on trees, and water

some new sketchbook drawings of trees... this time in graphite stick... so much quicker to work with.. less refined, but more responsive to the movement (and sounds) of trees, and the nearby water...ivy growing on a tree trunkfallen dead branch of a tree (with diagram)bent willow tree at the riverlooking up at a treedead stump of treetwisted branches of a treemore tree branchestwisted, bent branch of a treemoss & lichen-covered, stripped barksnapped, broken branches of a treethe rippled, twisted textured bark of this old willow reflects the gentle movements of the nearby lake...detail of water ripples on the lake...another shot of the same lake... maybe this is a little too reminiscent of vija celmins?... but that's how it was, just water, at 6.24pm...i have become immersed in structures, natural surfaces, the patterns, the details, but critical reflection requires some distance, a detachment from objectification... on the cycle ride home i remembered a lecture i went to, by the sculptor richard deacon... talking of natural elements, repetition, rhythm, overlap, edge, pattern, flow, movement, flux, turbulence, the dynamics of change...leading to the elemental, scientific drawings of leonardo da vinci...A deluge c.1517-18, by Leonardo da Vinci [Royal Collection, Windsor Castle][to be continued...]the salthouse 09 : salt of the earth art exhibition continues at salthouse church, norfolk... salthouse 09 : 2 july to 2 august 2009

an hour by the riverbank

pen and ink sketch, about half an hour... a real challenge to draw water, and the sun kept going in and out...another sketch, another half-hour or so... dappled shade....intriguing refractions of tree branches...shafts of sunlight, tree reflections and underwater vegetation...ah... a found painting, a little monet... or any of the derivatives...the salthouse 09 art exhibition continues... salthouse 09 : 2 july to 2 august 2009

into the woods

some sketchbook studies in ink pen... first it was water and now it is wood; this could be the start of something quite elemental...i have been given permission to visit some private woodlands to do some sketching over the next few months, but the last few days have been taken up by four days at the latitude festival (a few of these drawings were done on the henham estate)...inspired by reading bachelard, i am reminded of rembrandt's landscape etchings, anselm kiefer's dark forests, gustav klimt's birch trees, jacob van ruisdael's woodland landscapes... it is not so much recording locations or the evidence of nature that i am currently interested in, more the psychology (and history) of contained spaces… a transition from the perceived expanses of a horizon to an absence of it - dark, enclosed, densely textured and layered, resonant and allegorical... it is refreshing to explore these environments without a camera, it seems very nostalgic (romantic, even) to draw in the landscape, but observing, thinking and drawing become one experience, the scene unfolds more slowly, akin to the concept of the moving focus as david hockney alluded to...the salthouse exhibition continues... salthouse 09 : salt of the earth, 2 july to 2 august 2009