Drawing week 4

This week we met in Allan Gardens at 10 when the buildings open.  That was nice for me since I live so close by and could have a relaxed morning on my birthday.  The idea was to approach our "drawing" that morning using the techniques and materials of our artist.  I decided to take my camera and a small notebook.  I began by taking some pretty cactus photos and considered sitting on a bench to draw.  But really, Gabriel Orozco would not sit down!  So I carried on.  At one moment my camera was lowered and in the view finder I saw the pebbles around some small cactus plants.  That was all I needed to see to set off taking different pictures.  Orozco ended up taking over 250 photos.  It was a lot of fun and I got some shots I really like.  Next week our work from this week will be transformed in some way.

Colour & Composition week 4

We had the final critique on our painting project.  I was told that mine was well resolved, painterly and looked like fabric, even silk.  Then we worked on colour wheels and mixing with our acrylic paints rather that then gouache from the first term.  I really want to learn it better this time.  We're to make a palette that we like for next week with a wide range of saturation and value.  Which is to say, ranging from prismatic through muted, chromatic grey and achromatic grey and also from light to dark.  We'll be working on a still life but in an abstract way.

Drawing week 3

We began today with 20 silent minutes to do our visual diary of the morning.  I seem to settle on a mood for my piece rather than narrative.  Today was melancholy and enclosed -- even shut off -- in the morning with Toby.  I noticed well before the teacher did that the figure looks like me as a child.  Not a surprise or a problem for me.

The presentation this week was drawing with red ink and a bubble-blowing set.  Art-making is meant to be fun.  That's the take-away from all this.  I still have no idea for mine.

Next we worked with "our" artist.  I'm Gabriel Orozco.  Another student as William Kentridge gave me an assignment that he (Kentridge) would like to do -- that I then had to tackle as Orozco.  I was to make a charcoal drawing of Toronto including a social problem that upsets me.  I began in a way that I myself might have done and had to regroup.  I drew on some photocopies from the recycle bin and included a homeless man begging on the street.  A bit of a mess.  Next week we meet at Allan Gardens where we will draw as our artist -- that is, use their materials and techniques.  Orozco is very much about found stuff, responding to what he finds, change.  We'll see!

Composition week 3

Over the week we were to continue working on our studies and then the final painting.  I did a fourth or fifth study in class and then started.  It sure is easier to paint on canvas compared to a photocopied piece of paper!  I'm finally getting somewhere -- according to the teacher.  The idea is to make a picture that is structural, that comes out or in or whatever from the paper surface.  Maybe I should have done hard edge circles or squares that pierce out and in -- that's what many others did.  Oh well, I'm learning with the project I've started.  The third one below is my painting which still needs a lot of work before the critique next week.

Drawing week 2

Like Composition we have four projects in Drawing class but unlike Composition these 4 are running simultaneously.  The first is the memory diary.  Today we worked with our non-dominant hand.  We'll rotate from week to week, left to right and back.  Later we'll transform the work in some way.  (This applies to all the projects.)  I have lots to go on for next week.  Greatly helpful  comments from the teacher.

The second assignment is a 5 minute presentation of a process of drawing that hasn't been done before.  We had our first presentation today.  The student showed us drawing with linguine, using it as a brush and a stamp.  Now I have a bit of an idea -- I'm in week 8.

The third assignment is about a contemporary artist who uses drawing in their work.  We drew names for this and I got Gabriel Orozco.  Some of  the other artists were William Kentridge, Christo and Jean-Paul, Jenny Saville, Banksy, Anthony Gormley and Anselm Kiefer.  We're to research our artist and learn about how they work, how they draw.  In week 4 we'll be at Allan Gardens drawing plants in the style of our artist.

The fourth assignment is done at home.  We're to produce a series.  I'm planning some self-portraits.  More on that later!

We also did an exercise today that was fun and instructive.  The idea was to show different ways to generate images.  We began with a stack of separate sheets of paper equal to the number of students -- 9.  Also some ink, two sticks and a q-tip.  Everyone was given a magazine.  We opened it once only and at random and drew on our first page something that drew our attention.  The we passed the book to the left.  Same again on a new page and so on.  Meanwhile the pages and the drawings could connect in any way.

Composition week 2

I tried another study during class.  The idea is to make a painting that has structure, that comes out from the page.  The first step is to get down the basic tones.  Then further layers will add the structure.  I worked from a photo of a tea towel which wasn't really structural enough.  I'm going to try a pillow slip at home.  When we have something we like we're to transfer the image to canvas and go from there.

Drawing as a contemporary practice

My second course is called Drawing as a Contemporary Practice.  At the first class we got exact instructions for 4 assignments due at various points in the term.  In contrast, the work itself is meant to change and evolve as we go.  Many of the mornings will begin with 20 minutes of silence to record a diary of our morning so far.  These pieces will be gathered together later on.  It's about memory, how and what we remember.  Having tried it this week we're to plan how we want to continue next week.