Sometimes during periods of reflection, perhaps gently swept away by meandering philosophical thought I wonder why I do what I do? Why do I spend hours, upon hours working on a drawing that sometimes never sees the light of day? Sometimes I put myself through almost unbearable bouts of painstakingly detailed work aiming for – and attempting to focus on the microcosm that I can see whilst drawing that is buried somewhere within my subconscious, sometimes details that the naked eye, once surrounded by other elements of the drawing a third party viewer would barely notice. The simple reason as it struck me – because I feel it makes the world a better, more enriched, a more beautiful place to temporarily dwell as we travel through a sometimes hard and unforgiving world. I’m not for a second suggesting that my work makes this world more beautiful, that I create such wondrous work, but because art, rather the creation of it has a gentle, thoughtful nature that asks people to stop and look – and think…maybe even the fact that watching an artist at work often allows people just to stand and stare. The act of creation, in my present case – drawing, has something to offer the world that nothing else can really supply, it has (art that is) a very defined niche within society that by its very nature is indefinable and has blurred the lines of its uses and role within society. Stay tuned for more ramblings, thanks for reading.
So I have had quite a long lay off from writing. I have recently got married and now that the ripples from that amazing day have begun to settle I can now begin to focus on my drawings and indeed writing my blog.
Here’s a picture of our fabulous day.
So anyway, I have been reading Earnest Hemingway recently and have been swept utterly swept away by the mans writing, his ability to tell a story, the experience that he gathered throughout his life bleeding into the work, his incredible thirst for adventure and the straight forward philosophical stance his characters seem to take. I love the fact that his love of boxing, big game fishing and hunting, fascination with bull fighting and experiences of war are all thrown into an earthy Hemingway melting pot and out comes literature of the highest order. He has inspires me to continue what I am doing and love it – with passion.
Back to drawing and my current situation, so basically being the polar opposite of the paragraph above I am taking part in the Hockey Art Trail. This is a local council scheme set up to partner local businesses with artists to allow them (me included) to show works and potentially sell them. I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed this modest exhibition opportunity and will gratefully take part in the coming years. My work has been placed in a local tanning salon and by all accounts received very well.
Some of my work.
What do you think about these drawings?
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So on this beautiful, sunny morning in Essex, England I’d like to share with you a picture of the drawing I am working on at the moment.
I’ve been working on this for around 10-12 hours and am beginning to reach the stages in which I will start to apply colours. I plan on using extremely bright, vibrant colours and where possible use complimentary colours to help the overall piece pop and fizz with life.
My artwork draws on ideas ranging from the sciences, the natural world, human interaction, the absolute randomness of life and how encounters can alter the course of ones life. My work more generally uses an organic looking language which is constantly developing and I have found becoming more intricate with every passing piece.
I’d love to hear what you all think about it.
Hi there, thank you for stopping by. The above image is the progress that I have made on my latest drawing. What do you think about it so far?
This drawing will take at the very least another six weeks to complete and will no doubt take it fair share of my sanity along the way. I am becoming more and more obsessive with each and every drawing that passes through me, the details, the colour, the composition, my practice…lets see how this one comes out!
Whilst ploughing headlong into this piece I began to think about drawing itself, the thoughts, feelings and experience of the act of drawing, of making marks, in my case on paper. An ancient craft. Anyone drawing is sharing similar experiences as that of someone hundreds – if not thousands of years ago. Sharing that magical act of creation, watching something develop, the stress, the concentration – the sheer joy of seeing something materialize from a vision buried deep inside. Just think about that for a second. What an incredible thought! It is similar to standing, as I did when o was a child in front of a Paul Cézanne painting and thinking to myself – my goodness the great man himself would of been in the same position as I am now (in proximity to the painting). You will come to learn that I can ramble sometimes but I just love to let the writing flow sometimes.
Thank you for reading
Stu
I’ve been giving my drawings a lot of thought recently, how to develop, the philosophy behind them and what they mean to me. To go hand in hand with I am also always looking at how I can progress on from a technical point of view, whether it is use of colour, the overall aesthetic or development of existing themes and elements.
So whilst reading I discovered an artist named Joseph Cornell, an American assemblage artist. He created incredibly subtle and finely balanced work, amazing skill was hidden beneath the usual exterior aesthetic. However more than the work itself he apparently once said that he explored “poetic connections” that run within the world and human life.
Love it!
This one phrase really sums up how I consider my work to operate, after all what is art without poetry?
My work couldn’t look more different than Cornell’s but I feel a genuine affinity with what he used to do. It just goes to show that ongoing learning about what has happened in the past can help to inform what happens in the future. Above is an image of my latest drawing that is only just out of its embryonic phases, what do you think?
