Maureen Walker's blog: An Artist's Journey

Experiment No 2 Assignment 5: Personal Project

This first stab gets me thinking. It’s not the clearest print. What I think I’ll do is print all boards in a different colour onto one sheet of A1 cartridge paper. I’ll then collage on areas of this print – such as the eyes as far as the edges of the lenses on the glasses. Perhaps the nose up to those ridges on the forehead. I’ll add hair in several colours, I think. I may yet add sharpie pen outlines but shall try this on a rough piece first.

I decided I disliked the effect of the separate blocks so transferred the image (as best I could) to A1 mountboard. Hopefully this will take the ink better once it’s been cut and sealed with PVA or Mod Podge.

Redefined with pencil outlines and started to cut out white areas

Areas largely peel off in one satisfying block – especially small areas

Experiment No 1 Assignment 5: Personal Project

I began thinking about this project at the beginning of Part 4 of the Drawing 1: Drawing Skills Module. Initially I thought about creating a cubist style drawing of multiple views of women in superimposed yoga “warrior poses”. But I decided this may be biting off more than I could chew right now. Cubism is a tricky concept to pull off. Why give myself too high a mountain to climb at this stage?

The next idea was a kind of Mayan inspired art in the form of a collagraph print. This, though quite striking was not really an outcome in itself but more of a test run for the final idea which is as follows in this blog post. It went through a couple of incarnations before I settled on the following design

Walker. M. (2020) *Self portrait from sketchbook* [pastel on paper]

The above image was scanned and uploaded to Irfanview. After flipping it it was sectioned into 8 A4 sections. This was printed on A4 paper – so 8xA7 sections – I then transferred this image using graphite pencil to an A1 sized support made up of 8xA4 sections of greyboard. I substituted two of these for 4xA5 sections of grey board.

First stab at it. Mouth too high and too small

After the following adjustments…

A few highlights. Next step – cutting the surface for collagraph print plate

My intention is to print from these 10 plates. I may change colours for some of the plates. I’ll play around with different complementary colour combinations. I did stop to consider the wisdom of using 10 separate plates as opposed to one piece of A1 mountboard. The jury’s still out on this. I may redo using one large board. At the moment through, there is more scope for juggling different arrangements and finishes for each board. It is also easier to handle/cut 10xA4/A5 boards than one A1 board – though admittedly mountboard is easier to cut than greyboard plus I’ll have the mystery of not knowing how the whole picture will look until the pieces are reunited – in the correct order or otherwise.

I have a 4 day weekend coming up during which time I shall get some of the surface prepared using a kraft knife. Then I could prime the canvas with gesso (I’ve used this before with satisfactory results). However, I think that diluted PVA glue maybe more effective. I will then add collage and draw onto the surface of the A1 sized print. I may add the following flower designs (photocopies of a design from my sketchbook) in a klimtesque style. This may soften the image somewhat. Or it may even accentuate the hard lines in the features.

Daisies. Inspired by a Sunday morning walk

Post Script:

I read that collagraph prints require the use of a press ideally. This either requires a rethink or I commission/make a steel press. I bought a good book on creating a printing business. There is so much I dont know about printing. But that’s another module. Worth thinking about further, I feel. I’ll read the book and think further. .

Actually, as it’s a relief collagraph as opposed to intaglio, it maybe ok just to use applied pressure by simpler, less expensive means. I have a marble rolling pin.

References:

Yeats. S. (2016) Learn to Earn from Printmaking. Self Published in the UK.

Walker. M. (2020) Self portrait from sketchbook [pastel on paper]

Part 4: Project 6: Exercise 3: Portrait from memory or imagination

A1 mountboard with kraft paper applied with spray mount adhesive. Coloured pencils.

Having today already finished a self portrait for Exercise 2: Your own head, as follows:

A1 Cartridge paper. Coloured pencils and chalk

…I felt the need to play and have a bit of fun next.

Influenced by looking at Pavel Kuragin’s drawings and collages, I took a leaf out of his book and didn’t worry over much about physiological accuracy. Instead I concentrated on colour use.

Decided to add coloured dreads and an orca whale having decided to call this piece Rainbow Warrior

Part 5: Personal Project Prep

As part of my Personal Project for Part 5, I have set out to devise a path or process to produce a print/ mixed media drawing of my face/head. For the benefit of testing out an idea for this, I have produced the following design. Its not the prettiest image. But for the sake of having something to work on to test out the process it will suffice.

Original design. Graphite pencil on A3 cardboard

Using a craft knife I cut out the white areas leaving those which I wanted to ink up. Cardboard is surprisingly good for this as it has a removable surface layer that peels away rather satisfyingly. I then painted acrylic gesso onto the surface of my cardboard printing plate and left this to dry. Two more coats later and I had a printable plate.

I produced a few prints from this including the following one:

Printed image from primed cardboard plate

I then looked at a favourite artist I’d discovered on Artfinder.com. Pavel Kuragin produces intriguing surreal images which get my creative muscles flexing.

This led me to look again at the prints I’d produced. I’d designed the image after looking at a book including the art of ancient cultures. This Mayan-inspired image needed something in order to hit that “sweet spot” you reach with a work in progress where you know it is finished.

I looked closely at Pavel Kuragin’s style and worked out what his process might be. I then went on to take a yellow highlighter pen and colour in some of the white areas of the face. Not satisfied, I then found a sharpie pen and drew around the outlines of the print in black, like so:

Yellow highlights and black sharpie pen outlines

For the purposes of this exercise this image works rather well as it is a challenge to make it appealing!

The following print yellow water based ink instead of green/blue is improved somewhat, I feel, by the addition of purple and turquoise highlighter and sharpie pens.

Yellow print with highlighter and sharpie pens

The process has scope for a lot of play and experimentation – which I am pleased about. The rough surface of the ink on the paper acts as a guide for the tip of the pen making it easy to outline inked areas. This paler print – being less dominant – holds more opportunity for addition of other colours.

I shall try to produce an interesting self portrait using this process but will try to avoid such a flat “graphic art” result. But again, for the purposes of this exercise it works rather well.

I think I may base my finished design for Assignment 5 on the following image:

References:

Kuragin. P. https://www.artfinder.com/pavel-kuragin#/ (date of access 06/06/20)

Walker. M. (2020) Self portrait from sketchbook [pastel on paper]

Research Point: The Face

Due to Covid-19 and the impracticable social distancing rules, I have to wear a face mask to work at the moment. It’s interesting how much you can gauge from someone’s expression just through their eyes. But there is no doubt that much of the meaning is lost with half the face concealed. These are the faces of people in a warehouse environment. Low skilled workers with impassive faces much of the time due to dull repetitious toil. A smile only hits its mark if it is genuine and is reflected in the eyes.

In his late self-portrait from 1972, Facing Death by Picasso, it is mostly in the eyes that we sense the artist’s despair of the inevitable. There is a stiffness to the lips suggesting a grim determination not to cave ahead of time.

The above print is one I created from imagination. The eyes, though they do not meet the viewer are somehow more frightening as a result. This, coupled with the startling grimace would hasten even the most optimistic person to moving rapidly across to the other side of the street should they be unlucky enough to catch this character’s attention.

The face then is perhaps our most important feature. Many of our senses are based there. It is our primary means of communication. It identifies us; enables others to single us out in a crowd.

In Victor Tkachenko’s Cyber Girl (2020) the female face peers out at the viewer. All the features appear human but there is something missing from behind the eyes. This lack of human compassion seems to suck all the heat out of the room. I like this picture because it uses complementary colours effectively, with the purple background popping against the yellow ochre on one half of the face. The disdainful expression suggests a general sense of superiority over any mere mortal in the vicinity.

I’ll continue to play around with my Mayan inspired face. I’ve added a transparent printed paper to the image, which had been printed straight onto newsprint, and highlighted the eyes with chalk. I am inspired by a Russian artist, Pavel Kuragin, to paint out parts of this image and highlight others using mixed media. I am experimenting with the process with the intention of using it on a larger piece for part of Assignment 5. If it works, I shall paste newsprint onto A1 montboard and print 8xA4 cardboard sections of a self portrait. See below.

References:

Kuragin, Pavel. https://www.artmajeur.com/pavel-kuragin. (Date of access 01/06/20)

Picasso, Pablo. Facing Death (1972) [crayon on paper] https://www.vermontdrawingstudio.com/thelifeofart/2018/12/2/picassos-late-self-portrait (date of access 31/05/20)

Tkachenko, Victor. Cyber Girl (2020)[acrylic on panel] https://www.saatchiart.com/account/artworks/425707 (date of access 31/05/20)

Part 4:Project 6: Exercise 3: Portrait from Memory or Imagination

I wanted to use the following image from my sketchbook. It’s more of a doodle really. But doodles can sometimes lead to ideas.

I flipped through a few books featuring images of faces. One such book entitled “The Face” had several pictures which caught my attention. Using them as prompts, I drew the following:

Drawings from Images pgs 142 and 148 *The Face.* N. D. Mancoff. The British Museum

Sketches from images on Pg 150. *The Face.* N.D. Mancoff. The British Museum

Image from my sketchbook- developed as above

Mayan inspired image intended for a calograph print

There is an intensity in this expression that leads me to believe it portrays psychopathic tendencies, or at least psychotic ones.

Prints from this cardboard plate will follow. As will completed portrait from imagination.

References:

Mancoff. D. N. The Face, Our Human Story. (2018) British Museum. London. Thames and Hudson

Assignment 4: Seated Figure: Line

Similarly to my reclining figure, I found it extremely difficult to separate line and tone in this drawing, which is meant to be line only.

My mark making became a little impatient. I spent 90 minutes all told on this. I needed to visualise areas such as the hand on the left side (as seen) as this was the result of an online life drawing session. It is not always possible to have a full length view via this method.

Though in fact in a full length gown in black velvet, the model appears to be dressed in something like linen or cotton. It is difficult to hint at velvet with line alone.

The right hand is not completely satisfactory. If doing this again, I’d attempt to redraft using my own hand reflected in a mirror as a guide.

I like the way her hair is distinguishable from the lines of the dress. The more marks that I made, the more I became engaged with the process. There is something good about online life drawing in that I do not feel intimidated or distracted by having other people in the room with me. I can choose to engage with people or not depending on my frame of mind on the day.

Of course, the online element has its disadvantages. The way that the body is always partly concealed from view. Also, that you all get the same view – there is no opportunity to move around and take a different aspect into account. AnnMarie Tournebene is a good model, in that she moves around and gives different angles and in that way changes the viewpoint. But at the end of the session, we all share images taken from exactly the same angle – which is a bit of a shame.

Research Point: Self Portraits

In a way, all Art is a form of self portraiture, as it is difficult to separate the Art from the Artist. We leave traces of ourselves wherever we go. Similarly to those who choose to reproduce themselves biologically, in executing a self portrait, we artists are often driven to seek out a form of immortality through our art.

After a disappointing initial Google-search which unearthed an online clothing store, I pursued Self Portraiture with more tenacity, and added the word “artists” to my search. Google dutifully produced listings for the usual suspects; Frida Kahlo, Rembrandt and Vincent Van Gogh.

I discovered from the same website that the Self Portrait wasn’t even a genre until the 15th century, when Albrecht Durer, from age 13, created a series of them during his lifetime.

Today, contemporary artists play with the genre – Tracey Emin’s “My Bed”, (1998) for example; both work and artist I have referred to as “emperor’s new clothes”, though I have had cause to adjust my thinking on this point, having learned of the relevant context. I was informed by my Study Mentor that the work was an expression of Emin’s reaction to a traumatic relationship breakdown. Context is so important in art. This background information brings the artist to the fore and expresses a depth and humanity that denies the artwork’s status as mere gimmickry.

There is also Grayson Perry’s “Aspects of Myself”, (2001) a large ceramic pot in The Tate collection, which features on its surface, depictions of facets of the artist’s personality in figurative form.

In self portraiture, whether stretching the genre or creating more conventional work, there is the opportunity to paint, draw, photograph or sculpt a figure without the “nuisance” of needing to have someone else present to interrupt one’s creative flow.

By the by, I am lucky enough to have my partner read to me regularly from books of my choosing. Today’s modest tome is “Mindfulness and the Art of Drawing: A creative path to awareness” by Anne Greenhalgh. I am reminded therein about the satisfactions of allowing oneself to engage with a drawing subject to such an extent that it becomes wonderfully all-consuming.

References:

Greenhalgh. A. (2015) Mindfulness and the Art of Drawing: A creative path to awareness. 1st ed. Brighton. Leaping Hare Press.

Hart, K. (2018) 10 Masters of the Self-Portrait, from Frida Kahlo to Cindy Sherman, Artsy. Available at: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-10-masters-self-portrait-frida-kahlo-cindy-sherman (Accessed: 26 August 2020).

Tate (no date) ‘Aspects of Myself’, Grayson Perry, 2001, Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/perry-aspects-of-myself-t07904 (Accessed: 26 August 2020).

Tate (no date) ‘My Bed’, Tracey Emin, 1998, Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/emin-my-bed-l03662 (Accessed: 26 August 2020).

Walker. M (2020) Self Portrait [coloured pencil and soft pastel on A1 cartridge paper]

Part 4: Project 4: Exercise 2: Standing figure

I originally did a life drawing class in place of this exercise. As my model was available today, I felt the need to add a more involved study. The following is roughly A1 size kraft paper using chalk and coloured pencils.

A1 Kraft paper using chalk and coloured pencils

As I was drawing in the morning on a bank holiday, I felt my approach was a little more fresh than when I’d just finished a shift at work. I enjoyed this process more as a result. Again, I was concerned about over working this drawing so may have stopped short of completion. I like the way the brown of the paper supplies mid tones so that highlighting and low lighting either side of this middle ground is relatively simple to do. It is also less intimidating than a sheet of white cartridge paper.

Assignment 5 prep

I started today by looking at two self portrait sketches:

Pencils on large square kraft paper sketchbook

Highlighter pens and coloured pencils on A3 cartridge pad

Deciding the first image was the stronger for what I had in mind, I flipped it on my phone and printed it off A4 size.

I went over what was a weak print with black biro. I then laid out 8 x A4 sheets of cardboard so that they formed an A1 sized support. I transferred the image by hand to the board like so:

It is my intention to play around with this image – perhaps even reproduce the image as an A1 calograph print with some or all of the boards transposed. I expect this will have mixed results but will be fun to do. I shall also produce at least one A1 print from the image with all boards arranged in the “correct” order. Perhaps I’ll end up with one reductive calograph print. Maybe I will draw on top of the prints depending upon the outcome of each – whether they require further definition. It will be interesting.

Post Script: