I find myself playing with scale again.
On the walls of the studio are large drawings with bold broad brushstrokes of ink and watercolour. The lines drawn follow the contours of drying paint puddles, and the texture of the heavy paper.
On my table is an A2 sheet of “practice” paper, not so heavy, not so rough. Brush-lines are painted, in mixed inks, using much lighter strokes. The lines drawn on these are with new nibs, a little finer than those I’ve been using, capable of much more delicate lines and traces across the paper.
Next week I plan to fix a large roll of paper to the gallery wall to enable me to go really big… strokes generated by the whole of my body, not just from the elbow to the fingertips. For this I have collected a variety of charcoal, graphite sticks, compressed charcoal, chalk, pencils and a few pens… possibly paint… but that might confuse the issue.
The idea is to make marks to music. Some of the music will be mine, recorded, played back through wireless headphones so I can move freely around the space. Some will be the music on my “inspiration” playlist (attached Spotify link below) and some will be live… I have a couple of friendly musicians coming in to play with me. We will hopefully take inspiration from each other… sound inspired by marks, marks inspired by sound, simultaneously. I haven’t done anything like this before so I have absolutely no idea of it will work!
But that’s why you get funding right? To explore and take risks, spend time playing with an idea without having to worry about the outcomes or financial rewards.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0bp5MACBQgBhs27Mpb7LIU?si=11f8d00e13bc4136
https://soundcloud.com/elena-thomas/sets/drawn-in-glitterball-april-2021
