Sunday 13 March 2011

Inside my Sketchbooks cont...

An expert blogging friend, Sue, http://suebrownprintmaker.blogspot.com/ has thrown down the gauntlet to all Art bloggers to share their sketchbooks. This could be an exciting exchange, but response has been a little slow, so I'm posting a few more sketchbook pages to support Sue's enthusiasm and impetus.

Earlier this year I visited the David Tress exhibition 'Landmarks' at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath. Try this link to see more of his work: http://www.victoriagal.org.uk/exhibitions/current_exhibitions/david_tress_landmarks/works_for_sale.aspx
It was a very exciting and inspiring exhibition and I sat and drew and made notes for a good hour or so:




I was most inspired by the viewpoint Tress had chosen for some of his most recent drawings. To me it looks as though he is sat down amongst the grasses and undergrowth, having to look through to the view.  I expect artists often choose to ignore plant life growing in front of them in order to ensure the chosen view is clearly defined, but with Tress we look through; we can feel the whole environment; we get a sense of the overgrown nature of much of the Gloucestershire/Somerset countryside.

The weather was so good today I set off through the village armed with inspiration, sketchbook and drawing stool and found a few interesting views made more intriguing by tall grasses and dried out skeletons of plants from last summer:

A stream running from Cherington pond


The stream continues through a meadow at Nags Head

The stream running through West End, Avening

My view from my drawing stool

It was lovely to have the weather to work on site, an excellent opportunity to get to know the place and fix the image more strongly. It was interesting to approach a location with the very specific inspiration from an accomplished artist, and then to see how I may interpret the situation. I have looked for the direction of growth of the grasses and at this early point in the year it is still possible to see most of my view. There is a good possibility of working up these ideas back in the studio.

I hope some more sketchbooks are posted this week, they are fascinating, inspiring and reassuring to see the various approaches.

4 comments:

Sue Brown said...

It is inspiring to see other peoples sketch books and interesting to hear comments from people who are creative but do not use them, the blog Printed Material has a raft of guilty confessions. It is an interesting topic and I really love seeing your starting points. XX

Jill said...

Wendy, thanks for that link to David Tress. I had never seen his work before and it is amazing. Those substrates he works on look like they are collaged, do you know if they are? Thanks again for a great post!

the veg artist said...

He has his own website with a gallery of works. They are amazing close up, very textured, and yes, there can be torn/layered paper, but not in the way most people do collage.

Unknown said...

It was lovely to have the weather to work on site, an excellent opportunity to get to know the place and fix the image more strongly.trees for sale