I watched the following film which is a lecture of professor Stephen Farthing( chair of Drawing of Roosters Hopkins University.
It is about his project on drawing what drawing is, as an attempt for himself to discover what actually drawing is in essence.
After watching the video I felt encouraged to think of the various different ways to view drawing. Drawing is much more than most people define as drawing. You can discover drawing in the most unexpected places. It is not only a set of lines created by an artists hand. I understand it a s a sophisticated system of communication, a language or a way of coding. It is another way of saying single words, definitions or stories. Drawings could also be produced by accidental or random acts or by man made machines (for example bicycle trails, as I used for Part 3,project 3: Drawing ”machines”). It also comes to mind that drawing could even be detached from eyesight. A blind person could draw and the result of that action could be felt or seen by blind and people who can see. A drawing can be ”seen” by touching according to its mark making properties.
AIM & METHOD: The instructions for the assignment is to find a piece of music preferably classical or at least with complex rhythm. Produce a drawing with the mark making deriving from the music. Develop the drawing further by introducing an observational element. Explore the interplay between gesture and representation. It is also suggested that we video the procedure to emphasize the performative nature of gesture.
Actually at a first read I am not very fond of the assignment theme. I am trying to find a piece of music that is relevant to me or in others words, that ”speaks” to me. I need to find a way to bring the subject to my feet.
I am not cognizant of classical music.I like classical music and I enjoy listening to it. However, I do not recognize the composer while listening to their music. I listen to this music in naive way, like a foreigner and perhaps this allows me to enjoy this music more purely.
I am searching youtube for a piece that I would have a direct attraction to it. After a short search I realize that I distinguish Chopin “Mysterious Forest”. I do not want want to go deeper and explain the reasons. I just like the way it sounds!
It was a short piece so I had to repeat it many times during drawing.
The gesture came out easily in response to the music. The music had a continuous flow which I could depict with continuous curved line. I varied the thickness of the line by using various media(pencil, charcoal,pen, brush with Indian ink, acrylic ink and acrylic paint) in order to represent the tone of the music tones.
Most of the music piece was following the same continuous rhythm. For a few short musical tones I used straight vertical brushstrokes, that I thought were appropriate to yield that listening experience.
I used diluted paint for notes with more gravity and thicker, more opaque paint for high musical tones. However, some times I interpreted graviton notes with more open curves and more closed curves for the high notes irrespective of the opaqueness of the paint.
After about half an hour I felt that I put as much as I wanted on the drawing and because the music was a short repeating piece, I thought that drawing more and more would make the drawing heavy and loose its freshness.
I decided to put an observational element as suggested by the assignment instructions. With the intention to also connect this piece to my parallel project were I explore relationships of self and significant others, I opted to include a self portrait in the drawing. I used a mirror to observe my reflection in a more lively way than to use a photograph. I wasn’t sure and optimistic about how this would work since the drawing was already stuffed. However, I put on the music again and let my hand be guided by the music rhythm . I followed the curvature way of line drawing that I had already used. I described the curvature of the face among all those lines in the drawing. I used line to connect the outline of the face with the lines already in the drawing. I aimed to do the outline of the face part of the drawing and maybe a center point of the drawing. This was very difficult because the drawing was a complicated cluster of lines. I used acrylic ink in order to intensify some lines, because the Indian ink created flat areas and no matter how much I added the tone remained the same. The acrylic ink was not very effective , so I used acrylic paint to define more the lines I wanted to stand out.
Looking at the drawing later, when it is completely dry, I observe that the outline of the face I drew is not quite obvious. With a first glance and from certain point of view is not visible. I am not sure whether I should find a way to make it more visible in the drawing. Being there in a hidden way maybe gives an interesting approach to the drawing, in the case that the viewers discovers this hidden element in the drawing.
I think the composition is balanced, despite that it is very loaded. Leaving the blank space on top left gives the drawing the necessary space for the composition to ”breath”.
Generally, I was quite experimental on this drawing regarding mostly my mark making. I used several media to interpret the music notes and tonality. Although my mark making is mostly curved lines following the same pattern and motif, I find the mark making rich and interesting. This was achieved because of the different thickness and size of the lines and of the various media I used.
I am pleased with the experience of this way of drawing, mostly for the opportunity to experiment and lesser for the result of the actual drawing. Despite the fact that I am not absolutely satisfied with the end product-drawing I believe that it is a successful attempt for it’s purpose.
De Kooning’s paintings at their original state are extremely vibrant unlike the Erased De Kooning drawing of Rausenberg.
Looking at the work of Rausenberg I observe that his work extends from the erased to the overloaded work with heavy objects. This seems to be an attempt to explore the limits of art.
In Amy Dempsey, Styles Schools and Movements(Thames & Hudson 2002) Rausenberg is placed under the Neo-Dada title (p 201-204). Neo-Dadaist opposed to the times tendency for formal purity in art. They mixed materials and media in an eccentric way and saw art as expansive and inclusive. They used non art materials, they embraced ordinary reality and popular culture. In opposition to abstract expressionism, they engaged in collaborative work and included other forms of art like poetry and music. They experimented with new materials and ideas as an opposition to traditional art aesthetics.
In the same book Rausenberg is placed under a separated heading referring solely to his own style and titled ”Combines” With Rausenberg’w own words ” Painting relates to both art and life. Neither can be made. (I try to act in the gap between the two.)”(1959). These words refer to his works that had aspects of both painting and sculpture like ”Bed”, 1955.
Rausenberg, however did not stack to “Combines”. He moved on to experiment with silkscreen, technology, dance & performance, which is in agreement with his worried spirit and his desire to go beyond the bounds of the datum.
After studying about the artist I am in a position to understand the artist motivation for creating the “Erased De Kooning” 1953. He was an artist very willing to test and brake the boundaries of the defined. He intended to give new definitions of what is considered as art. Framing the erased De Kooning drawing was an act of questioning who names what art is. Is everything put in a frame art? Additionally it generates the question of who is the artist? I see it in a way of wondering who is the artist of an art piece if that art piece encloses the inspiration of any other art that preexists.
Aim: the aim of this project is to allow our own emotional responses to to direct our physical mark-making.
Method: Write 10 statements that would evoke different emotional or physical responses and make different drawings according to them. Use a model, or make self portraits or imbue an object with this qualities in order to depict those fictional attributes.
I decided to ”use” my self once again for this exercise. I am the most convenient and always available model for myself. Additionally, this is another opportunity to combine an exercise with my parallel project, which is mostly self identification and relationships exploration.
I started with the statement “It is so shiny outside my head and I am so small”. I came out with this statement as I looked at my self in the mirror. This statement refers to a self state of mind and feeling. It represents the feeling of the specific moment and the words I could give to describe it.
As I sat in front of my easel and my mirror I noticed how shiny the sky was outside,. At the same time I contradicted that to my state of mind and feeling which is not shiny at all in many times and that moment actually. I find it difficult to take in the shine of nature, of the outside world and let it shine in me. Many times I feel sad and this is definitely not shiny. I feel a stranger in relation to that light most of the time in many times of my life that I feel depressed.
I started with charcoal, but then I used white acrylic paint in order to intense the light, the shine I wanted to show and contradict this using black paint, with my inner state of mind and feeling. I worked tonally in order to make the head more solid and apply some depth.
I would say that I was able to capture the meaning of the statement. the mark making, the medium and the colour choice respond to the feeling of the statement. I think I managed to be direct and spontaneous in my attempt to portray the statement on paper without being distracted by other elements like trying to be descriptive, to achieve likeness or trying to be correct in terms of drawing.
In a second attempt on the same or similar statement I would want to respond even more unrestricted way and end up with an even less descriptive portrait, or maybe make a drawing that you could not recognize a that is actually a portrait. I would like to be able to portray sentimental statements with only mark making, body movement and a mere application of the selected media. I believe that this might come in a progressive way and not directly.
Following the previous drawing and my wish to draw portraits in a more abstract way I decide to make a drawing for the statement : “I want to stay loose”. For this drawing I also use the mirror to draw a self portrait.
I started with a charcoal line drawing , but then I wanted to use a medium with more fluidity in order to respond to the ”loose” statement. I used acrylic ink with brush in order to delineate the outline of the face. Then I used white acrylic paint to … any details and create tones. I used brush with only water on it to dilute the charcoal and create a fluidity effect.
At a point I felt connected to the subject and I felt that I was responding to the statement ”loose”. However, afterwards I felt that I wasn’t as free as I wanted. I was restrictive to description rather than free to expression. I think that I should use more fluid media like watercolour and I should allow myself to be more messy in mark making and application of media.
Additionally the head is huge, which makes the drawing unattractive to my eye. It is oversize and this makes me feel uncomfortable to look at.
I did another drawing for the same statement: ” I want to stay loose “.
I consciously tried to be more loose.. I used acrylic ink with brush and pen. I used more water to apply flow. I tried to be more free in my application of media, the details and the mark making. I tried to let go of control and be more spontaneous.
I am thinking that I need to work more on being less controlling towards the abstraction I seek. At the same time I think how I shouldn’t let preconceived prejudices to predetermine my work as this would come in contrast to the freedom I seek.
At some point I read again the instructions and realized that the response for all ten statements should be on the same drawing!
I wrote ten self statements in order to be relevant to my parallel project.
”My anger contains sadness”
“I feel ignored”
” I want tot come closer to you”
“I love”
“I feel loved”
“Let me be myself”
“I make mistakes and it’s ok”
“I am different than I turned out to be”
“I want to find inner peace”
“I want to set my limits”
I drew following the above statements. While working I stopped to take pictures of the work in progress. I tried to take pictures of every statement separately, but as I have been absorbed in my work Ι missed out to photograph some of the statements.
I worked spontaneously, I was absorbed in the work. I chose my media in a direct way without much thinking of the appropriateness. I drew in a very gestural way. The use of line, the mark making and the colours chosen derived directly from the associations and symbolism with which I connect them. The drawing does not show a transformation from the first statement to the last. It rather shows a development in a way that all the statements interplay and finally create one general state of mind and feeling. It is a description of a complicated psycho-synthesis that is manifested in one projection.
Later I thought of taking the project one step along and further connect it to my parallel project experimentation. I chose two contrasting statements to work on the same drawing : ” I feel OK and maybe happy” and “I feel sad, negative and angry”. The following drawing which can be viewed in a work in progress format was the result of this idea.
Part 3, Project 4: An emotional Response
My mark making is mainly gestural. The line and tone is expressively applied. The representational element apparent but not in a descriptive way. Mostly the representational element is there to add to the expressiveness of the drawing and what it tries to transmit. The ambivalence of the contrasting statements I think is not fully achieved. The negative statement is more prevalent which represents the most prominent sentimental state at the time of drawing. This generates the question whether is possible for me to draw such subjects in a a non sentimental way, which is something I would also like to explore.
Aim: The aim of this project is to further explore the mark making by creating marks incidental to our own movement.
Method: Find an object that would create marks by its own movement with an attached drawing media on it.
I am thinking to ”use” my kids movements for this project. My girl could do ballet with paint on her feet that would leave marks on a big sheet of paper on the floor. My boy could do cycling on an unfolded paper roll and the marks of the wheels will be the marks on that paper, or he could cycle on the ground and I could photograph and print the marks and then use them in a collage. I would also take part in that, by following their movements or let them include me in this in their own ways.
That could be also part of the parallel project since we will have the opportunity to unfold relationship matters in the procedure.
The first drawing analogous to this project is the product of a collaborative drawing with my kids which started as a blind drawing attempt. We used mostly charcoal to make drawing starting with drawing blind each other on the same sheet of paper and then using several media to develop the drawing. At some point the kids were making hand-prints and footprints by touching and stepping on the drawing accordingly. They were covered with charcoal as well as the floor was! I came up with the idea to use this opportunity to work for the drawing ”machines” project. I laid down an elongated piece of paper on the floor and we all stepped on it with our own pace. Then we also put hand prints on it. We had fun, we enjoyed it a lot and the end product was very interesting.
There is movement and the prints create interesting patterns and shapes.
I fixed it so that the charcoal won’t fade away.
I was thinking that I should find a way to preserve the drawing for practical reasons as the paper is very thin craft paper in a roll. Also for conceptual reasons I wanted to find a way to preserve it in a way to preserve the moment and as a way to preserve those precious moments in my mind and heart. through preserving the drawings I feel I could enclose those moments and the sentiment associated with them.
I thought I should use a more stable ground to attach the fragile paper on. I used an unprimed canvas and I used glue to attach the drawing on it. I put glue under the drawing as well as on top of it, practicing the decoupage method. Well the procedure didn’t work very well. the unprimed canvas was very porous and the paper would not attach properly leaving gaps, ribs and inflated spots. However, facing this obstacle I should finish the procedure or the drawing would be destroyed. I tried to fix it as evenly as possible. At the same time I was paralleling this with the concept of keeping something in memory and how a fact , a sentiment or an experience could be altered and falsified in memory over time.
Although the drawing did not come as I expected, it is not fragile. It’s preservation has been achieved practically and conceptually.
Part 3, Project 3: Drawing ”machines”
The exploration of this project continued with the initial idea, which was to ask my children to produce drawing marks with their movements. I asked my 6 year old daughter to wear her ballet dress, to choose a song, apply some soft pastel colours of her choice on her feet and dance on sheets of paper applied on the floor while I would videotaping her. She enthusiastically responded. My son was also present and waiting impatiently for his turn to apply colour on his bicycle wheels and cycle on an elongated sheet of paper.
I mention the presence of the three of us as this important for the relationship dynamics that I am exploring also for my parallel project.
I attach below the videos of this action taking place. The videos were purposely spontaneous and ”homemade” in order to explore the real dynamics of our relationships as they are projected in our daily life.
Indeed, during the procedure all the dynamics of our relationship, positive and negative, patterns of our interactions and ways of cooperation.
I expanded the project by developing the drawings produced with marks of the kids movements.
The drawing created by my son’s cycling on the paper was very long. I decided to cut a part of it that had interesting marks and composition so that I could work on it. The movement of the bicycle that creates those continuous marks is very suitable to exploring the subject of our relationships in a narrative way as explored in Part 2 , project 3, insert link). I parallel the continuous movement of the bicycle and the traces created with my son’s journey to life, which started from myself as his mother. I put blue thread symbolizing and representing the umbilical cord. The soft pastel traces enclosed in plastic film for preservation are representing the womb and the starting point of this journey. The thread coming out of the preserved area is the path that follows out of the womb, but always connected ti it in a way. The way the thread is applied represents the complications of the life journey and were it is placed in a more linear and less complicated way, represents my hope that my son becomes able to solve any problems he will face in his life. The bicycle print outs of pictures of his actual bicycles in different point of age till recently represent his real experiences that are met on the real bicycle traces that he has imprinted on the drawing by himself with his own movement. The traces of the bicycle purposely reach the edges of the paper showing that this journey is in progress and cannot be fully captured and depicted on the boundaries of the drawing. The same purpose is served with the thread that is going out of the edges of the paper on top. the colours are chosen by my son, representing the traditional associations of colour blue with masculinity.
This drawing should be viewed along with the video showing the movement of the bicycle as ”drawing machine”, as a two part piece of work.
During my research for Part 4, Project 3: Installation I came across the following work which reminded me of my drawing with the bicycle trace.
The drawing that resulted from my daughter’s dance is quadruple because I used four sheets of paper in order to have bigger surface.
Part 3, Project 3: Drawing ”machines”
I am not sure weather to use the four drawings as one composition or to work on each drawing separately.
Seeing each drawing by it’s own may help me decide on how to proceed.
We used soft pastels and the colours were my daughter’s choice. The prints of her feet on the paper are very light representing her delicate movement and as her mother I would say her ”fairy” character.
I have a few ideas on how to explore the drawings of her dancing footprints, but I want to do it while preserving the slender feeling that for me is evoked from those light prints.
One of my ideas is to retain the composition of the four sheets of paper. I could piece together the four sheets of paper by using thread to sew the pieces at the edges where they meet. Alternatively I could find a way to attach them on an adhesive surface at the reverse side and work further on the front side. another idea is to work on the drawing in certain ways and then lay on top the adhesive surface to preserve any materials that are placed on the drawing surface. this was a method I tried for my narrative project. the practical problem in this case is the scale of the drawing and the fact that I do not have at my disposal a large enough adhesive surface.
On the following sketchbooks experiment for the narrative projects I used fragments of soft pastels and thread laid on the paper. Then I attached adhesive surface on top, so that the material remains on place.
From the work of Jackson Pollock I get the importance of the freedom of gesture. I realize the gesture as an extension of an inner movement of the sentiments, the feelings, the soul. It is not the expression of states of mind in a logical way , in a way of processing notions and ideas. It is not even a way of processing feelings. I think processing is at a minimum level. there is only a way of depicting inner emotional conditions. the appearance of the end result, the way the painting looks is less important. In effect, matters of image attributes like composition take less attention. In terms of composition I think the most important element in Pollock’s paintings is the even distribution of colour and paint drips throughout the painting surface. I see no focal points or specific areas of interest.
After watching the film , I came up with the idea to make a self portrait on the mirror, where the mirror is the painting surface. I could relate that to my parallel project regarding my relationship with myself and important others. Painting directly on my reflection on the mirror, I think would make a more direct self portrait.
Aim: The aim of this project is to further explore ways of drawing considering physicality and movement.
Method: It is suggested in the coursebook that we use improvised drawing media such as elongated pencils that will give very sensitive responsive marks through our physical movement and draw a reasonably large scale still life with them. Experiment with different media in order to achieve different effects.
In order to combine the exercise to my parallel project I thought it was a good idea to use myself as the subject for this exercise. I stood before a full body mirror, I placed a large paper on the floor and drew myself using elongated pencil, charcoal and brush with ink.
The most difficult part was to include the figure in the paper dimensions. Although the paper was big enough (about A1 size) I was unable to include the whole figure in the paper.One reason for this was that I did not have much distance from the subject. Another reason was that I wasn’t able to control my movements because my drawing medium was elongated. I was able to make only rough movement and I couldn’t control my gesture to produce subtle marks.
This way of drawing allowed me to work more freely, because in advance I did not expect precise results. The act of drawing became more expressive without making effort not be controlling while drawing.
For the first drawing I used pencil on rough watercolour paper. I used long continuous lines as much as this was possible to, in order to make the figure outline. I did many interrupted lines in order to apply tone and give solidity to the figure. For the same reason I pressed my elongated pencil harder on the paper in order to produce more dark lines. The fact that my elongated pencil was flexible did not allow me to get darker lines. I could have used more and softer pencils for this purpose. However I was please with the result of those subtle marks for this specific drawing. Those repeated thin pencil lines add to the expressive character of the specific drawing reflecting my insecurity of using this kind of media which was flexible and unstable. The roughness of the paper that made the line quavery also added to the qualities of the final drawing.
For the second attempt I used charcoal attached on the same stick, which is quite flexible as I mentioned earlier. Definitely the charcoal was more easily producing the marks on the paper. I didn’t need to press as hard as I had to do with the pencil. My movement was more fluid and continuous than it was with the pencil in the previous drawing. At some points the stick was staggering producing interrupted lines. However the it is obvious that the movement was continuous and the stick was not lifted up on purpose, but only because of the accelerated speed of the movement and of the nature of the improvised drawing media.
For a third attempt I used a brush attached at the same point of the same stick. I used ink to created marks on a smooth somehow glossy paper. There is a fluidity due to the liquidy of the medium (ink). The line has a liveliness which is something I like and many times purposely aim to in my drawings because of it’s expressive and spontaneity qualities. Despite the fact that because of the elongated drawing material I couldn’t control the preciseness of my movement, however the emotion I felt was straightforward on the paper. In other words I didn’t feel the distance between my hand and the edge of my drawing media i.e. the point of the brush. In order to give more depth and intensify a few areas and make more bold marks, I continue with creating lines with my charcoal on the elongated stick. This allowed me to have some interesting patterns and richer mark making on the otherwise simple monochromatic drawing.
(make comparisons with maybe Egon Shciele figure drawings)
Aim: The aim of this project is to gain awareness of how the brain works in order to translate a visual subject of three dimensions to a two dimension drawing through physical movements.
The method suggested is to close the eyes and make drawings of an object by translating on paper what sense you get by touching the object.
Following my tutor suggestion I try to combine the project exercises with my parallel project. Therefore I choose my subjects accordingly. For this blindfolded exercise I decided to use my face instead of an object, because for my parallel project I will examine myself identity and sense in relation with my significant others (children, partner and maybe other family members).
With this blind self portraits I have the opportunity to study ways of drawing my self in a more free way without much censorship. I translate this touching of my face in line mostly, since I touch in a linear way trying to capture and draw the shape and position the features. I used pencil, pen, marker and charcoal to see the results of different drawing media. For my pencil drawings I used pencil of different numbers in order to be able to build some tone. I changed pencil and continued on the same drawing, by drawing several versions of my face one on top of the other.
Part 3, Project 1:Drawing Blind
I found the procedure very deliberating, enjoyable and satisfying. The drawings had a desirable value of expression that came without trying to achieve it. I was able to record the sensation and the act of touching, surprisingly without much effort. I didn’t just replaced touching with sight. While drawing I was drawn into the sensation of my self through my face more deeply into my psychology rather than just describe the physicality of my face. It was like I dive into another dimension , into other psychological state at least a few states away from the unimaginative reality.
Despite the fact that my drawings were all mostly quickly worked and executed line drawings made in a few minutes each, I think they served the purpose of the exercise. I see them as drawings that even though they are more like quick sketches, they could stand alone or as a series of drawings presented together. At the same time all the drawings positioned together in certain ordinance could constitute a conjoint separate piece of art.
(I would make comparisons with Egon Schiele and Frank Auerbach…later.)
I will continue experimenting this way by doing blind drawings of my kids in relation to my parallel projects regarding my close relationships and how I perceive and understand my reality and my self concept through my relationships.
Indeed some blind drawings of my husband and children were made, but I also asked them to make blind drawings of me and their dad in my sketchbooks. This way I am starting to include them in the parallel project as my tutor suggested.
Part 3, Project 1:Drawing
Following this project idea I asked the kids so that we make a drawing jointly. Each one could choose a media and draw oneself and each other blind on the same sheet of paper. Then we could draw more on it with open eyes. Each one drew separately and after finishing had the opportunity to see what he or she did before the next one closed the eyes and drew. The others watched the one who was drawing blindly and could make any comments or reactions that felt like. It was funny, but at some points it was frustrating as the one who was drawing was subject to the judgement, comments and reactions of the others who were watching.
This is what we ended up with and finally all were happy!
Investigating Drawing OCA 