Here’s my second attempt at a drawing:
I bought a selection of new pens – Artline 70, Artline 700, Staedtler Permanent Lumocolor pen (medium) and a pencil – and eventually settled on the Staedtler as the most appropriate thickness for this drawing.
What I drew: 30 seconds of film either side of the still, run at 25% speed (4 minutes drawing time). The final print size for the still is 28.12 x 50 cm (these proportions are as the camera shot them), printed at 100% saturation.
Summary: I think this second drawing is an improvement in terms of the thickness of the drawn lines and the emotion trapped within the stroke. However the area covered is too consistent – I’d like to see areas saturated – obliterated – in lines & areas that have no marks where the print comes through strongly. The drawing below gives some idea of what this might look like.
I need to use perspex rather than glass – latter is too dangerous. Future drawings need a paper mask on the glass / perspex to prevent lines straying.
More about my work: my website – twitter feed
My other blogs: project survey – the alternative gallery – inspiration
My survey film has a still shot where a man-made structure is fixed in focus against a speed-blurred, haunted background. Inspired by Rachel Lowe’s ‘A letter to an unknown person n.05’, I cut 30 seconds of footage either side of it and reduced the frame speed to 10%. As the film played I then tried to draw objects that snagged my attention onto a piece of glass. Here’s a (rather poor) mock up of the final result:
Result: a drawing of multiple times and space. Placed on the original still, the drawing conceals and alters sections of it whilst also hinting at the truth of what was seen in the footage. It’d be interesting to see if / how the drawing changes with different sections of film.
I can see the piece of glass I’ve drawn on should be larger – big enough for gestural drawing.
I used a mixture of pens I had to hand. Fine tipped ones made little impression but this might be an issue with the pen itself? Thicker ones left more interesting marks but tend to obliterate the still. I need to re-stock on pens – in a mixture of thicknesses.
Presentation: mount the still onto the back of the glass using magnets & mount the whole, unframed onto the wall (magnets or L-shaped nails)?
I have gathered plenty of film footage, shot as and when so it spans seasons and weather conditions. I’ve surveyed the entire journey down each side of the train from Marden to London and mapped points of interest to shoot in more detail.
I want to shoot more film in overcast conditions as it gives a cool, misty quality to the light. I’d like to work in heavy rain, perhaps positioning the camera over raindrops. I’d like more footage shot at dusk.
Explore more techniques like panning from track until the inner reflection of the train appears. Try see-sawing the camera across the vertical line. Capture footage that appears still but isn’t and dislocating motion such as the curve round a bend. Uncover interesting stills like this one ‘hidden’ in the mass of footage.
My original goal was to make a series of short films investigating different qualities. I’m already in danger of getting overloaded by the volume of material I have. I need to work in a focused way – concentrate on one aspect at a time and assemble the footage needed into a short film.
Inspiration from a trip to London last week.
Rachel Lowe – the impossibility of drawing the landscape as it speeds by (1) Link to a shot of the film footage.
Yuri Pattison – dislocation that results from a moving image travelling at one pace set inside another moving in a different direction. (1)
Betsy Dadd – the fracturing of a projected image. A modest sized image projected onto a wall, interrupted by a mirrored panel that pulls one’s feet into the shot. The mirror also throws the missing slice of the projection, enlarged, onto the opposite wall. (2)
Lara Lee – the hovering projection. Fabric screen, TV screen sized, weighted / rod-stiffened at the top & bottom, suspended on fishing wire. In the darkness, the screen appears to hover in the middle of the room. (2)
Sources:
1 Part of ‘Art Now: The Weight of Data‘, Tate Britain, on until 25th October
2 SOROR exhibition, Safehouse 1 Gallery, London, project managed & curated by Rachel Emily Taylor
Inspiration from last week’s London trip.
Barbara Hepworth, from Tate Britain show on until 25th October – the architectural lines within this drawing. (1)
Barbara Hepworth, from Tate Britain show – how the physical lines within sculptures like these alter the way the space is activated. (1)
Becky Allen – intricate pen drawings – subtly shifting lines (2)
Sources:
1 Image sourced from: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jun/07/barbara-hepworth-life-in-six-works-tate-retrospective-exhibition-sculpture-for-a-modern-world), 28/9/15
2 SOROR exhibition, Safehouse 1 Gallery, London, project managed & curated by Rachel Emily Taylor
