More of the Familiar 'Bull'...

graphite & putty eraser with watercolour/30x20cm

Being the most recently found 'roadkill' object, another example of our so-called 'Readymade Cubism' interestingly & quite intricately folded in its compressed transformation from rounded three-dimensionality into something of much shallower relief, but still tenaciously retaining enough of its recognizable brand identity through the colour of its design & the visible synechdoche of its name, which affords, in art-historical terms, another 'Jasper Johns moment', whose influence maintains a similar tenacity around these parts...

Soundtrack:


The Chasms 'vs. Dandelion Radio' EP
Boards of Canada 'In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country' EP
Test Match Special S Africa v Eng 2nd Test, 3rd day
Sonic Youth 'Daydream Nation'

Frost Patterns

This morning brought the discovery that the hard overnight frost had 'drawn' the most beautiful, delicate, fern- or conifer-like filigree patterns upon the various surfaces of the car...







Not wholly dissimilar from Richard Wright's Turner Prize 2009-winning gold leaf mural, perhaps, in both form & temporal fragility...

A Christmas (Eve) Miracle

Today the opposite of tomato is 'just some Joseph looking for a manger'

Well, almost something of a miracle...the appearance of a newly-produced & blogged drawing shouldn't be somewhat 'remakable', but it has been a while, scandalously, since a drawing was processed. Nothing new to report, however, with the continuation of the 'roadkill' diptych theme & format, on this particular occasion featuring an appropriately festively-liveried subject-object (of the habitual found variety)...


graphite & putty eraser with watercolour/30x20cm

Yesterday evening brought a pre-Christmas snowfall, captured photographically at the time (here presented in composite panoramic view over the front garden & the immediate & near-beyond)


& again this morning



Soundtrack:


Jesca Hoop 'Kismet'
Black Box Recorder 'England Made Me'
Hanne Hukkelberg 'Rykestrasse 68'
Cat Power 'The Greatest'
&, for accompanying the wrapping of the presents, as has become traditional in these parts, for there truly is nothing more efficacious, 'The Essential Leonard Cohen'

Currently enjoying very much the 'getting to know you' process of discovering the many & varied wonders of Jesca's Hoop's 'Kismet', which is providing excellent grist to the creative mill, & fits jolly nicely alongside an album such as 'Rykestrasse 68', another of the year's grateful discoveries & an enduring listening pleasure.

Eyes on the (Jerwood Painting) Prize...

A recent trip to Cheltenham, & more specifically the Pittville campus - one's old alma mater - for research & catching-up purposes, also afforded te opportunity to visit the Jerwood Painting Prize 2009, then exhibiting at the Summerfield Gallery therein.

Here is presented a sort of photo essay of the experience...



























By one of those strange happenings, the gentleman making a contemplative appearance in the bottom left corner of the final photo is none other than Mr Dan Young, Pittville's resident Painting Technician & also of 'Daily' drawing, painting & blogging fame, whose ongoing project continues to be a welcome port of call during the day.

Folded Wings

Today the opposite of tomato is Lonely Angel Dust


graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Back to the 'roadkill' diptych series, & an interestingly folded example of compressed subject/object matter.

Soundtrack:


Nick Drake 'Five Leaves Left', 'Bryter Layter' & 'Pink Moon'
Cocteau Twins 'Lullabies to Violaine'

It's that suitably autumnal time of year when one remembers the passing of Nick Drake, of course - not that any excuse should be needed to appreciate his still-wonderful albums...

And More Express Portraits

Being the latest couple of 'express' portrait sketches...


graphite/each 15x10.5cm scraps

The Rise and Fall of the Letter P...

With thanks to Lambchop for providing an appropriate title for this post, with this particular drawing-as-processed we find ourselves back in the room with the familiar subject matter of found 'roadkill', again featuring a truncated, 'synechdochal' fragment of a brand name amongst the folds of the compressed, re-formed object, tenaciously retaining its identity within its altered circumstances...


graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Soundtrack:


White Stripes 'Elephant'
Lambchop 'Aw, C'mon/No, You C'mon'
The Beatles 'White Album'
Low 'The Great Destroyer'

More Express Portraits

Continuing with the series of 5 - 10 minute portrait sketches as opportunity has allowed over the course of the week, including a few examples of subjects sporting striking, 'enhanced' red hair (which scans v. poorly, alas!) amongst some interesting styles.
Given the fascination of the human face & its different instances, it's a particular challenge to capture at least something of an essence within the short space of available time...




graphite/each approx. 15x10.5cm scraps

Express Portraits

A departure here from the habitual working method of slowly processed, labour intensive drawings, in the form of a couple of by-necessity quick-fire observational sketches made within the context of the workplace (incidentally finally achieving a long-held ambition of, effectively, being paid to draw, or at least having the opportunity to draw whilst being paid: result, of sorts, albeit compromised by the confines of one's duties), enabled by a temporary change in situation, from one's usual station to another vantage point where such an activity as drawing, momentarily at least, might be possible. As the subjects are limited to a maximum of 15 minutes at their adjacent station, thus time is very much of the essence in the capturing of such...


graphite/each approx. 15x10cm scraps

More of the Same...

graphite & putty eraser with watercolour/30x20cm

Being the reverse of the compressed can depicting the 'lemons still life' design as featured in the drawing posted immediately previously, & also, incidentally, the 100th drawing of this year.

Soundtrack:


Rae & Christian 'Northern Sulphuric Soul'
White Stripes 'De Stijl'
Tara Jane O'Neil 'A Ways Away'
Moon Wiring Club 'Shoes Off and Chairs Away'
Hanne Hukkelberg 'Rykestrasse 68'

Lemon Squash...

graphite & putty eraser with watercolour/30x20cm

The latest drawing in the 'roadkill' diptych series, processed from found subject/object matter, & featuring, courtesy of the design depicted upon the surface of the compressed can, the representation of a still life composition within the still life of the object itself: the picture-within-a-picture being, of course, a familiar artistic trope.

Soundtrack:


PJ Harvey 'White Chalk'
Cat Power 'The Covers Record'
Mogwai 'Come On Die Young'
Hanne Hukkelberg 'Rykestrasse 68'
Moon Wiring Club 'An Audience of Art Deco Eyes'
Boards of Canada 'In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country'