Tag Archives: my drawings
Untitled
Posted in Drawing Also tagged dither, dither pattern, Drawing, grey, pattern, pencil on paper 1 Comment
Memento
First drawing finished in ’09. The wood-paneled background – which is becoming an increasingly common feature in recent drawings, almost a character in its own right – starts to feel like foliage and I like the discombobulating depth of field that it creates. It at once consumes and regurgitates the central figure, kind of like a trombone shot or dolly zoom – pulling focus like the scene with James Stewart in Vertigo where he falls into a metaphorical abyss while standing perfectly still. It is a technique that is always used in the movies to suggest someone falling away from themselves or undergoing some sort of realisation. This time it is intense, cheerful and surreal.
The Well
This was started a while ago but recently reworked in order to tweak the narrative flow and the way the characters in the windows interact with one another and in turn the building itself. In essence it reads as a kind of non-linear comic, one without formal structure and one that builds into the story of the individual voices and personal theatre of the occupants of each apartment. Architecturally the housing complex is a theme park throwback to 18th-century architecture parlante: a symbol of defiance aimed at the indifference of Modernism’s formal rigour.
Difficult to get a good photo of though.
Untitled – hair monster (study)
This is a study for a larger piece I am working on. In the final drawing, there will most likely be an army of similarly hirsute and equally zombie-like creatures in the background, marching behind in a bird like v-formation. The purpose of the study was to have a go at using an eraser to create the facial expression on the hair and see how stupid that did or didn’t look. I wanted to have the disguise display its own character, perhaps at odds with person underneath it. It looks nicely stupid.
Wanted to work this up to a finish because it was developing into something interesting in its own right.
Twice a day
Unfortunately the top and bottom have been cropped from this image, about 1-1.5cm’s each side. Long story. I don’t think it’s too disruptive in terms of what’s there, especially not at the top, but the weighting feels a little wrong at the bottom. I’m working on fixing and re-scanning it before it goes up in the works section, so here is a preview in the mean time.
Trying to build up layer upon layer of pattern, so that each cancels out the history and intricacy of the previous. On one level all you are left with is the geometry of the panels; on another a series of mini explosions and doodled obscenities. I’m not sure how well that is showing up, but if you click through to the original size image on Flickr you can get a better idea.
Nosferatu
I did this picture a couple of years ago and have just found and recovered it from the bottom of a drawer in my studio. I was a little surprised to find it there because it is part of a series of about 4 or 5 that got sent to either Italy or New York almost as soon as they were finished. I guess it didn’t make the cut, although I’m quite fond of it now.
Take 2
This is the reworking of a drawing I posted a couple of months ago. It was floating around in the studio bugging me, looking a little undercooked so I added full background paraphernalia as well change the shape of the body while trying to avoid being stuck on other drawings. It does look a bit like a cluedo character now, in a good way…(hopefully), like a marble bust with lipstick and a wig on, but it was looking a bit flat, a bit too like a straight portrait before; there was nothing awkward about it, no kick, no nothing. The semi-psychedelic background definitely offsets the blank eyes better and gives it a much creepier, more uncanny vibe.
Trolling
This is a new drawing I have just finished. I have been working on it for a while but wanted to finish it slowly so that I could consider some of the details that fill in the gaps between the narrative. The text being written in the comments form of the blog on the screen is taken from a post on You Had Better Know titled Love Letters, which is a really good example of a troll. Even when you click through on the image above to the larger one I’m not sure if it’s entirely legible, so if you want to read it, visit the link above.
I have also now added it to the works page of my website.
Temporary Happiness Facilitator
This just recently finished. It had actually been in the studio nearly finished for a couple of months waiting for the final details to be added. Minor things, but stuff like deciding the title of the book on the table and what, if anything, should be on the tv screen. I left it blank because formally I think it works better; that side of the picture needed some white space to balance with the arm and the blind. Although originally the idea was for him to be watching a porno movie. Maybe I might come back to that.
As always, it’s up on the works page of the website too.
New work – another untitled
I seem to be stuck in the middle of a titling black hole at the moment. Either that or I’m first finishing the work that I don’t already have a title in mind for as a short cut to completion. Working in the hope that maybe then, when I’m finished drawing, something will suggest itself. Not that titling completes any work of art, nor that not titling leaves any loose ends, but certainly a title can help to frame a context. But I wish I could think of something. As it is, this drawing is going by the working title of Untitled – (Shhh). Which actually works for me. Stay tuned because it’s likely to change.
As always, it is up on the works page of my website.
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Untitled…
The May show at Ubu in Glasgow has been put back a few months until later in the year. As I begin to finish all the work that was due to be in it, so I begin to document it. I’m posting this one for now – the smallest – as a teaser here and on the works page of my website. No title for this one yet…
The tutorialist