Drawing Project 2014...

untitled, 

Pen and ink drawing and watercolour on Fabriano paper, 144cm x 85cm, March 2014. 

This drawing was made after a wander through an estate I'd never seen before. Most of the flats were occupied and the smaller blocks are starting to crumble and I tried to draw this into the image with rough edges and splatters of ink. 

Considering how full up these places are  what really stood out was how quiet it was. Every now and again a dog would bark at one end and this set off all the other dogs in the area. The only other noises were the distant high pitched screeches of ambulances and police cars in the city. 

Drawing Project 2014...

This drawing is part of my main drawing project for 2014.
It's built from a selection of images collected on a wander and is another view of the structures on the outskirts of Leicester city.
I find my inspiration in wandering and looking, losing my way in streets and estates I've never seen before.
To me these places are an endless supply of subjects to work from.

'E-State'

Watercolour, pen and ink drawing on Fabriano paper, 75cm x 75cm March 2014, 

Drawing Project...City Colours...

This piece is part of my main drawing project for 2014 and looks at the colours of the various buildings dotted around the city. On a wander I chose buildings that had a specific look but more importantly the colours they are painted in which stood out against the rest of the grey skyline.
It's drawn onto acetate, as architectural drawings sometimes are and then mounted onto a recovered piece of wood from a building site in Leicester City Centre.  The skyline in Leicester changes all the time and every old building is being snatched up and remade into flats and apartments, mainly for students. The good thing is a lot of the buildings are restored in a way that keeps the original features rather than removing them so the old look remains amongst the new structures.
I wanted the detailed precise structural drawing to stand out against the dirty, rough surface of the wood  and the use of acetate gives it a third dimension and as you move across the front of the piece you see things reflected in it, filling the spaces between the structures.

    'Panoramic 1', Wooden panel, acetate, pen and acrylic, 30cm x 90cm, March 2014.

                      Detail of 'Panoramic 1'.

A quick look at...Jose' Parla...

Brooklyn based artist Jose' Parla works with walls. He creates paintings that are made from and are about walls of the city he lives in. With an impulsive desire to create art on walls as a teenager he honed his skills and moved to canvas works as his skills grew. The destructive nature of graffiti art was first looked down on by people in his city and around the world but now it seems to be an accepted form of expression and these artists are now taking their work to the galleries where they sell for good money.
His works look at the deterioration of cities and his use of layering old posters, concrete mixed paint, spray paint and scratchy markings all keep him true to his artistic roots and the cultures that have used walls to display artistic creations.
His work is a great inspiration to me, the way he takes, what is essentially a scruffy derelict wall or a selection of tagged names and through his skill as an artist makes an eye-catching piece of work. I like the way he works with what he sees and what surrounds him in the same way I do with my work.
His own inspiration comes from the streets as does mine and he looks at the things I look at when I wander the streets looking for subject matter, the buildings, the surfaces and the structures.
He also looks at society and whats happening directly to the place he lives in.
His works which use the scribbled autographs remind me of Cy Twombly's paintings. Twombly is a great believer in applying text to his works to give them extra layers, qualities and meanings which rings true in the work of Jose' Parla. We aren't sure what these writings or scribblings mean in the works but we like them all the same.

A quick look at...Amy Casey...

Amy Casey makes large scale, fun, creative drawings and paintings looking at the overpopulation of the world and the cities we live in.
Her pictures bring together masses of houses, factories, shops and apartments and ties them all together in massive structural compositions that expand across the canvas.
The paintings illustrate man-kinds ability to work with whatever space and material we can, to build and exploit every space possible and her bizarre worlds are filled with characters and spaces that, like the world, keep growing and growing with no apparent control.
The works are all make-believe but the way she paints and the amount of detail make them attractive to the eye of anyone interested in buildings and structures, like me.
I like the way she looks at her worlds as futuristic places to live but paints each building in a subtle antique way tying together the old and the new.

Self Directed Project 2014...'The Bunker'...

This drawing is part of my self directed project looking at the 'life of Exo'.

This place is part of the estate I've been looking at where Exo might live. The building looks like a bunker from the 2nd world war with a big metal fence barricading the way in and the yellow bin reminded me of a tank. Grey blocks of cement tower upwards towards a stormy sky. Patriotic flags move slowly in the wind, suspended from the balcony where every now and then a commander appears with his bulldog to overlook all that lays before him. The metal spiked fence and no entry signs keep you out.

    'Bunker',   Watercolour, Pen and Ink on Fabriano Paper,  100cm x 75cm, March 2014. 

                     Detail from 'Bunker'. 

    Detail from 'Bunker'. 

The next set of images from my sketch books are my thoughts on what Exo might think of the country he lives in. 

More and more we see riots, mass unemployment, benefit cheating and capping, lack of social housing, social food stores, rough sleepers, dereliction, soup kitchens, street beggers, over filled hostels, over population, the list goes on. 

Watercolour and ink, 60cm x 40cm, April 2014. 

Watercolour and ink, 60cm x 40cm, April 2014.

Watercolour and ink, 60cm x 40cm, April 2014. 

Watercolour and ink, 60cm x 40cm, April 2014. 

Watercolour and ink, 60cm x 40cm, april 2014. 

A Quick look At...Mona Hatoum....

Lebanon born artist Mona Hatoum installs pieces that grab the attention of viewers and holds it.
The varied sculptural works use the spaces they are installed in to finalise what they are trying to show. The space therefore becomes part of the work as the work becomes part of the space.
Viewers are invited to come to their own conclusions as to whats being said, physically, emotionally and sensorially.
Personally I find the works intriguing in their simplicity and the visual effects achieved by the simple movement of something within the pieces.
The structural piece "Light Works" 1992 at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, was a simplistic set of wire lockers placed in the centre of the room but the use of a moving light bulb, raising from the floor to the ceiling and down again was what made the piece come alive. The shadows created by the movement of the light gave it an eerie presence and a feeling of claustrophobia as in a prison cell at night and was heightened by the monotone appearance of the surrounding space.
The drifting shadows made the walls come to life and the silence completed the illusion of being trapped or enclosed maybe echoing back to her childhood in lebanon.
What interests me the most about this work is the way the artist has used the whole room to create a kinetic type of installation that moves as its being watched, adding a totally different feel and experience for the viewer. The shadows give an eerie, cold environment for the viewers to immerse themselves into and this makes them become part of the work as their own shadows also move with the light.
This piece is really simple in design and installation but very complex when viewed.

    Light Works, 1992, Centre pompidou, paris. 

Major Project 2014...My book of images, "Wander, Record"

Do you ever notice how people walk along the streets looking down? Eyes fixed to the floor, or phone, or even their i-pad.

I walk around looking up.

My inspiration comes from all around me as I walk. 

"WANDER...RECORD..." is an ongoing project and is a collection of drawings and notes concentrated on scenes collected as I wander. The drawings are made on the pages of a journal, but whereas sketch books record quick drawings and ideas, I wanted this book to have a finished piece on each page and the fact they are all in a book is also a personal challenge as no mistakes can be made. 

6/3/14......High Street....10.18am

brown sleeping bag, black hair, wet, mumbling, change please, dirty nails, cup, bark, never looks up, slam, phone, down here trev, blonde hair, fast walk, gold coat, big earrings, limp, clip, clip, clip, shout, three, red coats, white shoes, yellow shoes, fifty pence, laugh, bald, dark shades, coat with blue stitching across the back, big bag, stares at me, mcdonalds, shady eyes, looks at floor, massive teeth, boost, rubbish dropped on floor, eats with mouth open, singing, pedals turn, long grey hair, dog, cap, yellow tracksuit bottoms, two kids run, scream, smack, cry, thomas tank engine bag, his vis coat, white hat, huge stomach, mouthfull, tea cup, loud voice, phone box, staring at me, give that camera to me if you want, piss off. 

11/3/14... The alleyway stinks. it reeks. the smell floats through the air in bursts of steam forcing its way into my nostrils. The taste stains the back of my throat. Grease oozes from the small holes in the wheelie bins. It drips down onto the damp cobbles and grows into white mounds of leftover human consumption ready for the rats to gorge on once I've gone. Their black twitchy noses poke from the dark walls as they stare at me and wait for their chance to scurry amongst the shadows. Large machines click and hum above my head, extracting stench filled oxygen from the row of overheated food-house kitchens. A silhouette in a darkened doorway, 'Hey, why you taking photo's out here, nothing here". The door slams shut as I raise my camera. A shout echoes inside. Time to leave....

    24/3/14...The Lanes...2.15pm...

 Hum, Constant drone from the pub extractor fan, stale beer aroma gushes through, wind blows           constantly along the old house fronts, sun shines, highlights a Greggs cup on the step of a building, 1873, 5A, still occupied, double yellows lead to the cathedral, huge, grey, majestic, drills pound the floor, cranes lift the blocks, the lanes are tight, claustrophobic but comforting, vans, cars, constant and loud, dust drifts around, litter sticks to the damp floor, 15, to let, stickers plastered to the car park sign, half peeled, graffiti, scribbled tags, business suit strolls past, bright yellow high vis jackets, windscreen full of newspapers, loud voices, shopping bag splits open, bong, bong.

    29/3/14...Car park roof...3.25pm

   All life is here, below me, looking down.

   The noise is distant and chaotic.

   It builds amongst the buildings.

   Movement in the office window, flicker of computers, filled with bored clockwatchers.

   The council building looks old, grey, full of issues.

   The trees get further away each year. The green disappears.

   We grow, we build, we multiply.

   The space doesn’t.

    3/4/14...E-State...2.15pm

Along the blue fence, chewing gum, through the broken gap, smashed bottle, under the concrete       walkway, tags, along the line of concrete posts, dog shit, into the stairwell, piss, up two flights, bin bag, along the front doors, smashed bmx, who you after mate, keep walking, down the stairwell, oi mate, through the fence gap, don't look back...

              1/4/14...High Street...3.10pm...

              The shops line up, waiting to be emptied, to let, for sale, closing today, final sale,              

              The shells remain, empty, not let, not sold, closed today.

                                                                     .GREEN     

       GREEN SPACE

       GREEN SPACE

                      SPACE

BUILDING SPACE

BUILDING SPACE

               BUILDING.

The streets hold my interest every time I wander them. I'm slowly being drawn towards the structures and buildings that most people don't even notice but to me they are intriguing. Who designed them? What goes on inside them? How old are they?

The actual outline of the buildings has become my main focus and the angles, perspective and size is starting to feature strongly in my work coupled with whatever happens as I make my way through Leicester. 

As the book grows I take elements from it and make new drawings on larger single sheets of paper. 

             Untitled, Wall paint and pen on Fabriano paper, 80cm x 70 cm, March 2014.  

This drawing is the basics of a really complicated alleyway behind some restaurants in the centre of Leicester. 

Its easy to miss, tiny small and even on a sunny day its still really dark and dingy.

The idea was to take everything away and be left with the skeleton of the scene, almost an 

x-ray of what I was looking at, cut out the crap, no detail at all, just pure lines of drawing. 

         Untitled, wall paint and pen on fabriano paper, 80cm x 80cm, March 2014.

This drawing is the skylines of a wander collected over a 30 minute period. All the buildings are blocks of flats, different sizes and shapes just like the people inside them. 

           Untitled, wall paint and gloss on Fabriano paper, 80cm x 60cm, March 2014. 

This drawing captures the city at night. 

Just the blurred, shimmering lights of the streets, the buildings and the movement of people and vehicles can be seen through the rain.

Its drawn in white household paint on top of black wall paint and is not a painting. 

Major Project Painting/Drawing...

This piece is something I've been looking at in my drawing/painting project for 2014.
Working from my line drawings I've started to take confused, detailed, busy images and reduce them to their minimum to create works which show the environment but in a different way. I want to make the paintings on a flat perspective, using the shapes, forms and white shaded areas to add interest but holding back on the detail.

    'Alley' emulsion paint on board, 120cm x 90cm. March 2014.