g is for…

Griffin, though I have yet to put in the word.

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Three small preparatory sketches.

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In this drawing, as in the one below, I was clearly thinking of using the older spelling of Griffin.

Tiny re-worked and re-worked drawing, and the one I like best. (Yes, I like it better than the finished version, though to be fair the pen and brush drawing has mark-making that is pleasing, if quite different!)

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Unfolded to show the Griffin, which is the first double-page spread of an image in the book, in relation to the previous letter, F is for Flour Mill. I’m particularly attracted to the capacity for experiencing an unfolding-book in two ways, particularly the delights of unexpected juxtapositions when the contents are viewed as a panorama. (A Griffin visiting a Flour Mill is an engaging idea. Would he get covered in flour and emerge looking like a ghost?)

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a is for anatomy

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I wanted to complete this page of the ‘Primer’ for the folding-books project before posting images of it. But as I’m going to have to stop working on it for a few days to catch up with other commitments, here it is in the the all-but-finished state. (I have three more bits to add!)

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I hadn’t originally planned the ‘A’ page this way, but once I got the picture in my head of a higgledy-piggledy pile of anatomical body parts, then the idea wouldn’t be denied.

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The body parts are held onto the page by tiny brads sent from the USA by my friend Anita-the-Brad-Fairy! Without them I couldn’t have made this work so neatly and effectively.

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The parts can be swivelled in many configurations until they resolve into an intact figure. The idea has worked well and I think that I shall look for other opportunities to use ‘trick’ elements in this folding-book .

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UPDATE: A is for Anatomy page finished!

The book unfolding.

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The ‘Anatomy’ page as arranged for when the book is closed.

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The parts swivelled so that they can all be seen in the open pages.

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Arranged into human form.

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With the ribcage open and the organs of the thorax exposed.

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open book

I’ve previously posted here about the Open Book exhibition curated by artist Mary Husted that is showing at the National Library of Wales later this year. I’m one of a handful of contributors who Mary approached… Artlog regular Natalie d’Arbeloff being another… with the notion of filling Japanese folding sketchbooks in whichever way appealed the most.

I received three folding sketchbooks of varying sizes from Mary. The smallest is being filled with toy theatre imagery, some of which has been paper engineered into pop-ups. My second book is titled Now You See It… and it explores the strange world of mediums and their ‘spirit cabinets’. The third and largest sketchbook is in the process of being turned into an old-fashioned alphabet ‘primer’. For that I first made a series of preparatory drawings (see directly below) drawn with a fibre-tip pen and  a paintbrush and calligrapher’s ink on loose leaves of paper. Once I’m satisfied with my results I re-draw them into the folding sketchbook. I practice a lot before committing to the sketch-book, because there’s no room for error when in that final stage.

Loose-leaf preparatory drawings for the primer.

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The intention was for the drawings to be utterly simple. Almost unmediated, or as close as I can get to that state. The letters are cut from papers I’ve prepared by printing with oil-based ink, and the link words are made by frottage technique from card printing blocks I prepared for the project. Each book can be viewed in the traditional manner by turning the pages, or can be opened up like a paper accordion to show all the imagery in a strip. In the case of the primer the pages are worked on both sides in order to fit in the entire alphabet.

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There is a letter E, but it’s folded out of sight between the letters D and F.

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Elsewhere in the studio work still carries on apace on Damian’s and Marly’s book covers, the Henry Vaughan commemorative window and the many images still in preparation for L’Histoire du Soldat. This old train is going flat out.

zoe and the blue cat plus a call for maquettes

Artist, writer, blogger and ‘Artlogger’ Zoe Blue, has been hard at work since I posted her fantastic ‘Tango Dancers’ maquettes on the Artlog last year. This time she’s added  ’Blue Cat’, another cast member from the series of works in which the Tango Dancers appear.

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I think this is a spectacularly effective maquette because it fulfils to the greatest degree the requirement of the object to liberate the most potential regarding shape and character. This little fellow, so lithe and cat-like and yet so completely him/herself,  will prompt endless compositional variations in Zoe’s work, and will also be a fantastic starting point at the easel every time she plays with the puppet. Through play, I have found,  comes the best work. It’ll be interesting to watch how this break-through will impact the creative output of Zoe and her regular writing collaborator Vesna.

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Moreover, it turns out Zoe’s produced not one, but three cats. I predict that this pride of felines will be precipitate  a creative avalanche of work from her,  and I for one can’t wait to see the results.

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Call for Maquettes.

I announced back last year that I’d like to post an online exhibition of artists’ maquettes. Some visitors to the Artlog had responded to what they’d found here by getting snipping with scissors in their studios and sending photographs of the results to me, and so far I’ve received wonderful images from Natalie d’Arbeloff, Philippa Robbins, Chloe Redfern and Zoe Blue. Others have shown interest in taking part, so anyone wanting to register please leave your name and contact… if I don’t already have it… in the comment box for this post. (Anyone preferring not to leave a website contact on the Artlog can reach me by direct e-mail from HERE.)

The deadline for submissions is May 1st, so there’s plenty of time to get busy. Submissions can be as simple or as complex as you wish. And who knows, if we get enough maquettes, maybe I can arrange an exhibition off-line as well. Do get in touch. (Paul, Nick, Anita, I’m waiting!)

joseph the soldier

The technique of making loose-piece maquettes for the project is proving to be versatile. Here are sequential  images illustrating how a single figure made in the studio today arranges into strikingly diverse positions.

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I think that I might yet simplify him, but the idea is generally working well.

And by simply transferring a head from an earlier model, the figure assumes even more versatility.

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getting playful with the credits

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the paper-fastener elf

First a two-pack of the tiniest round-headed brads arrived unexpectedly in Monday’s post. Now this was weird, because Chloe, who comments at the Artlog and has started making beautiful horse-maquettes, had sent me a list of suppliers back last year. But I hadn’t had time to place an order. Or at least I thought I hadn’t ordered. So I e-mailed Chloe to enquire whether she’d sent them, and she was rather taken aback because although she hadn’t, she’d definitely been thinking about doing so!!!

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No clues on the invoice. Just my address and the company. No sender.

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It could be Philippa Robbins, who has been known to be a mischievous elf. After all, she did once anonymously post a pair of striped leg-warmers to Jack! Or Zoe Blue, who has been making wonderful maquettes too. Maybe it’s Natalie d’Arbeloff, artist’s-book-maker and maquette aficionado, or Swsi Kemp, another close ‘maker’ friend. A further possibility might be that  someone at the factory manufacturing the brads… or a supplier who stocks their products… has been a visitor to the Artlog, and noting my use of the paper-fasteners for piecing together maquettes has thought to send me a selection as a promotion. Will I have to put an advertisement on the Artlog by way of thanks? (You can see that I tend to over-think things.) Suddenly the icy thought dawns that early onset Alzheimer’s might be the culprit, and that I’ve actually ordered these brads myself before completely forgetting about the purchase. How long before other less innocuous acquisitions start arriving, impulse-purchases thereafter forgotten that will start to empty my bank account? It’s brads now, but tomorrow or next week it could be an Alfa Romeo pulling up outside Ty Isaf, delivered after I’d taken a fancy and ordered it in a bespoke colour!

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Yesterday another pack arrived, this time with the dinkiest little square-headed variety of brad in assorted colours: brass, silver and bronze.

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Now I was really worried. Could I really have ordered these in some way without recalling any transactions? In fact, ordered twice! Was this the beginning of something really bad, a loosening of my marbles? Maybe I had a ‘brad’-obsessed stalker. How far would this go? There might be some sort of weird romance/sexual obsession thing going on. After all, I’d taken delivery of the first pack on Valentine’s Day. I hadn’t checked the invoice for the second delivery as no sender had been revealed on the previous one. But having slept on the mystery for a night, I woke this morning and decided to check the second invoice. Equipped with my reading spectacles I went down to the kitchen table to inspect it, and there, in tiny fairy-printing… I practically needed a magnifying glass in addition to my spectacles in order to read it… was the name of the sender: Anita Mills!

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My dear friend Anita, you are a star!

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The Inner Circle: Anita, Peter and Meri last year at the party after my retrospective opening.

title card for the soldier’s tale

While some of the collage flame components need flattening out and the artwork is neither properly lit or photographed well, you get the general impression.

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The composition was inspired by this photo of my friend Miszek

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designing the typography for the soldier’s tale

Artist’s Credit.

This was taken in poor light and so I’m not posting it at a high resolution. Once all the work has been completed on the project Peter and I will have a long photographic session in the studio. Thereafter I’ll post high resolution images of everything.

assembling pictures

Above: uncut painted components on card.

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Above: components cut though not made up as a jointed maquette. Instead they’re just laid out freely on a base-board.

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I’ve had a change of heart about the way to construct the images for The Soldier’s Tale. I’d originally intended to make collages in the traditional manner, gluing down the components for each composition so that everything would be fixed ready for photographing. All that has now changed. The components for the compositions are to remain loose, and I’ll be assembling each image especially for the camera. This will save me having to duplicate figures for separate images. The Soldier above can double up in compositions where he has to appear with other characters, though I’ll be making additional heads, hands and feet so that the he’s more versatile. By working in this way major time-savings will be made in the credits sequence, for which I’ll be able to re-use the lettering.

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I really like the idea of the whole thing continuing to develop and be finessed right up to the moment of photography. I’ve made a single black base-board to assemble the pictures on. Thus the compositional dimensions will remain consistent throughout, a fact that will greatly simplify the projection arrangements.

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Improvisation continues to add sprightliness to the project. I so liked the photograph of three violins taken to illustrate the potential of frottage for an earlier post, that I returned to consider it as an image for the credits sequence. Today I’m just finishing the large version across which some of the credits will appear. A few weeks ago I reported that Peter thought I was channelling the spirit of Ben Shahn on the project to produce a cover for Marly Youman’s new book, but with these images I think I may be channelling Saul Bass! (I wish!!!)

For the credit sequence I’ve considerably enlarged the scale of components, as may be seen here where one of the trial frottage violins lies next to a finished  version.

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