Kirsty Sutherland Drawlings

It has been some time since I last threw down some drawlings or cleared my head into this blog.  So today is the day! 

I have decided to have a wee overhaul of the old blog/gallery.  This wont happen overnight of course, because I have no skills in this area, but hopefully it will bring with it a renewed sense of art work ethic.  I always find that after a clear out I become more motivated to keep things tidy, and in line with the new neatened aesthetic, so fingers crossed the same holds true here.  

So what to expect?  As you can see from the image above, there might be some colour coming your way.  There will also be some photography projects which are already underway (I’m working through a diploma) and of course my bare bones illustrative work.  

GUTS! 

This is a picture of my process.  (NB - Camera takes lovely shots in full auto mode)  For reasons best known to my subconscious, I like to start in the middle of the page and work to the right, then I’ll start in the middle again and work to the left.  This is stupid, but seems to be part of my process.  I am a right handed person as I have been for the past 31 years, which one would assume would be ample time to learn a thing or two about smudging my precious work.  Well.. I have learned a thing or two, just not the habit of not doing it.  Hence the glove in the photo.  

The drawing itself is part of my Very Large Project that I keep banging on about but only in a vague non committal sort of way.  If you would like to know what it is this is the paragraph to read.  The project is going to be a series of drawings made from photos of my trip to Japan in 2014.  I remember the trip in immense almost tangible detail, which is not represented in the photos.  I want to draw the parts I loved the way I remember them.  This first image is Chris at a train station in (I think) Kyoto.  

The other stupid thing I’m particularly guilty of is not preparing properly.  Have a look at the pencil in the photo.  This is the first pencil I pulled out of the ‘pencil/pastel’ box in the art cupboard.  Rather than check to make sure I had a selection of different grades of graphite (or whatever) to refill the pencil with, I did not.  So now not only do I have only HB refills, I have only what is currently INSIDE the pencil, as every other 0.7mm lead in the fracking house is blue.  I’m going to add this to the ever growing list of art ‘processes’ I seem to collect.  To be fair, this one has been quite useful, because it has caused me to stop momentarily and look at the drawing in some detail.  What I was actually looking at the drawing for was an indication as to how long it would be before Pencil runs out of steam and I have to leave the house.  What I actually noticed is that I might be working too fast, because my preparatory sketch had a couple of incorrect angles, which tends to happen if I go a bit hell-for-leather.    

This dark and grainy image is the only progress photo for this drawing that I’m going to show anyone.  I didn't want to show anyone *any* progress shots at all of this series because the final impact is the only part I want to exist - the memory itself, as I remember it.  However, this wee snippet is an important part of my portraiture process.  I have always wanted to be a hyper-realist, but that’s just not happening - I love those lines too much, and what I love most about them is the control I have over them.  Anyone who has studied drawing might find that a bit silly, but I can’t help but feel a little proud of them.  This is actually a pretty typical starting point for me too, I always start with the left eye when drawing a portrait because I almost feel as though the eyes make the drawing feel human, and to leave them until later leaves too much mystery.  The artist should know the punchline.  I’m not sure if that makes sense. 

Scramble Crossing #2

Scramble Crossing #1

I was chatting to someone recently about snooping around the desks and workspaces of other artists and, naturally, started looking hard at my own space.  Marvellous thing to do at ten past midnight.  I’ve come to view my desk as a self portrait of sorts, because everything on it is (or has been) so incredibly crucial to me and my work in the past month.  I must be in bad shape.  

This photo was taken after some considerable tidying, but looking back at it like this I’m starting to think it was never really all that bad.  That said, you might notice that there is a light box tracer sitting on top of the actual light box which is BUILT INTO MY DESK! I’ll take to this adulting lark some other day.

I also seem to have the brass neck to keep two dusters on my immensely dusty desk.  I actually use these as anti smudge devices when I’m drawing with ball pen, to stop my hand spreading ink all over the drawing, so hopefully you’ll agree that I have some standards.

Below is a photo of what my desk looks like now, after a bit of a wash.  I had to deploy the sugar soap, and it had better appreciate this effort.

I won't deny that the immediate surrounding area is still a complete tip, and there is no saving my poor, poor collapsed desk lamp, but I feel pretty inspired to get back into my desk chair and start something new.  Now that 28/9 Drawings Later is over, I can get back into my Very Large Project.  If you’re interested, do keep checking back for the odd desk selfie (see what I did there?) and some updates on the progress of the project.  I might even reveal what the project is.