I have just passed day 200 in my year long project to “stitch with my eyes closed”. I decided it was time that it had a page of it’s own so if you click on this link you will find the page and the two videos I have made of the project to date.
Here are some more watercolour sketches of faces of people in cafes.
My first sketch, which also included some pen and ink (note to self I find the ink lines rather distracting, even though they give ‘definition’)
As part of my ongoing strategy to disrupt lazy habits I decided to use only a Daniel Smith test palette for my colours. This palette includes a number of colours that I don’t have in my paint selection. The other benefit using this card is that it’s a lot easier to carry if you are traveling light.
The John Orlando Birt colour palette for Daniel Smith
I was happier with my results when I ditched my pen and just stuck to the watercolours.
Man in a puffa jacket, 26 June 2017, watercolour
I think that this head of a small boy was the most successful on the day.
26 June 2017, small boy, watercolour
Another day and another cafe, same watercolour palette. Three people who were sitting at the same table.
Three portrait sketches, 4 July 2017, watercolour
Porosity Kabari (Nishi Gallery, New Acton, Canberra) is a collaboration between Trent Jansen, Richard Goodwin and Ishan Khosla. The trio “investigates the cycle of use, re-use (and further re-use) – and how we can, simply, use one thing to make another thing.” Using only materials and skills sourced from the ‘Chor Bazaar’ (Thieves Market) and the Dharavi slum in Mumbai, the outcome is a series of objects that fascinated me with their detail and juxtapositions, and showed an enjoyable lack of concern for ‘perfect’ functionality.
My first sketch was of Trent Jansen’s ‘Dropping a Kumbhar Wala Matka Vessel’, 2016. This work is composed of three photographs of the potter Abbas Galwani dropping ones of his pots on the ground, along with a number dropped pots that have subsequently been fired with all their distortions and cracks. Jansen’s work is a riff on Ai Wei Wei’s 1995 work ‘Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn’. (Ai Wei Wei’s work gives me the same squirmy sensation as fingernails scraping on a blackboard). But Jansen is drawing a different observation on ‘value’. These pots are in widespread use but their makers gets little respect for their skills and only minimal financial returns for their labour.
Dropped Jugs, from Dropping a Kumbhar Wala Matka Vessel’, 2016. by Trent Jansen. My sketch, pen and ink, coloured pencil and watercolour
The second sketch is of one of Ishan Khosla’s ‘Constructed-Deconstructed-Constructed’ series, 2016. These works are made from scavenged wood and odd bits of old furniture. Either a stool or a table, take your pick, these pieces have their own aesthetic which Khosla calls “do first think later”‘
‘Constructed-Deconstructed-Constructed’ , 2016, by Ishan Khosla. My sketch pen and ink
Two sketches was as much as I could manage while standing up to draw, (no stools were available). So I will finish off with photos of two pieces that I really responded to by Richard Goodwin.
Twin Charpai Exoskeleton for Mumbai, 2016, Richard Goodwin
This final piece really spoke to my own explorations of stitch, and I always enjoy a good wrapped object!
Klein Chair, 2016, Richard Goodwin
The exhibition finishes on 9 July, at the Nishi Gallery, New Acton, Canberra.
leonieandrews 