Drawing Inspired by Elements: Hands Moving Charcoal Dust
Drawing Inspired by Elements consists of four drawing exercises which are designed to help you to look again at some of our most elemental drawing materials and find inspiration in the elemental qualities of earth, water, and fire.
Charcoal is one of our oldest drawing materials – reach for a lump of burnt out wood from the ashes of a fire and make a mark on a nearby rock, and you are probably replicating the actions of people from the Chauvet Cave, southern France, over 30,000 years ago. In this assignment we are going to remind ourselves of the origins of drawing and mark making, and in so doing explore the kinds of marks charcoal likes to make, and how we can push and manipulate it further…
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Gina Mills
September 22, 2012 @ 5:11 pm
Here is my first drawing. I used big chunks of barbeque charcoal to make most of the dust (it was a bit hard to grind to a powder!) and smaller (more expensive) drawing charcoal for the lines I added in later.
I like the strong lines around the hand silhouette, the black dots (inspired by the bigger bits of barbeque charcoal I threw onto the paper) and the bits where I rolled the putty rubber across the paper to pick up some of the charcoal (although I realise that is a bit more like print-making, in a way).
I am less sure about the ill-defined parts in the bottom left corner, and where I was tempted to made curves and circles which are more decorative than instinctive.
I think I’ll have another go with the charcoal, and try and use some of the elements I like from this drawing.
Paula Briggs
September 22, 2012 @ 9:31 pm
Lovely idea to use the BBQ charcoal Gina, and yes it has a very different texture – more gritty. Yes I understand entirely how you feel about the marks bottom left being more “decorative than instinctive” – funny isnt it how just using the shape of the hand can give purpose to the charcoal, and without the hand the marks somehow feel different.
I think you can try one of two ways forward. If you feel happier working with some subject matter to give you purpose then keep working with your hands as focus – thinking about the relationship between dominant and non dominant hand each doing their job. Or, you could try surrending yourself to the charcoal even more and make for yourself three or four drawings which are just about the charcoal. If this feels arbitrary, give yourself a guideline – like make an abstract charcoal drawing to music, or an abstract charcoal drawing with structure.
Alternatively you could try asking yourself the following?: What are the least charcoal marks I can make on a page and still qualify the marks as being a drawing?
Many thanks for sharing and for the the first to upload. The drawing has a lovely diagonal focus.
Glenis Goodman
September 23, 2012 @ 2:33 pm
Hello Gina, I like your drawing, especially the upper left corner which reminds me of dandelions or flowers losing their petals in a breeze. Glenis
Gina Mills
September 23, 2012 @ 5:24 pm
Thanks Glenis, I work in an arboretum, so perhaps I do have seeds and plants on the brain a little bit!
This is one of the elements I chose to use again when I did my second drawing (attached), along with the stronger lines which I liked about the first drawing.
For this drawing, I used the suggestion of working back from the dusty pallette with a rubber to start the drawing, and then using the charcoal to make stronger lines. I ended up using the rubber and the charcoal several times over to layer up and get some really strong lines.
Glenis Goodman
September 23, 2012 @ 5:41 pm
Hi Gina, you have created a sense of looking through a frosted window, which is somehow enhanced by the fingers creeping into the frame.. I love the spiky leaves – they create a feeling of depth and concealment – what might we find on the other side of the foliage? a lovely image.
Ciara Gibson
July 22, 2014 @ 4:26 pm
I love the strong lines and sense of depth in your second image Gina.
Sheila Ceccarelli
September 23, 2012 @ 8:15 pm
Hello Gina,
I really like these two drawing and the way they seem both ‘structured’ and considered yet also intuitive and experimental.
I don’t have a problem at all with the bottom left hand corner of the top drawing – it feels like a place of experimentation and also allows some nice breathing space and balance in the composition. I really like the way that you have used the specs of charcoal to make black dots – which add a wonderful sense of energy to the drawing.
The second drawing also has wonderful energy in it – and wonderful the verity and depth of textures and different densities of charcoal. Really well done for a great start to the course.
Sheila
Benedicte Foo
September 23, 2012 @ 11:26 am
Like Gina I tried some BBQ charcoal but found it wasn’t really thick and black enough.
I think my drawing is a bit pale and flat but using different parts of the hand introduced ideas of movement (fireworks and bubbles came to mind somehow). Surprisingly the drawing on the ‘palette’ was interesting to do and I’d like to have another go. Viewing the drawings upside down is also very revealing.
Things I remember: the pleasure of using the willow charcoal: its softness and darkness
PS I only seem able to upload one image–or am I missing a trick here?
PPS I like Gina’s drawing which I find very evocative and alluring
Benedicte
Paula Briggs
September 23, 2012 @ 4:37 pm
Hi Benedicte, thank you for uploading your image. If you’d like to you can upload a second image as a second comment….
Also to answer your questions via email: There is no cut off point for the assignments – you can upload at any time. And we recommend you spend between 30 minutes and 2 hours on each assignment – this might not be in the form of one drawing for each assignment – instead you might want to let your ideas develop over a few drawings. Give yourself time to settle in to your drawing…
I like the allusion in your drawing to fireworks and movement. There’s a strange tension in the drawing which I quite like. It’s interesting you feel it is flat… I think the white dots and dashes give movement and this could be built upon I think if the composition of the hands were not quite so linear – i.e. if one of the hands were turned on a diagonal it would add more movement to the image… I can see or feel a vortex would begin to emerge.
Alternatively, maybe the “flatness” could be built upon instead… so rather than create something which leans towards drawing, you work instead towards a drawing which leans towards printmaking – like a linocut for example..
Make sense? Well done Benedicte
Gina Mills
September 23, 2012 @ 5:31 pm
Hi Benedicte – this is a really interesting drawing. It makes me think of aboriginal storytelling. It looks like it could be describing a journey in some way, or a tale about a river.
Really nice to see other people’s work!
Glenis Goodman
September 23, 2012 @ 5:48 pm
Hi Benedicte, I agree with Gina’s comment. Your drawing suggests aboriginal storytelling to me, too, maybe linked to the cosmos or the collision of different worlds?
Sheila Ceccarelli
September 23, 2012 @ 8:31 pm
Hi Benedicte,
I enjoyed looking at this and again I think you’ve captured something familiar about the essence of being human in this piece. There is something really raw about the use of charcoal and the motif of the hand to conjure up feelings about our very essence and indeed I agree with Gina that there is something about dream time in this image. I can see the layers and energy, the way the charcoal almost scrapes at the surface of the paper – really worth the energy that you put into this. I can imagine this image as being one of a series – and would love to see how it develops into the next piece. Thanks very much for sharing this inspiring image with us. Sheila
Glenis Goodman
September 23, 2012 @ 2:26 pm
Hi, here is the first drawing. I didn’t have lumps of charcoal available and used ready powdered charcoal which I tipped on to an A2 sheet and rubbed in around my hand. i used both hands and different directions. It was difficult getting enough darks but, having spilt some charcoal powder on to the drawing, I tried to recreate the random darkness of this charcoal “rain” by using a transparent glue, which I trailed around small areas of the paper using a twig. Then I poured charcoal powder over it, tipped the paper to encourage charcoal and glue to meet and then left it to set. In particular, I like the “constellation” effect on the hand print top left. I cut back into the image using a gummi eraser to bring out some highlights. In one area, I overdid the glue and it was just a mess so I drew a hand imprint on a piece of newspaper and collaged over the mess ( I realise that collage was not in the instructions but thought it better to ” go with the flow” and try to rescue it than start again). I added a couple of darker hands to bring something more out of the greys and also to give a sense of hands overlaying each other – an attempt at depth. I added a newspaper “bracelet” to one wrist and made a final attempt at sprinkling charcoal which I fixed in place using hairspray. It’s rather fragile but holding at the moment! I felt that it needed something to unify the image – I might print out copies and look at ways to develop the image further – I thought of clock hands…? The second image is a cropped version of the first. I will try to extend the range of mark-making in the next exercises.
Glenis Goodman
September 23, 2012 @ 2:29 pm
The cropped image was uploaded first by mistake. Here is the original image. When I cropped the original, I also altered the orientation.
Paula Briggs
September 23, 2012 @ 4:48 pm
Hi Glenis, welcome back! It certainly sounds like you’ve been on a bit of a journey with this image and congratulations for pushing it (and thanks for sharing the detail of it). I love that you’ve involved college and capturing the powder too via glue. You did exactly the right think following the flow.
I think it’s the variety of activity and mark making which makes the image dynamic. I’d love to see it real life – I imagine it demands you stand back from it, and yet at the same time draws you in by its detail. My reaction as it stands, i think prompted by the energy of the different actions, is to push it even further in the next drawings and enjoy its physical nature (for some reason i want to crumple and straighten the paper). Despite the way you rationalised the drawing in your description, you do seem able to work instinctively at the time of drawing, so keep doing that… good stuff
Sheila Ceccarelli
September 23, 2012 @ 8:20 pm
Hi Glenis, Really love the energy in this drawing – the variety of marks and the composition with the hands almost spiraling – feels like something almost primeval with the consolidations as well! Very rich and full of energy and movement. I think I agree with Paula – I like the idea of almost using the ‘destructive’ instinct that you had of covering and tearing and see where that takes you. Lovely to see this work. Sheila
Gina Mills
September 23, 2012 @ 5:33 pm
Thanks for sharing this. It has reminded me that it is OK to work with the assignment in a less structured way. Great work with the glue and hairspray!
Ciara Gibson
July 22, 2014 @ 4:27 pm
The use of the newspaper really adds to the layers of the image.
Benedicte Foo
September 23, 2012 @ 10:33 pm
Hi Glenis–your hands are really interesting–fun and mysterious. Thanks for describing how you developed your images and the techniques you used. Lovely ideas for breaking free.
Glenis Goodman
September 24, 2012 @ 9:42 pm
Thank you everyone for the feedback. Paula and Sheila, it looks like no-one has posted anything yet for the third and fourth tasks. i ran out of time this weekend after drawing water… will we get more time to post this week,, please and will we still receive feedback?
Paula Briggs
September 24, 2012 @ 9:54 pm
Yes I’ sorry if you didn’t Receive the email – the course content will stay online and you can access it at any time and receive feedback at any time – hope that helps!
Jayne Stansfeld
September 25, 2012 @ 11:06 am
surprisingly compelling to work this way with charcoal, I got really into the marks that were happening. Liked the swooshing noise as my charcoally hand moved across paper and also at first soft marks using the flat of my hand and a spiral that accidentally appeared, I decided to work with this and go with the slightly shell like structure appearing and attempted to support with more hands. strangely this photo has flipped the image, but that is ok for now.
The rubber that came to hand was a slightly rough one that was on the end of a pencil, I like the marks that resulted from drawing little circles and then rubbing charcoal into them, did of this on purpose on “the shell”
Jayne Stansfeld
September 25, 2012 @ 11:11 am
Drawing 1
That was the detail of shell – this is the whole drawing. did several others focusing marking making including tipping bits of charcoal onto the paper and using them to make thicker blacker marks and trying to get as many bits to stick to my hand as I could and then making “brush stroke type marks. have stuck them on my wall to consider.
Has taken a bit of time to get the hang of this and allow space for my own work I realised
Sheila Ceccarelli
September 25, 2012 @ 12:26 pm
Hello Jayne,
Really great the way you have entered into the process of working and moving the charcoal. It looks like you’ve really explored it’s properties and versatility. Wonderful the way you have got so much movement and dynamism in your work. I’m almost wondering if it would be good for you to experiment with working bigger so you can push it with your whole body and not be limited by the size of the paper? Lovely also seeing you working in series. Thanks for showing us.
Paula Briggs
September 25, 2012 @ 12:38 pm
The image showing the whole drawing looks amazing – i really like it. I like the mess of it. And the variety of marks. I agree with sheila about working large and letting your whole body get involved. You might want to type “Yves Klein body painting” into google images – not suggesting you have to do the same but i think the marks he ends up with might inspire you further – he uses pigment on the body as mark making tool…
Suki White
October 4, 2012 @ 9:54 am
Hi – this is the final image from the first exercise – it went on quite a journey to get to this point – I photographed each stage and can see where inspiration took over from deliberate mark making. An interesting exercise – good for loosening up.
Sheila Ceccarelli
October 4, 2012 @ 11:04 am
This is a wonderful image – you can see the history and energy in the drawing. Interesting how you have started to highlight shapes using contour lines – the hand and swirls – makes the drawing feel very sculptural. Very much a sense of the elements in this drawing – can almost feel the wind and power of the earth! How big is it? If you can find the energy and time, you may want to experiment with uping the scale? A really fabulous start and exploration of charcoal and the subject. Thanks for uploading!
Suki White
October 4, 2012 @ 9:56 am
This is the second image – created from the piece of paper used as a palette. Looking at images from other poeple I relaise how dark mine are – I could do with more light and shade.
Sheila Ceccarelli
October 4, 2012 @ 11:08 am
I like this one too Suki – again I can see the expanse of energy that you must have put into making these marks – both scrubbing away to reveal the white of the paper and to get the contrasting black back too! I think you’ve achieved a lot by this process – and again you can see the energy and history of the drawing. My instinct is still that you may want to have a go working big. Well done. Look forward to seeing the next ones!
Miranda Hobson
October 11, 2012 @ 10:17 pm
Hi I’ve finally got around to uploading my work after doing it a few weeks ago. Thanks to everyone else for sharing already, they are so unique. I took a lot of photos of the process too, but here are my two end results. I only had one stick of willow charcoal which I got through very quickly, so I added to it with dark grey pastel – a low grade gritty variety which I had nearly thrown away, but it proved itself for this exercise,making lots of thick dust, hope that’s ok. At first I was frustrated with the lack of density but I came to appreciate the subtle layering and variation of tone that developed as I worked the medium around with my hands quite quickly and repetitively. I used a putty rubber quickly and like the effect of layering more grey onto the negative marks, which could never quite be covered over. In the first image, I like the top left area criss-cross marks which I made by standing the palette paper on its edge and tapping it down onto the first paper. It was accidental at first, then I moved it more consciously. I realised how small my fingers are by looking at the handshape! Later I added a second hand because the first one seemed lonely, isolated, then the arching black shape developed even more,somehow protecting them. I regret drawing the black outline on after because it seems to float over the hand instead of being a part of it so wouldn’t do that again if I try another drawing.
Miranda Hobson
October 11, 2012 @ 10:18 pm
Here are the two hands, with outline as described above.
Sheila Ceccarelli
October 16, 2012 @ 10:42 am
Hello Miranda, So interesting looking at your work and comparing it with others uploaded – just amazing to see that an exercise, executed in the same or similar way, should have so many different outcomes – it’s almost like seeing different personalities coming through or styles emerging. There is an eerie sense of ‘history’ in this work – I think as an outcome from the energy and layers that you have invested in your piece. You can really feel the energy and thoughtfulness you have put into the process – creating really successful drawings. I think there is an amazing sense of light and vortex in the pieces – considering how they were made – very hard to achieve. No problem at all using the grey pastel – good to make good with what you’ve already got! I’m looking forward to seeing what you do next. Thanks very much for uploading!
Miranda Hobson
October 11, 2012 @ 10:31 pm
Sorry for adding another image but I wanted to share the palette paper I worked on. It had some very black areas due to all the pastel dust and I worked over it quite energetically with both hands. I have done a lot of wet felt-making in the past and I used big massaging and rubbing movements which reminded of me of manipulating the wool fibres. Then I took a breather and really looked at the shapes that were underlying the layers of smoothed dust, catching the light areas more with a putty rubber and using lots of curved sweeps. I tried not to think too much but I started to see…an elephant as if struggling from mud??!!!I didn’t intend to make anything representational but maybe it symbolises the effort of my struggle with the medium?! I’d love to know what you think!
Trisha Goodwin
January 7, 2013 @ 2:00 pm
I found this a fascinating exercise and it went very differently from how I expected. The marks are more uniform than I would have predicted or initially hoped for, perhaps more decorative as well. But then I’m drawn to all over designs, like Monets later large works and Jackson Pollock, so maybe not so surprising. What I found I got fixated on, was getting a sense of energy coming from the fingers outwards – this became slightly obsessive. I feel this gives, in reality, a witch like feel to the hand! The spirals were entirely instinctive, I worked very fast and furiously and it felt like energy coming off my fingers, relating to energy and fingers in the drawing. At the end when I looked at it, I felt it maybe said something about women and creativity, a bit primitive, hence the witch reference even. For me its still too even in texture throughout the drawing and maybe those references are a bit hackned. As my specialism is textile design, it has given me ideas for developing into stitch, or paint and stitch, which is a real positive.
Paula Briggs
January 8, 2013 @ 11:35 am
Great that is was such a positive experience for you Trisha. I know exactly what you mean about it being hard to get real tonal range – it’s really hard using the powder to get black blacks isn’t it. And I think there is something “slowing” (not in a bad way) about the fact that to get real darks you have to work over and over the same part of your drawing, which gives you time to ask if you’re sure of the marks you make. But at the same time the slowness or repetition contrasts with the feeling that these should be fast drawings to make – perhaps because it feels like this should be an instinctive way of working (because it’s so primitive), and perhaps we associate being instinctive with being fast…. It IS fascinating.
I think the drawing above is full of energy – and I like the way the energy from your hands became directly associated with the hand itself.
As you are interested in all-over designs, I wonder if it would be interesting for you to see how you can make a drawing in the same way which leaks off the page. The drawing above is still bound by the page, but what would happen if you let the marks you make continue off the page?
I like the idea of it inspiring stitching and would love to see how that goes… feel free to post them here if you want to.
Sheila Ceccarelli
January 9, 2013 @ 1:47 pm
Brilliant the way this exercise has triggered associations and ideas. Perfect. I also like the way you describe the energy that was liberated by the process.
nybrowne
June 13, 2013 @ 4:02 pm
Hello everyone,
I’m very excited to be doing this course. I have found it fascinating and inspiring to see other students’ pictures. What amazing work, and people’s stories to accompany them have been so interesting.
Here is my offering. I used artists willow charcoal, and also a lump of charred oak from our fireplace. This gave rough and smooth texture to work with, and also helped with the volume of ‘dust required’. I’m not very experienced in art, I spend more time with textiles than with paper. I tend to focus on detail, and so I was pleased to approach this loose, large project.
I enjoyed this exercise immensely. I was inspired by the context of a cave wall. I didn’t have A2 paper, so I took 2 x A 3 pieces, tore a rough edge down each and then applied them together using water to feather the edges. The paper was still damp at the join when I started work. I imagined this as a small trickle of water down a cave wall. I was pleased with the way the charcoal worked in the damp area, and it gave a very dark space. I liked the texture of the torn edges, again they collected the charcoal and gave a nice ‘edge’.
I also ‘splattered’ water colour masking fluid onto the page before applying any charcoal. This gave some texture, and again allowed very dark areas to form. I then removed some of the masking fluid with an eraser as one of the last stages. I liked the lichen effect it gave.
I liked the ‘found image’ of the fish swimming towards the hand shape. I emphasised it a little with a charcoal stick (rather than dust) but I was fearful of ‘spoiling’ him, so I did very little. This reminded me of how stoneage man might have used textural elements in a cave wall to suggest or help emphasise the figures painted onto or carved into the cave wall.
I found it quite difficult to ‘let go’ and push the medium. A way into this for me was to imagine the movements of different animals and try to mime them with my hands on the page. I focused on the movement and not the marks that were being made. Then I stood back and looked at what had emerged. I found it helpful to backlight the paper when viewing it, it helped me look deeper, and not focus on the flat surface.
Another thing I liked, was to ‘load’ my hand with dust and then slam my palm down flat onto the page with a lot of force. It hurt, but it gave great detail of the lines of my hand, almost an x-ray effect. I’m not sure it shows up well in the photo (towards the top left). I found that I ‘lost’ quite a lot of my original masked hand space, but I quite like the fact that it looked less like a big white hand, by the end.
I was amazed how fragile the work is. It was so easy to lose detail just by handling the paper or accidentally brushing over an area.
Paula Briggs
June 13, 2013 @ 7:00 pm
Hello Nicola, many thanks for uploading and sharing – what rich and evocative images and there are so many clues – of ways of working, thought processes and outcomes – really wonderful. The joined tear is fantastic and made a wonderful starting point. You know I can imagine you lining a corner of a room with paper and creating a real cave for yourself!
I like the slammed hand too – and yes it’s more intriguing than a plain white space might be. The whole image does feel incredibly “stony”. It reminded me of Norman Ackroyds prints which i just happened to see on BBC4 last night on “What do Artists do all day” – and especially the close up below – it has the same equality – albeit more fragile, as his aquatints.
My 8-year old daughter just spotted the fish! I think it’s a very exciting image that merges a lot of elements – bodes well for the next stage!
nybrowne
June 13, 2013 @ 4:03 pm
And here is a close up of the splatter detail…
Paula Briggs
June 13, 2013 @ 7:01 pm
Just thinking…. it might be nice to photocopy these areas and then enlarge them and enlarge them – lovely marks!
Ciara Gibson
July 22, 2014 @ 4:33 pm
I took some charcoal outside today and had a fantastic afternoon playing about with it. In my first drawing I was enjoying the feeling of pushing the charcoal into the paper, usually I would be frustrated at how light the tone was, as I prefer working with a stronger black, but it didn’t seem to matter. After my second picture I realise that my first was still overly concerned with creating a ‘form’ of some description, whereas the second piece (from my palette) was definitely less designed.
Paula Briggs, AccessArt
September 15, 2014 @ 9:34 am
I’m glad you enjoyed the process Ciara – it sounds like you really threw yourself into this activity. I like the way that you felt able to identify when you were beginning to let go – and follow the acrtion, rather than trying to create a “form of description”. I think both iamges are successful, but I agree I really like the second image for the way it lets go and becoems the process. In the first image though, I do like the way the hand seems to be a portrayal of the action – with the hand in the image feeling part of the movement, rather than just an illustration of…
Ciara Gibson
July 22, 2014 @ 4:45 pm
My second image. I think I was more relaxed and keen to play with the charcoal this time. The centre of the image was created by pressing my palm hard into the paper.
I like the energy in this piece.
It’s quite an addictive process!!
I think taking photos throughout is excellent advice as the pieces do change so much.
Sheila Ceccarelli
July 31, 2014 @ 8:36 pm
Hi Ciara- thank you for uploading images and I apologise for the delay in getting back to you. I really enjoyed reading about your process and seeing your images and how you have embraced the processes and allowed images to flow out. I agree that taking photos of the work evolve is a great idea and integrated into the process can be hugely enabling and allow one to take risks. I love the energy of your drawings, particularly the work with the palm of your hand – you can imagine the pulse of energy coming through your palm into the drawing.
I recently saw work by Betsy Dadd who does large animated drawings which are richly anchored in mark making – now that you have taken images of your process you may be interested in animating the images using simple software? just an idea – please ignore if it does not feel relevant! /vivid-young-creatives-betsy-dadd-st-bedes-inter-church-school-cambridge/
Thanks very much for sharing your work and I look very forward to seeing what happens next!
Best wishes,
Sheila (AccessArt)
Sheila Ceccarelli
July 31, 2014 @ 8:38 pm
Looks wonderful and a real journey of exploration and spontaneous mark making. Lovely!
Thanks very much for uploading.
Paula Briggs, AccessArt
September 15, 2014 @ 9:37 am
Wonderful Ciara – very strong and full of “essence” of charcoal! I can imagine it started to get to the point where the surface of the paper was not far of being “destroyed” by the intensity of the action…. I like the idea of maybe pushing it even further and working on old tatty brown corrugated cardboard and letting the surface becoem really involved and the charcoal embedded in the surface?? I know you prefer strong blacks to weaker tones (in your last upload) but I also wonder what would happen if you tried to make a print from this by putting paper over the surface and using the back of a spoon or your hand to transfer some of the dust. Then maybe seeing them as a pair side by side…
Great stuff Ciara…
Many thanks
Paula
Julie D
February 6, 2015 @ 2:50 pm
Here is mine – looking at other peoples mine perhaps is not as black. I enjoyed the assignment a lot and feel reconnected to charcoal
Sheila, AccessArt
February 9, 2015 @ 10:27 am
Julie – There is so much rhythm and movement in this drawing and you can really see that you’ve followed and trusted your intuition in its execution. There is plenty of contrast in it and the grey/scale monotone works beautifully. The eye is engaged in looking at this drawing for a long time and enjoys exploring all the wisps of white, like light coming through. The drawing also has a feeling about it of the mythical and enchanted.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful drawing.
Sheila
Christine B
October 13, 2015 @ 3:57 pm
Here’s my effort. I used an ancient piece of rock to grind the charcoal. The rock is Lewisian Gneiss, one of the oldest kinds of rock on the planet, from the north of Scotland. I love the age and shape of it, it fits in my hand perfectly and is a bit like an ancient computer mouse – you can see it at the bottom left of the image. I couldn’t put it down, and used its flat base to rub the charcoal across the page. I liked the kind of ‘printing’ feel I got from it.
Paula Briggs, AccessArt
October 14, 2015 @ 10:35 am
Wow! that’s wonderful Christine! I love the feeling of action and motion in your drawing – the feeling of hands swiped left to right and then the gravity working on the marks pulling downwards. It feels like we are looking outwards. Great story about the rock too – what a connection to the world – time and space. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the serendipty of objects – how they are used by one person or undertake a particular jounrey, and then move on to another life. Love the dark and light too…
Ella B
December 15, 2018 @ 12:27 pm
I decided to do this course, as I wanted to break away from worrying about the actual drawing, and what it looks like, and enjoy the process instead, and break out of myself a bit. I really enjoyed doing this. I experimented with delicate mark making. Scratching, slapping, sweeping, dotting… I really tried to experiment with sound as well as mark. And to not worry about the outcome.
Reflecting back, I really like the textures I managed to create. It was interesting to realise what you can create from one medium, and a putty rubber.
Sheila, AccessArt
December 17, 2018 @ 12:05 pm
Ella what beautiful drawings you have created here – you can see that you’ve been really open to creating a breadth of marks and followed your instincts for drawing beyond a prescribed outcome. So lovely also reading about how much you enjoyed the process. Charcoal seems to be a wonderful drawing material for you – you can see that you have exploited it to its full potential by adding and taking away from the drawing… I like in some areas you can sense the history of the drawing as the paper seems almost thinned by the drawing process.
As a follow up exercise – you might want to explore drawing with feel as you seem to have such an instinct for mark making. try holding a small object in the palm of your hand and feeling it. Try and forget what the object is and just break down what you are feeling – so you are almost making a new language of marks to reflect what you are feeling (NOT what you think or remember the object to look like). Let us know how it goes.
Ella B
December 15, 2018 @ 12:28 pm
This is the finished page