one with an extensive network of scars etched into its surface in a process of natural 'drawing', exquisite things-in-themselves.
The main purpose is to process & communicate this particular act of looking & seeing whilst, as is habitual, the proximity of some of the placements is intended to activate the spaces between the forms of the objects with a positive 'charge', in the manner that Andrew Forge ascribed to certain examples of Euan Uglow's compositions of pairs of pears, as referenced on previous occasions.

Soundtrack:

Microdisney 'The Clock Comes Down the Stairs'
The Delgados 'The Great Eastern'
Cocteau Twins 2nd Peel session (from 'Garlands' cassette)
The Fall '50,00 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong' (CD 1)
PJ Harvey 'Is This Desire?'

Another soundtrack, spanning the making of both the above & previous drawings (& a pizza), influenced by the legacy of John Peel, on the occasion of this weekend specifically to commemorate ‘Peel Day’, which actually occurred on Friday 14th, to coincide with the date of the great man’s final radio broadcast, now 7 years ago.

Microdisney were what might well be termed an archetypal ‘Peel band’, discovered & their developments – towards an increasing slickness of sound - charted via the good auspices of the show. Listening now to a cassette recording of ‘The Clock Comes Down the Stairs’, for the first time in many a long year, it’s good to be pleasantly reminded of such a singular aesthetic, with the band’s finely-crafted melodic musicality – characterised by a pop sensibility applied to a laid-back 70s’ west coast soft rock vibe nuanced by a country-tinged melancholia, one might say - offset by the sharp contrast of singer Cathal Coughlan’s idiosyncratic lyrics, amusingly mordant &/or sometimes accusatory commentaries on society & its mores. The gorgeous, glorious, stonking, stomping ‘Birthday Girl’, for instance, remains an irresistible pop song, a sure-fire chart hit in a parallel universe where taste might have reigned, one of a number of cracking tunes on the album that co-exist in fine balance with more poignant balladry.

Similarly, The Delgados bore a strong association with the Peel show, with a good half of the tracks from ‘The Great Eastern’ featuring in the ‘Festive 50’ of 2000, at which point they & it came to my attention: an enduringly wonderful album, overflowing with the sonic riches of many overlaid textures, of guitars, orchestration, woodwind (perhaps best exemplified by the everything-including-the-kitchen-sinkery, including chiming bells, of ‘Aye Today’) - one of those suites of songs that, in the manner of ‘Ocean Rain’ for example, gain from the cumulative effect of being experienced sequentially, as a whole, each adding to the others in turn, before the storm of exhilarating noise subsides into the quiet reflection of ‘Make Your Move’.

The second Cocteau Twins session (with the original trio augmented by Cindytalk’s Gordon Sharp, such a guest appearance as might occur within the context) proved to be an essential component of their recorded history to date, subsequently being made available on the cassette release of the ‘Garlands’ album, from which source it was experienced here. Again, one is reminded of how resonant & edgy, how post-punkily gothic their early sound was, at its most Banshees-esque, perhaps (although such an inflection was oft present), on the visceral thrill of ‘Dear Heart’, but one of four more expansive & muscular performances continuing in the sonic vein of the ‘Lullabies’ EP that followed the relatively minimalist & reticent ‘Garlands’.

The Fall, of course, proved to be, over the course of the years, the Peel band, extensively featured & much-loved – their earlier recordings as featured in selection upon the compilation CD endure in all their ramshackle, ornery, undiminished glory & just sound better with age (although not necessarily maturing), theirs & this listener’s.

And PJ Harvey, another Peel & TOoT favourite – once more, 'Is This Desire?' retains the depth of its charms, ever an inspiring accompaniment to the creative, working process.

A Measured Approach

2011-10-16T19:17:00.059Z

In the context of the recently reactivated engagement with found flattened & suitably reformed aluminium can ‘roadkill’, here is presented another drawing to be processed from such subject/object matter as acquired, again employing the more active surface-‘ground’ mark-making development that characterized the previous example, inspired by the swiping brushmarks that were to be found featuring in the set of photographs of the occurrence of ‘double black lines’ road markings as painted & encountered amongst the back streets of Chester, & blogged here.

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour/20x30cm

Focussing on a specific detail of the drawing, there was something about the appearance of the visible strip of barcode printed upon the surface of the found object, as reformed, with a sequence of numerals & related short lines (printed above but appearing here, as viewed upside-down, below), that somehow brought to mind that of the measurements upon a ruler, which in turn recalled those examples of the work of Jasper Johns where he incorporates &/or represents just such a device-object into the composition, with but three examples of such, featuring drawing & painting, illustrated below.
As ever, only the slightest pretext is required to indulge in an appreciation of the sensuous surfaces of Johns’, with their explicit mark-making & wealth of visual incident, to which the drawing itself & the nature of its processing makes intentional reference.

Jasper Johns 'No' 1964
graphite, charcoal & tempera on paper/51.4x44.5cm

Jasper Johns 'Passage' 1962
encaustic & collage on canvas, with objects/137.2x101.6cm

Jasper Johns 'Wilderness II' 1963-70
charcoal, pastel & collage on paper, with objects/108.6x65.4cm

Of course, there's that particular aspect of such an instrument of measurement thus (re)presented in these & others of Johns' works that automatically & obviously communicates (its) 'actual size', & this also relates to the representations of the 'roadkill' cans, with all such objects habitually being represented on a 1:1 'life size' scale in the drawings.

Another of TOoT's favoured & much-referenced artists to have incorporated the representation of a measuring device into a painting was Euan Uglow, in such an example as that pictured below, where the inclusion of the strip at the bottom of the picture, with its regular divisions, gives an indication of the size & scale of the represented object.

Euan Uglow 'Nectarine' c.1998
oil on board/13.4x10cm

Further to the subject of Jasper Johns, the latest essential addition to the library was taken delivery of last week, being the sumptuous catalogue to the 2008 ‘Gray’ exhibition, obviously concentrating upon that specific monochromatic aspect of the artists’ extensive body of work across the variety of media associated with his practice.
In addition to the illustrations of the exhibited work, there are included a number of what appear to be intriguing essays, which will hopefully, over the near future, provide much interest & sufficient grist to the mill of thought.
For now, here is presented a photograph of the book as physical object, enveloped in its translucent tracing paper cover, a rather beautiful thing:

The use of such a material in the packaging process returned me to thoughts of the cover of New Order’s ‘low-life’ LP, originally issued in 1985, a copy invested-in then & carefully kept since, as an example of one of the few too-precious-to-part-with (because of this very manner in which it was so exquisitely presented, in common with most of the Peter Savile-designed Joy Division & New Order record sleeves for Factory Records) vinyl LPs & singles to survive the great cull of the collection of such objects. Glowing mention of this artefact, & its qualities, has already occurred on TOoT, back here, whilst the CD version of the ‘low-life’ album, presented with, mercifully, at least some relation to the original packaging (although being not the same thing at all, of course), has also featured in the past. Here then is pictured the LP’s cover, semi-transparently cloaked, along with the inner sleeve to properly illustrate the different material properties:

Such use of tracing paper of course refers one back to works of art & such examples of the paintings of Kees Goudzwaard, & the constructed models upon which they are based, such as the recently mentioned ‘Transit’.

Retromania on the Road

2011-10-09T20:12:00.025Z

Today the opposite of tomato is 'a man who's nostalgically prone'

There seems no escaping the lure of the ‘retromania’ pervading the atmosphere & operations at TOoT at the moment, considering the latest drawing(s) to be processed, bittily, & then reassessed & reworked into a second ‘final’ state (which somehow feels less so & secure than its predecessor now appears, in retrospect…), over the course of the last few days.

Based initially with recourse to one of the recent photographs taken of the instances of ‘double black lines’ road markings located & found amongst the back streets of Chester & then developed, refined formally, to include an aspect of a second such image, this drawing (in two states) then & thus refers back to a short sequence of five others made, from the source of photographs of the original previously-local double black lines, almost four years ago & blogged at the time here.

As then, the pre-existing image content, the formal structure, subject to reformation, is utilized as the vehicle with which to explicitly foreground the process of drawing, the marks made & surface(s) (& effects) achieved through the medium of graphite (& the erasure of, as positive action) on paper.

Version 1

Version 2

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm

Soundtrack:

The Chameleons Peel Sessions
Moon Wiring Club 'A Spare Tabby at the Cat's Wedding' (vinyl LP)
Echo & the Bunnymen 'Ocean Rain' (vinyl LP)

More musical retromania too, inspired directly by dipping into ‘The Peel Sessions’ at random points of interest in addition to reading through thoroughly, savouring every word & anecdote. The Chameleons proved to be one of those bands’ names that did indeed inspire recollections of the recording & broadcast of a ‘classic session’ as the book has it, recalled as being much enthused about with a like-minded friend back in the day, & recourse to a downloadable digital source (alas the original cassette on which the session would have been recorded from the radio has not survived, either relocations, de-clutterings or possibly over-tapings: one wonders how the music might sound thus experienced, much more directly present & palpable via its original physical form) enabled a nostalgic re-acquaintance with the music itself.
Although my musical tastes might have moved on from such as The Chameleons’ aesthetic specifically (which chimed with any number of the other bands I listened to at the time & beyond, that much is obvious), being long-since unlistened-to (not least through unavailability), still the session & especially other songs from two subsequent such recordings for the Peel show (also part of the particular download) proved not without charm & interest, & a certain frisson of recognition, of pleasant reminiscence of youthful passions: the book itself is overflowing with such irresistible seductions to indulge in nostalgia, inevitably of course. Further to this last point, & by way of coincidence, that first ‘classic’ Chameleons’ session was originally broadcast in June 1981, in the midst of taking ‘O’Level exams, the night before attending the Bauhaus gig mentioned recently: we really are on a roll, backwards.

The remainder of the soundtrack was then experienced through the medium of old technology in the form of the Sixties' record player purchased during the ‘summer’, with, first, the delights of the vinyl version of the Moon Wiring Club’s ‘A Spare Tabby at the Cat’s Wedding’ - a companion to the contemporaneous CD release (indeed being purchased together in the ‘bundle’, as recorded here, although I failed to include the LP sleeve in the photograph so there's no visual evidence of its existence) but quite different in content whatever the coincidence of some of the tracks’ titles, & equally excellent & compelling: when one factors in the related artwork, & the online presentation, the whole package/experience is profoundly rich & complex, but the music alone is a particularly rewarding accompaniment to the process of drawing.

Then, whilst reworking the drawing into its second incarnation, a re-acquaintance (probably 20 years since the last such encounter) with Echo & the Bunnymen’s mighty & magnificent masterpiece ‘Ocean Rain’ (toured & performed in its entirety during September, in the contemporary fashion for such concerts, a full 27 years after the album’s original release) in all its grandiose glory in vinyl, analogue form, the orchestral strings which constitute such an essential element of the music’s texture much richer, warmer, deeper in ‘colour’ & tone, simply more vibrant as they should be & be felt, an altogether more organic sound somehow, better suited to a fuller appreciation of the overall, encompassing sonic aesthetic. A similar thought occurred whilst experiencing the chamber-pop of Belle & Sebastian’s wonderful, adored ‘Tigermilk’ on vinyl (again, as such an album surely should be), for the very first time, recently too: good vibrations indeed.

Brand New, You're Retro

2011-10-04T22:11:00.017Z

Today the opposite of tomato is all a tremulous heart requires

graphite, putty eraser, watercolour & collage/20x30cm

A return today to a major theme of the relatively recent past here at TOoT, with the confluence of the recent finds of a suitably intriguing ‘roadkilled’ can &the occurrence of those ‘new’ double black lines in Chester providing the stimulation (note the word, as present on the surface of the object & the photocopied reproduction of this collaged onto/into the drawing) to compose & process a drawing featuring both of these elements in a something of a style that harks back to that last employed in June of last year, since when the process & appearance of the body of work evolved into a more watercoloury realm before such subject/object matter went into a prolonged hibernation amidst the general slowing-down/spacing-out of instances of creative operations.

Pertaining to the drawing, in the interests of aesthetic integrity the broad strokes of the darker-toned aspects of the surface/‘ground’ relate directly to, being inspired by, those 'active' swipes of the brush that characterize some of the painting of the double black lines in the previously-posted photographs of such the feature as found.

Whether this drawing heralds a renaissance or might otherwise be but a fleeting example (of an abiding 'retromania' as documented over recent months) remains to be seen, but there’s obviously something about the subject/object matter that keeps demanding attention & some form of documentary engagement with, as the drawing provides tangible evidence of.

Soundtrack:

The Smiths John Peel session 09/08/84
Cocteau Twins John Peel session 05/09/84
Cornershop ‘When I Was Born for the 7th Time’
(here featuring the album's cassette-format artwork in all its cinematic scope)

Further to the retromania, TOoT finds itself in something of a Peel-fest at the moment & the soundtrack reflects such a fact, comprising a couple of archive recordings from the John Peel radio show & a reacquaintance with an album by a band associated with such source. This circumstance has arisen from A’s kind presentation of Ken Garner’s ‘The Peel Sessions’ book, a must-be-read-immediately volume that features a fascinating history of the show (historically contextualized within the tradition of the 'live' recordings of music for broadcast by/on the BBC) &, obviously, the ‘sessions’ that formed a particular focus for the programme & contributed in no small measure to its legendary status, including, also, an exhaustive chronicle of the facts of those sessions, lists of the bands who were invited to record them, the songs featured, dates transmitted, etc – a wealth of detail to delight those of us nostalgically prone to succumbing to fond memories of the intense musical passions inspired by Peel the man & the show, many of which have endured to this day & provided the template for an appreciation of all manner of artists & sounds.

In common with many a listener, it was my practice to listen to the Peel show with eager anticipation, a tape in the radio-cassette player, finger poised over the ‘Pause’ button in readiness to release it & record whatever delights might be broadcast on a particular night, & a selection of such cassettes have remained stored as precious relics of my own music-listening history: the specially-recorded sessions of course, featuring alternative renditions of familiar songs, differing from the versions available on vinyl or, later, CD, or those recorded uniquely for the Occasion (for that it oft was), are the jewels of the surviving collection &, for all that many of such recordings might subsequently have been granted an official release in whatever format, still those original tapes, as objects, containing the source material in what feels its purest form (however time-worn & diminished in sound quality), recorded as it was at the time of broadcast, have a special, priceless quality, a palpable, physical connection with those times.

It might also be opined that many a Peel session recording proved to be in some way superior to previous or subsequent recorded versions, the Cocteau Twins’ ‘Pepper Tree’ here providing an exemplary case in point, with the Peel version having a thrilling resonance & clarity to the guitar sound, imbuing the song with a tension & dynamic that was entirely absent on its official released incarnation, in languid form on the B-side of the band’s self-produced ‘Spangle Maker’ EP. Indeed, there remains a charm to this particular session, also including the prototypically titled ‘Whisht’ & ‘Peep Bo’ prior to their featuring in different guise, as ‘Beatrix’ & ‘Ivo’ on the ‘Treasure’ album.

In a most appropriate & poignant (for full nostalgic effect) piece of design, the contents page of the book features the list of chapters as they would be appear written of the spines of the card inlays of just such cassettes as I habitually used myself, mostly the TDK brand with an occasional Memorex or Sony, displaying subtle alterations in design as this aspect evolved down the years.

The book is also noteworthy for featuring this particular photograph of PJ Harvey, very much a Peel & show favourite, & of course a much-admired artist at TOoT, here looking very Sixties:

The Art of Not Being Boxed-in

2011-09-28T13:21:00.000Z

An introduction today, via the duties of the workplace, to the work of the late Birgir Andresson, & specifically the artist's cut-out cardboard boxes of his 'Build' series, one of which is pictured in two views below:

Such an encounter brought a pleasant reminder of Leo Fitzmaurice's smaller scale 'de-texted' boxes in similar vein, examples of which, arranged on the floor to all appearances like the buildings of a model city, I was fortunate to see, & hear the artist himself discuss, in an exhibition at Liverpool's Bluecoat Gallery back in 2002. Below are illustrated a pair of the general type:

In both cases, the process of removing the lettering & logos that would identify their (former) contents, brand them, & communicate something particular through one language, transforms utilitarian objects into forms that might inspire a more imaginative, literally & figuratively open reading, such as drawing an architectural analogy to the remaining, redesigned structures, spaces to be explored & considered.

Fruitful Interlude

2011-09-25T17:17:00.022Z

Today the opposite of tomato is 'works of art with a minimum of steel'

Presenting a one-off seasonal special today, rather than the habitual annual fruit-fest, as a pair of the available (just, given their ripening-to-mellowness condition) pears became resolved into a suitable composition for active contemplation through the process of drawing in graphite & watercolour.
As usual, the pears are arranged & seen in such proximity as to attempt to 'charge with energy' the space between in the manner ascribed by Andrew Forge to a particular composition of Euan Uglow's featuring a pair of pears (please refer to this archive blog post).

graphite & watercolour/30x21cm

Soundtrack:

Moon Wiring Club 'A Spare Tabby at the Cat's Wedding'
Bauhaus '1979 - 1983 Vols. 1 & 2'

There's something of the autumn that palpably informs the aesthetic of the Moon Wiring Club, rendering a listen to the goings-on of the denizens of Clinkskell all the more appropriate under the seasonal circumstances, although no such excuse is required, of course, such is TOoT’s attachment to the work of Mr Hodgson.

The re-acquaintance with the sounds (& iconography too) of Bauhaus is another matter altogether, however, with the whim to hear said music occurring what might be a good 25 years since the last aural engagement with what was a particular favourite band, back in the early Eighties (so much so, in fact, that they remain the only band I’ve seen live on as many as three occasions: the first, in fact, mentioned already in these parts, here, in relation to an appearance, also, by The Birthday Party, back in June of 1981).
An interesting experience to report, accompanied by the sense of knowing why one may have moved on from certain artists & their music, their sound, although not without a number of moments of pleasant recognition, of songs that do seem to have endured, that offer more than merely the indulgence or whatever of nostalgia (the revisiting, indeed, of specifically teenage passions: swinging the heartache of the loss of, perhaps? For all that, with the hindsight of experience, may be worth anyway…), more often than not because of their deviation from the norm of the signature aesthetic, which itself retains a certain attraction, if, possibly, preferably, in smaller doses than the two volumes of the retrospective somewhat indigestibly constitute.

Back to (Double) Black...

2011-09-17T10:00:00.000Z

A grand day out indeed, this afternoon, as it concluded with the most delightful discovery, upon the surface of one of the back streets of Chester, of an example of what had become, over the course of the years & numerous documentings, TOoT's signature 'double black lines' road markings, formerly thought to have been consigned to the past (& another place) but brought vividly into the now in a new location.

In addition to both the sense of novelty & the renewing of acquaintance with a familiar subject, there is an exciting development too in the form in which these particular lines (corrective black over original yellow) appear - not mechanically applied like the previous examples, but, in numerous instances (these synechdocally suggesting the whole), quite obviously hand-made, altogether more 'painterly' as they record the passage through time & space of the brush in the dried marks of the discrete strokes.

As with the subject matter generally, the photographs taken thus picture mostly grey monochrome surfaces of a variety of tones & textures, apart from where, as in the first example below, some of the original yellow lines remain (as a compostional element, amongst others, of the whole):

The following corrections in particular - the sequence of images describing a course from left to right - display a wonderful, explicit brush-marked quality, applied, swiped at, mostly, diagonals to the horizontal of the underlying lines, the pale yellow of which is evident in traces beneath the black paint: such a process, as apparent, might well be considered to be a certain kind of 'action painting', such is the flurry of activity fixed in the form of the dried brush strokes.

In the following example, the evidence of the repaired road surface provides a further element of linear & compositional interest, with tonal & textural subtleties, at an angle to the double black lines. Also vividly apparent is the small section of yellow line left uncovered, uncorrected: what could such signify? Is it purely an aesthetic statement perhaps, devoid of any practical informational function?

By way of serendipity, the moments prior to the encounter with these double black lines had been spent having a welcome sit down in Waterstones', indulging in a relaxed & leisurely read of Bertrand Russell's 'In Praise of Idleness' in the Philosophy section, from the shelves of which A picked an edition of the 'Basic Writings' of Heidegger sporting the cover design illustrated below, with an image most appropriately of a tarmac-surfaced & paint-marked nature.

If ever there was an inducement, a sign indeed, to engage, after much procrastination & delay, with the ideas of Heidegger, which has been the intention for far too long now, then surely such must be it.

Cheese and Tomato

2011-09-16T14:38:00.018Z

Something in particular caught my intrigued eye in the new, October issue of Art Review during a browse today, as, oft being a companion of tomato, it might, namely a reproduction of a photograph by Clare Strand of a cheese 'sculpture' made by her father.

Rather a coincidence this, following as it did the publication of a particular tomato-based story in a local newspaper earlier this week:

The perfect combination.

Thought Into Practice...

2011-09-15T14:27:00.000Z

Today brought something of a development in relation to yesterday’s thoughts (or musings upon the lack of), & a welcome return to a session of drawing practice - not the intended active contemplation of a particular collection of seasonal objects (as has become customary during this month of the year) but, rather, others that presented a more compelling distraction during the course of making the decision where to draw.

The object matter then is, primarily, a table lantern with a translucent, frosted glass surround & some LED candle lights of a similar type, arranged upon a windowsill & observed, in the familiar if not exclusively habitual manner, contre jour.
The subject matter, of course, is the representation of a tonal study of the composition & the dialogue between the process of marks made with graphite pencils & putty eraser, of addition, accumulation & subtraction, exploring the subtleties of the transitions of tone between objects & 'tactile' space, of attempting to record what is seen in conditions of natural light - & the fluctuations, fading of - over the course of time.

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm

What was observed was, essentially, an arrangement of simple geometrical shapes that in places & along edges, with the light from without/behind passing through their translucent forms, glowed a bright white, the drawing process thus involving erasure of the graphite marks forming the mid-toned ground back as far as possible, where appropriate, to the original white of the page.

Closely observed, the material substance & surface finish of the objects brought to mind very much the tracing paper, & overlaid accumulations of, used by Kees Goudzwaard in constructing the paper & masking tape models for his 1:1 scale painted representations of, which can thus be read as highly-realised & faithful still lifes of low-relief three dimensional objects, almost in the manner of trompe l'oeil, &/or also geometrical abstract compositions in the best traditions of Modernism.

Kees Goudzwaard: paper model for 'Transit' 2009

Kees Goudzwaard 'Transit' 2009
oil on canvas/120x90cm

Also pictured is a photograph of the objects originally intended to be studied & drawn, upon the rather wonderful retro coffee table & its closely-toned patterned surface: nice.

Soundtrack:

The Lilac Time 'The Lilac Time'
PJ Harvey 'Let England Shake'

Pause for Thought

2011-09-14T14:40:00.009Z

The afternoon tea break at work today afforded the opportunity to have a brief browse at least through the latest, September 2011 issue of Modern Painters, including as it does an article on & also a Q&A with Richard Serra, during the latter of which he claims, on the subject of drawing & keeping sketchbooks, "For me seeing is a way of thinking, and drawing is my way of recording my thoughts", a philosophy that struck a mighty chord, such is the contemplative importance I've always attached to the process of looking & drawing, the activity of thought.

Does the lack of any drawing activity on my part then signify that I'm also not thinking...? And further to that, taking the Cartesian view, does that suggest that, not drawing, not thinking, therefore I am...not?

Picnic Time

2011-09-10T11:03:00.014Z

Another documenting of objects found upon the road, just so, during a wander down a local country lane – not the usual ‘roadkilled’ aluminium cans on this unusual occasion, but, rather, an anomaly in the shape of some scattered jaffa cakes, somewhat out the context one might expect to encounter such, the first pair to be pictorially captured rather conveniently exhibiting the opposite sides of their forms (note the particularly aesthetic glossy chocolate topping, very much like the most luscious oil paint).

Then, returning to the more familiar ‘roadkill’ conceptual framework informing the found objects project (such as it is) in general, a third jaffa cake, existing apart from the previous pair & alone in its own space upon the road surface, appearing, we might say, a little ‘tyred’, displaying evidence of having been run over by a wheeled vehicle & consequently flattened down a little…

Also a fourth jaffa cake, still contained within one aspect of its packaging, a tube of orange cellophane, that, especially in the unusual context in which it was found, constitutes a most striking aesthetic object in itself, its colour providing a vivid contrast to the background of grass & tarmac upon which it lay.

Under the circumstances, one is very tempted to brew an accompanying pot of tea...

Brightening-up...

2011-09-03T09:55:00.021Z

Presenting something of a 'painterly' post today, with the pictorial evidence of a mark of orange paint that appeared particularly flourescent against the grey of the kerbstone upon which it was made & the tarmac of the road surface, on a day of dull grey light, & which photographed in even more incandescently fiery fashion than it occurred to the naked eye, in the moment, a striking aesthetic effect.
Note also the inclusion of the painted arrow (or at least its uneroded remains) within the composition, giving the whole a certain dynamic, perhaps, & the inadvertent presence of the shoes of the 'gazer'...

[untitled]

2011-08-31T09:54:00.092Z

And so a return to the ubiquitous subject-object matter of aluminium can 'roadkill', as found & photographically documented, but, in a new twist, here, in the new(ish) locale, upon & amongst an area of tarmac road surface that adds a touch of colour to what had previously - in the 'double black lines' days & context of yore - been almost exclusively grey monochromatic surroundings & backgrounds to the 'roadkill' finds.

Such a find & photograph affords the opportunity & provides the inspiration to indulge in a little much-needed image & blogging husbandry, & specifically the selection & (re)presentation of some more recently taken photographs of small areas to be found along this particular road, which, by way of explanation of such an endeavour, constitutes the main bus route operating between Chester & Wrexham, hence its surface being marked at numerous intervals to indicate stopping zones, tarmacked over, as might be extrapolated from the available pictorial evidence, a certain red & also outlined & lettered with yellow paint.

From such source material, the keen aesthetician might extract a variety of incident, such as this fine example of craquelure, of an intriguingly circular, looped nature, upon the yellow painted line, which itself shows evidence in places of having been applied in two layers:

A second example includes the familiar-to-these-parts form of the grating of a cast-iron drainage grid cover, in addition to abstracted fragments - lines, angles, curves & loops of forms - of alphabetical lettering as another aspect of compositional interest. Again, erosion of areas of the uppermost surface(s) exposes evidence of the 'archaeology' of the strata of the entire surface's construction, layer upon layer...

The fragments of lettering & evidence of surface erosion - sometimes revealing intriguing glimpses, traces, of previous text painted underneath, cancelled out by subsequent layers - are features that might be observed also in the following further examples/compositions, also all rich in a variety of surface texture in the manner of 'painterly' painting, with which a visual analogy is intended, of course...

Note how, in this final example, the yellow line has been painted particularly thickly, for added textural effect.

In the context of such a photographic record & its subject matter, it's been interesting to read over the summer the reviews of Ingrid Calame's well-received exhibition at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh - the artist's drawing & oft highly-coloured painting practice being sourced from tracings of the incidental details of pavements, roads & other horizontal surfaces, & developed into complex layered compositions as might be appreciated from this online gallery of images.

15th September Update

On a coincidental note, here's a still life of a piece of fresh tarmac as painted by Dan Young & featured on his 'Daily' blog.

The Sound of Music

2011-08-17T11:21:00.014Z

Presenting the latest essential acquisition to the new home, a very much desired 1960s record player, this time successfully acquired from ebay (from one of the lovely sellers offering a 'Buy it now' option, thus bypassing the lottery of the hated auction process) after being previously thwarted.

So, a jolly nice & stylish Ferguson portable model in perfect working order & with excellent sound, just the very thing with which to reacquaint the ears with the particular qualities & delights of vinyl, some of the latest additions to the growing-again collection of which are also pictured, including Galaxie 500’s wonderful ‘This Is Our Music’ (poetry in motion, indeed), thus able to be heard for the first time in this format, which sounds very much at its best (the guitars seem so much more up front, somehow), as intended. ‘Today’, also featured, was indeed the only one of the band’s albums I ever owned & heard on vinyl back at the time the records were contemporary (the other two were bought on cassette, for the purposes of portability), a situation now fully rectified by the acquisition also – presented, as ‘Today’, most kindly by A – of ‘On Fire’, the wonders of each of which are refreshed by being heard on vinyl, with its more organic, analogue warmth & roundness of sound.

Happy days.

A Significant Find...

2011-08-08T19:45:00.005Z

Drawn once more to the roadside, & objects found in such a vicinity, here is (re)presented photographic evidence of a curious encounter whilst pottering homeward yesterday, with this trio of plastic miniature road signs planted into the earthy interstice between two kerbstones...

Today, they were gone. What can it all mean...?

July Digest(ed) #1: Drawing

2011-07-31T11:10:00.033Z

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...

July Digest(ed) #2: Photography

2011-07-31T11:09:00.032Z

1: 'Drawing'

Recently found whilst pottering down a local country lane (the appropriately so-called 'Straight Mile'), two instances of 'drawing' - of an intriguingly 'symbolic' nature - upon the tarmac surface, with, in the first example, some complementary marks running at a right angle to...

Always, one wonders what meaning such mark(ing)s might have, whilst appreciating them for their aesthetic appeal.

2: 'Roadkill'

Also found were a couple of examples of rural aluminium can 'roadkill' amongst the laneside grass verges: note the rather chunky tyre tracks featured in the first instance, a signifier of the type of vehicle that might travel on country lanes...

On another occasion, with this time the location being a city centre car park, & although perhaps not technically 'roadkill' in the manner as has become traditional, a most intriguing purposeful arrangement of cans was found & thus photographically documented, with three of the group half-flattened & the fourth object untouched (indeed, unopened), something of a diversion but nonetheless considered to be a worthy addition to the canon of the cans as it continues to develop, away from what might be thought of as those moorings of the old & now-distanced 'double black lines' upon & alongside which the objects were formerly found & depicted.

Grease is Still the Word...

2011-07-04T10:26:00.031Z

Presenting the fourth entry in the sequence of photographic recordings of the progress of grease marks made by the found object of a 'Hula Hoop' potato-based snack upon the found 'drawing' of an ostensibly 'blank' photocopy (but bearing in fact the printed record of the subtle marks made during the action of the copying process of nothing other than the inside of the machine's lid & the pattern of pinpoint marks upon).

Repositioned within the overall composition of the 'picture plane' once again, the object can be seen to have left another group of marks to the right of where it now rests, as ever significantly darker in tone than the white surface of the paper, recording, 'painting' (well, & in the interests of integrity too, it is oil, after all) evidence of this placement, which marks exist in relation to the subtle tones of the printed dots & the horizontal stripe of the photocopy-as-found-'drawing', & also the shadows cast by the object as fixed in the photograph...

Once more, a certain subtle expansion of the grease marks might also be observed to have occurred.

To end this particular sequence of recorded observations (coming to a natural end as the day job, the environment in which this particular process has taken place & been documented, goes into its summer hibernation - aware of the contradictory nature of that last pairing of words), here is presented the 'drawing-painting' in & for itself, without the obvious three-dimensional element of the Hula Hoop object: a collection, composition, of various marks made by mechanical printing & organic means (being, amongst other things, a photograph of the physical print of a photographic process, of course), both organized & to a certain extent controlled, & otherwise left to the chance action of one object, & substance, upon another, very much in the manner of drawing & painting.

Mark-Making on a Found 'Drawing' #3

2011-06-30T15:25:00.016Z

Continuing to photographically record the progress of the grease stains made by a found Hula Hoop upon a found photocopy 'drawing', with evidence of the latest mark uncovered/discovered as the object is repositioned from its most recent resting place within the composition...

As might be observed, particularly in close-up, this latest addition actually takes the form of a group of three closely-related but separate marks, covering a smaller area than previously, bringing a new dimension to the composition - the 'drawing', 'painting', whatever - & suggesting that perhaps the process of seepage of moisture from the potato-based object is now beginning to slow.

Note too the complex arrangement of shadows cast by a combination of natural & artifical sources of light as they appear fixed in the photograph (encountered in real physical space & time, such shadows are fugitive, of course, changing in response to the viewer's position relative to the object of photocopy & Hula Hoop), in this particular somewhat echoing the forms of the grease marks, albeit slightly lighter in tone for the most part...

More Signs of the Times...

2011-06-28T11:52:00.078Z

Today presents another encounter, an update if you will, photographically recorded, with what was a fallen road/street sign, separated from its wooden support, lying face down upon the ground (as might be observed here), now rescued from such an uncommunicative (albeit rather more aesthetic, it was argued) fate & redisplayed, although in a manner more idiosyncratic than can have been officially intended &, one assumes, originally arranged (funny how one never really notices unless/until on a need-to-know basis)...

Again, the object, recreated, represented, takes on a different, aesthetic nature, it invites another reading, at a slight remove at least from pure functionality, it becomes more complex & demands a deeper engagement with: but is it art...?

Another 'artistic' (but as yet constant) feature of the walk to the site of the day job is the 'painterly' nature of a couple of the road/street signs passed along the way. Rather incongruous as they might be, in the general location they are (one always wonders generally quite 'why?' of such a choice of names, what exactly might be the connection between artists & a place not necessarily noted for its cultural significance, & then ponders the 'why?s' within: what, for instance, is Titian doing sandwiched between Monet & Degas? OK, Courbet leading to Monet/Degas chronologically follows what has historically come to be regarded as the beginnings of a modernist course, but where does Titian fit in to such company..?), still they feed the soul a little before one is forced by the demands of duty to have to, for the most part, rein in one's inclinations & passions & desires (& how one wishes to keep artists, painters, close, as allies) ...

Interesting to note, too, that, consulting a map in order to ascertain the artists' geographical location in relation to each other (see the colour-coded highlights), two further names - those of Goya & Millais, not advertised from the main road as are the others illustrated - occur to intensify the artistic integrity of the housing estate as it sprawls downhill...

What could it all be about, other than sheer randomness? And how many, one wonders, of the residents are aware of the auspicious names in the midst of which they have made their homes?

Once at work, one's thoughts & desires are inevitably diverted towards those precious moments of one's own when cultural matter might be consumed. Collected together in readiness for an essential break, with hopes of enjoying some fresh air too, it became apparent that this particular still life composition as arranged had created a coincidental dialogue within itself, between the pair of sunglasses placed upon the book & those depicted, represented, on the cover of the latter object...

The keen-eyed viewer might notice too the visual coincidence between the upside-down placed sunglasses & the roadsign in the photograph at the beginning of this post: it's not just thrown together this thing, you know...

Another coincidence occurred with the book - but in this instance its contents, its subject matter - in the form of the business card being used as the bookmark to locate my place within the course of its reading (the process of which is being done slowly, with much interest), which, as one might see, advertises the existence of a certain 'Reborn Records', dealers in previously-owned vinyl whose stall was encountered & browsed - with many a sharp pang of recognition & recollection, & not a little regret at objects once personally-owned but no longer so, having been relinquished due to nothing other than issues of storage space - at a recent vintage fair in Chester.

Having grown up collecting vinyl - that & tape cassette being the available forms in which recorded music was issued back in the day, of course - I still seem to regard it as being the medium through which to experience music most effectively, the very objecthood of record & artwork being a part of the immersive whole, as previously written of here on TOoT.
At this point, thanks must be offered to A for kindly feeding my nostalgic inclinations & purchasing (for the fabulous price of £2 each) a couple of the LPs from the selection of 'Reborn' records through which I leafed, which once formed part of the personal collection of such (& collections, of particular artistes, within the collection, of course) before it was dispersed & disposed-of. Here they are, pictured below, Everything But The Girl's debut album 'Eden' & Elvis Costello & the Attractions' mighty 'Blood & Chocolate' (& one might notice that each of the albums' cover artwork consist of paintings, respectively a watercolour & an oil)...

Ah, the memories attached to such artefacts: one recalls that both of these albums were bought in such vinyl form in 1986 (although the EBTG album was released in 1984), during the autumn of which year I was fortunate to experience both acts live in concert at Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre (Elvis & the Attractions on two consecutive nights of different set lists, indeed).

Now, all that is required is a record player, of course, in order to hear once again these albums as nature (or at least their contemporaneous technologies) intended, &, for that matter, those other few examples of vinyl that survived the extensive cull, those that simply could not be parted with for whatever reason of significance (mostly to do with original artwork, but other reasons too) & thus remain in one's possession.
In the interests of home-making, some form of turntable is actually on the 'desired necessities' list (&, if the vinyl collection continues to (re)grow, become yet more essential) either something of a contemporary nature or, most desirously, a period piece record player such as this delightful object (admire if you will its perfect form, & that colour), an original Ferguson dating from the 1960s, for which, recently, we were tragically outbid (with but three seconds to spare) on the now-fallen-right-out-of-favour ebay, a cruel place indeed...

More Mark-Making...

2011-06-27T11:51:00.023Z

Four days on &, relating to the previous entry here at TOoT, presenting further developments in the course of the found Hula Hoop's grease-staining of/mark making upon the found photocopy 'drawing' where it has been placed to rest (although obviously in the process of work).

Purposely repositioned/recomposed to another position within the 'picture plane', evidence might be observed of the new marks made by the potato-based object at both its immediately previous (to the furthest right) & now current location (where cast shadows also feature as additional formal elements & tonal subtleties withinthe composition), as the sequence of photographic recordings of such phenomena illustrates as it homes in to a detailed close-up from the initial wider approach:

It might also be noticed that the initially-made three closely-grouped marks to the top left of the 'drawing', those bisected by the faintly printed horizontal line across the picture plane, have themselves also developed, increasing slightly in size to 'bleed' into each another to form one amorphous shape whereas previously they had been separate forms, providing further visual evidence of the organic nature of proceedings.

The object then repositioned once again, a three-dimensional object within & upon the picture plane, adding an element of vivid colour & its cast shadows forming more tonal 'drawing' on the horizontal surface, the most recent grease mark can be properly appreciated taking its place within the increasingly complex composition as it develops & forms itself with but a minimum of direction...

Mark Making

2011-06-23T20:21:00.055Z

Following on from the previously posted photographs of the found Hula Hoop, today brings evidence of interesting developments in the field of mark making, by said object itself.

Rescued from its resting place on the floor in the room where it was found, the Hoop was then placed, for safe-keeping & some vague, unformed possibility for further use/study, upon a piece of A4 paper, not blank but, rather, a 'blank' photocopy that has recorded no image other than the pattern of marks upon the inside of the lid of the machine during the copying process, a 'found drawing' (within the environment of the daily workplace) of the like that was presented here at TOoT, coincidentally around this time last year.

Subsequently, over a period of days, & subject to slight inadvertent shifts in its position within its 'safe place' (on the horizontal), this potato-based manufactured object was discovered to have left a series of greasy marks upon &, indeed, through the sheet of paper, creating a collection of darker-toned shapes thus, photographed with the Hula Hoop now purposely positioned upon, composed within, the 'picture plane', as might be observed from a couple of angles, the first from a horizontal approach...

& then from more directly overhead...

Observed in close up, the grease marks can be seen in the context of the overall composition of the network of subtle, regularly-spaced dots upon the surface of the sheet of paper & the bolder horizontal line bisecting them that form the photocopied & printed elements of the 'drawing', with the Hula Hoop object itself adding a sculptural dimension to the whole & casting shadows that add darker-toned forms which relate to the marks of the grease stains, although the former of course are fugitive, their existence & precise position at any point dependent upon the prevailing light source(s) & the viewer's physical relation to the 'work'/'drawing'/object...

As is habitual, a context for such a '(sculptural) drawing' suggested itself, in the form of a particular(ly intriguing & unusual) painting of Euan Uglow's, with its self-explanatory title, which (re)presents as its subject matter similar oily marks/sweat stains as have occurred as the result of a body resting in a particular position upon a horizontal plane...

Euan Uglow 'Still Life With Model Marks' 1971-72
oil on canvas on panel/16" x 40"

The context & reason for such marks having been made/left might then be observed in Uglow's contemporaneously companion 'Summer Picture', where the position of the human model & the points at which her body comes into contact with the horizontal surface upon which she rests clearly relate to the painting featuring the marks:

Euan Uglow 'Summer Picture' 1971-72
oil on canvas/43" x 43 1/2"

It's very interesting & inspiring to be able to read, within 'The Complete Paintings' (an essential reference resource & treasured volume of the research-&-development library), Uglow's comments as reported, of his appreciation of the beauty of the empty table & the marks upon its surface, contemplated, studied closely ('stared at for hours') after the model had departed sessions, & of such being "one of the reasons for wanting to paint something".

Another, later painting of Uglow's similarly features the evidence of departed bodies/objects (although in this particular instance, the marks made are more lightly toned than the horizontal surface upon which they were once at rest), in this small-scale still life, its title again self-explanatory:

Euan Uglow 'Two Others Have Been There' 1992
oil on board/7 1/4" x 7"

[untitled]

2011-06-20T14:00:00.011Z

In the absence of any recent drawing activity, a certain find of a somewhat incongruous nature within the environment of the day job today presented the opportunity to indulge in a little photographic recording.
As is habitual, the subject is object-centred, being specifically a single Hula Hoop of the potato-based snack variety, found out of familiar context in a state of splendid isolation - discarded, lost, a poignant survivor given the ephemeral nature of such things - upon the carpeted floor of a room divided by wood-effect surfaced panels...

A Sign of the Ties...

2011-06-08T13:12:00.033Z

In light of the slowness of properly creative proceedings hereabouts, as alluded to in a recent entry, today we take the opportunity to introduce a digression that is somewhat in keeping with the original intention of the blog, to include a broad spectrum of 'the life aesthetic' as lived & experienced, that has largely fallen by the wayside as a more focussed concentration upon the practice of drawing & the contextualization of the examples of such came to define its purpose over the course of the past four years. With this focus having blurred somewhat over the last few weeks, as the result of the demands of a physical relocation & the whole coming-to-terms with a new living & artworking environment, it seems important to maintain some form of regularity to the blogging process at least, thus presenting one such aesthetic interlude within the creative practice.

Photographically illustrated, then, is a representative selection of what the smartly dressed man about TOoT is currently, occasionally, sporting in the nature of accessorizing neckwear, having become attracted to - both conceptually, for their period stylings, & aesthetically, as objects-in-themselves - & invested in, specifically, ties of a knitted nature. Groovy.

As one might appreciate, the textures of the various weaves are rather fabulous, & wonderfully tactile, visually & palpably, as is the range of materials, including wool (that's an original 1960s Italian number to the left), silk, Terylene (for full period & retro effect) & more: this is most definitely the look & feel to pursue in the interests of style, idiosyncratic as it might be.

However, & unbeknownst, it would appear that such leanings of mine chime, coincidentally, with the times (or, perhaps, more traditionally, slightly behind them), as this online article might support.

Also, a recent encounter with a copy of George Best's autobiography 'Blessed' revealed a particular pictorial treasure, thus, with yer man himself stylishly attired in the fashions of the day (circa 1964), including what appears very much to be a knitted tie, with its telltale uneven edges & surface texture...

Needless to say, a purchase of said volume ensued.

New/Old

2011-06-02T14:16:00.014Z

The first fruits of drawing process as practised in the new home location, the subject/object matter being of a most familiar nature of course, as is the tonal graphite study of, on this pioneering occasion still feeling our way around an environment unfamiliar in terms of its light & how it acts within the various spaces, with the objects illuminated from the side rather than the formerly habitual practice of being observed contre jour.

As ever, concentration is upon exploring the tonal subtleties of the objects within their immediate spatial environment, as described by the action of natural light, shade, cast shadows & reflections as appropriate.

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Telling It Like It Is...

2011-06-01T09:55:00.000Z

A morning stroll along a lane in farming country today resulted in a written find of a nature most appropriate, specifically, to a description of recent progress here at TOoT &, generally, to the preferred, prevailing approach to life & the contemplative engagement with, more conducive to the meditative concentration upon the creative process, not least of course that of looking & drawing as exhibited hereabouts...

The viewer might appreciate that, unlike officially-painted advice notices of such nature that might be found upon tarmac road surfaces (notice also how such such a find, then, is maintaining a certain integrity with the whole 'roadkill', 'double black lines' project, the photographic recording of such found incidents upon tarmac roads, that had continued, until the recent physical relocation of operations, on frequent occasions almost since the blog's inception), the script here has, in perhaps a counterpoint to its message, a more hastily drawn, rough-hewn quality, spray-painted as it has been, a personal touch & take upon a generic theme.

A Curious Incident...

2011-05-27T13:47:00.005Z

Another collaborative effort, dating from a couple of months ago, presenting photographic evidence of a curious, intriguing object found by A, a screw lightly suspended vertically from a corridor wall, itself not without a number of incidental surface details in terms of textures, staining & processes of deterioration…

A Sign of the Times...

2011-05-24T14:55:00.003Z

Back in the room with an object, in two halves, found & pointed-out this very morning by A - thus what follows is very much a collaborative effort, inspired by - & considered to be a thing of beauty, as one may observe it indeed is.
Deprived by whatever divisive circumstances (which of course suggests some form of narrative) of its intended & usual informational function, more probably unnoticed other than occasionally on a need-to-know basis, the object/s is/are thus liberated to be regarded in more (or, in these parts, purely) aesthetic terms, as form, material (organic & manufactured) & surfaces, colour, pattern & patina.

The wood of the plank-composed standing board – a substantial modular object - bears the traces of its evolution-as-natural process & note too the dribbles of paint that have occurred during protective staining, for that additional little ‘arty’ touch.
The metal plate, its previously concealed reverse revealed, becomes a thing particularly transformed, its surface reflecting the nearby wooden support to which it was formerly attached & the blue of the sky overhead, whilst the embossed text, reversed &, in this view as encountered, upside down, can now be read rather as a subtle element of design, shapes (unfamiliar) & decoration, an altogether more interesting visual experience.

As is habitual, one visual thing contextually suggests another: a memorial might be a more obvious comparison but in this instance the integral presence of music is drawn into the mix, as the metal plate evokes recollection of a couple of record sleeves, specifically those housing the original vinyl issues of the 7” version of New Order’s debut single ‘Ceremony’, copper-coloured & embossed, & their later LP ‘Brotherhood’, featuring an inscription in a brushed metal surface…

Hell-O/Goodbye...

2011-04-30T09:06:00.009Z

It must seem that, over the years (& especially the last two), enough has been seen of & written about the numerous examples of discarded aluminium can ‘roadkill’ regularly found along & upon various stretches of the local ‘double black lines’ road markings during the course of perambulations around the environment in which such a quite possibly unique phenomenon exists.

This latest pictorial recording of such a circumstance, however, has a certain & particular poignancy attached to it in that it might represent the final instalment of its kind due to the forthcoming (& indeed imminent) geographical relocation of the physical hub of TOoT’s operations, thus distancing from a source that has provided not inconsiderable ongoing grist to the creative (or at least visual-evidence-to-be-blogged) mill: the thought, though, is that such distance lent may afford the opportunity to consider the photographs of the substantial body of findings with the aim of subsequently enabling the processing of such visual matter into the forms of drawing & painting, as has long been intended.

Anyway, before pastures new we return to the matter in hand: to wit, another ‘roadkill’ object flattened upon a section of the double black lines as they exist, like the previous example, in relation to the striking compositional element of other road markings in the form of broken white lines that diagonally intersect the composition & compromise the integrity of the subtly-modulated tones & hues of the overall, all-over grey monochrome pictorial field that forms the modernist-minimalist basis of all such images. Indeed, this occurrence happens at the very same location.
Again, the double black lines display a slight curve from the horizontal, & the surfaces of both their strata are eroded in places to display patches of the original underlying yellow paint that not only provides ‘archaeological’ evidence of the narrative of the temporal history of their physical substance but also echoes, rather pleasingly, the gold of the ‘O’ of the can’s iconic branded livery (which also illustrates a synecdochal fragment of the brand name).

One particular niotable feature of the composition as framed is the presence upon the surface of the road/picture plane of a couple of instances of three-dimensional debris & such objects’ accompanying cast shadows that serve to emphasize the flatness of the ‘roadkill’ can, which appears especially so in the first image, relative to.

Farewell, then, to the double black lines & from TOoT in Wales: tune in for the inaugural broadcast, hopefully sometime soonish, from an English address…

Back to the Present

2011-04-21T09:05:00.042Z

Today the opposite of tomato is going loco down in Acapulco

graphite & watercolour/30x21cm

Given recent separate developments in subject/object matter, & factoring-in the tendencies & weight of personal artistic history, there was indeed an inevitability in a pear & a bowl coming together in a composition to be actively contemplated through the drawing process.

Again, the fascinating challenge is to represent the manner in which light describes shape & form, the complementaries of such in this instance, through processes of falling directly upon & reflecting against surfaces, as occurs here: the robust form of the pear contrasts somewhat with the fleeting subtleties of light upon its skin, for example, & the process of drawing & watercolour becomes an attempt to record this as it also endeavours to preserve itself (better in this case than other more overworked examples, perhaps).

The drawn marks upon the horizontal surface before the pear introduce an element of narrative to the drawing as it forms part of the general body & sequence of such, engaging in dialogue with a recently preceding example through being the locational guides to the position of the sprig of japonica blossom that featured in relation to the bowl in place of the pear in that particular drawing.
Additionally, similar marks have been drawn around both bowl & pear for such purposes in this instance also: as such positional marks, represented as a compositional feature of the image, they might be claimed to have a certain 'Uglowian' quality, even if being rather loosely applied & thus less precise than such source in the habitually 'exacting' nature of that artist's measurements.

Soundtrack:

The Pastels 'Up For a Bit With...'

A most welcome re-acquaintance with a classic from the ‘shambling’ era of the mid-1980s, once owned on vinyl (although cassette might perhaps have been its ideal format, iconic of the 'C-86' scene as it was &, I suppose, remains), subsequently proving a rare beast on CD but affordable in downloadable form & recently capitalized upon thus. Words are so woefully inadequate to describe the wonders of this seminal album & the contents thereof, but an unalloyed joy it is indeed to immerse in the enduring sonic pleasures that overflow its 30-minute duration, the irresistible tunes, idiosyncratic lyrics, the twanging guitars, strings, bells & whatever else is loaded into the mix of the sheer glorious noise that constitutes such a magnificent, perfect whole, more delightfully arch even than the collected works of Belle & Sebastian, for whom the trail was blazed so gloriously by such a precursor (& what a devastating pair this & ‘Tigermilk’ make). ‘Up for a bit with The Pastels’, sir? Not half…

Light Interlude

2011-04-18T09:03:00.015Z

graphite & watercolour/30x20cm

Sometimes something just catches one's eye, urging to be recorded, represented: in this case in point, the 'something' was the burst of vivid, glowing yellow reflected between & upon, illuminating, the pale, creamy skins of each of the pears (& particularly the object to the left of the pair) as they came to be composed in such proximity to one another, viewed contre jour in the habitual manner.
Given such, a simplified approach, eschewing the surrounding environmental 'envelope', was applied in the interests of concentrating upon such a fleeting feature.

Bowling Along...

2011-04-14T09:02:00.008Z

graphite & watercolour/30x21cm

Following on from the previous recent example, at least continuing the drawing process in the light of an absence of any significant projects or pressing visual concerns with which to be wrestled & also re-engaging with past subject/object matter, (re)presenting a slight modification on the Japanese bowl & japonica blossom theme, on this occasion employing a fresh sprig of the latter & including another twig & flower within the bowl itself, simplified a little, engaged in formal dialogue with the inner design.

Coca-Cola & Curves

2011-04-10T09:01:00.016Z

The bountiful source that provides TOoT with a considerable amount of its image content continues to do so today as another familiarly-branded example of aluminium can ‘roadkill’ was to be found upon a section of the local ‘double black lines’.
In keeping with recent developments, the lines themselves deviate from the true horizontal by describing something of a curve (appropriately perhaps, in relation to the loops described by the brand name upon the surface of the can), as they approach a junction in the road where they encounter further road markings in the form of broken white lines which cut diagonally across the upper left hand corner of the photographic picture plane, disrupting the otherwise subtly-modulated tones & hues of the overall grey monochrome of the surface.
As is usually the case, some form of visual evidence may be traced of the history of the physical constitution of the painted lines, two layers of corrective black over the original yellow, to add a little narrative element to proceedings.

Incidentally...

2011-04-07T11:05:00.018Z

Presenting another example of discarded aluminium can ‘roadkill’ found upon a stretch of the local ‘double black lines’, continuing the series of such images & adding to the not insignificant collection of. As habitually, the object is pictorially framed within the plane of modernist-minimalist grey monochrome that is the tarmac road surface & the painted linear markings thrice-layered upon, subtly modulated in tone, hue & texture.

Subtle details add incidents of interest & idiosyncrasy: the lines display a slight curve from the horizontal; a related white road marking peeps out from under the lower of the pair of parallel lines; on the upper of the lines, ‘zips’ of the original yellow line are visible beneath each of the overlaying corrective ‘black’ ones, relating in primary-coloured fashion to the red of the can’s branded livery, whilst a blob of the topmost layer of paint subverts the otherwise linearity & various cracks add another element of ‘drawing’; finally, at bottom left, a slight change in surface level has occurred at some point of the road’s history, a further narrative 'clue'...

A Digression...

2011-04-06T20:45:00.005Z

graphite & watercolour/20x30cm

A slight departure in subject/object matter, in the name of charity, this watercolour drawing being processed with the intention of being donated for auction during an event at the place of paid employment this coming Friday, 8th, the purpose of which is to raise funds for the RNLI.

With a minimalist simplicity in mind, the choice of the Japanese bowl, decorated inside with a graphic design of branches & blossom, then led naturally into the garden in order to acquire the wherewithal with which to complete a composition appropriate to the season, celebrating one of the glorious aspects of, with a sprig selected & clipped from the japonica flowering quince, with its vivid scarlet flowers, proving to be just the very complementary thing.

Good Griddance...

2011-03-29T21:33:00.014Z

A 'roadkill' find today of something of a different formal nature, deviating from the norm, but one too good not to record for posterity, given TOoT's abiding commitment to the old faithful modernist grid: the silvery-grey monochrome of the object just makes it even more attractive &, with the surface texture provided by the division of its cells too, perhaps reminding one, distantly, of such as Jasper Johns' white & grey 'Numbers' paintings, for example.

There's also, of course, something of a punning upon the more usual form of 'grid' (that, obviously, of the drainage variety) to be found within the context of the road, as sometimes feature as a distinct(ive) & additional element within the usual pictorial compositions of aluminium can 'roadkill' upon various instances of the local 'double black lines'...

A Double for the Road...

2011-03-28T19:47:00.028Z

Today the opposite of tomato is struggling to keep up...

Again a ‘roadkill’ find along a stretch of the double black lines, curving around a junction, allowing the incorporation of another localized road marking within the pictorial space, that, whilst compromising the subtly-modulated all-over grey monochrome of the surface (although, as might be noted, in being degraded from its original white to a worn pale grey, appears to be very much a part of the whole), adds a certain compositional detail &, in fact, somewhat echoes the object itself in its position & angle ('of approach') in relation to the lines.
Once more, the double black lines themselves display a wealth of incidental detail &, not least, evidence of their own erosion, providing further details of surface texture (to their obvious, general purpose of so doing) & allowing an ‘archaeological’ appreciation, in places additional to those where they visually ‘seep’ in outline fashion, of the original yellow paint beneath a further layer of corrective black, a temporal narrative of the road surface’s history & the changes undergone.

One might notice, also, a new addition to the canon of branded identity & the rather fabulous tiger-striped & pink design decorating this particular example, not of the usual carbonated drink variety but still an object of the general type, an aluminium can found flattened upon the roadside in a fashion appropriate to TOoT’s continuing purposes…

Then, a shift in position from which the scene is photographically pictured, whilst employing the same elements, gives a different, diagonal dynamic to the composition…

A little further along the perambulations homeward & another found object come to rest upon the double black lines, this composition of the more traditional horizontal & properly minimalist variety in its concentration upon essential detail, although the concrete slabs at the lower edge offer a slight departure from the more usual ‘all-over’ tarmac road surface upon which the three subtly distinct strata of lines are painted.
Again, particular incidental details occur upon/within the road surface & lines...

Industrious Correspondence

2011-03-22T23:06:00.091Z

Today the opposite of tomato is 'a cup of tea and your insights'

(Re)presenting here a second drawing based upon, shall we say, aspects of A & the influential nature of her contributions generally & thus, con- & sub-sequently, to recent proceedings here at TOoT.

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

As with the first example, an element of narrative is present & indeed motivates the process both of image construction &, in formal terms, mark making. A it was who provided both the source digital photograph of her own feet (the represented print of which that also serves as the foundation for the previous drawing) &, as one of a sequence of such delightful & dialogically significant visual gifts, the rather wonderful postcard featuring a representation of the cover of the Penguin paperback 'Creativity in Industry', expertly & exquisitely designed by David Pelham, a model of succinct perfection (images of this particular card & more in the series, from the box set of 100 'Postcards from Penguin', may be viewed here).

Rather obviously, the image content of this particular object then suggested the inclusion of the pencils as objects within the drawing, relating directly to the drawing process, the habitual industry of which is apparent in the mark-made nature of the surface, with the explicit correspondence between the represented scribble as featured on the card & that forming the ground of the drawing.

The miniature spanner is an example of something very familiar to proceedings at TOoT in terms of source material in that it is a found object, in this particular case discovered at my feet, upon the floor of the train being taken home from a day spent in the company of A: its nature, as a hand tool (like the pencil), seems to fit nicely too, of course, with the notion of industry, manufacture, etc, as promoted by the postcard.

Finally, the dots lightly erased into the surface provide a further aspect of correspondence, of shared visual syntax, between A & the artist.

To allow for a little contextualization, as is habitual, the scribbled nature of the represented 'smoke' within the design reproduced upon the postcard, & the deliberate act, the process, of representing this, as carefully, measured & faithfully as possible, in & as an aspect of the drawing, brought to mind examples of the work of Alan Brooks, with which I had been familiar for some years, indeed since one such was encountered as a selection featured within that seminal John Moores Painting Prize 20 exhibition back in 1997.

Alan Brooks 'untitled (blue)' acrylic on canvas 183x183cm

Alan Brooks 'Fill (II)' acrylic on canvas 183x183cm

In these examples, & numerous others besides, the artist has taken a found, discarded small scale original (of, e.g., 'Post-it' note dimensions) quickly-scribbled doodle-drawing & transposed it, in paint, to a considerably larger canvas, with the gestural mark-making of the source reproduced, represented, in deliberate fashion in exact detail, preserving the energentic appearance of the original 'image' whilst encouraging a much more contemplative study of its form & the obsessive, controlled process of its making, an intriguing perceptual contrast. Interestly, a study of Alan Brooks' recent drawing practice reveals a series of A4-scale pencil drawings faithfully representing photographic sources, the subject matter mostly featuring portraits of 'influential' authors with also a selection of artists in their studios also included amongst the corpus, a tangential correspondence with my own 2008 drawing Project, sourced & represented from found print media images, here at TOoT & as has occurred subsequently on occasion since, albeit without quite the same rigour or concentration upon such serial subject matter. One considers, of course, that, for all their different appearance (one might say illustrating the hoary old & irrelevant 'abstract' & 'figurative' dichotomy), both of these aspects of Brooks' practice are engaged with the same essential process of the representation of an original image.

Soundtrack:

She & Him 'Volume Two'
Luna 'Best of' Mark Mulcahy
'In Pursuit of Your Happiness' & 'Smilesunset' Moon Wiring Club 'A Spare Tabby at the Cat's Wedding'
Dvorak 'Dumky' Piano Trio
Nick Drake 'Made to Love Magic'

[untitled]

2011-03-19T15:36:00.030Z

Another instance of aluminium can 'roadkill' found upon a section of the local 'double black lines' & thus pictorially framed in a manner that allows the inclusion of a few specific features within the generality of the series as it continues & grows, inexorably as does the tendency to litter.

Here, as might be observed, the painted lines themselves deviate from the true straight horizontal by following a slight curve, whilst another road marking, eroded & faded from its original white to a state where it begins to merge with the tarmac road surface, that 'all-over' monochrome picture plane, appears at a diagonal to add something of a compositional dynamic, supported by the lines, running parallel & at a right angle to, inscribed into the surface formed by the edges of various road repairs, the distinct areas of which display subtle textural modulations. The concrete stones that form the lower border of the image then add variations of both tonal & textural incident to the whole.

The manner in which the 'roadkill' object has been flattened, with its name, the text of its branded identity, split in such fashion, allows this to be read almost in its entirety in such a fashion as to thus imaginatively reconstruct the object three-dimensionally 'in the round'...

The Opposite (Side) of Pears...

2011-03-12T20:32:00.018Z

Once more actively contemplating the pair of tissue-wrapped pears as done & drawn previously, on this occasion viewed from their opposite sides, thus reversing the composition...

graphite & watercolour/30x20cm

Again, the physical properties of the thin tissue paper allows hints of the colour of the underlying skin of the fruit to show through its translucency or otherwise be obscured where an overlapping layer creates an opacity, in this instance creating a pair of objects displaying distinctly individual characteristics amidst the general uniformity of the 'cloaking'.

Soundtrack:

Mark Mulcahy 'Smilesunset' x3

It's a Wrap #2

2011-03-06T20:39:00.033Z

What has become something of a rarity here at TOoT this year, in the (re)presentation today of a drawing of another pair of pears wrapped in tissue paper along the lines of recent considerations of subject/object matter.
Whilst the objects might be considered as having a sculptural quality in themselves, being thus aesthetically transformed from their original form by the act & result of wrapping (which of course performs significant surface alterations also), still the intention was that they provide the models for representing in the form & process of drawing rather than existing in & for themselves as such, or merely being documented in photographic form, for instance.
Here, the utilization of watercolour is intended to allow a sense of the nature of the tissue paper, establishing its form against the white ground, & the subtle hints of the colour of the skin of the fruit visible in places beneath the thin veils of this light, translucent covering.

graphite & watercolour/30x20cm

By way of nothing more than pure visual coincidence (rather than an habitual act of contextualization) of an art historical nature, albeit of a peculiar & somewhat incongruous one, one might notice something of an affinity, a correspondence, of form, as occurred to mind, between the wrapped pear to the right of the drawing, with its substantial stalk curving up & out of the wrapping, & the disguised shape of a certain Mr (or Herr, rather) Joseph Beuys as he appears in this documentary photograph of his performance-installation 'I Like America and America Likes Me', swathed as he is wholly in a blanket of felt & clutching a shepherd's staff...

[image found on artknowledgenews.com]

Soundtrack:

Low 'Things We Lost in the Fire'
Test Match Special Eng v SA, World Cup ODI
Mark Mulchay 'Smilesunset'

Another Direction...

2011-03-02T20:45:00.022Z

Today's walk home from the day job (fresh air physically & psychologically) brought the welcome treat of a most serendipitous find of the aluminium can 'roadkill' variety, with a certain correspondence between the markings upon the road surface & the striped design of the object’s branded identity.
In a departure from the more familiar subtly-modulated tonal transitions between the tarmacked road surface & the ‘double black lines’ painted upon, in this particular picture as photographically framed (capturing as it does the intersection of a junction, as a side road curves into another) the addition of further road markings of broad white strokes diagonally arranged dominate the composition across the picture plane & give it a particular dynamic, providing a bold contrast with the habitual horizontals of the ‘double black lines’ & the remaining visible instances of the underlying original yellow lines that, in places, outline them.
The white marks also serve to add a further 'archaeolgical' layer to the narrative of the road surface's history of painted amendments, overlaying as they do the other strata of lines.
The striped design upon the surface of the ‘roadkill’ can then adds further counter-angularity & a sequence of tonal contrasts to the composition, of course, whilst the cream colour (which also features rather neatly in text form, in that Jasper Johnsian naming-of-colours manner) relates to the yellow of the visible remnants of the original lines…

Then creating a monochrome version to concentrate upon a purely tonal study of the lines & stripes upon the surfaces of both the road & the object...

A Double Good Morning...

2011-03-01T21:48:00.053Z

There's no doubt that the subject/object matter of the 'roadkill' aluminium cans found directly upon or in the very near vicinity of the local 'double black lines' road markings, & photographically, pictorially framed thus, has become the dominant theme of the year so far, particularly of late, with a flurry of encounters to consider & record.
Today proved to be no exception, once out the world after the luxury of an hour's drawing in decent daylight prior to the morning's later start to the day job, with the added bonus of some especially interesting points to note.

In the first of two objects to be found adjacent to each other (but not quite feasibly enough to be included, composed, within the same picture frame: thus, see further below), one might note that the integrity of the flat, monochrome picture plane, modulated by subtle tonal transitions from tarmac to painted lines, has been compromised significantly by what appears to be the evidence of seismic activity affecting the road surface, rupturing it in places & resulting in a network, a pattern, of cracks upon & within it, that could be regarded, however fancifully, as a form of line drawing additional &, with its vaguely circular form, complementary to that, ‘given’, of the straight lines horizontally traversing the scene as framed.
Obviously, more textural activity occurs across the surface also.

Another intriguing detail - & a narrative element - occurs with the reappearance of the ‘roadkill’ object itself, the still(ed) life element of the composition, as has featured thus previously, indeed here, some 16 days ago, now having travelled approximately 15 yards down the road(side), thus apparently at somewhat leisurely pace (odd, in fact, that it hasn’t been road-swept during this period, as such discarded objects, although ubiquitous, usually are, tending not to endure quite so long).
The keen-eyed viewer might notice how such time & distance has transformed, weathered, the appearance of the object, flatter yet now than originally found & its surface considerably more distressed, dustied, a layer of grime ('glazed' translucently, in a painterly analogy, even if seeming somewhat contadictory) over the design of its branded identity, even punctured by a hole at one point: this process helps it become even more integrated into the picture, to echo more closely still the colours & tones of the road surface & the overpainted lines upon which it lies in low relief, which is all rather wonderful & more satisfyingly 'pictorial'.

Stepping slightly to the right allows the photographic framing, then, of a second instance of a 'roadkill' aluminium can upon the very same lines, with, again, a network of craquelure 'drawn' upon, & textural disturbance to, the surface & substance of tarmac road & 'double black lines', another pictorial composition of still life object (this one more crumpled-down than properly flattened) against a subtly-modulated grey monochrome ground that somewhat mirrors the previous example...

Given such a complementary pair of images, it seemed appropriate then to combine them into a panoramic composition more complex than the habitual single object format, establishing a dialogue between the two 'roadkill' objects & allowing full expression to what thus becomes the central circular-ish form of the surface cracking.

More of the Same but Different...

2011-02-27T16:09:00.033Z

Another example of aluminium can 'roadkill' to be found, just so, upon a stretch of the local 'double black lines' this morning, &, accordingly, pictorially framed.

Once more rain-dampened, the 'allover' monochrome surface of the picture plane is thus particularly closely-toned in this instance, in what has become what might be termed the 'classic', pure manner, with visible differences thus distinguished primarily by alterations in texture between the tarmac road surface & the painted lines upon, which themselves display only subtle evidence of the narrative history of their black-over-black-over-original yellow application, with the 'incidental' flecks of the latter echoing those of the lighter stones embedded amongst the tarmac.
The branded design upon the surface of the flattened object serves to provide a small diagonal contrasting compositional 'zip' amongst the otherwise predominant horizontality of the whole - which has a particularly cool & minimalist appearance, generally & in comparison to some of the more recent pictures within this genre - whilst the gentle curve of the can's base also performs a similarly subtle function.

Also, today's potterings afforded the opportunity to revisit the scene of one of yesterday's finds & represent it positionally as before but afresh with the attendant 'double black lines' more preferably closely-toned in relation to the tarmac ground, for that critical 'all-over' surface integrity that is one of the great formal intentions & purposes of the photographic & indeed aesthetic project...

Whilst it was rather exciting to find the other 'Cola Zero' 'roadkill' can found & photographically recorded yesterday had been subject(ed) to some overnight movement, thus enabling it to be pictorially framed within another composition altogether, in a significantly different spatial relation to the 'double black lines' (& at much greater distance from than occurs generally, habitually, one may note), themselves now, as might be observed, also featuring their termination too & perhaps something slightly more of a curve at this particular location...

Truly, such finds are the gift that never stops giving.

Rich Clickings...

2011-02-26T16:42:00.052Z

A double whammy of 'roadkill' cans as found consecutively upon related sections of the 'local double black lines' road markings this morning: the prevailing drying conditions following a rain-soaking meant the painted lines & tarmac surface were much less closely-toned than preferred for the habitual subtly-modulated, harmonious monochrome integrity of the picture plane, in best modernist fashion, but still the overall compositions as possible to photographically frame were too inviting to ignore, given certain incidental details.

In the first instance, a slight curvature of painted line again occurs, as has done recently, lending something of a different dynamic to the composition: one might note, too, the more rigorously straight-linear most-recently applied layer of paint (black over black over yellow, as has occurred 'historically'), cutting with swift precision through the previous curve(s), upon the lower of the parallel lines, thus creating a keen formal dialogue with the upper, slightly more languid arc...

Whilst a subtle, shifting difference in pictorial framing allows the incorporation of a complementary touch of the original yellow paint showing through the eroded latterly-applied grey/'black' layers, opposite the flattened, 'still(ed) life' object, with which it thus engages in a certain relationship of primary colours, punctuation marks amidst the prevailing grey monochrome of the overall, 'allover' surface, & also coincides with other instances of revealed yellow that recur along the lengths of the lines.
One might also note the clusters of curved marks upon the lower straight line, establishing more subtle textures & another more localized complementary dialogue of formal features.
Just as found, framed thus, this is a richly detailed pictorial space indeed...

The flattened object itself also introduces coincidental formal dialogue with the curve of its base & that of the line upon which it lies, whilst the circular design of its branded identity contrasts with the predominant linearity of the whole.
In more fanciful contextualizing mode, & allowing for a little slippage, one might also suggest such design's acknowledgement of the oval logo emblazoning Jasper Johns' iconic 'Ballantine Ale' cans & also, perhaps, the artist's even more iconic targets...

Within a matter of yards, traversing a junction & a little further on, a second example of 'roadkill' was to be found nestling besides the beginning/termination of another section of double black lines, this particular feature thus providing a welcome, much less frequent (& accordingly more precious) formal, compositional treat amidst the pictorial whole as framed.
Note also the instances, once again, of surface erosion-revealed underlying yellow paint, such colour as also occurs upon the painted surface of the flattened object of the can, &, furthermore, at least as observed within the upper of the parallel horizontal lines, the textural detail of the obvious 'archaeological' visual evidence of the three clearly separate strata of the painted lines as applied over the course of the temporal narrative of the road surface's history.
To conclude, & in rather a neat formal coincidence, one might also claim the near-circular form into which the can has been accidentally but serendipitously compressed under the circumstances serves as something of a 'full stop', a sign of confirmation, at the end of the painted lines, as it were...

A Touching Display

2011-02-25T12:55:00.012Z

A slight repositioning of the pair of pears in intimate (erotic?) proximity to each other allowed them to make contact at another point & to also focus attention, as observed under certain light conditions at a particular time of the day, upon a vivid flash of colour between the objects as it appeared on one of them & around which, essentially, in this instance, the watercolour drawing was constructed...

graphite & watercolour/30x20m

[With acknowledgement to Wire, once again, for providing 'appropriate' titular inspiration for this entry, coincidentally the song thus entitled immediately preceding 'On Returning' on the compilation CD of that particular title]

Soundtrack:

New Order singles compilation
Mark Mulcahy 'Fathering'

It's a Wrap (Sort of)...

2011-02-21T19:01:00.026Z

It's long been a vague intention to at some stage follow up the series of photographs taken of a batch of wrapped & jacketed Chinese 'Ya' or snow pears - & blogged here back in the early days of TOoT (indeed, before it was even known as, when operations were concerned with irregular musings upon 'The Life Aesthetic...') - with further representation & exploration of more of such objects in the form of drawing.

Quite possibly as a result of the habitual September sequence of pear drawings/watercolours being then followed by the short, seasonally-curtailed series of drawings of blank, crumpled sheets of white paper (as may be found in the October & November 2010 archives), such an intention seemed to rise towards the surface of general consideration towards the end of last year & into this, as something of a little new departure & yet maintaining & indeed re-establishing contact with long-abiding concerns.

Alas, a local source of such exquisite aesthetic objects has this time proved elusive (the greengrocers from whom the originals had been sourced having some time ago 'left the building', as it were), so, some nude pears having been purchased elsewhere (an intimate pair of which have already featured in a recent study), a couple were recently lightly & loosely (or, perhaps, rather cack-handedly) wrapped (as one might appreciate) in white tissue paper for the purposes of modelling thus, against a white ground observed, as pretty habitually, contre-jour, in the interests of the familiar tonal exploration of what might in such an example be termed the 'un-whiteness of white', with also hints of veiled colour showing through in places:

graphite, coloured pencil & putty eraser/30x20cm

Obviously, for such a body of work to develop as a properly intensive aesthetic study of the subject-object matter, much greater rigour would need to be exercised from the very beginning of acquiring or creating the appropriate models, but perhaps such is at least a start, & presents a possibility...

Yellow Alert

2011-02-20T18:59:00.019Z

Presenting, pictorially framed, another example of aluminium can 'roadkill' subject/object matter as found immediately besides a section of the local 'double black lines' road markings, which here, in terms of additional compositional & incidental detail, feature extensive evidence of what, 'archaeologically', lies beneath the significantly eroded surface, in the form of the original yellow lines applied upon the tarmac base (itself the crust of the road's & earth's strata of construction) of the 'painting', which of course disrupts the 'allover' monochrome of the picture plane, subtly modulated in tone & hue in the differences between tarmac & painted lines: the yellow band indeed forms a significant & striking compositional element in this particular picture, extending as it does more than half way across the surface, a noteworthy addition to the ongoing genre & oeuvre as it continues to develop...

One might note, also, the familiarity of the flattened object's branded identity, instantly recognizable even its compromised form...

On Returning

2011-02-18T18:57:00.023Z

On the road yet again, today sees a return to the very subject & 'roadkill' object as found & pictured - unsatisfactorily it was considered (indeed twice, at either end of the day) - two days ago, now under different prevailing atmospheric conditions.
The keen-eyed viewer might notice, comparatively, that the object has remained largely undisturbed over this period (unusually given its location, remaining at the mercy of passing vehicular traffic, one might assume), with only a very slight movement in its position upon the double black lines: here, the very & particular flatness of the object, compressed onto the road surface, might suggest it is fixed, embedded thus into the picture plane, as might be a compositional element in a painting.

The grey day also brought the arrival of a much anticipated package, from the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, the contents of which considerably brightened proceedings when the cardboard envelope was opened, as might be appreciated:

I love the whole object-quality of the outer packaging, the institutionally-branded tape liberally wound around its form, & then, as discovered within, the wonderful, vivid yellow of the tissue paper carefully folded & taped around the book inside, sealed with a circular sticker bearing the bold 'B' & square 'full stop' punctuation mark logo that echoes that to be found in larger dimensions on the address label upon the envelope: an aesthetic, object-centred feast even before one explores the true contents, which was/is in fact the object-of-desire catalogue published to accompany the Baltic's current exhibition of George Shaw's wonderful, profoundly evocative paintings (frequently incidentally featuring tarmacked road surfaces & the painted marks upon, it might be noted, 'affinitively'), entitled 'The Sly and Unseen Day'. There's an essay within written by our man Michael Bracewell too - endless joys & inspiration, much more upon the subject of which will surely follow as & when appropriate & the contents have been properly, closely studied...

A nod to Wire too, for their titular inspiration in this particular instance, as appropriated.

Dangerous Curves...

2011-02-17T18:55:00.049Z

Continuing with the sequence of finds along the same stretch of the local 'double black lines' as featured recently, today an(other) example of aluminium can 'roadkill' was encountered once again but a matter of yards further along than the previous one, upon the markings just as they now, at this point, curve (slowly, almost imperceptibly in such a 'detailed analysis') around the roadside as it forms a junction.
Here, the act of photographic framing captures the incorporation of another compositional element into the picture plane, in the form of the white diagonal to the upper right, which, as does the flattened object, also serves to compromise the integrity of the otherwise subtly modulated minimalist monochrome of the 'allover' surface...

Further disruption to tone & hue, & texture too, occurs courtesy of the erosion suffered by the surface of the lower, inner of the painted 'black' lines, going beyond craquelure to the extent of breaking up to reveal 'archaeological', historical evidence of the original yellow beneath, which allows access to a temporal narrative of events having taken place, albeit at a slower pace perhaps than the more obvious & instant example of the flattened aluminium can suggests...

A shift in vantage point subsequently allows another picture to be framed, using the same elements as previously, with this time an additional white mark, which gives a different dynamic to the composition...

At this point, titular inspiration for this particularly illustrated post should be acknowledged in the form of a most serendipitously appropriate postcard, presented by the wonderful & charming A, & representing the cover of a 'classically designed' vintage Penguin novel, a delightful flat object in itself...

A Day on the Road...

2011-02-16T18:41:00.008Z

Another example of a 'roadkill' aluminium drink can as found compressed flat upon a section of the local 'double black lines' markings, in fact but a matter of yards further along the same stretch that yielded last Sunday's encounter with such.

Again, the object lies upon the subtly differentiated tonal & textural variations of the 'allover' grey monochrome of the picture plane as photographically composed.

The images were in fact taken at opposite ends of the day in terms of its available light, with the above 'panorama' recorded as dusk closed in & the close up below captured previously, in the early morning sunshine, these being the better examples of the range of photographs taken.

Familiar Leanings...

2011-02-15T21:46:00.007Z

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm

A little out of their seasonal context perhaps (please refer to both September 2009 & 2010 archives for extensive evidence of their habitual place here at TOoT), but seeming worthy of actively contemplative study nonetheless, this pair of pears were found in this particular relationship to each other, having been arranged thus by another hand.

The pears had, in fact, already been drawn twice during the course of the previous week or so, a graphite study followed by a watercolour drawing, in another spatial arrangement of intimate proximity to each other, but, both works being presented to A, having been made with topical intentions, shall we say, it was felt that they remain more personal than being exhibited here to a potentially wider audience.

Soundtrack:

Lambchop 'Is a Woman'

Grey Day = Brilliant Find

2011-02-13T20:59:00.013Z

As seems to have become something of a Sunday tradition, this morning’s constitutional presented, along the home straight, the most excellent find of a flattened ‘roadkill’ can upon a section of the painted ‘double black lines’, as here photographically depicted.
Note how the grey, black & yellow colours of the can’s branded livery so closely replicate those of the road surface & its markings, in particular the visible slivers, scratches, of the yellow upon both, a most delightful coincidence.
Also, as the viewer might appreciate, the patched nature of the tarmac road surface adds another compositional element to the overall subtly-toned & textured monochrome of the picture plane & furthermore lends an 'historical', narrative element to the scene…

which area might then assume greater compositional weight if one employs a slight shift in position from which to photograph:

Whilst back on the road, I must also acknowledge this recent & very wonderful post on Jazz Green’s Artist’s Journal, on the subject of road repairs & (re)painted yellow lines, lavishly illustrated with extensive photographic evidence of such, a veritable cornucopia of intriguing patching, layering, textural incident & subtle colour variations, a most succinct survey courtesy of Jazz’s keen eye for such features & details, with the added bonus of being accompanied by her usual eloquent text: a rewarding visit is much recommended.

Under the Influence Twice Over...

2011-02-08T21:27:00.019Z

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Although appearing undoubtedly familiar from a stylistic (& referential), mark-making aspect, this particular drawing in another way (re)presents something also of a quite considerable departure into more obvious narrative territory, that we might choose to leave ambiguous by refraining from over-explication, other than acknowledge the influence of A, with whom the image, employing items of a shared visual & object vocabulary, is primarily intended to engage in a personal dialogue, whilst also, of course, having a universally readable quality.

Utilizing both objects & photographic source material in the composition, the spoon - found, as the familiar flattened cans, upon/in the road (for the purposes of 'integrity', of course) - specifically & primarily references A, but acted as the key to unlock a range of delightful & buzzily-inspiring associations, as they unfurled, with the work of Jasper Johns, such an object featuring both as itself & as represented in various paintings - 'In Memory of My Feelings (Frank O'Hara)' would be an example of the former (suspended, with a fork, to a length of wire), & 'The Four Seasons' the latter, silver painted - & prints over the years.
Much more is embedded & embodied besides, but perhaps a little intrigue is preferable in such a drawing as this, in the interests of allowing the viewer imaginative interpretations.

Food for Thought...

2011-01-26T21:28:00.006Z

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Continuing with the sequence of drawings processed from pre-existing visual sources, the original image in this instance being found in a book, encountered at the site of the day job, entitled ‘New Angles’, upon the subject of Ronald Traeger’s photography from the 1960s, & featuring specifically the actress Geraldine Chaplin ‘during the filming of La Grenouille, London, 1967’. Again, the pensive character of the subject suggests something of a narrative element, perhaps, involving the viewer in the possible psychological aspect of the content.

In more familiar formal terms, the original image itself displays that very particular photographic depth of field & focus (& sharp tonal contrast of blacks & whites), the figure sharp against the blurred background of buildings, thus presenting a challenge to its re-mediated representation, resolved in this instance by a combination of broader, looser marks & more refined ones, across the spatial continuum of the surface, relating to the focus of the source. Perhaps a technique to develop more generally...?

Soundtrack:

Pavement 'Brighten the Corners'
Laura Marling 'I Speak Because I Can'
She & Him 'Volume Two'
Scritti Politti 'White Bread Black Beer'

[untitled]

2011-01-23T20:41:00.003Z

Another example of aluminium can 'roadkill' encountered upon a stretch of the local 'double black lines' & consequently pictorially framed, the ground of tarmac & markings especially dark under the rain-soaked circumstances...

[untitled]

2011-01-19T20:22:00.017Z

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Incorporating a couple of loose-ish threads taken up recently, this drawing was processed, re-mediated, from an original advertisement for what we might term high-end designer merchandise, found in a recent edition of ‘Art Review’.
Again, a certain narrative element might be read, or at least suggested, via something of the 'suspenseful' atmosphere of the image & the action taking place (or inferred to be about to take place, post- the moment of surprised pause)...

Soundtrack:

My Bloody Valentine 'Loveless'
Miracle Legion 'Surprise Surprise Surprise'
Moon Wiring Club 'A Spare Tabby at the Cat's Wedding'
Eels 'Meet the Eels'

Something of a Coincidence

2011-01-18T17:49:00.007Z

Being rather partial to serendipity here at TOoT, browsing the current, Jan/Feb 2011 issue of ‘Art Review’, brought an intriguing encounter with a review of Amanda Ross-Ho’s recent Los Angeles exhibition ‘A Stack of Black Pants’, illustrated by this image, of said objects arranged on a box-like plinth.

Such provided a visual reminder of a curious personal find, dating from over four years ago, encountered whilst pottering along the Greenfield Valley trail, of a pair of blue jeans folded & left laid upon a stone, photographed for posterity & blogged here, amongst others, back in the day.

Another Found Object

2011-01-15T17:53:00.021Z

But a matter of moments after encountering the 'incongruous fruit' as documented immediately previously, another example of the familiar aluminium can 'roadkill' was found thus upon a curving stretch of the famed local phenomenon of the 'double black lines' road markings, & photographically framed accordingly...

A slight shift in position then allows the 'roadkill' to be depicted within a pictorial space that incorporates another compositional element in the slightly darker-toned area of patched road surface to the right: such a feature also performs an historical & 'narrative' function, of course, providing visual evidence of alterations made to the original (at least as visible) surface, in addition to the temporal layering of the 'black' over 'black' over yellow paint of the markings...

whilst the rust-patinated surface of the compressed can (a natural element amidst the manufactured whole of the 'picture' as framed, & also a concentrated focus of colour within the overall subtly-modulated monochrome) also suggests the action of time, in conjunction with the elements, upon the object...

Incongruous Fruit...

2011-01-15T17:51:00.008Z

Not necessarily strange fruit, & still topical enough of course, but, encountered as walking across a local field this morning, somewhat incongruously located as found, perhaps: additionally, it might be noted, in a similar incident there also recently occurred the curious incident of a tomato at rest amidst the snowfall, as photographically documented in a post towards the end of last year.

First one object was chanced-upon, then, widening the field of vision, its pair became apparent, in relation to, with this second fruit also being captured in close-up, nestling in the grass, which inspired memories of arrangements of fruit upon swathes of vivid green artificial turf in the windows of or immediately outside greengrocers’ shops, & also has a certain analogy with similarly strongly coloured spherical objects as might be observed against grounds of green baize cloth during the television coverage of the current Masters’ snooker tournament.

[untitled]

2011-01-12T21:32:00.013Z

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm

Continuing with the general sequence of drawings processed, re-mediated, from photographic sources, although with this particular example departing from the series of 1960s print media advertisements. There remains, however, a certain vintage quality to the original image, in this instance sourced immediately (as itself already re-mediated, at some stage of proceedings, from physical print into digitized form) from the ‘modern nostalgic’ blog, a resource chanced-upon, as is so often the serendipitous way, whilst engaging in an image search, & featuring a wealth of such material, re-contextualized & de-contextualized, presented mostly without explanation or indeed any textual information, purely, one might assume, for aesthetic reasons, forming in itself a considerable & visually fascinating archive with its own intriguing formal narrative.

The appearance of the figures in the image also invites a speculative narrative, of course: who might they be (with their facial features shrouded & particularly their eyes obscured, a significant aspect of their visual, visible human being, recognizable physical form aside, is denied to us, for all that they pose as if for a portrait photograph), against what (or at least the threat of) are they protected, from what/where have they emerged or are otherwise prepared to enter? - such questions naturally occur...

Soundtrack:

Jesca Hoop 'Kismet' & 'Hunting My Dress'
Belle & Sebastian 'Push Barman to Open Old Wounds'
Lambchop 'Nixon' & 'OH (ohio)

It's an Ad World #5

2011-01-04T22:45:00.014Z

graphite & erasers/30x20cm

Back to the Sixties again to mine the source of this drawing, re-mediated from another print media advertisement of the period - again, stylistically, an irresistible image, so 'fashionably' redolent of its time, & not least socio-culturally too.
As with the previous example, the process of (re)making in graphite involves the draining of the original image of its 'Mad Men'esque colour - where a particularly vivid burst offsets otherwise mostly a harmony of cool greys - into a distanced tonal study.

Soundtrack:

Cocteau Twins 'Heaven or Las Vegas'
Bjork 'Homogenic'
Laura Marling 'I Speak Because I Can'

& also the 3 volumes of Pontone's compelling selection of tracks comprising their 'Tones of the Year 2010', their opinion of the best 50 albums of the year. Any place where the Moon Wiring Club's 'A Spare Tabby at the Cat's Wedding' - a favourite listen & much admired work of art here at TOoT, of course - ranks second can't be a bad one at all.

Flat Pop

2011-01-03T17:33:00.005Z

Another day brings another encounter with aluminium can 'roadkill', branded in a familiar iconic style (inevitably referencing the history of Pop Art), as found alongside another occurrence of the local 'double black lines' road markings, here at an intersection & including the presence of supplementary painted marks adding another compositional element to the pictorial whole as photographically framed...

In With the New...& the Return of the Old

2011-01-02T17:27:00.024Z

A new year of course, but, as things may change & fragile hopes mingle with uncertainties, one that already brings reassuring finds of a familiar nature, in the form of the enduring subject/object matter of discarded aluminium can 'roadkill' encountered alongside a stretch of the local 'double black lines' road markings, here represented pictorially as held in photographic captivity.

By way of ushering in, gently, 'the new', the rather fetchingly delicate lilac of the branded livery makes an introductory appearance as the compressed object is observed in detailed close-up...

Whilst panning back out, it becomes possible to frame the 'roadkill' object as found adjacent to another compositional element in the form of a cast iron drainage grid: note, in deliciously serendipitous relation to the immediately previously-posted watercolour drawing of the 'après-tea' still life arrangement, the presence here also, draped across the bars of the grating, of the peeled skin of a clementine or similar orange citrus fruit - a curious coincidence indeed, if not necessarily a seasonally unusual occurrence.

Après-tea

2010-12-31T15:34:00.028Z

A break in yesterday afternoon's drawing process for the making & taking of tea & accompanying sustenance resulted, subsequently, post-refreshments, in a return not to the work in hand but, rather, a digression & surprising departure into something of what might be considered to be object-centred narrative territory, the nature of which goes beyond the mere appearance of that which is depicted (in the moments of the particular immediate aftermath), in a multi-layered referencing manner. As such, the drawing also becomes another form of correspondence. An intriguing development, at least to self...

graphite & watercolour/20x30cm

At the more familiar level of process, this drawing is a a very rare instance of one featuring objects made under the source of an overhead artificial light, as one might notice,'obviously' given the nature of the sharply cast shadows, of a number of Euan Uglow's still life compositions, for example. Given the habitual personal preference for observing objects' form &, particularly, colour in natural light, however frustratingly fugitive & limited that might often prove to be, I've always marvelled at the subtlety of effect of colour & tone, the masterly control of such, Uglow managed to achieve under such conditions as artificial light.

A certain integrity in relation to the many previous drawings of 'roadkill' aluminium cans & also the few subsequent examples of those sourced from folded & crumpled sheets of paper might be claimed by the representation here of the folded-back tin foil covering of the halva container.

Soundtrack:

Pontone 'Spectral Cassette' #4

It's an Ad World #4

2010-12-27T18:27:00.015Z

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Continuing the current sequence of drawings processed from the source material of archive print media advertisements, taking a step away from the subject matter-so-far of shoes here but, of course, featuring very much another object of consumer desire within the stylistic idiom of the Sixties (all very much the glamour of 'Mad Men' & Betty Draper, one might (re)contextualize, 'retro-contemporarily' if such a designation might exist).

Part of the re-mediation process on this particular occasion involved the draining of the image of its colour, not last the vivid red of the original's background, cooling things down to the monochrome of graphite & creating a more 'tactile, mark-made space'.

Consideration was given to combining another image into the composition, specifically as 'showing' on the TV screen, which is blank in the original, as some form of comment perhaps, but then it seemed most appropriate somehow that 'the medium is the message' - the medium in this instance being embodied by the (desirable) object, of course.

Soundtrack:

Jesus and Mary Chain 'Psychocandy'
She & Him 'Volume Two'
The Delgados 'The Great Eastern'

'Opposite' Attracts...

2010-12-26T18:26:00.010Z

The Boxing Day constitutional - mercifully at this stage nearing its conclusion, having, in the relentlessly enduring freezing temperatures, been taken 'by mistake' - brought a curious encounter with a most particular found object, a solitary tomato at rest upon the locally persisting snow (fortunately on the pavement, perhaps, rather than risk venturing out onto the road & ending as 'kill')...

captured also from the opposite side...

Most coincidentally peculiar, given the post of the 23rd's talk of Surrealism.

It's an Ad World #3

2010-12-23T21:02:00.033Z

graphite & erasers/30x20cm

A third drawing in the sequence as processed from the source material of 1960s' print media advertisements, again featuring the subject/object matter-of-desire of women's shoes, although on this occasion not manufactured by 'Palizzio' but, rather, 'Gamins'.

Whatever, the de-/re-contextualization of the re-mediating drawing process, erasing the textual content that 'explains' the composition, renders the image perhaps more surreal yet (the disembodied shod foot 'floating' in the black spatial 'void' recalling, possibly, the stocking-clad lower leg suspended within Joan Miro's 'Poetic Object' assemblage of 1936), a reciprocal comment, as by-product, on the tendency of advertising, historically, to appropriate or invent its own form of surreal imagery for its own ends of manufacturing desire in the potential consumer, in this instance suggested by the playful eroticism of the feather lightly coming into contact with, brushing, teasing, the area of sensitive, ticklish flesh (which response the original ad's 'copy' unsubtly, unimaginatively makes explicit), that erogenous zone, bared by the shoe's particular 'cut-out' design: such desire was very much an essential element of much Surrealist art, of course, making manifest those aspects of sexual desire, object-centred, hidden within the human subconscious, or unconscious.

By way of what might be a little 'seasonally-affected' departure, TOoT would like to dedicate this particular drawing to the transcendent 'Dotty', whose unfortunate footwear-related predicament, so entertainingly relayed over the course of a sequence of text messages, suffused the afternoon's subsequent drawing process with recurring thoughts of both the situation (which, happily &, one imagines, with considerable relief, resolved itself satisfactorily) &, more generally, the victim.

Soundtrack:

Moon Wiring Club 'A Spare Tabby at the Cat's Wedding'

It's an Ad World Again

2010-12-18T18:52:00.013Z

graphite & erasers/30x20cm

Following on from the previous example, this drawing was processed, re-mediated, from reference to the source of a second 1960s' print media advertisement for 'Palizzio' shoes...

Soundtrack:

Moon Wiring Club 'A Spare Tabby at the Cat's Wedding'
Laura Marling 'I Speak Because I Can'
Rachel Unthank & the Winterset 'The Bairns'
Pontone Autumn Mix

It's an Ad World (a Reprise)

2010-12-12T16:24:00.024Z

graphite & erasers/30x20cm

It's quite possible that 'Mad Men' withdrawal symptoms (the fourth season of the uber-stylish & compelling period drama recently having ended on BBC TV, as fellow aficionados will be sadly aware) have provided the inspiration & motivation for an otherwise random-seeming search for vintage advertising material which in turn has resulted in the processing of this particular drawing, otherwise I'm at somewhat of a loss to explain its existence.

With precedents occuring during 2008's Project of drawing from existing media image sources, one reason for a return to such is, of course, a strategy of side-stepping the 'seasonally affected disorder' of a lack of natural daylight in which to draw the familiar objects-as-described-by-light, the representationally-challenging play of light across their surfaces & forms, whatever subject/object matter that might at any particular time happen to be, the excuse offered for the falling-off of recent drawing activities.

Thus the drawing represents the intriguingly-composed visual content of a 1960s' magazine advertisement for Palizzio shoes - obviously a desirable item then &, it seems, rather collectible now - divested of any accompanying text, decontextualized & recontextualized within a re-mediated manual mark-making endeavour.

Such mark-making in this specific instance includes the inaugural use of one of the recently invested-in Tombow 'Mono Zero' eraser pens, rather stylish, Japanese manufactured objects as they in themselves are, brought to my attention via Marie Harnett's enthusiastic recommendation of such as essential elements of her materials in the realization of her exquisite & compelling drawings (which practice, as sourced from film stills, would perhaps provide suitable subject for consideration within the scope of the re-mediation explorations).

Soundtrack:

Moon Wiring Club 'A Spare Tabby at the Cat's Wedding'
She & Him 'Volume Two'
Pontone Autumn Mix