Life

Steve (2), originally uploaded by David Pott.

Drawn on cartridge paper with a compressed charcoal pencil. Lots of broad crosshatching helps to keep the shadows luminous and preserve the feeling of reflected light from the background and floor.

I made a conscious effort to use a combination of juicy dark lines (for example, to emphasise the inner fold of the back of the knee and any areas that were moving into shadow). I wanted to contrast these areas with ‘lost’ edges, usually corresponding with highlights, for example on the top edges of his arms.

Steve (1), originally uploaded by David Pott.

Here in Bolton we’re lucky to have access to a free figure drawing class. Here’s the first of two studies of Steve, our model this week.

Watching the TV after School

Here’s a page from one of my sketchbooks. Its so difficult to get catch children sitting still. Sometime you have to catch them during one the rare times of day when they are (relatively) still and quiet.

My sketchbooks are full of very quick and usually unfinished sketches like this. I do feel very jealous of people whose sketchbooks are full of mini-masterpeices on each page. I never seem to have the time to complete my sketches and as a result my sketchbooks are full of half-finished drawings and unidentifiable squiggles.

Two things I found very interesting today:

1) An advert by London Transport to demonstrate how easy it is to distract our attention from something big. Don’t let me spoil it, see the ad on YouTube (see the link below).

2) A copy of the BBC’s Horizon programme discussing the parallel universe theory - a theory that might explain the origin of the universe and the nature of matter.

Both the advert and the new theory touch on how we perceive the world. In the case of the advert, we learn how little we actually notice and how easily we are distracted. With the parallel universe theory, we learn that perhaps all we see is but a small slice of a much bigger whole.

As an artist, I find this interesting because perceptions (my perceptions and your perceptions) vary so much. When painting, I want to hide certain realities from the viewer and exaggerate others.

So to learn how easily fooled the brain is, and then discover how little our perceptions of reality match up to the real world, inspires me to believe that art might just be more valid than our own perceptions.

Here’s the BBC program about parallel universes:

and here’s the London Transport advert:

I can recommend Seth Godin’s blog (I read it regularly) - and this is an interesting post. Seth posts a mechanism to encourage the business world to explore the art world AND engage with the local community.

Seth recommends that medium to large businesses employ an artist in residence. The artist presumably has the brief of exploring visually the company, its environs, employees and customers. The work produced forms an exhibition that involves the local community. When the exhibition is over the artwork goes into the offices and factories.

Some forward-thinking companies in the UK already do this on a small scale but given the vast profits of the Tescos and Barclays of this world, why doesn’t it happen more often, and on a larger and (dare I say) more commercial scale?

The blog entry is here.