Friday 1 June 2012

a peek at my DaD book for 2006 .....

You can always tell when I am not completing anything in my studio - I revert to showing you peeks of things already done.  That is not to say that I don't have plenty going on in my studio - too much started really and not enough being completed!  Many ideas and some of these, finally, are working their way through to fruition.  Etchings mostly - and I find the who process time consuming and involved.  There is absolutely nothing like the marks we make with etching though - and the gorgeous plate tone, scratch marks on the plate which I love to leave as they tell their own story and the way you can blend your inks, different ways to wipe the plates etc.  Obviously a print lover!

And a book lover ..... In 2006 I decided to bind my year of drawings into monthly volumes.  I only made ten, though I will finish two more for the set.  I have bound them with a series of different bindings and will make a perspex box for them ... a showcase really of stitching techniques which will be helpful when I teach.










As you can see, I actually rusted or manipulated many of my pages before working into them as I found this way less intimidating that facing a blank page every day.  Very often what was on the paper suggested my drawing for the day.  In my former home we lined the road leading to the house with liquidambers.  I was told not to expect too much autumn colour here in tropical Queensland but you should see the magnificent colours each year.  (I now live a couple of hundred metres from this home so each time I drive by, I still get to enjoy the autumn colour.)







One of the techniques I love working with is using white ink on translucent paper over my drawings.  Now I pierce and scratch the transparencies but it is lovely to be able to look back through my DaD books and see when those ideas took root.




I have always really loved this drawing - the manipulation of the paper did much of the work and I only had to draw into it a little to suggest the dandelion.




I am a Andy Goldsworthy fan.  This was inspired by his 'Time' book.  Towards the end of 2010 my partner Steve and I went on a six day Art Refuge walk in Haute Provence, in France  - doing the walk with a guide, looking at various works Andy had installed in the region, actually sleeping (not that we actually did get any sleep on the hard floor) in one of the art refuges and being able to see his installation in both the evening and morning light.  Bliss.  The experience was one of my most favourite travelling experiences.




2006 led up to my divorce and there were plenty of these black hole days!  The nice thing about drawing a day, which is usually a very personal visual diary (until you post it on your blog!) is that you can indulge in these 'poor me' drawings and keep up the pretence on the outside!




This would be another of my favourite drawings because it encapsulates what the DaD project is all about - not meant to be little masterpieces but sketches that reflect your day.  I was obviously cleaning and being spring, bees had flown into the house and died on the window sills.










I use a number of  'symbols' repeatedly in my serious work.  (One day I will have a web site organised and share images from some of this work.)  Vessels and the elongated seed pod shape are two that I use for woman (the vessel) and man (the seed pod).  I have an on going body of work 'The Art of Language' where I have used these shapes in my etchings many times.  They appear in my large drawings too.  I also have a thing for crosses and squares!













I never would have thought I would put anything personal out there on the web - and look at me.  Think I am now just in such a happy part of my life that it no longer matters.

13 comments:

  1. What a rich and wonderful post! I love the variation in the drawings.. and that particular collection of work in Goldsworthy's book, "Time" is probably my favorite of his. I especially LOVE the clay wall, love your image inspired by it, too. Thanks for the inspiration today... I just did a bit of binding of some old drawings, and thought what a good thing to do, cause I quite enjoy looking back at old sketchbooks, but don't do it very often, now that one or two of them are bound in a book, I do look more.

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    1. Thanks Valerie - lovely to meet another Andy Goldsworth fan! I too love his "Time" book best and was lucky enough to spend time with one of his clay walls in Digne le Baine after our six day walk. Just beautiful. mmmm - wish I had learnt the art of book making many many years ago as i probably would have bound many of my sketches and ideas into books. As it is, over the years and many moves, most of it is in the bin!

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  2. Susan, Thank you so much for sharing this amazing book. The drawings are so lovely and moodily evocative. I hope you will be posting more in the future. Are these small books? Would love to be able to hold one in my hands and look through it. Thank you again.

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    1. Hello Jill - thank you for finding your way to my blog. I guess I am really still feeling my way around this blogging world - working out what the blog is for, why am I doing it etc. I think one of the unexpected results from blogging is that you start to belong to a 'tribe' of like minded artists and look forward to hearing their response to your posts. Mostly though, I think for me it is becoming a way to visually record what is happening in my studio without having to write a diary or draw a visual diary each day. Those books in the 2006 drawing a day are squares of about 13cms and though I doubt that I will post from that year again, more than likely I will resort to posting from my past art meanderings, when I have nothing new to show ....

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  3. Thank you for sharing the book with us! I greatly admire those who can draw. It seems such a mystical, magical thing to be able to do...especially to one who cannot. I agree with Jill - I'd love to be able to hold one in my hands and enjoy turning page after page of your delightful drawings.

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    1. Thanks Jennifer. I think I was born drawing - certain hit is something I did prolifically from a very young age. My art 'journey' this last decade or so however, had been to learn to 'undraw' and try and suggest the feeling of things rather than accurately drawing all that I see. I do find though that a background in drawing is immensely helpful even when working in the abstract - maybe even especially when working in the abstract as it lends a certain validity to the marks one makes. Not sure if that makes sense!!

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  4. Hi Susan, I love your combination of paper, marks and rust - just beautiful... and your images - a visual feast!

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    1. Thanks Kim - I hope you managed to look back further in my blogs and see your beautiful pierced vessel in amongst my 'Studio Treasure'. I certainly am glad I learnt to rust paper - years ago now, but over the last fourteen years I have often used it as a starting point for a piece of work.

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  5. thank you for all the peeks at your sketchbooks.. love all the textures and layers and subdued colors.. wonderful images.

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    1. thanks Donna - must say I am looking forward to having a peek at your next body of work when you find the time to begin. I imagine you are still in New York?

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  6. Thank you for sharing,inspiring work.

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  7. S- an amazing collection - it must give you such a thrill and re-affirmation when you can sit and just leaf through such subtle achievements. B

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  8. Stunning work! I stumbled across your blog this afternoon, and I can tell I will be here for hours. Love the rusted pages.

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I appreciate your comments - thank you!