Week 2:
By now I’m not getting lost as much driving to and fro to Don from Hawley Beach (which by the way I am very grateful for lovely accommodation is such a pretty area). I’ve had some lovely chats with some of the students re their projects and was invited to visit Shane Wolfe’s Art Theory and Criticism class – what a fantastic subject. I wish I had don’t that before I went into post grad studies, really dynamic and invaluable skills on how to look, think and write about art with a broad cultural understanding to understand the analysis, brilliant. I think any serious art practice student would really benefit from this subject as well.
As a practicing artist this is what we do constantly, I am forever having to write about my work for grant applications and exhibitions.Even doing this blog has elements of critique, so brilliant subject and Shane’s enthusiasm is infectious.
Cortney is looking at digital drawing with her graphic class and invited me to share how I use iPad drawing in my practice. I use the program called procreate, designed by some Tassie guys – its fantastic. Like Photoshop I don’t use it to its full potential as I focus more on actually painting but it has basically replaced Photoshop for me. I use it in a few ways
iPad drawing - how it helps my painting practice
I first got hooked on iPad drawing when I saw David Hockney’s - The Arrival of Spring – Annely Juda Fine art in London. I couldn’t believe my eyes, walking into that gallery was full of the colour and joy of Spring and all the works were iPad drawings.
Installation shot: David Hockney - The Arrival of Spring – Annely Juda Fine Art, London.
Needles to say I am in no way comparing my work with Hockney but he opened the door for me to try this tool and this is how I now use iPad drawing in my practice.
1. Testing
When I get stuck on a work and am not sure where to go with it, I often load an image of the work in procreate and paint digitally on it to test different options… so I don’t much up the actual painting.
2. Image construction
When I walk and explore areas, I take lots of photos of things that catch my eye, sometimes you can’t capture the scale and the presence of something in one photo. So I will collage those images in procreate.
Test composition of amazing tree next to Ghost Rock Vineyard - I drive past it every day and think there is something quite haunting about its presence. This image was made by importing several photos as seperate layers into procreate and then playing with the Opacity, Scale and Difference.
3. Data collection and in-depth observation
This is the most valuable tool for me as procreate has the ability to layer and draw like paint. Additionally, its easier then carting all my paints to a site, so when plain air I will do a iPad drawing of the site. This is a time-consuming process but it forces me to be still and forensically observe what i am looking at. I tend not to edit at this point but just gather as much info as I can, the editing will come later when and if I transcribe that into painting.
In anticipation of sharing with Cortney’s class I did some iPad drawings of a quirky old park in Don Reserve, it stood out to me as a strange clearing in all this wonderful tea trees. Specimen trees were memorialised with these circular old handmade rock garden beds, like halos to indicate their divine importance. Very strange cultural construct when the beauty of the place is the interdependence of the eco system rather then glorification of the individual. Perhaps our political system should learn from our eco systems rather then pick and choose what they focus on.
The 1st drawing was done over a few several hours from a photograph, the second was done quickly just shy of an hours plein air, last afternoon light.