Art and Football (Again)

‘Slavia Praha shirt’  pencil and watercolour/36 x 25cm

The challenge of the representation of drapery is, of course, as old as painting itself, and a recently-acquired football shirt suggested itself as being a suitable subject-object of study one afternoon last week, so out came the pencils and watercolours. Whilst the particular qualities of the contemporary somewhat shiny-surfaced sportswear fabric were perhaps the main motivating factor in getting to work in the active observation of, the allure of a jersey bearing a red star, particularly in the context of such a pleasing design, cannot be denied a certain significance too.

Pin badges representing the famous name of Slavia Praha, from the treasured collection as previously featured in forensic detail, may be found here and here (x2).

July, a Not-Quite Fruitless Month...

July, although without day job commitments (an academic term-time contract means regular breaks and a nice long summer recess, of course), also seems to have passed without a great deal of painting being done, although a little has been processed.

By way of context, I must admit here to being a long-time admirer of the work of Euan Uglow and his commitment to a particular way of looking at and recording the visual world. Having invested-in the essential ‘Complete Paintings’ some years ago and frequently studied its contents since, I’d always had a certain fondness for Uglow’s representation of a Homepride ‘Fred the flour man’ figure, a familiar advertising icon remembered from childhood and youth.

Euan Uglow ‘Flour Man’ 1972-4

It transpires that Fred figures, smiling and friendly in appearance even with those ‘Clockwork Orange’ bowler hat cultural associations of a similar vintage, were manufactured for commercial purposes in a number of forms, some of such functional value to the baking process as flour sifters, water vessels, etc, and encountering a couple of these objects during a recent potter around a local antiques/vintage emporium presented the opportunity, too tempting to pass up with such art historical associations as they possess to those of us in the know, to invest in as potential grist to the painting mill.

Soon, the newly-homed pair of ‘Freds’ were in position, upon and against a ground of cardboard not unlike that of the Uglow painting in hue and tone, to pose for a pencil sketch that evolved into a rudimentary watercolour study of the form and reflective properties of (the surface appearance of) the plastic figures.

‘Flour men figures’ watercolour/30 x 21cm (sheet size)/July 2017

Thus completed, the progression into oil on canvas became the next stage of investigation into, as reportedly piqued the interest of Uglow, the challenge of depicting plastic, in this instance not one but two kinds, the larger object on the left having a more reflective surface quality than the more ‘silk-matt’ one to the right, with the result, more thinly and finely painted than the more physically textured technique applied to the ‘white pears’ and ‘woodscapes’ of the past year, presented below: an enjoyable challenge.

‘Mr Uglow and Me’ oil on canvas/20″ x 16″/July 2017

‘Mr Uglow and Me’ in context with the model figures, as the painting set-up.

Lean Times

(Re)presenting the same pair of Chinese pears as featured in the previous watercolour drawing, this time arranged in such a manner as they actually make slight contact with each other.

graphite & watercolour/355 x 254cm

Soundtrack:

Japan ‘Tin Drum’

A real blast from the musical past, tracked down after being inspired to do so following a couple of the tracks from the album being featured on a recent ‘Gardeners’ World’ TV programme.

[untitled]

graphite & watercolour/355 x254mm

Another pair(ing) of the Chinese pears, one leaning slightly ‘this’ way, the other ‘that’, arranged according to that familiar attempt to create some form of ‘charge’ between the objects, as ascribed to a feature of a particular composition of Euan Uglow’s by Andrew Forge, although no drawn or painted marks link this pair in quite such a manner: on this occasion, as numerous before, just picking up Uglow's 'Complete Paintings' provided the necessary, irresistible inspiration to draw.
Again, the pale creamy-golden skins of the pears present the challenge of representing form via subtle variations of colour & tone.

Soundtrack:

Jesca Hoop ‘Hunting My Dress’
The Go-Betweens ‘The Friends of Rachel Worth’ & ‘Bright Yellow, Bright Orange’

Two-a-day

A remarkably productive day, especially in the context of the pace of work of this particular year, resulting in the processing of two finished watercolour drawings featuring pairs of the pale-skinned Chinese pears & attempting to capture & convey certain of the effects of light – direct & reflected - & shadow upon & around the space of the objects as observed over the course of time in the subtly changing light available within the conservatory/studio, in which looking-&-drawing is still proving a novel & learning experience…

graphite & watercolour/355 x 254mm

graphite & watercolour/355 x 254mm

[untitled]

graphite & watercolour/355 x 254mm

It’s long been the intention, whenever next possible, to attempt to draw/paint a pear (or two) as cocooned in those protective mesh jackets that authentic (imported) Chinese pears sport as sold in grocery shops over here, thus the recent purchase in central London’s Chinatown of such very objects provided the necessary grist to the mill.

The result of the looking-&-drawing process might convey something of the close observation required to communicate a sense of the tonal subtleties involved in realising a representation of something of the ‘thing-ness’ of the objects (& those within), but, alas it seems, little else – there’s no sense of the otherness that an encounter with the things themselves inspires, somehow.

(A) Gang of Four

And so to the active contemplation of the recently-acquired Chinese pears, the first fruits of which being this-here-photographic representation of a watercolour sketch of a gang of four of them, attempting to convey, as economically as possible, the colour & tonal nuances of their pale creamy-golden skins &, of course, the formal ‘thingness’ of the objects.

graphite & watercolour/355x254mm

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

coloured pencil, graphite, watercolour & tea/30x20cm

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

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

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

graphite, coloured pencil, watercolour & tea/30x20cm

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

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

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

graphite & watercolour/30x20cm

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

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

Latest Football News

Today the opposite of tomato is a bijou flat with the fraternity cat


graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour/20x30cm

A second drawing, following on from the previous example, taking as its source material photographs from late 60s-early 70s vintage football annuals, again the details of the action appropriated from two separate images, thus creating a match scenario that never actually occurred – not exactly ‘fantasy football’, perhaps, but at least something of an imaginary nature.

Further to this invented aspect (which might be able to be considered as a component of the concept of ‘de-photography’, in addition to that of the process of drawing?), & to the subject of football as a subject for (sustained) artistic practice, the recent discovery of Marc Renshaw’s ‘The Sporting League’ project presents a fine inspirational example. It’s a fully-realised, idiosyncratic body of work developed over a number of years, in effect a whole parallel football universe with its own recognizably familiar (to anyone with an acquaintance with the real thing, however detached from everyday reality that itself might be) culture, teams, league & cup competitions, statistically documented & illustrated, also including a blog that regularly, systematically updates proceedings.

In the most basic manner, this relates in some way to various endeavours of my own over the years since childhood &, most pertinently, what still might be an ongoing one, however dormant it might have lain more recently – I’d never considered my occasional ‘fantasy leagues’ to be in any way art practice (the handwritten archives of results & tables not being thought of as drawings, for example), but perhaps the degree of creativity applied to an alternative world where, although not featuring wholly invented teams in the manner of Marc Renshaw, actual football minnows such as Mossley, Gainsborough Trinity & Marlow are among the leading lights & most-oft champions of the English league structure, & Marlow indeed have become the first English team to have won the European Cup, might lead to something of a reappraisal: perhaps it’s this I should be using the practice of drawing to illustrate & add a simultaneous pictorial dimension to.

In other news, a recent browse in a local Oxfam bookshop unearthed a most interesting find, of a copy of the book ‘You Are an Artist’, a title I recalled also being found in a charity shop some time ago by Jazz Green. In keeping with the period flavour & aesthetic of current proceedings here at TOoT, the book was published in 1965 (reprinted in 1967) & appears very much as a classic of its time: it also seems to be a fine instructional & inspirational volume, lavishly illustrated with ‘masterful’ examples of art across a range of media, as well as those of the author, Fred Gettings, & other contemporaries, & of work produced by students & children, accompanying a serious, substantial text offering sound practical advice & historical context, a quite lovely book indeed.


Part of the reason for investing in the book, its period charm apart, is the fact that its title should serve as a motivational reminder: however, given the slow & unfocussed progress of work over the last year, perhaps a certain critical amendment might be in order & more appropriate…



Soundtrack:


Serge Gainsbourg 'Histoire de Melody Nelson'
Belle & Sebastian 'The Life Pursuit' & 'The Boy With the Arab Strap'

With thanks to A for the present of the wonderful Gainsbourg album set.

Back of the Net...

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


graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour/30x20cm

Another return to previously-featured subject matter over this last week, but on this occasion with rather more of a purpose than would have incidentally been the case with any past instances as occurring during 2008’s Project of drawing from media image sources.
At that time, I mused upon the general paucity of football featuring as suitable subject matter for representation within the context of fine art &, indeed, despite a long-standing interest in the game, constant with certain fluctuations of intensity, it’s not something that’s particularly inspired me in creative terms, at least since after childhood & the serious study & continuing practice of art.

However, a certain correspondence of recent circumstances seems to have ignited a little flicker of possibility for the production, for now, of some drawing based upon archive photographs of professional football match action as found in a small (but perfectly formed) selection of late 1960s – early 1970s annuals that have come into my possession of late: rather serendipitously, this covers the latter half of the period about which I always seem to have been most nostalgic, both in general socio-cultural terms & specifically in relation to football, despite it immediately pre-dating the time at which I began following the game in earnest.
The annuals themselves are full of the black & white photography of the time that lends a particular glamour to the action & the portraits of the players featured within, & it is these images that will provide the source material for the drawings, a series of, as imagined & intended.


As always, aside from this especial ‘period’ aesthetic quality, another aspect of the appeal of such images is their capture of movement, of human bodies & objects, frozen in time, emphasizing the instantaneous nature of the ‘photographic moment’, with the drawing process from any such source then in turn emphasizing its difference from via the medium of the explicit, discrete marks made, each of which has its own temporality embedded within, the accumulation of marks in any given drawing communicating a sense of the passage of time involved in its construction - quite literally ‘marking time’, it might be said.
Again, the still-nascent concept of ‘de-photography’ comes to mind, & how the (slowness of the) drawing process embodies this, particularly, perhaps, from such sources as images depicting action in the manner of the football matches.
Further to the practice of ‘de-photography’, the drawing is the product of details appropriated from two source images, thus depicting an incident that never actually took place, revising (photographic) history along the way.

The design of the back cover of the 'All Stars' annual, featuring an ink-drawn representation of a pair of footballers in action only served to provide more inspiration, as might be appreciated...


By way of further explication of the overall appearance of the drawing, the acquisition of the football annuals happened to coincide with the decision to invest in the rather wonderful ‘Own Brand’, a visual history of the work of Sainsbury’s in-house design studio, the results of which, obviously, went on to grace the packaging of their own brand range of goods & products, not least those as appeared on the stores’ shelves during the halcyon days of the 1960s & 1970s, many a delightful example of which is represented within the pages of this handsome volume: the keen viewer might appreciate how the cover design itself, visually quoting as it does a classic Sainsbury’s ‘cornflakes’ packet design of the author’s fond recollection, influenced the design aspect of the football drawing, the arrangement of circles suggesting the faces of the crowd as seen, en masse & homogenized out of focus, as the background to the on-pitch action in the archetypal football match photograph.
By one of those serendipitous quirks, this particular aspect was in fact that upon which I must have concentrated, recalling the drawing I made based on the very first televised football match I ever showed an interest in, the 1974 FA Cup Final, obsessively recording a multitude of pink felt-pen circles representing what appeared the vast crowd at the expense of drawing the Newcastle United team’s shirts with horizontal rather than their correct vertical black & white stripes, as my father critically observed later!


On the subject of aesthetic influence as it pertains to the current drawing, another recent addition to the library shelves happens to be ‘Match Day’, an illustrated survey, ‘from Post-war to Premiership’ (i.e. 1992) as it’s subtitled, & celebration of football programme cover design, featuring all 92 Football League clubs & some additional examples from ‘non-league’, coincidentally also published, as the Sainsbury’s book, by Fuel. Again, such a volume presents a veritable cornucopia of delights of graphic design, some of a higher standard than others, very often incorporating photographic images of football action, as one might imagine, both something of a nostalgia-fest & grist to the creative mill under the present circumstances.



Soundtrack:


Belle & Sebastian 'Write About Love'
Galaxie 500 'The Peel Sessions'
Dome '1 & 2'
Moon Wiring Club 'Shoes Off and Chairs Away'

Just Milling Around...

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.

Fruitful Interlude

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 the Present

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

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...

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.

A Digression...

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.

The Opposite (Side) of Pears...

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

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'