Tuesday, April 28, 2009

One and Other

So, I am officially in the draw to take part in Antony Gormley's One and Other performance piece on the Fourth Plinth this summer. People from all over the UK are invited to enter for a chance to win an hour's slot on the empty plinth on Trafalgar Square where they will become a kind of 'living artwork' (well, sort of). Out of curiosity I clicked on the official website and found out how easy it is to sign up. So I did so straight away. Shortly afterwards I received an automated email addressed "Dear Plinther", informing me that I have been entered into the draw. Places will be allocated by computer, with an equal number of men and women, and by proportional representation, apparently. Watch this space!

Musicians, Picasso and Helen

Here are a few sketches done in recent months - some more recent than others.


I did this sketch on Sunday night - my cousin Susie and her boyfriend Ed performed at an open mic session at a bar in Tower Hill (a bar where my other cousin Genevieve used to work). It was a lovely evening and I can't wait to hear more of Susie and Ed's music. I might play the 'cello with them soon too.



My friend Helen who is now living in Malaysia. I drew these in a Soho cafe whilst waiting for food to come. It was a dark January evening, and we were with another mutual friend, Milenna, who was visiting from Amsterdam. We'd just visited the Annie Liebovitz exhibition and were celebrating Helen's new job as well as Milenna's visit, and reminiscing about fun times spent together in New York last year.




Sketches from the Picasso exhibition at the National Gallery. I fell in love with the final room - especially Picasso's takes on Delacroix' Femmes d'Algers series.



Two of a series of sketches I did during a masked ball I attended over Easter weekend. I love sketching live musicians - there's something really liberating about having just a few seconds to capture their shapes and a sense of their movement.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

etchings



Here is a selection of some of my etchings. The above scene was engraved directly onto a copper point using the drypoint technique (ie no acid was used). I didn't trace the original sketch so it's back to front, but I quite like the effect. I think the original drawing is in my archive from 2008 - it's one of several drawings I did sitting at Pink Pony restaurant in Ludlow Street in the Lower East Side, New York. The three jazz bar scenes below are part of a wider project I'm currently working on - I plan to have a series of canvases completed this summer. The images are based on sketches I did at a gig at the Knitting Factory, again in New York. Two of them are etchings made using hard ground and aquatint and the third is a monoprint. The final etching is taken from a small watercolour sketch based on the view from a train window, made during a trip to Kerala in South India in 2005. The original image was published in the Mays Literary anthology in 2007. I'm not sure if the etching captures South India's vibrant atmosphere so much, but it was fun experimenting with the soft ground technique and using coloured ink.