Blogging On

Today the opposite of tomato is 'a moment of clarity'

At a time when this blog was enjoying a period of hibernation that had developed by default into its moribund phase, I came across the concept of online daily drawing blogs & other artists’ resources functioning in a journal context, as a discrete entity apart from personal websites, the like of which I ran myself (but which had also lapsed into a state of disuse). Having already begun to draw again on a more-or-less daily basis at this time, such provided the necessary motivation to continue doing so & subsequently posting the results online: given the existence already of the blog, the latter effort, it was reasoned, should prove minimal enough, even with the tendency to blah-blah-blah.

It seems appropriate at this juncture to salute some of the inspirational fellow bloggers to have blazed the trail as it were, & draw a little attention to some of the wonderful work being made, exhibited, thought about & discussed out in cyberspace, all of which is rooted in the real world of daily life here on earth & in people’s heads.

One of the fruits of my initial foray into researching the subject was Rob Pepper’s appropriately titled Daily Drawing Diary, which mostly does what it says on the tin & features the artist’s line drawings of all manner of subjects from portraits, informal observations of figures & groups of, to still lifes, to architecture & its details both grand & humble, exterior & interior, often featuring London as its local subject but also scenes from Rob’s travels to other parts of England &, quite recently, the US.

More recently, I’ve encountered the artist’s blog of Kirsty Hall, featuring all manner of her practice, that of other artists, & general scenes from life & cultural comments. Most interestingly, last year she instigated a daily diary drawing project which is now available to view in its entirety, essentially comprising a drawing made in a variety of media on the back of an envelope into which she then placed a secret something, sealed &, before the end of that same day in order to be postmarked accordingly, subsequently mailed to herself to be then scanned & uploaded to the online diary-blog. Kirsty’s intention now is that this collection of a complete year’s worth of envelopes be publicly exhibited, opened by visitors & their contents displayed online to resolve the whole project. It’s a delight to be able to view the envelope drawings in all their great variety, chart the progress of them throughout the year & appreciate the endeavour entailed in the project: I admire the focus of the boundaries imposed by choosing to make the drawings on the scale of landscape-format envelopes, of the determination required to ensure each drawing is mailed on the day of its making – the results are a great tribute to ‘the work of art’ & a singular vision. Kirsty has also posted on the advisability of artists blogging - anything to raise a bit of a profile helps.

From a commentator upon Kirsty’s blog I chanced upon Miss Milki’s ‘Spoonful of Sugar’, which again is a pleasure to visit on a regular basis, its ever-engaging content tending towards fashion but also featuring all manner of cultural interests, from art to film to architecture to design, all enthusiastically & well written, & interesting to read with many an enticing link to be followed.
One of the mentions given on this blog has been to Paul Greenleaf’s ‘Correspondence’ project: beginning with found postcards – of typical English holiday resorts, hotels, gardens – most seeming to be of a 1960s–70s vintage & displaying that artificial high-colouring typically applied to such ‘picturesque’, ‘idyllic’ subjects, resulting in impossibly blue skies, for example - the artist returns to the location to photograph it in its current circumstances, frequently ‘reduced’ as they prove to be, documenting its development or ‘progress’ for either better or worse, providing both a fascinating visual & socio-cultural document in the process, often with a degree of pathos attached to the contemporary view, paling in comparison. Also included within the scope of the work are the messages handwritten on the reverse of the original postcards – which of course add a note of originality & personality to a mass-produced object – poignant in their banalities & idiosyncrasies, all the more so perhaps for being in a form no longer as popular a means of communication as at their time, with the advent of email & instant text-messaging.
I particularly enjoy such work, especially having found a small stash of such old postcards depicting a selection of daytrip destinations in a derelict house, some years ago now, & attempting to produce a body of work incorporating particularly the handwritten texts on them, reproduced as another form of ‘drawing’, hand-made mark-making: perhaps something to be reactivated at some time in the future…

Drawn is a fine portal, a blog-type resource promoting artists’ & illustrators’ work in a range of traditional & digital media, with all manner of links to the sources of such, again updated on a daily basis.

My most recent discovery via Drawn has been the work of illustrator Lauren Nassef, whose website features various examples of the artist’s work, including a series of book jacket illustrations & the beautiful Collectors series displaying a most individual approach to the subject of portraits of collectors incorporating their personal collections such as butterflies, shells, birds, pottery or, most amusingly, Imelda Marcos & her legendary shoes, whereby the latter objects emerge in extravagant plumes from the heads of the subjects, but the real wonder lies in the contents of Lauren's drawing-a-day sketchbook blog which gives reign to the full range of her styles & techniques – delicate line drawings, that in some way recall those of David Hockney, or more solid tonal studies & often a combination of both - & subject matter, from portraits either from life or photographic sources, to still life objects, to animals & birds & plants from the natural world to intricate linear patterns either natural or invented. Often a drawing is left in an apparently ‘unfinished’ state – those that combine a degree of tonal build-up with the remainder suggested by line - but nevertheless this seems resolution enough, the point at which work has ceased somehow has a rightness about the decision to do so, an element of the charm that lies at the essence of each example. I enjoy too, following the dates of the drawings, the Monday-to-Friday cycle of work with the occasional ‘sick’ day included, this tempered only slightly by the yearning that my own working days & weeks adhered to a similar pattern, with their emphasis being on drawing & other creative practice & research rather than these having to be squeezed into those precious too-few hours not compromised by the (week)day job commitments.

Still Life

Today the opposite of tomato is
"the dog that ate your birthday cake". (It's a Wonderful Life)...

Consider then the chancing upon - by an artist habitually inclined towards the still life for creative inspiration but currently involved in a project drawing from images found in the daily print media - the newspaper reproduction of a still image from a new Chinese film entitled ‘Still Life’: serendipity strikes, like Bigmouth, again & presents an unavoidable opportunity.

I particularly like this image, quite breathtaking in its way, also for its high contrast between large areas of black & white, & the presence of the distant tightrope-walking figure.


graphite/30x21cm
original source: ‘The Guardian’ Film&Music 01/02/08

The word reproduction is nagging, & levels of are being mused upon thusly re. this particular image from ‘Still Life’ the movie:
The screenplay is a reproduction of events, either real or imagined, from life, of which the film is a reproduction, of which the still image is a reproduction, of which the newspaper print is a reproduction, of which the drawing is a reproduction, of which the scan is a reproduction, of which this internet posting is a reproduction. Considering also of course multiple prints of the film, probable DVD release, copies of the newspaper printed & we’re into the realm of reproduction overdrive: the ghost of Walter Benjamin stalks here…

Coincidental that the review of 'Still Life' makes reference to the film's meditative nature, which brings to mind another aspect of ‘the still life’: the course of a recent & most enjoyable conversation with one who practises yoga & meditation touched upon the meditative nature of drawing as the process of my own practice was described. This is something of which I’ve become more acutely aware than ever during the development of ‘The Project’ of drawing from photographic sources, from the point of long regarding the personal process of mark-making generally as being a profoundly contemplative one. Lo & behold, then, this recent post by artist & Daily Drawing Diarist Rob Pepper, promoting his very own 'drawing is meditation' classes. It should also be credited here that the example of Rob & others proved the inspiration & catalyst for this blog, although the endeavour obviously lacks the rigour & proper integrity of such journals in their true sense, even now when, in theory at least, its content is generated by the daily print media! Nonetheless, thanks are due.

It seems a still life indeed, of sketching in an A4 pad, closely studied from existing print media images, indulging in the process of limited physical activity of small, repetitive gestures whilst concentrating upon that source observed in close proximity. It’s such a necessary part of any day.