Saturday 14 September 2013

on drawing and the metaphysical doodle

Late in August, Canadian artist Shelagh Keeley offered a drawing workshop to CTS members and friends. This was my third and last workshop of the summer and the perfect follow up to Maxine's class. The environment was once again most amiable and the hours soon saw us building up to different exercises in drawing. It was fun and substantial, with relevant handouts and visual aids. One way or another, we all benefited from diverse and sometimes unconventional ways of drawing, all of which rendered very auspicious results.
Some of our drawings on the table.

In the end, we all managed to reconnect with the joy of letting the hand glide freely on the paper and respond to various visual and tactile stimuli, leading to the creation of a significant number of marks that eventually transcended professional backgrounds and most importantly, expectations.
A closer view of our drawings.

Fully recharged after this workshop, September found me back in the studio with a new goal: To fully resolve and print one [new] design a week. I continue to draw as often as possible, but so far, the two designs that have been produced these last couple of weeks are from my drawings during Shelagh's workshop.
From left to right: Original drawing for "hecha nudos" (in knots). The right-most is a turned overprint.
Hecha nudos, infinity scarves.
The left image is the original drawing for "esto no es un chayote" (this is not a chayote). The right one is printed on  a fabulous cotton/hemp canvas in three colours.
"Esto no es un chayote" in pillow form out for a test drive at home.

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Continuing on the subject of trying new things and making them work, I find the following merge of talents intriguingly successful. How did this ever happen? And it's been six years! It is September, let's continue the creative celebration.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Gone, Gone, Gone. Rounder Records, 2007.