Increasing, improving and extending my sketchbook work has been one of my focus points for this assignment. This had a big boost on the weekend when my friend and fellow OCA student Claire came over for a day of mark making. You can see Claire’s work and read her account of the day at https://tactualtextiles.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/mark-making-with-paints-and-tools/.
The plan was to go big and go wild. We both started with some paper Claire had found at http://reversegarbage.org.au/. The printing on one side and coated (waterproofed?) reverse suggested it was roll ends from jiffy bags or similar. We worked on the blank but coated side which gave some interesting interactions especially when I attempted a watercolour wash which turned into a watercolour speckle.

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Next up was 100 gsm cartridge paper. White cartridge paper is my go-to base, but not at this size – 84 x 72 cm.

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The final piece for the day arose from frugal determination to waste not a smear of paint.

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Obviously none of the above are resolved works. They are the physical leavings of a fun and freeing process. I think there’s also a huge amount of detail that could be explored with L-shape frame finders. Lots of texture, lots of movement, lots of ideas, lots of space.
The next day I continued, this time responding to some casting samples. First sample p3-51, plaster and resin in a juice jug.

sketch_20150927a
Cramming (too?) many ideas into one sketch this is a blind, continuous line drawing, overlaid in two or three layers. I then tried to make sense of all the lines with a “clarifying” wash of black watercolour. Lots of energy in the lines and I felt I had good focus and observation of the sample. The result isn’t informative as a picture but I’m pleased with the sense of pushing myself.

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This uses charcoal for the plaster areas and grey oil pastel for the resin. There’s something very odd going on with the proportions, especially in the centre. My main focus was the lines and planes formed by the jug, and I think the curves of the handle went well. The big spike of resin contrasts effectively with the smooth mass of plaster. Once again I was happy with my maintenance of concentration and keeping my eyes at least as much on the sample as the page. I think this shows good progress for me, although I actually prefer the first version – so much more lively and expressive.
Next some work with sample p3-47, the cast of ribbed knitting. I actually started this a couple of days earlier, using the 3D pen and “drawing” in plastic filament.

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Lots of energy, and it was good to work in a palette of mainly neutrals which is a change for me. This is based on just one small section of the repeated pattern. Given the knit is so regular I wanted to understand the structure more.

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I started lower right using conte crayons. The not particularly complicated pattern was eluding me and the drawing was clumsy, so I stopped and concentrated on a simple graphic map. Seen on the left, this is a different kind of clumsy but at least the pattern repeat emerges.
Top right I changed to two pastel pencils held together to make a very loose and simplified interpretation of some of the patterning. This is the most successful section of this page.
Moving forward in time, I returned to sample p3-47, this time using tissue paper as the base.

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I decided to move to ink on the tissue.

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Liking the marks, I tried combining them in different ways.

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My original intention using tissue paper was to layer pieces up in interesting combinations. Unfortunately none of the combinations interested me. Wanting to take them forward somehow, I finished by experimenting with the photo of sketch_20150927g, using a series of distortion filters in gimp.

sketch_20150927g emboss

sketch_20150927g weave

sketch_20150927g polar coord

sketch_20150927g ripple

sketch_20150927g iwarp

sketch_20150927g illusion

sketch_20150927g fractal
Some of the above look quite textile-y in nature, and it was good to explore some corners of the software.
T1-MMT-P3-p2 Weekend sketchbook
Textiles 1 – Mixed Media for Textiles
Part 3: Molding and casting
Project 2: Casting the internal space of a vessel
Weekend sketchbook
A really inspiring post: both in terms of your energy and output.
Thanks Lottie. I’ve been so inspired by you and others in ATV, jumping in with so many exciting ideas.
Love the new stuff you did the following day. My pieces look sooooooo neat after looking at yours!!!!
It’s great to read about your experiments, Judy. I love the small card piece – don’t you find it’s often the final piece, the leftovers or the accidental marks on the background that are most interesting? Following the casting of textile pieces and their progression with interest too.
It’s odd – all that thought and effort, then the accidental has the “something” we look for. How do we plan for serendipity? Silly question, by definition we can’t.