Submerged in art

Sorry for such a long absence. But I'm back blogging again, and I hope to keep it up.

I've been submerging myself in art recently so I have lots to talk about and share with you. I had the chance to visit Liverpool, which has been granted City of Culture status for 2008, an outstanding achievement for the place I was brought up between the ages of 10 to 18, formative years you'll agree. While there I spent some hours in the Tate Liverpool, in the Twentieth Century exhibition. This was split across two floors, covering (loosely) figurative work on one, and abstract work on the other. I went with my younger sister and her arty husband, and we had a great time. We managed to classify all the work into the following categories-

1. Wow, I like this, it really speaks to me. (eg Alberto Giacometti's Man Pointing)

2. Walk straight past, this is pants. (eg Boetti's Nothing to See, Nothing to Hide)

3. Urghh, this is disturbing, it speaks volumes but I can't handle it (this category was discovered by my younger sister, which unfortunately meant I could not stop to look at any Francis Bacon or Arnulf Rainer).

4. I like this. Why do I like this? It's not the kind of thing I usually like, but 15 minutes later we're still stood here talking about it.

Sorry not to link hundreds of images here, though I'd dearly love to, but I just want to show a study of one of the pieces that fell into the last category; Man Caught Up with a Yellow Object by John Latham.

It is a big image, with a fantastic torso against what may be a crucifix standing on a dark landscape. His head may be uncomfortably twisted up towards the sky, it's not clear to make out. There's a lot of ambiguity in this image, but underneath there's a great knowledge of anatomy and composition. What appears, at first glance, to be a mess in the middle of a roughly painted canvas actually held our attention for nearly half an hour. If there'd been a bench and coffee on hand, we'd have been there longer.
Well dont to the Tate Liverpool for compiling such a wonderful collection of works.

Suggested

I am really enjoying this project which my Dad inadvertently set me. There's life in the old girl yet. I have mentioned before that it's almost impossible to draw the kids from life. I lie, my son is easier to catch than my daughter, as he'll sit playing on his Nintendo DS, or crouch on the computer chair defeating fantasy monsters online. He's even almost still when watching a good film. My daughter, on the other had, twitches and squirms whatever she's doing, unless she's asleep. I do draw them from photographs, but it's not the same. I used to draw my parents when I lived at home nearly 20 years ago. My Dad would be intent on the BBC 6 o'clock news, or reading the newspaper or a book. Likewise, when watching her chosen soap opera she was still - the rest of the time my mum would be in a frenzy of activity, always doing something. My husband would be a good subject to draw as he, also, will sit still whilst watching DVDs. He's very handsome when asleep, but I know he can hear the scratch of my pencil when he's trying to drift off. I'll have to wait five more minutes til he's snoring deeply, and draw him then.

Implied

I've decided to number these, and to ask you what emotions you think they convey. I know what I was intending, I would like to know to what extent I was successful.
I found myself grimacing a lot in front of the bathroom mirror before I could settle on a 'pose' which wasn't extreme. For two hours (I drew more than just these) I stood and looked and drew. The rest of the family were asleep, but I had the itch to draw.

My studio is set apart from the house, and I don't like going out there on an evening unless my family know where I am. My husband can be a heavy sleeper in the first part of the night, so if the children needed me I like to be available. And I was needed; my son was sick in his bed later on and called out for me, unable to clamber down from the top bunk because of the mess. I was happy to help, to be there quick-as-lightening when he needed me.

Even now, as I'm cracking on with washing out the bedding, I have no feeling of resentment for the work he's made for me, and I'm sensitive to the lingering smell only because I'm conscious of how it may disturb their sleep tonight. I must say that I'm happy to be their mum, and I was proud of their dad as he cuddled and soothed his son in our bed while I stripped the kid's room. I'm happy to report that our boy is fine this morning, full of life and eating heartily.

Caricature

Okay, those were hard, but got easier as I went on. I've never drawn myself other than face on from life before. I could repeat the exercise from the other side but I don't now what I'd gain from it, other than great neck muscles.

What I want now is some level of subtlety, as all ten have been quite comic faces, decidedly extreme emotions on display - angry, sad, happy, stern. How about serene, or inquisitive, or distracted. Can I manage these with two blue felt tips, and an A5 sketchbook in a bathroom mirror?

Emotions

A few days ago my dad commented that I looked very intense on the self portrait I was working on. I quipped back that some day I'd draw other expressions. Then I took myself, a small pad, and some felt tip pens into the bathroom and started pulling faces. Not satisfied with this, I turned my face to the right, and started over. I'm finding the angled view much harder, but as I'm keeping these studies quite loose I'm able to explore where the lines should be, and not be a perfectionist about it.

Expressions

Half a face

Okay, I worked on this using acrylics. I love the forehead, and that may be all that I keep. The eye hasn't got enough feeling in it, and the under-eye area I always struggle with when working in colour.

Quarter face

I only liked the top right section of the self portrait drawing I did here, so I blanked out the rest of it. My thought now is to work in a different medium to fill in the other areas. I'll keep what I like, switch medium and continue. I'm off to work on it some more now.

I'm lost for words...

Chris Bolmeier has just granted me the Arte y Pico Blog Award. I'm lost for words, so here's what she said about me;

This young girl is a breath of fresh air. She loves to draw and right now involved in a Moleskine exchange. She loves sketching and her mark making is quite amazing and beautiful. She drew and washed a self portrait in the buff. Yellow wrote about the process of deciding to do this. Her observations and comments are very humorous so are the comments of her readers. She is from the U.K.

Now you can see why I'm gobsmacked.

Portraits of my cousin

Sometimes Amy stays over. We watch films, drink beer (her) and wine (me) and sometimes do arty stuff. Last Friday we watched Romeo & Juliet and Moulin Rouge, and I sat drawing her with a 6B graphite stick. Some were good, some were wonky. Here are my two favorites.